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How to Re-Energize Your Team Through Training & Development
HR Question:
I’m concerned that our employee morale and engagement are waning. How can we re-energize our team through training and development?
HR Answer:
You’re smart to be concerned. The world continues to be a challenging place. So many of us have personal struggles and concerns that we may be dealing with at home. Not to mention concerns about the economy, politics, the influence of social media, and a general perception that the world is in decline. This weighs on employees and is bound to affect their morale and engagement. It’s a lot to expect employees to leave all of that at the door. In addition to that, the fluctuating job market means employers need to be concerned about keeping the good employees they have.
In recent Gallup surveys, employee engagement continues to decline. Some of the reasons cited are lack of role clarity, less connection to the organization and mission, and not feeling like someone cared about them. Additionally, survey data has also shown that employees want an opportunity for growth and development.
The good news is that organizations can address this by taking steps to support employees and leaders at all levels.
Include Your Employees From the Start
If you haven’t already done so, we recommend that you conduct a Training Needs Analysis to identify what types of training would be beneficial for your organization as a whole, in addition to assessing development options for individual employees.
When considering new or unique training and development opportunities, you may find a greater return on investment by asking the employees who will participate in those programs to share their thoughts on what training is needed. Connecting with your team and considering their suggestions for training and development content, as well as their preferred ways to learn, can be a great way to ensure that the training will be on target for what employees want and need. Plus, it can re-engage them in their current positions and stimulate their career growth interests.
Supporting Your Leaders
Organizations tend to underestimate the impact that managers and leaders have on engagement and retention. According to Gallup, 70% of engagement is tied to the behaviors of the manager. Additionally, DDI found that 57% of employees say they have left a job due to the manager.
Even on a tight budget, it’s critical to train and support your leaders. Many employees perceive their direct manager as “the company.” When they have a positive relationship with them and feel valued, the likelihood that they will stay with the company and give their best effort increases significantly. However, HR can’t assume that leaders know what employees need. Here are some things employees are looking for from their leaders:
Empathy – Given what we know employees may be dealing with, an empathetic leader is welcomed and appreciated. When an employee feels like someone cares about them, they can bring their best selves to work. However, this does not always come easily to leaders. Consider training such as:
- Managing with Empathy
- Building Trust
- Emotional Intelligence
Where do I fit in? – Employees want to feel that they are valued and that they are contributing to something more than just assembling widgets or processing orders. Leaders play a key role in helping employees see where they contribute to the organization and understand the bigger picture. Consider training such as:
- Delegation and Empowerment
- Giving Effective Feedback
Learning & Development for All Levels
Additionally, employees want opportunities to learn and grow with their employers. This can be done both formally or informally. Job shadowing, cross-training, and mentoring are great low-cost ways to provide development opportunities. Consider other training opportunities such as:
- Dealing with Conflict
- Exceptional Customer Service
- Utilizing AI to Enhance Your Role
- Being a Strategic Partner
It’s not surprising that LinkedIn’s recent Workplace Learning Report found 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development. In order to attract and retain key talent – particularly during times like this when many are feeling tired and disengaged – savvy business leaders will recharge their teams with training and development for their organization. Reaching out and making sure that your employees know that your organization cares about and is committed to fostering their skills and career development can be a valuable retention tool.
Thank you to Cathleen Snyder, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Jeff Rouse, MSOL, and Melinda Canino, MS, for contributing to this edition of our HR Question of the Week!
Is training your employees a goal for this year? Let the experts at Clark Schaefer Strategic HR help re-energize your team through Training and Development. We have the expertise to conduct a needs assessment and deliver impactful, customized training for your staff. Visit our Training & Development page to learn how we can help you achieve your training goals.
How Can Managers Reduce Turnover?
HR Question:
We recently lost a couple of very good employees. They said in their exit interviews that they were offered better pay, but I’m skeptical that was the only reason that they left. I feel that their manager could have done more to make them want to stay. What can our managers do to help retain employees and reduce turnover?
HR Answer:
As you conduct exit interviews, keep in mind that employees may tell you that they are leaving because they got a better offer from another employer, but there are often multiple underlying reasons why they chose to leave. Chances are something triggered them to think about leaving long before they began actively looking for another job. Furthermore, their boss may not have recognized that their employee was even thinking of leaving.
According to Gallup Workplace, 52 percent of exiting employees say that their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job. But only about one-third of former employees said they had a conversation with their manager about leaving before they quit. Wow! If you ever doubted the power of communication, this should allay your skepticism. Imagine how a conversation or two could have dramatically impacted the outcome to be a story of engagement and retention, rather than a goodbye.
Good leaders can reduce turnover and improve retention. The key is understanding what skills a leader must possess to do this. Here are some of the critical skills managers will need to mitigate attrition:
The Power of Active Listening
The simplest way a manager can be alert to the signs of potential turnover is to start listening. Active listening goes beyond just hearing. It requires the manager to devote time to check in with employees on how they’re doing. It also calls for their undivided attention to ensure they truly understand what their employee is saying and how they are feeling. Employees want to feel like their voices and opinions matter. When managers improve the quality and frequency of their conversations with their employees, chances are those team members will feel good that someone cares about them and wants them to succeed.
The Art of Giving Feedback
Managers need to be skilled at giving positive and constructive feedback effectively. Employees typically want to do a good job, and they like knowing that what they do matters. Research by Inc. showed that when people don’t feel they matter, they may also feel isolated, lonely, insignificant, rejected, or socially worthless.
Now more than ever, leaders must prioritize helping people on their team to feel their sense of worth. Clear and specific feedback can help employees to see how their work contributes to the success of their team and their organization. Helping an employee to improve their performance – and recognizing them when they do – can help them to feel valued.
Empower Employees to Solve Problems Themselves
These days, most people have become quite adept at finding answers to questions and solving problems all by themselves, using the Internet, social media, and self-improvement activities. However, at work, they may feel they don’t have the power to make improvements to their own work processes. A manager who uses a coaching style of leadership can help employees feel they are actively involved in improving their work processes. Oftentimes, employees will feel more engaged in their work when they are more empowered.
Stay Tuned into Workloads and Warning Signs of Burnout
It’s important to recognize when an employee is overworked. Burnout is often a key driver of an employee’s desire to look elsewhere. A study by the Wharton School of Business found people are far more likely to quit when given too many difficult assignments in a row, compared with a workflow that is balanced out with easier tasks. A manager who helps an employee simplify their work processes or lighten their workload can significantly improve an employee’s satisfaction at work and their desire to stay.
We’ve highlighted some red flags and critical skills that managers need to implement to help retain their staff. These skills are not innate; they are learned. So, take a look at the training your managers have received. Are they properly prepared to apply the necessary skills? Investing in ongoing training and coaching of your organization’s leaders can make a demonstrable difference in reducing turnover and increasing retention.
Thank you to Terry Wilson, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Training & Development Practice Manager for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
We’ve never heard anyone regret training their managers to be effective leaders, but we sure know of plenty who wish they had done it – especially when poor managers have led to ineffective and unproductive teams, low morale, and turnover. Clark Schaefer Strategic HR can help to set your managers up for success with our Leadership and Management Training. We also provide customized training to meet your specific needs – contact us to learn more.
5 Key Points To Use Assessments in the Employee Life Cycle
What is so significant about the term experience? Experience is how we remember life. An experience awakens the senses and, for better or worse, leaves a lasting impression. Often, those impressions are shared with others, especially with the ease of the Internet and social media. Driven by this, organizations today strive to leave a positive impression on the experience of customers, clients, and employees. For our purposes, we’re going to focus on how employers can significantly impact the employee experience.
We often hear, “Timing is everything.” So, when should you focus on the employee experience? Successful organizations are thinking about the employee experience along every phase of the employee life cycle. The good news is there are many new tools and technologies to help organizations build a unique and impactful employee experience, and one that remains tried and true is the use of assessments across the employee life cycle.
Below are five key points in the employee life cycle where the use of assessments can make a lasting impression on your employees and play an important role in your organization’s ability to attract, develop, and retain employees.
1. Enhancing Hiring Decisions
Let’s start at the beginning of the employee life cycle – recruitment. Assessments used in this stage, such as pre-screen questionnaires, can significantly enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of the hiring process.
Try using assessments in two ways – internally and externally. Before you begin sourcing or searching for candidates, consider using assessments to help internally benchmark what you’re looking for in the role, including the competencies required. Are there skills or traits your current team is missing, or are there different perspectives that could help create diversity of thought? Once you identify these measurable competencies, you can highlight them in your job ad.
When the external search begins, assessments can provide additional insights that screening and interviewing may not be able to. Plus, assessments can provide unbiased and data-driven results that traditional screening methods can’t.
Whether it’s cognitive, personality, or behavioral assessments, you can glean valuable insights into a variety of different competencies. This can help your organization minimize bias, reduce turnover, and hire candidates who are more likely to succeed.
2. Identifying and Developing Potential
After a successful hire, your focus should shift to engagement and retention. From what we’ve learned about generational preferences in the workplace, we know that growth and development opportunities are among the top reasons employees choose to join an organization. This presents a great opportunity to use assessments to help identify and develop an employee’s potential within your organization.
Don’t believe us? Consider Estée Lauder’s example as they embedded the CliftonStrengths assessment into their culture, processes, and key metrics. When employees understand their strengths and how to leverage them for themselves, their team, and the organization as a whole, it can be a powerful realization for employees and a winning combination for employers. For Estée Lauder, by identifying and cultivating individual strengths, employees felt valued, empowered, and motivated to do their best work, thereby leading the company to award-winning heights.
Today’s expected employee tenure is already short – a median of just over four years, according to the BLS. However, when organizations leverage assessments and subsequent reports to support the employee’s career path within the company, it allows the employee to pursue roles that are more aligned with their interests and career goals. These growth and learning opportunities help to increase that tenure (and potentially turn employees into ambassadors for your organization).
3. Designing Training and Development Programs
On an organization-wide scale, assessments can empower HR to offer training and development programs that meet targeted and personalized needs. Depending on the kind of assessment (technical, cognitive, behavioral, skill, leadership, etc.), the appropriate training programs or providers can be brought in to support a team’s growth and learning in areas that are aligned with the desired organizational outcomes.
Assessments aren’t just for your human talent, however, they can and should be used to evaluate the effectiveness of training programs as well. Pre- and post-training assessments can measure the impact of training, enabling organizations to assess knowledge gain, skills application, and overall program success.
4. Strengthening Career and Performance Management
Assessments can do much more than identify strengths and potential. By providing data-based assessments, employees and employers can work together to identify areas for improvement without the interference of human opinion, limiting the impact of ego and emotion in early performance conversations. Employees can understand where they scored, employers can understand where to support their team members, and both parties can agree on goals together.
By building in regular performance assessments, employees can also find motivation as they see their skills and competencies improve along the way. This can also empower them to reach for new heights within the organization, especially if those roles are benchmarked in similar fashions.
5. Building Effective Teams
Finally, don’t forget about the importance of building strong and competent teams. While this happens at all stages of the employee life cycle, assessments can play an integral role here. With assessment data and well-designed training, HR and management can build diverse, balanced teams across the organization, and even call attention to potential issues or challenges ahead of time to minimize interruptions and conflict.
For example, we have found the Everything DiSC® assessment to be a highly effective tool in helping people to work better together. The DiSC assessment, coupled with training and follow-up resources, helps employees to understand their own personalities, how they are similar or different from their co-workers, and how to improve communication and collaboration across different work styles. This has been a valuable tool to help people better understand themselves and those around them leading to decreased conflict and stronger, more productive workplaces.
When choosing team assessments, you’ll want to look for tools that align with your organizational goals, encourage self-awareness, and foster a culture of mutual understanding and respect. By understanding individual strengths and limitations, team members are better equipped to complement each other’s skills.
Assessments for the Win!
Building out a thoughtful employee experience along every phase of the employee life cycle is critical to support retention, productivity, and employee morale. When considering the employee life cycle, we highly recommend exploring opportunities to add assessments into the process that support your organization’s goals and help you to build a strong employee experience in a consistent and sustainable way.
Special thanks to Julie A. Johnson, PHR, SHRM-CP, Sr. HR Business Strategist, Melinda Canino, MS, Sr. HR Communications Advisor, and Samantha Kelly for contributing to this insightful article.
Do you need help identifying or implementing the right assessments for your employees and your organization? Don’t worry. The HR experts at Strategic HR can help you find the best employee assessment tools for you. We’re also an Authorized Partner for Everything DiSC®, so we’re happy to be your go-to resource for the DiSC assessment and training too. Contact us to get started!
How will AI impact the Human Resources function?
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked debate about its effect on a wide variety of industries and job roles—and the Human Resources function is one of them! Many have wondered if AI’s impact on HR will lead to a significant reduction or complete elimination of HR professionals. Surely, it’s not possible to take the “human” element out of “human resources.”
At Strategic HR, it’s our belief that while AI has the potential to streamline HR processes and provide more information to enhance decision-making, organizations will continue to need HR professionals who have a nuanced understanding of people to lead and manage their HR function. In fact, AI’s continued evolution actually provides HR leaders with a unique position to make a significant organizational impact in a few ways: by understanding, utilizing, and providing guidance within their organization.
How AI can impact HR and recruiting functions
In a world of labor shortages and an increased need for efficiency, many organizations are consistently looking for ways to do more with less. One way that AI can impact the HR function (or better yet, streamline the HR function) would be in the recruiting process. For example, advanced algorithms can swiftly analyze vast amounts of data and eliminate human bias in the initial stages of reviewing resumes. We’ve seen advances in areas such as writing job descriptions, suggesting interview questions, screening resumes, and analyzing hiring criteria. Some AI bots are even conducting initial screening interviews with candidates.
Because of AI’s ability to process and analyze large volumes of data rapidly, HR professionals can leverage AI-powered analytics tools to gain valuable insights into other HR areas such as employee engagement, performance, and overall organizational culture. By identifying patterns and trends, AI can assist HR professionals in making data-driven decisions that optimize recruitment strategies, training programs, and performance evaluations.
Whether AI is handling simple or complex tasks, the key in any HR situation is to empower HR professionals to utilize AI in ways that allow them to focus on more complex or nuanced issues, rather than taking the “human” element away.
Chatbots and ChatGPT have changed the game
AI chatbots are the latest game-changer to impact HR in the evolution of AI technology innovation. For example, some companies use AI chatbots to provide 24/7 support to employees, answering frequently asked questions and freeing HR professionals to focus on more strategic and interpersonal aspects of their roles.
While there are several versions of Chatbots available, the most recent emergence of ChatGPT, an open AI platform that interacts with users in a conversational way, has been highly notable. In addition to synthesizing content like a search engine, this technology also learns relationships between data elements and can reassemble responses in a meaningful way based on the prompt question. The output is as fast as doing an online search, yet the resulting data far exceeds the robustness and usefulness compared to many internet queries. This tool has the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of HR professionals and employees alike by gathering and synthesizing meaningful data.
According to the Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report, far more employees (70%) would choose to maximize the use of AI to lighten their workloads compared to 49% of people who are concerned about losing their jobs to AI. As the world of work moves forward with an increased focus on workplace efficiencies, some use of AI may be inevitable. Perhaps one thing that HR professionals can do to allay employees’ concerns is to identify the skills needed to manage and augment the AI and provide the training, development, and growth opportunities to help employees succeed in the technology transition.
Ethical, legal, and security concerns
While it has great potential, there are still limitations, risks, and lingering questions about the use of AI. It’s important to recognize that many times AI lacks a nuanced ability in analyzing data. A human being who can consider various contextual factors, use intuition, and integrate empathy is needed before making final decisions. There are also ethical implications, legal considerations, and security concerns that must all be addressed before companies can fully take advantage of the technology. We’re not quite ready to let AI replace human judgment.
Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneer of artificial intelligence, quit his position at Google so he could talk more openly about the risks and dangers of AI technology. According to Reuters, Hinton states his primary concern is that the technology could become too smart sooner than experts expected and create convincing false images and texts which would result in not being able to discern what is true. While this may sound like a risk far into the future, there are additional immediate concerns that need to be considered including:
- ChatGPT is currently based on internet information through 2021, so some recent happenings and facts are not reflected.
- The answers are based on internet information, so they are only as accurate as the data on the internet. The AI-technology does not have the ability to know what is true.
- AI systems use historical data, which raises concerns about potential biases. If AI were to take over HR departments entirely, the risk of perpetuating systemic biases could increase.
- There is the possibility of giving proprietary or personal information that the system may “learn” and repeat in another answer which could cause security and liability risks.
How HR leaders can guide AI adoption
Proactive HR leaders can provide guidance to their organization that can add clarity and peace of mind during a tumultuous time of change. Consider the following actions leaders can take to help frame the discussions and drive decisions in organizations:
- Understand where the organization is considering and/or could benefit from AI technology.
- Create a roadmap to define business uses and outcomes for AI technology with guardrails to limit risk.
- Identify the technology skills and resource gaps that need to be filled to effectively harness the AI options.
- Develop strategic principles and policies (considering security and accuracy) to aid in the evaluation of how/when to utilize different AI options.
HR Leaders can support and perform these types of activities rather than allow the technology to be introduced without intentional consideration. Helping organizational leaders to consider both the impact and risk of utilizing a framework and strategic actions will lead to more informed decisions.
It is clear that AI technology has the potential to revolutionize HR practices by automating and streamlining processes; however, it is our firm belief that it is highly unlikely for AI to entirely take over the HR department. The human element in HR—empathy, emotional intelligence, and nuanced judgment—remains indispensable for managing a diverse workforce. HR leaders who can maintain a balance between AI and human expertise will make the most significant impact. And, those organizations with leaders that prepare, provide guidance, and make sound decisions will gain a competitive edge and thrive in the AI-enabled future.
Special thank you to Becky Foster, Senior HR Business Strategist, for contributing to this Emerging Issues in HR.
Do you need help with developing your HR strategy and identifying the tools you need to get there? The experts at Clark Schaefer Strategic HR are here for you! To learn more, visit our HR Strategy Services page or contact us.
What Are The Benefits of Providing a Mentoring Program?
HR Question:
Our team members have been asking for additional development opportunities and a mentoring program has been suggested. What are the benefits of a mentoring program, and how do we implement one?
HR Answer:
The benefits of having a mentor can be immeasurable. Almost 80% of CEO’s say they had mentors throughout their careers which led to greater career success. Mentors can provide a different lens to see challenges through; they can also provide excellent advice on both professional and personal fronts – and where those fronts intersect.
Having a mentor can make a clear, positive impact on someone’s career. But what can a mentorship program do for employers, as well?
Benefits of Having a Mentoring Program
For Employees:
Both the mentee and the mentor can benefit significantly from a mentor program. The mentee is able to find guidance, increase their knowledge and their network, and have a trusted and tested ally to bounce ideas off of. For the mentor, this relationship can give them the opportunity to give back or to pay their success forward. Additionally, the mentee may ask questions of the mentor that prompt the mentor to re-evaluate or re-examine their own opportunities through a different lens.
In the end, both parties can benefit from a trusted partner, an honest conversation, and someone they know they can lean on in the workplace, creating psychological safety.
For Employers:
As the University of California, Davis illustrates, the benefits are not for the employees alone! By implementing a mentorship program internally, organizations can:
- Increase retention by showing a commitment to growth, leadership, and continuous learning.
- Maintain institutional knowledge and encourage knowledge transfer.
- Foster an inclusive and diverse environment, improving their employment brand.
How to Implement Successfully
When implementing a mentoring program, follow the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)’s five-step plan:
- Establish requirements for participation from both groups.
- Establish specific activities and guidelines for the mentors.
- Acquire mentors and mentees.
- Match mentors and mentees.
- Monitor and evaluate the program during and after.
While each step is important in its own way, it is incredibly important to connect any activities, actions, or guidelines with your own goals for the organization. For example, do you have a goal of increasing retention and hiring from within? Make sure that you have activities related to how employees could see themselves growing in, up, and through the company. Is your goal to create a safe space and trusted ally between mentors and mentees for mental/physical health? Then make sure exercises, questions, and activities are geared toward building trust and open communication.
What Makes a Mentoring Program Excel
Meeting with your mentor on a regular basis with an outlined agenda will help you utilize your time wisely. Be prepared to talk about your goals and how you have moved the needle closer to the goal. What are the roadblocks you’ve experienced; how did you overcome them; how did you implement your mentor’s previous advice? You should talk about key takeaways and next steps for your next meeting.
When establishing a mentor program, make sure all participants are on the same page. When mentors and mentees aren’t aligned on desired outcomes, mentors might give advice that doesn’t match the situation, or mentees might feel disillusioned or frustrated. The partners don’t always have to agree – nor is each party always right – but setting expectations for open and respectful dialogue and honest feedback can be helpful for both sides.
Be sure to provide an out. If one party isn’t giving the amount of energy necessary for a successful partnership, or if roles aren’t being taken seriously, it’s important that everyone understands that the arrangement should only go on as long as both parties feel it is beneficial.
Special thanks to Tracy Walker and Sammie Kelly for contributing to this edition of our HR Question of the Week!
Providing impactful training and development opportunities can be a key factor in attracting and retaining the best talent. Learn more about how Strategic HR can help you build the right training and development programs for your workforce. Check out our Training and Development page or contact us today to learn more.
Building A DEI&B Roadmap
When considering how to implement a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) roadmap, many organizations may feel intimidated. It can feel like a mountain to climb when it comes to the sheer number of possibilities, programs, and efforts that you can undertake.
So, what’s a measured and structured way of implementing (or evaluating already established) DEI&B programs within your organization? We will share our recommendations for the steps you can take to develop your program objectives and goals, as well as how to create a Cultural DEI&B Roadmap to help you on this journey.
Step 1: Understand Your Purpose & Define Your Vision
The first step is to identify and define the overall purpose of your DEI program. For example, is your organization considering the program to remain on par with competitors in the market? Is the ultimate objective to establish and nurture an inclusive culture? Or potentially, is a DEI&B program on your radar because the organization lacks the diversity that you would like to see compared to the surrounding community?
There could be many reasons behind it – it could include all the reasons listed above, and more! Whatever your reasons for developing DEI&B programming, they should inform your program goals and objectives.
Step 2: Define Your Strategic Objectives
Before you can effectively build a plan for where you want to go, you must first understand where you currently are. To do this, you will need to do a statistical analysis to understand the makeup of your current workforce by analyzing employee data from your HR information system (HRIS) and/or payroll system. We also highly recommend conducting a confidential employee survey to gather honest feedback on your organization’s DEI&B status.
Once you’ve gathered the data and have a better picture of what your organization’s DEI&B landscape looks like, it’s important to establish a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timebound) goal to drive your strategic objectives. An example goal could be, “In order to accurately reflect the diversity of our community and to position ourselves as an employer of choice, we want to increase our organization’s racial diversity by 20% in the next three years.”
That’s a great goal! Now how do you achieve that?
Step 3: Create a DEI&B Cultural Roadmap
To build a comprehensive DEI&B roadmap to meet your goal, you have to define the strategic objectives that you will use to get there. To define those objectives, you should consider four key pillars: Attract, Belong, Promote, and Influence. Each pillar holds up a different aspect of a comprehensive DEI&B plan and together will help you to develop a cultural DEI&B roadmap.
There are four main pillars in DEI&B Cultural Roadmaps:
- Attract – Recruiting a diverse workforce – talent acquisition management
- Belong- Employee engagement, belonging, and retention
- Promote – Career pathing, career progression, learning & development, and succession planning.
- Influence – how are we operating an organization within our community and within the world? Includes community relations and volunteer opportunities. Includes do you have a DEI-focused vendor list?
You MUST include all 4 pillars, or your efforts will fall down just as a three-legged chair. And each one of those pillars, what we do is we roll up various initiatives underneath each one of those pillars over a several-year road map in order to get where we want to go long term.
Attract
If your goal is to increase the diversity of your workforce, it may seem obvious that you will need to attract a more diverse pool of talent. But how can you do this? An excellent place to start is by reviewing your job descriptions and scrutinizing whether any of your current requirements detract diverse candidates from applying. For example, are the education, background, and day-to-day requirements absolute “need-to-haves”, or are you willing to be flexible? Could your requirements be open to experience in exchange for formal education? Do they have to have a driver’s license, or do you just need to confirm that they have reliable transportation to and from work?
Belong
Belonging is one of the newer concepts to enter the diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation, but it requires no less attention. By appropriately promoting and creating the paths for promotion for our diverse team members, it allows team members of any background to see the potential for themselves in roles they may not have had access to before.
If they can see someone who looks like them, thinks like them, operates like them, lives like them in a high-achieving role, it can make an incredible impact. Or, if a high-level role isn’t attractive to some individuals, we can still achieve a sense of belonging by engaging mentors and advisors to help guide and educate our team. Having those individuals in our professional lives that have similarities with us, whether that’s culturally, physically, spiritually, or otherwise, can make it a lot easier for people to be motivated and incentivized to engage and remain with the organization.
Promote
So, how can your organization promote diverse candidates internally if your organization is already lacking diversity? Minority entities and groups of individuals who haven’t had the same access to opportunities may already be at a disadvantage when considering growing through the company.
How can the organization provide access to training or education to allow these groups the opportunity to grow within and through the company? Promoting from within requires this key action.
And while promoting from within requires a longer timeline in comparison to attracting diverse talent (potentially three years versus a couple of months), this action will set your organization up for success in the long run. If you’re looking for a truly successful promotion-from-within strategy, be prepared to take steps in these initiatives over five to ten years. Tactics for this strategy can look like career pathing and building lines of succession. By taking smaller steps towards inclusion under the “promote” pillar, you’re creating an even more inclusive environment that will retain the diverse talent that you worked so hard to attract.
Influence
When we consider “influence,” we may initially assume that we’re hoping to influence internally – whether that’s decision-making, culture, or inclusive conversations. And while those are absolutely areas that we should consider and impact through this process, the concept of “influencing” through your DEI&B roadmap actually applies outside of the organization. It involves asking questions such as “How can we show the community that we live and/or operate in that we promote and encourage and support particular minority groups?” Is it engaging in Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, Native American Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Pride, or more? And is that engagement something that we (as an organization) can continue year-round?
This external “influencing” goes hand-in-hand with attracting diverse team members – by getting involved and positively impacting community groups, then you’re positioning yourself as an employer of choice.
A successful DEI&B roadmap takes time, effort, planning, and funds. Whether your organization is still in the foundational stages of building a DEI&B program or reevaluating previously made goals for your current program, a roadmap can help guide the key players towards success in achieving the strategic level goals.
Special thanks to Mary Mitchell, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CHRS, and Samantha Kelly for contributing to this Emerging Issues in HR!
Building a comprehensive and inclusive diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging plan can improve team morale, create a welcoming work environment, and position your organization as an employer of choice in a difficult labor market. If you need assistance or guidance in building this plan, visit our DEIB Consulting Services page or contact us today!
What Are Stay Interviews and What Questions Should I Ask?
HR Question:
Can you explain stay interviews – what are they? How should we use them and what should we ask?
HR Answer:
Not to be confused with exit interviews (meant for seeking to understand why departing employees are leaving), stay interviews are a great tool to understand why your employees choose to stay with your organization. They can also help to uncover potential areas of concern that may cause employees to leave if not addressed. Conducting stay interviews shows that you care about employees’ experiences and gives you the opportunity to make changes to retain your most valuable asset – your employees.
Who should participate?
Start with your end goal in mind. Consider why you’re conducting stay interviews and what you want to learn. This will help to determine who should participate. Some organizations may choose to focus on a particular department, a company location, or high performers. Others choose to conduct company-wide stay interviews. There’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer here.
Choosing Stay Interview Questions
Stay interviews typically consist of five to six questions, with at least one question that is quantifiable (i.e., rating satisfaction using a 5 or 7-point Likert scale) while leaving the others open-ended. The quantifiable questions provide a quick way to measure and easily report on employees’ attitudes, opinions, or perceptions of an aspect of work or the work environment. We recommend following quantifiable questions with asking why they chose their answer for additional insight.
Sample quantifiable questions:
- Would you recommend working here to a friend?
- Do you have the resources that you need to do your job effectively?
- Do you have clear goals and objectives?
- How happy are you to come to work every day? (Use a 5-point answer scale)
On the other hand, open-ended questions dig deeper into your employees’ thoughts, feelings, and experiences. These answers can reveal themes of what is going well and shed light on what can be improved to encourage employees to stay.
Sample open-ended questions:
- What do you look forward to when you come to work each day?
- What do you like most or least about working here?
- What are your favorite aspects of your job? Least favorite?
- If you could change something about your job, what would that be?
- What would make your job more satisfying?
- How do you like to be recognized or rewarded?
- What skills/talents are you not currently using at work?
- How can we best support your learning and development?
- What motivates (or demotivates) you?
- What might tempt you to leave?
- What can your manager do more of or less of to best support you?
Choose your questions carefully to ensure they help you to learn what you really want to know. It is okay to go into this process with some assumptions about what is and is not going well. The right questions can help you tease out whether your assumptions are correct. Sometimes addressing the “elephant in the room” is exactly what needs to be done. In other situations, the right questions can reveal issues that you weren’t even aware existed.
Selecting the Best Approach
Once you’ve identified who you want to include in the process and what you want to ask, your next steps are to determine the where, when, and how.
Location
Stay interviews can be conducted in person or virtually. Keep in mind that it is important to maintain privacy and confidentiality when selecting where to host the conversations. If conducted in person, be sure to select a location that is private and away from where others could overhear the conversation.
Timing
If you use five to six questions, they typically can be completed in less than thirty minutes. You can consider conducting stay interviews once a year or more frequently, depending on your needs.
Establishing Trust
It is essential to establish a feeling of psychological safety and trust so that employees feel comfortable being honest and open in sharing information. It is best for the data collection to be anonymous with results reported in summarized themes that are not traceable back to specific individuals. There should be no worry of retribution for sharing their thoughts and opinions. As a result, you’ll want to choose your interviewer(s) carefully.
Many organizations choose to have stay interviews conducted by independent outsourced experts who can guide them through the entire process of participant selection and question development, as well as conducting the interviews and providing follow-up data reports and recommended actions. Independent consultants can apply an unbiased approach throughout the entire process. This often leads to more robust data and action plans as employees are more willing to open up and talk.
The Key to Productive Stay Interviews
Hopefully, it goes without saying that you must go into this process prepared to react to what you learn. Employees are typically excited to have their voices heard. They will be anxious to see what you do with the information they have shared. It would be quite ironic if a lack of acknowledgment of their feedback would lead to employees feeling devalued and choosing to leave.
At the same time, it is unrealistic, and in most cases unnecessary, to address every concern that is raised. There will inevitably be outlier comments in the information collection process that only apply to one specific person or don’t seem to be significant for the broader good of your organization.
Be Transparent
You can position the process for success with clear and transparent communication from beginning to end. Well in advance of the stay interviews, make sure that you have communicated your intentions of conducting the interviews, why you are doing them, and the expected timing of the interviews. Particularly if you are using outsourced HR experts to facilitate the interviews, be sure that employees know who these folks are and what to expect.
In addition, manage employees’ expectations on the front end and throughout the process regarding how you plan to handle what is learned. It is fair and reasonable to say that you don’t expect to be able to solve all of the concerns that may be shared, but you are committed to learning from their perspectives and making some improvements.
Showing that you are committed to listening and taking action to strengthen your organizational culture will go a long way in increasing your employee engagement and their desire to stay.
Thank you to Melinda Canino, MS, Sr. HR Communications Advisor, and Alisa Fedders, MA, SPHR, Manager of Business Advisors, for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
Are you left wondering why employees choose to stay or leave your organization? Our experts at Clark Schaefer Strategic HR can design and conduct independent, unbiased stay or exit interviews as well as employee surveys, pulse surveys, and more to assess employee satisfaction and engagement. Learn more about how we can help on our HR Communications page or simply contact us today!
HR’s Role During An Economic Crisis
High inflation, rising interest rates, record-low unemployment, and strong consumer spending seem to have economists scratching their heads. In today’s economic uncertainty, HR professionals are preparing to pivot to meet the needs of their organizations should the economy go into recession.
HR professionals are no strangers to navigating and leading through turbulent times. Throughout the pandemic, HR was and still remains on the front lines – leading change and creating a culture and space that supported a massive transition to remote work and pandemic-safe work environments. HR professionals demonstrated skills that had not been relied upon by many companies in the past, creating a focus on minimizing costs while engaging staff during challenging times.
HR professionals found themselves providing staffing insights to navigate difficult business decisions, offering creative problem-solving, and managing talent and culture, more than they ever have in the past. In this article, we will highlight several ways in which human resources professionals can continue to pivot and develop creative approaches to help their organizations weather the storm of the current economic crisis.
Assessing and Addressing Talent Needs
It may be expected that HR’s role during an economic crisis would center around talent. As companies make critical staffing decisions, the evaluation of talent and the use of that talent becomes paramount. During cost-saving conversations, significant efforts must be made to make effective use of staff. HR leaders can address these priorities through performance evaluations, development tools, succession plans, and cross-training initiatives.
Despite predictions, unemployment remains at historic lows and the Great Resignation could be seen as the beginning of a long-term shift in the labor market. For many businesses, growth has been slowed because of workforce shortages. Fortune indicates that the U.S. workforce participation rate has fallen to 62.3%, which is down from 67% in the late 1990s. More than ever before, HR professionals need to focus on strategies to help their organizations attract, retain, and develop high performers.
As organizations strive to meet their attraction and retention goals, they are also faced with the realities of the current economic conditions. The soaring cost of living has placed pressure on employers to increase salaries as paychecks are stretched by the significant increase in the prices of household goods. HR’s role is to help the business remain competitive in the job market by developing total compensation programs designed to motivate and reward high performance.
In addition to ensuring compensation and benefits are competitive, employers are challenged with meeting the needs and expectations of a multi-generational workforce. In our experience, the top reasons that job seekers across all generations choose to join a company besides salary are the ability to enjoy work-life balance and having growth and learning opportunities. HR can champion programs that motivate all generations of employees by offering ample paid time off, flexibility, and learning and professional development opportunities.
By taking a multifaceted approach, today’s HR leaders have the opportunity to create the workplace of the future that is designed with successful talent attraction and retention strategies built in.
Reskilling for the Future
As technology rapidly advances, one thing is certain – many businesses are finding a skills gap with current employees, and this gap is hindering growth. During times of an economic slowdown, HR can shift the focus to the future and find ways to fill skill gaps with current employees through training and development opportunities.
This can be a win-win situation as it helps the business to better meet its needs, and it addresses the desire of employees who are looking for growth and learning opportunities.
Managing the Mood
Difficult times become the most integral time to “manage the mood” of the company. Another component of HR’s role during an economic crisis is to partner with the leadership team to encourage and embrace a culture open to flexibility, evolution, and giving grace to others.
Particularly during times of economic downturns or layoffs, it can be hard to maintain the psychological safety of the team. This is the time to remain transparent in communications on what is happening in the organization, as well as recognizing what is left unknown. Employees left in the dark can become disengaged, putting your organization at risk of fostering a culture of quiet quitters.
Supporting Mental Health and Well-Being
Economic challenges always take a toll on employees in one way or another, and consideration must be made for the mental health and well-being of those that are at the heart of your organization to assure a thriving and productive environment. Promote your Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs), take advantage of the co-pay waiver of many health plans for mental health, and provide regular communication to staff on financial offers from local banks and community resources.
It’s no secret – HR’s role in this economic crisis has shifted and grown. The current economic crisis has put pressure on HR professionals and business leaders to do more with less. Businesses across the board are all looking for creative ways to engage their workforce, reinforce productive and positive behavior, and retain staff – all while allaying employee concerns and fears.
Human Resource professionals can and should take this unique opportunity to play a significant role in leading their organization through this national crisis. By showing their support of the business and its employees through appropriate economic-driven actions, they can support both the organization’s vision/mission and its employees’ health and wellbeing.
Special thanks to Colleen Mahoney, PHR, HR Business Advisor, for contributing to this article.
HR plays an integral role in optimizing your operations during challenging times. Clark Schaefer Strategic HR can help with your leadership and HR strategy. For more information, please visit our HR Strategy page, or simply contact us – we’d love to hear from you.
What Questions Should I Ask During An Exit Interview?
HR Question:
We’ve decided to start conducting exit interviews but aren’t sure of the right questions to ask. What are some key questions to ask during an exit interview?
HR Answer:
Exit interviews are an important part of the employee life cycle. These interviews, conducted after an employee has formally turned in their resignation and is in their last few days of employment with your organization, allow you to get feedback to examine and potentially improve processes, expectations, and experiences within the company. While typically conducted with an employee who is leaving on their own terms for another opportunity, you can also conduct exit interviews with those employees who are relocating, retiring, or leaving for personal reasons.
Take the time to discuss topics such as pay and benefits, team culture and expectations, and reasons why someone may have felt prompted to search for opportunities elsewhere. The answers to these questions can help you develop strategies for your HR processes. Plus, this feedback is critical to reducing turnover and creating an environment your employees want to work for. You can’t fix what you don’t know, and you won’t know unless you ask. Preparing ahead of time can allow you to ask focused questions that will lead to the necessary answers.
How to prepare for an Exit Interview
The first step in conducting an effective exit interview is to ask yourself what you are hoping to accomplish by talking to the exiting employee. Are there areas or blind spots that they may be able to shed light on or provide additional insight into? This opportunity will allow you to gather feedback that current and remaining employees may be too hesitant to share.
You may have some suspicions as to the underlying reason(s) for employees’ departures, so this can be an opportunity to test out your hypotheses. For example, you may be concerned that your salary ranges are not up to date with your market and industry, and you are lagging behind your competitors. Or is the employee leaving because of a manager, supervisor, or co-worker? Do you want to look at your culture to see if it promotes teamwork, accountability, and appreciation?
Additionally, be prepared to see the organization through this individual’s lens. They may not have had the best experience, or perhaps they felt consistently frustrated by certain elements. As a result, be prepared to listen to their feedback (and potential negative approach) with an impartial ear and an eye looking for potential opportunities for improvement.
What questions should I ask?
After determining the why, start creating questions that will get you the information you are seeking. Of course, there are many questions that you could ask, so we recommend you identify a set of questions that can be discussed in a reasonable amount of time. Here are some suggestions:
- Were you looking for a job (and if so, what made you decide to start looking)?
Because of the current job market, many employers pursue passive job seekers and provide the employee with a terrific employment opportunity. If the individual was actively applying for new roles, this might help get to the root of why they wanted to leave. - What caused you to accept the position?
This is where the interviewer can get to a key differentiator between their organization and their competition. More pay, better benefits, remote work, work culture, toxic manager, etc. may be reasons why the offer made couldn’t be refused. - Did your manager meet your expectations for providing appropriate direction, support, and leadership?
It is often said that people leave a manager, not a job. If their expectations weren’t met, ask probing questions to understand why. This can shed light on any supervision and leadership issues that may need to be addressed. - How can our company improve our training and/or onboarding process?
For those newer to your company, this question allows you to determine how the employee felt about their first few months in your organization and if they feel they received sufficient training to do their job. If the employee has been with your organization for a longer time period, be sure to clarify that their suggestions can also come from their experience or role in training and onboarding processes as well. - What, if anything, would you have changed about your job?
A good follow-up question to this one is “if that change were implemented, would you return to work here?” Again, this question can get to the root cause of the turnover, and if the departing employee feels strongly enough about the company to consider returning at a future time. Remember that boomerang employees can be an asset to your organization as they can return re-energized and more engaged, so keep that door open when it’s appropriate to do so. - Would you refer a friend or family member to work here?
This question can give you additional information about the culture of the organization. If the answer is “yes, but not in my department,” follow-up questions may again reveal issues that should be addressed.
For additional areas to probe, Glassdoor provides more exit interview questions to consider.
What to do after an Exit Interview
After the exit interview, consider how you will use the data. Are you sharing it with the managers or leadership team, or are you checking the exit interview off your list and storing the information? Look for themes, especially if there is increasing turnover in one department or position. For example, are all of your customer service representatives leaving because they didn’t feel as though they were trained appropriately? Do your departing IT professionals complain about a lack of support from their manager? Use the data from exit interviews to create action plans to address issues and concerns.
Exit interviews can be used as a great tool to target turnover and retention issues. An effective exit interview is also valuable in pinpointing management and cultural challenges in an organization if the data is used appropriately. An alternate strategy is to open lines of communication with employees before they leave by conducting employee surveys or implementing stay interviews to identify and address issues before they choose to exit.
Thank you to Sheryl Fleming, MA, SHRM-SCP, for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
Do you know why your employees choose to leave your organization? Exit interviews, while time-consuming, can be key tools for better understanding your company’s retention opportunities. Our team at Strategic HR can help you construct and conduct stay and exit interviews to learn more about why employees stay or go. Visit our Employee Relations page or Contact Us to learn how we can lend a hand in your employee retention efforts.
Could Sabbaticals Be Your Next Retention Tool?
HR Question:
In today’s fast-paced and high-pressure market, it’s difficult to truly disconnect from work. We’ve been trying to find ways to give our team a break to avoid burnout, but sometimes a week of vacation just isn’t enough. Could sabbaticals be the newest tool in our retention toolbox?
HR Answer:
You’re not alone in considering sabbaticals as they seem to be gaining in popularity. According to a recent World at Work survey assessing US organizations ranging in size and industry, 10% of organizations offered paid sabbaticals (up from 7% in 2019), and 29% offered unpaid sabbaticals (up from 16% in 2019). Now, as we’re well into a period with many different names – the Great Reshuffle, the Great Resignation, the Great Re-Evaluation to name a few – sabbaticals may be the unsung hero that benefits both employers and employees alike when it comes to talent retention, supporting good mental health, and strengthening employee engagement and dedication to their work and your organization.
Time to Re-Charge, Re-Energize, and Reconnect
It’s no secret that the first beneficiary of a sabbatical is the employee. Unfortunately, those who do choose to take sabbaticals may often lack the opportunity to properly enjoy them. In fact, The Sabbatical Project reports that nearly two-thirds of those who do take a sabbatical are often forced into them due to traumatic circumstances out of their control – the loss of a family member, health issues, the need to navigate complex or dissolving relationships, etc. Not exactly the most relaxing setting for a rejuvenating and relaxing period of time.
Although a sabbatical can be used to address such issues, it could benefit organizations to promote them for a broader purpose. Employees should be encouraged to consider using a sabbatical as an opportunity to truly disconnect, re-energize, and re-focus if suffering from burnout or fatigue. They can also be used to discover new passions, chase hobbies, and gain the experiences that many may put off until after retirement.
Sabbaticals Benefit the Employer Too
And while a sabbatical, paid or unpaid, can seem like an intimidating amount of time away from the desk for both the employee and the employer, the benefit of a re-energized and re-engaged employee can pay back dividends. Interviews for a Charter and TIME article revealed employees who returned from a sabbatical found themselves more creative, felt greater feelings of loyalty and energy, and brought new ideas to the table.
When considering the cost of having to replace a long-term employee, along with their organizational knowledge, skills, and work relationships built over time, offering a sabbatical as an opportunity to renew and recharge may be far more cost-effective. In addition, offering sabbaticals as part of your benefits package is not only attractive to retain current employees, but can also be a valuable talent acquisition tool to attract new talent.
Your Team Will Benefit From Your Time Away
The longer nature of sabbaticals creates an opportunity for cross-training. As opposed to managing through vacations where you can push a project or a question off “just a few days” until a person returns, sabbaticals present a fantastic opportunity to engage other team members in new and different tasks, departments, and levels of the organization – providing the employer with a built-in opportunity for the career development and growth that ranks high on job seekers’ lists today.
Sabbaticals Don’t Come Without a Cost
It would be a win-win if sabbaticals came without a cost to the employer or employee, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. That’s why it’s important that employers establish their promises and expectations for sabbaticals. How often and for how long can employees be away? Do they need to serve a certain number of years to qualify? How much of their regular pay will they still receive, if any? How does a sabbatical tie into their PTO or other time off categories?
While the cost may not be a surprise, the money saved by creating an attractive workplace, providing necessary mental health benefits, and showing that you’re an organization committed to putting employees’ needs first may very well pay dividends in attracting and retaining valuable talent.
Special thanks to Samantha Kelly for contributing to this HR Question of the Week!
Providing adequate Benefits and Compensation for your employees is key to the recruitment and retention of a well-performing workforce, and having the right policies in place can make or break a company. Clark Schaefer Strategic HR can help you structure your benefit and compensation system to meet today’s competitive market. Please visit our Benefits and Compensation page for more information today.
Succession Planning: How Can We Prepare for Exits of Key Employees?
HR Question:
In light of The Great Resignation, I’ve been hearing more and more about the importance of succession planning should any of our key employees or leaders resign. How can our organization make sure we’re appropriately prepared for succession planning so we are well-positioned if we should lose any key players?
HR Answer:
The exit of a key employee can certainly result in turbulence within a business. Lack of preparation in filling such an important role can fuel skepticism about the future of the company among both internal employees and external stakeholders. Organizations can help temper such concerns and instability through succession planning.
Benefits of Succession Planning
Thoughtful succession planning leads to numerous benefits. Organizations that hire their leaders internally may benefit from a better quality of hire than those who look externally. According to a study at the University of Pennsylvania, although internal hires are typically paid less than external hires, they tend to perform better and have lower turnover rates. The success of internal hires may be in part attributed to a deep understanding of the business and culture, along with cultivated relationships amongst the organization, its partners, and customers.
Succession planning also serves to foster goodwill among current employees who see the organization’s faith and investment in its internal talent. Especially considering the challenges in today’s talent market, succession planning may help to increase employee loyalty and tenure within an organization.
To begin succession planning, it is important to consider the strategic direction of the organization. You may pose the questions: what roles will we need to support the future goals of our organization? What kind of growth is expected in the next 1-5 years? Determining the trajectory of the organization will better inform the roles on which to focus your succession planning efforts. Executive leadership and directors constitute critical roles that typically merit inclusion in the process. However, organizations should also include key individual contributors who possess highly specialized skills or knowledge in their succession planning efforts.
Conducting a workforce assessment
Once critical roles are identified, it is important to conduct a workforce assessment to consider factors that may affect the stability of these key roles, such as incumbent retirement eligibility. During this portion of the process, it is also essential to identify members of the internal talent pool who may be able to fill these critical roles, with the right development opportunities. You should consider the current performance of these employees, as well as their future potential. Finally, when evaluating your internal talent pool, you will want to ensure that your pipeline of emerging leaders is diverse and can bring distinct perspectives to these key roles.
Identify gaps in knowledge and skills
Next, you will want to identify any gaps between the knowledge and skills possessed by the incumbents of critical roles and those in the talent pipeline to succeed them. Once these gaps are determined, leaders can begin creating career development plans in partnership with high-potential employees. Such career development plans may include shadowing a key employee, engaging in a mentorship program, or participating in a stretch assignment for exposure to new business functions, geographies, and customers. A career development plan may also include courses or seminars to help hone essential technical or soft skills. Finally, as part of their development process, high-potential employees could be invited to participate in board meetings for additional exposure to strategic planning initiatives.
It is important to note that succession planning is not a one-time initiative, but rather constitutes an ongoing process by which the internal talent pipeline is continually identified and developed. Organizations that implement thoughtful and strategic succession planning will benefit not only from increased stability during the exit of a key employee, but also from enhanced loyalty of employees who see the organization’s investment in its internal talent.
Thank you to Christine McLaughlin, HR Business Advisor, for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
Whatever HR challenge your business may be facing, Clark Schaefer Strategic HR can help! Whether it’s by developing a robust internal succession planning process, creating or improving your performance management system, or developing a comprehensive strategic business plan through our HR Strategy services, our team of experienced consultants is waiting to partner with you. Contact us to talk through your HR Strategy needs.
Are You Ready For These Top HR Trends in 2024?
As we transition into a new year, the world of Human Resources is poised to undergo several transformative trends that reflect the evolving landscape of work. Some transformations are already at work, such as the continued integration of technology in HR processes, with the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and automation tools. These technologies are not only streamlining administrative tasks but also enhancing decision-making processes, enabling HR professionals to focus on more strategic and value-added activities.
Additionally, an emphasis on employee well-being is gaining momentum, with organizations recognizing the importance of creating a positive work environment that promotes mental health, work-life balance, and overall job satisfaction. Our team anticipates that remote and hybrid work arrangements will persist, prompting HR departments to refine policies and practices to accommodate diverse and flexible work setups that continue to support a diverse workforce with varying needs.
And finally, we expect diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives will also remain at the forefront of the HR landscape, as companies strive to create more inclusive and equitable workplaces. DE&I efforts go hand in hand with employee well-being and employee satisfaction. As employers work to foster diverse and inclusive workplaces, they are also challenged to be highly transparent in their communications and actions and to build a high level of trust, which leads to employee satisfaction and retention.
So how do we expect to see these HR trends play out in the coming year?
Generative AI & Upskilling
In a June 2023 survey by Gartner, 81% of HR leaders have already begun to explore and implement AI solutions within their organizations, with 52% exploring potential use cases and opportunities for generative AI. Indeed, the Future of Jobs Report 2023 indicates that by 2027, 43% of work tasks will be automated.
The Future of Jobs Report also emphasizes the growing focus on cognitive skills within the workforce – skills like creative and analytical thinking, technology, literacy, and socio-emotional attributes such as curiosity, resilience, and lifelong learning.
Upskilling in the field of human resources is expected to become increasingly important in the coming years and will play out in a variety of ways:
1. Technology Integration
The HR field is becoming more technology-driven with the adoption of complex HRIS (Human Resource Information Systems), AI-driven tools, and data analytics. HR professionals will need to quickly upskill to effectively utilize these technologies and leverage artificial intelligence for HR tasks such as recruitment, employee engagement, and talent management and development.
As HR professionals explore ways to weave AI into their daily operations, it’s also important to understand the ethical and legal concerns of AI adoption.
2. Data-Driven Decision-Making
HR professionals are increasingly relying on data to make informed decisions in areas such as workforce analytics, recruiting, employee performance, and strategic planning – even more so with the rise of AI. Consider providing data analytics training opportunities to help employees successfully engage and understand the results these technologies can provide.
3. Soft Skills and Emotional Intelligence
With the rise of remote work and digital collaboration, the importance of soft skills and emotional intelligence will continue to be sought after. HR professionals need to be adept at interpersonal communication, empathy, and understanding diverse perspectives – especially when so much interpersonal context is lost from behind a screen. Upskilling in these areas will be vital for effective employee relations, conflict resolution, and fostering a positive workplace culture.
4. Continuous Learning Culture
HR professionals should model and promote a culture of continuous learning within organizations. Reevaluating learning and development strategies, assessing training methodologies, and implementing ideal learning technologies will be essential to support the professional as well as personal growth of employees.
In summary, learning to utilize AI in beneficial ways, as well as upskilling across organizations, will create a mix of technical, interpersonal, and leadership skills that help employees adapt to the evolving workplace landscape and allow HR leaders to contribute to the success of organizations in highly valued ways.
Employee Well-Being
Companies are increasingly recognizing the importance of employee well-being. The employee well-being umbrella includes mental health support, work-life balance and remote work initiatives, and wellness programs, in addition to providing meaningful work and opportunities for learning and development. The expectations of employers are growing by the minute!
The top 5 ways employers can support employee well-being in the upcoming year include a combination of physical, mental, and professional support:
1. Flexible Work Arrangements
Offer flexible work hours and remote work options to accommodate diverse employee needs. A flexible work environment allows employees to better balance their professional and personal lives, reducing stress and enhancing overall well-being. To learn more, check out Gallup’s article, “The Future of the Office Has Arrived: It’s Hybrid,” as well as Techopedia’s Remote Work Predictions for 2024.
2. Mental Health Programs and Resources
Prioritize mental health by providing access to counseling services, mental health workshops, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). Promote a culture of openness and destigmatize mental health issues to encourage employees to seek help when needed.
3. Professional Development Opportunities
Invest in employees’ professional growth by offering training programs, workshops, and opportunities for skill development. Providing clear pathways for career advancement and continuous learning not only enhances employees’ job satisfaction but also contributes to their overall well-being.
4. Health and Wellness Initiatives
Implement comprehensive health and wellness programs that address physical well-being. This can include fitness classes, wellness challenges, health screenings, and initiatives that promote a healthy lifestyle. Consider providing wellness benefits such as gym memberships or wellness reimbursements.
5. Regular Check-ins and Feedback
Conduct regular one-on-one check-ins between managers and employees to discuss workloads, career goals, and any challenges they may be facing. Foster open communication and create a supportive environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their concerns.
Check-ins allow for the opportunity to course-correct, as needed, and to ensure that employees have the resources they need to do their jobs successfully. In addition, providing constructive feedback and recognition for accomplishments contribute to a positive work experience.
These strategies collectively address various aspects of employee well-being, creating a holistic approach that considers both personal and professional needs. Employers need to tailor these initiatives based on their workforce’s specific characteristics and preferences, promoting a culture that values and prioritizes the well-being of employees.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B) initiatives are more than passing HR trends, but rather, essential for creating a workplace that is welcoming, inclusive, and representative of all individuals. In 2024, employers can take several actions to support and enhance their DEI&B efforts:
1. Establish Clear DEI&B Goals and Metrics
Clearly define and communicate DEI&B goals that align with the organization’s values and mission. We recommend using a DEI&B roadmap as you build your diversity initiatives. Establish measurable metrics to track progress and hold the company accountable for achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives. Regularly assess and report on these metrics to demonstrate transparency and commitment.
2. Cultivate an Inclusive Workplace Culture
Foster a culture of inclusivity where all employees feel valued, respected, and heard. Encourage open communication, apply inclusive decision-making principles, and create platforms for employees to share their experiences and perspectives. Implement training programs to raise awareness about unconscious bias, microaggressions, and other barriers to inclusivity.
3. Diverse Hiring Practices
Implement inclusive hiring practices to attract a diverse talent pool. This includes using diverse interview panels, removing bias from job descriptions, and actively seeking candidates from underrepresented groups. Consider partnerships with organizations focused on diversity recruitment and outreach to expand your talent network.
4. Professional Development and Mentorship Programs
Provide opportunities for professional development and mentorship, particularly for employees from underrepresented groups. Establish mentorship programs that connect employees with mentors who can guide and support their career growth. Ensure that these programs are accessible and inclusive.
5. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
Establish or enhance Employee Resource Groups that cater to specific communities within the organization. These groups provide a platform for employees to connect, share experiences, and contribute to the development of a more inclusive workplace. Support and actively engage with ERGs to ensure their success and impact.
6. Equitable Policies and Practices
Regularly review and update policies and practices to ensure they are equitable and unbiased. This includes performance evaluation processes, promotions, and compensation structures. Strive to eliminate systemic barriers that may disproportionately affect certain groups within the organization.
DEI&B initiatives require ongoing commitment and effort. Employers should listen to the needs and concerns of their employees, continuously educate themselves and their teams, and adapt their strategies based on feedback and evolving best practices. By taking a comprehensive and proactive approach, employers can contribute to building an inclusive workplace that reflects the diversity of the global workforce.
For ideas to enhance your DEI&B programs, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) offers “4 Ways to Promote Authentic DE&I Practices.”
As we stand on the brink of a new year, the field of Human Resources is on the cusp of significant transformations, mirroring the dynamic nature of the modern workplace. Employers play a pivotal role in steering organizations toward a progressive and thriving future. Recognizing our employees as the cornerstone of success, we can aspire to cultivate environments that prioritize well-being, embrace diversity and inclusion, a new digital world, and adapt to the evolving needs of our workforce.
As we navigate these HR trends and challenges, let us collectively champion a workplace culture that not only reflects the spirit of the times but fosters growth, innovation, and lasting success for individuals and organizations alike.
Thank you to Collen Mahoney, PHR, and Cassie Whitehouse, M.Ed., for contributing to this HR Question of the Week!
Need help tackling your HR Strategy for 2024? Let our team of HR experts assist in building your plans for the new year. Please visit our HR Strategy page to learn more, or simply contact us – we’d love to hear from you.
Why Is It Important To Get An Employee’s Signature?
Have you ever had an employee question an employment agreement or say they didn’t mean to agree to a term of their employment? Why is it so important to get an employee’s signature?
This is a critical question for all employers, and the answer applies to more than just employment agreements! At its root, a signature is used to show the intent of an individual to bind oneself to a contract or make a written representation.
Why is an Employee’s Signature Important?
In the case of a new hire’s employment agreement, the signature here binds both the employee-to-be and the company to the agreed-upon terms such as salary, benefits, schedule, etc. – all items you don’t want to have to argue over after the employee has already started.
There are other instances where having an employee’s signature can help to protect your organization beyond the employment agreement. For example, when memorializing a performance conversation, it may be important to have an employee make a written representation of the fact that they were there, they understand the conversation, and they’ve agreed to any future action discussed during the meeting.
Obtaining an employee’s signature on documents such as these not only helps to clarify expectations, but it can also be an important part of your organization’s risk mitigation.
Employee Signature Best Practices
These signed documents are used should the agreement, the conversation, or actions be called into question, whether that’s internally or in a court of law. To eliminate additional confusion, there are best practices when gathering employee signatures.
A signature in ink is recognized as the standard for executing documents. However, should in-person not be an option (as many organizations have experienced a significant increase in remote workers), other legally recognized methods of signing are effective. These may include a scanned PDF of a signed document with an original signature or obtaining an electronic signature using software that is legally recognized, such as DocuSign, Adobe, certain payroll services, etc.
All in all, it goes back to showing intent to sign should anyone ever question that an agreement was created.
What Doesn’t Count as a Signature?
What you want to avoid is a question of fraud or whether an individual intended to enter into the agreement. Just typing a name using script font instead of using an original signature is typically not sufficient because it is easier to claim that it was created by someone other than the named party.
Additionally, simply cutting and pasting a picture of a person’s original signature into a document, as is sometimes done on letters, isn’t recommended because it can be more easily used to create counterfeited documents (or alleged to be counterfeit by a party not wanting to be bound by the agreement). Having said that, it is slightly better than typing in script font.
In the end, it is important to protect both parties – the employee and the company – with original or well-documented signatures in the case of disagreements or audits. By taking a little bit of additional time upfront to ensure that you’ve gathered an employee’s signature correctly, you can prevent a significant amount of wasted time and money later down the path.
Special thank you to Emily Smith, JD, General Counsel for Clark Schaefer Hackett, and Sammie Kelly for contributing to this Emerging Issues in HR.
Although maintaining proper recordkeeping practices may not be everyone’s forte, it is a critical piece to help protect both your organization and your employees. But don’t worry, Clark Schaefer Strategic HR are here to help! We can conduct an HR Audit to review your HR policies, procedures, documentation, and systems to identify any areas for improvement or enhancement in your HR function. To learn more, visit our HR Audit page or Request an HR Audit Quote.
What is HR’s Role in the Mergers & Acquisitions Process?
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) are a complicated process affecting every facet of an organization – most importantly, its people. Because employees are the key to ensuring the success of any organization, it is critical to develop a thoughtful and strategic human resources-focused approach in the M&A process. This requires HR leaders to be involved from the beginning – as Forbes reminded us of several notable failed M&A attempts when employees were not factored into the process from the start. Through early and ongoing inclusion in the M&A evaluation, planning, and integration process, human resources can play an important role in strategic planning, change management, effective internal communication, and cultivating/transitioning culture.
HR’s Role in the Five Phases of M&A
We have found that most mergers and acquisitions include the following five phases, and we have identified how HR professionals can and should play a role in each phase to result in a successful merger.
Phase 1: M&A Evaluation
The first step in the M&A process is for the interested parties to start discussing the possible merger or acquisition. The name of the game here is discretion. Due to the sensitive nature of M&As and the data that will be shared, both parties will need to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to ensure that no information is leaked before the appropriate time.
These preliminary talks are often highly secretive because they may/may not lead to a merger, so there is no need to cause alarm. Although the level of confidentiality that’s needed can vary, its importance is heightened if either party is publicly traded. It’s critical for HR to be involved early to understand the HR landscape at a high level, including information such as the number of employees and managers, locations, whether or not a union will be involved, etc.
Phase 2: Third Party Engagement
Third parties help both the buyer and seller navigate the process. These third parties are usually lawyers, accountants, investment bankers, financial planners, business coaches, or M&A advisors. These individuals will be involved in the development of the structure and content of the legal agreement.
A merger or acquisition can happen quickly or take months. Although the timing varies, it is not too early for HR to start looking into what management changes need to take place when this deal closes, potential cultural problems, redundancy issues, and what key employees need to be retained. Having thought through these issues early in the process will improve the outcome.
Phase 3: Prep Time and Due Diligence
In this preparatory phase, HR should become even more involved. Initially, as an HR expert, you will want to get as much information as you can from the seller to begin your analysis. This information is usually provided in a secure data room and may be provided in general terms without any names, but it will give you an idea of the “HR side” of the organization. This could include:
- Leadership compensation
- Organization chart
- NDAs
- Employment agreements
- Payroll records
- Benefits that are offered, including 401k/retirement, compliance with ERISA, carriers for the plans, costs, last 2 years’ data
- Pending legal issues
- Financial documentation
At this point, the parties will sign a letter of intent signaling that they are all in agreement with the business framework for the deal. Now the due diligence begins. All documents are carefully reviewed by HR and finance to ensure that there are no unexpected surprises that could derail the deal.
Phase 4: The Agreement
In this phase, the finer details and price become the top focus. There are books written about how valuation is calculated in various industries, so we won’t go into that here. The most important thing is that both parties will come to an agreement on the price and legal documents will be drawn up. Be aware that negotiating the finer details of the acquisition may take longer than you would think.
Once the agreement is reached, there are some filings that need to be completed including with the secretary of state, tax documents, workers’ compensation, and other government bodies who will need to be notified of the event. At this point, the information will soon be public, and you should have a communication plan ready.
Once everything is signed, the integration of the two entities begins and management and HR must now bring the two workforces together.
Phase 5: Integration
HR is now tasked with ensuring the new company is fully integrated. The integration phase includes:
- Communication strategy
- Combining the organizations and cultures
- Determining redundancies
- Formulating strategy
- Ensuring the retention of staff
The “people” side of the acquisition is extremely critical at this point. HR must find ways to retain key employees and keep employees engaged.
How HR Can Ensure Successful Integration
To weave together a new organization, HR will need to keep an eye on many different threads – first among those is culture. Cultural compatibility issues often arise when bringing together two or more organizations in the M&A process. The M&A integration always has a degree of misalignment, regardless of the perceived similarity between the two organizations. Cultural alignment has been identified as the top challenge in M&A transactions, therefore we recommend HR professionals be prepared to address it early on.
Additional areas of focus, as reflected in the diagram below, include combining policies and procedures, identifying and retaining key employees, conducting talent assessments, combining compensation and benefits, and implementing a well-developed communication strategy.
Identifying and Retaining Key Employees
Retention of key employees will be critical to the success of the M&A. To retain key talent that will help make the new organization successful, HR and/or management should communicate its intentions to the “star performers” as early in the process as is legally possible to help ensure retention. This will involve requesting access to conduct confidential interviews with key employees in advance of the actual closing date.
HR should advise management to be very careful not to under-commit to these key employees, or they will consider other employment options. Star performers know who they are and understand their personal and professional marketability.
Combining Policies and Procedures
HR will need to look at the policies of both organizations and consider how to handle the differences. You may choose to retain only the buyer’s or seller’s policies or combine the best pieces from both organizations. You will also need to determine how to handle any changes that would cause employees to have less than what they currently have (i.e., PTO, cell phone, etc.). In the end, you may decide to grandfather those items or provide compensation.
Conducting Talent Assessments
HR will need to identify and manage redundancies and reductions. Be prepared to allocate a significant amount of time to assess employee knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to determine which individuals will be retained and who will be let go. Your strategy may include terminations, early retirements, and a longer-term plan to simply not fill certain positions as they are vacated. A careful strategic approach will be key here – the ways in which these talent management decisions are made will be as important as the actual decisions themselves, as they’ll communicate a great deal about the new organization’s values.
Tips on how to approach talent assessments:
Go through your organizational chart and identify key people. Don’t limit yourself. Consider everyone, not just management. For example, are there key people in your hourly staff?
For each key employee provide:
- A short summary of their main responsibilities
- Years of service, specific experience, and retention risk estimate
- Criticality of the role/employee for the continuation of business and operations
- Any specific agreements with the employee not included in the data provided (i.e., education, training, bonus, perks)
- Development ambition/potential for next steps or succession candidate for other roles within the company
- Other comments to be highlighted by management
You may find a 9-box tool to be helpful in this analysis.
Combining Compensation & Benefits
Depending on the circumstances of the deal – and the compensation policies of the combining companies – HR will likely be called on to splice disparate payment plans into a compensation program that fits the new organization.
It goes without saying that all employees, new and old, will be concerned about what is happening with their pay. Be sure to provide full and early disclosure about the changes being considered to put their minds to rest. Also, members of the senior management team will be anxious to see what types of special arrangements (i.e., stock options, special retirement provisions, severance agreements) will be offered to them given the high-profile nature of the new positions.
In addition to developing compensation programs, HR will likely be required to assess and make recommendations on employee benefits. You can follow a similar process to how you combined policies and procedures for the organization by retaining only the buyer’s or seller’s benefits or combining the best pieces from both organizations. You should also decide if there are any options for which you choose to grandfather in or compensate.
Similar to compensation, employees are sure to be concerned about possible changes to their employee benefits coverage and will want to be informed about “the new package” as soon as that information is available.
Implementing a Well-Developed Communication Strategy
Having a well-planned communication strategy in place is critical throughout the M&A process. It is important to control the message, delivery, and timing, especially when it comes to who gets the information first (i.e., employees, clients, media, investors). When preparing your communication strategy for employees, HR and company leaders should use a concise people-related strategy.
You should include:
- The shared vision for the new company
- The nature and progress of the integration and the anticipated benefits
- The outcomes and rough timelines for future decisions
- Compensation and benefits
- Key policies, rules, and guidelines to govern employee behavior and related workplace expectations (i.e., attendance, time off, harassment, drug testing, privacy, etc.)
Communicating clear, consistent, and up-to-date information not only will give employees from both organizations a sense of control by keeping them informed, but it also can increase the coping abilities of employees and minimize the impact of the integration on performance.
Five Tips for a Successful Communication Program:
- Establish multiple routes of communication (i.e., one-on-one meetings, group sessions, newsletters, intranet updates).
- Focus on the themes of change and progress by highlighting projects that are going well and action items that are being delivered on time.
- Repeat the common themes of the M&A to increase employee understanding of the rationale behind the transaction.
- Provide opportunities for employee involvement and feedback.
- Ensure that employees understand there will be problems, but give a commitment that the problems will be identified and addressed as early as possible.
The Importance of Transparency and Compassion
The success of your integration hinges on how your restructuring is implemented. As a result, the highest priority for the acquiring company is to be transparent and straightforward about what is happening and what is planned. Even when the news is bad, the one thing employees of newly acquired companies appreciate most is the truth. This includes being able to say “we don’t know” about certain areas or “we have not yet decided” about others. Being honest also includes sharing information about when and by what process a decision is expected to be reached.
Once decisions are made about functions and people, HR and company leaders must treat those employees who will be negatively affected by the transaction with dignity, respect, and support. Not only is this approach the humane thing to do, but it also is a powerful way to show those who remain what kind of company they are now working for and can help them to begin to develop positive feelings toward the new organization.
Thank you to Cecilia Vocke, MS, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, for sharing her expertise in this article.
Ensuring that your HR Strategy aligns with your Company Strategy is critical to the success of your organization. Clark Schaefer Strategic HR has years of experience helping clients develop and implement their HR strategy and goals. Visit our HR Strategy Services to learn more about how we can help to assess your organizational design and HR processes to effectively plan for the future.
What Are Employee Pulse Surveys And How Can They Increase Retention?
HR Question:
We are exploring ways to increase our employee retention and engagement, and someone suggested doing an employee pulse survey. Can you explain what that is and how to best use it to drive engagement?
HR Answer:
It is not surprising to employers that The Great Resignation and a tight labor market have posed formidable challenges to the retention of valued employees. To add to this concern, Gallup reports that only 32% of employees are actively engaged, and an additional 17% of employees are actively disengaged. This begs the question: how can employers work proactively to retain valued employees and spur employee engagement?
One answer may be deceptively simple: ask your employees through a survey! Employee Pulse Surveys can serve as an excellent tool to garner actionable feedback from your employees regarding key issues such as leadership, total rewards, culture, and engagement. Not to be confused with a standard engagement survey, a pulse survey is distinct in a few key ways:
- Pulse surveys are shorter. Typically only one to five questions, the shorter survey length can help to combat survey fatigue and result in a higher response rate from employees.
- They’re more frequent. Pulse surveys can be sent out on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. The frequency of data collection makes it easier to see trends develop in real-time and respond accordingly.
- There’s only one focus. Pulse surveys typically focus on one specific topic. The narrow scope of pulse surveys helps you to collect feedback on critical items in between larger, more complex engagement surveys. Action plans can be developed in a timely manner to tackle any pressing concerns before the feedback becomes outdated.
Creating Pulse Surveys
To implement a pulse survey, first, decide on a topic. Consider focusing on a new initiative rollout or a topic that has been of critical interest to your employees (i.e., compensation, benefit offerings, workplace culture, etc.). Next, choose one to five questions that are tailored to this topic. The questions may primarily entail quick, structured questions (such as a Likert scale, multiple choice, or drop-down), which allow for a more quantitative, structured analysis. You may also want to include one or two open-ended questions, which can provide additional customized insight into your data.
Once the content of the survey is established, you will want to choose a survey tool by which to collect the data. Survey Methods is one of Strategic HR’s favorite tools for data collection, although many platforms serve these purposes. By leveraging a third-party survey administrator, you can ensure that your pulse surveys are administered anonymously to gather the most genuine (and valuable) feedback.
Understanding Your Results and Taking Action
The next step may arguably be the most important: creating an action plan to address the feedback that your employees have provided. Do you see common themes? Are there concerns that are identified across the board? These items should be identified, prioritized, and addressed individually. Finally, a timeline should be established to include ownership of each task and a target fulfillment date.
Don’t Forget to Follow Up!
If your employees gave their time to share their thoughts, be sure to return the favor by communicating the results of your pulse survey and the corresponding action plan(s) to your employees. This ensures that your employees know that their feedback is informing actionable changes to improve their experience.
By following these steps for thoughtful implementation of pulse surveys, you can show your employees that your organization cares about their experience and is committed to improving it. While labor market woes remain, pulse surveys can help mitigate these challenges to spur employee engagement and commitment to your organization.
Special thanks to Christine McLaughlin for contributing to this edition of our HR Question of the Week!
Connecting with your workforce can be difficult – factor in multiple shifts, various locations, off-site employees, and a multi-generational workforce, and you quickly learn that checking in with everyone on your team isn’t easy. Clark Schaefer Strategic HR have years of experience formulating engaging and impactful engagement surveys to better understand your employees’ perspectives, needs, and preferences. Visit our Employee Relations page to learn more.
Four Tips for a Successful Coaching Session
HR Question:
I’m a new supervisor, and one of my team members has been having some performance issues on the job. It’s up to me to coach them, but this is new territory for me. How can I make sure that we both have a successful coaching session?
HR Answer:
Coaching, when delivered poorly, can be uncomfortable and result in more conflict than necessary. But effective coaching, when delivered in a thoughtful and professional way, can improve job performance as well as job satisfaction and commitment – feelings that are crucial to retaining talent in today’s market.
Coaching is important for a number of reasons including:
- It allows you to improve or correct behavior. Good and effective coaching allows you to steer employees in the right direction before they get too far off track.
- It can build positive rapport between leaders and team members. Studies show that poor leaders are one of the most common reasons employees leave an organization. Engaging with your team members, building rapport, and showing a genuine commitment to their growth, development, and overall success can go a long way in retaining your talent.
- It is a teaching opportunity. Coaching should not be approached as a punitive experience, rather it should be driven by the goal of helping employees to learn and develop skills or behaviors that result in positive outcomes. If you create a team environment that values and rewards individual growth and development, your employees are more likely to be growth-focused and open to coaching opportunities.
- Coaching one employee can help to retain many. Providing effective coaching for one employee not only helps them to improve, but it can also help your whole team. For example, if you help one employee to modify their approach or behavior that impacts others on the team, your efforts can result in better team relations and a more productive work environment overall.
Your ability to lead effective coaching sessions can be integral to the success and retention of your team, so you will want to take the right approach. Below are four tips on how to facilitate a successful coaching session.
1. Deliver Coaching One-on-One
For the best results and individual growth, coaching should be delivered one-on-one. Coaching to the individual, rather than a group, can help the employee feel respected and valued. We also recommend addressing opportunities for growth or behavior modification in a timely fashion so you can help to set the employee on a better course as soon as possible. This also allows you to strengthen individual employee engagement and morale. One-on-one conversations can give you an opportunity to get to know employees better – such as their styles of work, their goals, or what motivates them.
2. Make it a Conversation
Coaching should not be an intimidating, formal process of criticism. Rather, it can (and many times, should) be an informal process that can happen naturally in the moment. If the issue continues without improvement, then you can implement a more formal process to address it.
Successful coaching should be motivational and in the best instances, lay the foundation for a positive relationship if the feedback is delivered with concern, care, and the person’s best interests at heart. Approaching coaching as a conversation can improve relationships as it feels more collaborative and more open for discussions rather than telling and demanding.
A common mistake some supervisors and managers make in coaching is assuming that they know what the problem is. For example, what if you have a team member who has consistently been late? Rather than assuming the person is too lazy to get up on time, try sitting down together to understand the root of the issue. By having a conversation, you might find out that it’s not a matter of motivation. Instead, it’s because the first bus of the day gets them to work 5 minutes early – but only if it is running on time. Through this conversation, you can understand the root cause of the problem and then set reasonable goals together.
3. Set Attainable Goals
You might associate goal setting with formal performance reviews or other milestones throughout the year. But coaching conversations provide opportunities to set smaller, attainable goals together to show the impact that small changes can make throughout the year. During your coaching conversation, review the playing field and find small goals that could make a positive impact toward a larger, positive change. For example, as in the situation above, perhaps you could consider pushing the person’s start time back by half an hour (making allowances for the bus schedule) to increase on-time attendance for the rest of the month.
Have the conversation together, agree on the desired outcome, and once those goals are set, encourage and provide positive feedback. Don’t just “set it and forget it,” but help the team member problem solve and adjust if necessary.
4. Celebrate!
Review the progress regularly and CELEBRATE. Progress made toward goals often goes uncelebrated and unrecognized. Bringing positive attention toward positive steps forward can encourage and motivate team members.
Coaching takes time and effort. While it would be easier to just let things slide – immediately recognizing and addressing a coaching moment can make a positive impact on an individual and a team’s overall performance.
Thanks to Cecilia Vocke, MS, SHRM-SCP, SPHR for contributing to this edition of our HR Question of the Week.
Are you looking for a retention method that will also bolster your productivity levels and bottom line? Let Clark Schaefer Strategic HR help create and implement your ideal retention strategy via training and development. Visit our Training and Development page to learn how we can help you implement a successful training session.
Tips For How To Have Difficult Conversations With Employees
HR Question:
Each time I take on a new role managing staff, I find myself needing to have difficult conversations with employees about sensitive issues. I’ve had to deal with hygiene issues, someone who wore too much perfume, and even someone who wore an unsightly shirt every single day. What is the best way to deal with these issues and talk with employees about these sensitive topics that are impacting others?
HR Answer:
Most business leaders will tell you that having difficult conversations with employees is one of the most challenging aspects of their leadership position. Whether it’s a team member with a notable hygiene issue or a co-worker with an exceptionally sensitive sense of smell, these interpersonal issues are disruptive to business, and we all wish they would just disappear!
It’s human nature to want to avoid that which we find unpleasant, and most of us would rather have a root canal than have a discussion about another person’s body odor. Great leaders understand that avoidance fosters a culture where issues are allowed to become toxic and spread, potentially impacting the entire team. To truly create change, it is important to be sensitive to the concerns of the individuals involved and handle the difficult conversation with a calm professional demeanor.
Build Trust From the Beginning
The best preparation begins long before the sensitive problem even occurs! Building trusting relationships with your team members early on will make difficult conversations less awkward and more productive.
One way to build trust and establish open lines of communication with your employees is to hold frequent and regularly scheduled one-on-one conversations with them. As an additional benefit, maintaining regular communication with your team members may allow you an opportunity to identify potential areas for concern and proactively address these situations before they escalate into a more serious problem.
How to Prepare for Difficult Conversations with Employees
When a sensitive problem does occur and a tough conversation is warranted, you should address the issue promptly, yet also take the time to fully evaluate the situation and properly prepare for the conversation. Review the details and facts as you are aware of them with the understanding that there is likely more to the story that you will need to uncover in your discussion with the employee.
Also, find the right words to tactfully address the concerns that have been raised and brainstorm potential responses and solutions ahead of the meeting. Approach the conversation from a place of empathy and avoid making assumptions as to the root of the problem.
Suggestions on how to have a respectful and productive discussion:
- Make sure the employee knows it is not a disciplinary meeting but rather a coaching conversation.
- Meet with the employee in a private location without interruptions where you can explain the problem and how it affects the workplace. Have items such as water and facial tissues available if needed.
- Allow the employee to lead the conversation which may result in an apology, learning they were not aware of the situation, or possibly a personal discussion as to why the person is having the issue.
- Be open to the possibility that the employee may have a disability or religious or cultural factors that are impacting the situation at hand (hygiene, for example).
- If they aren’t readily forthcoming in your conversation, try to understand the root of the issue by gently guiding them and allowing them plenty of time to open up.
- Holding the meeting at the end of the day may be best as it will allow the employee to leave immediately afterward.
- Be compassionate and focus on the company’s future expectations.
- Emotions may run high. If it seems the employee is struggling with the information, allow the employee time to process the information on their own. Offer to have a follow up meeting to continue the discussion once they have had time to think about it.
Don’t Fall Into These Complaint Pitfalls
While it is vital for managers to proactively address these issues, it is also important to do so without jumping to conclusions. It must be noted that it is not always the subject of the complaint that needs to be addressed. Be careful when handling issues to ensure that there is validity to the complaint and that it wasn’t a result of one overly sensitive employee, or worse yet – a bully.
Additionally, don’t allow employees to play what Marlene Chism calls “Power of Attorney” by bringing complaints on behalf of others. Ensure that complaints are brought to you by the party involved and avoid falling into secret conversations and gossip with complainers.
You may also find that negative employees can spread negativity resulting in a detrimental impact on the morale, productivity, and profitability of your team. Sometimes the difficult conversation needs to be with the chronic complainer who may allow their own personality flaws to lead to frequent complaints about their co-workers.
Although having difficult conversations with your employees is not likely to be your favorite part of your job, they can be critical to ensure the productivity, health, and well-being of your team. If you can go into the uncomfortable discussions with a professional and development-focused approach, often you can solve issues while also building trust and respect with your employees.
Thank you to Colleen Mahoney, PHR for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
Communication often seems like a “no-brainer,” until you have a difficult or complex message to deliver. HOW you communicate is often as important as WHAT you communicate when it comes to getting results! Strategic HR has years of experience preparing HR communications for a variety of audiences and topics. Visit our HR Communications page to learn how we can assist you with your HR communications needs.
How Can You Teach a Manager to be a Good Listener?
HR Question:
I’ve received a couple of complaints about one of our managers because he is quick to jump to conclusions and doesn’t listen well to his team. I want to provide him with some coaching on active listening. Can you offer suggestions on how to teach him to be a good listener?
HR Answer:
How many times have you walked away from a conversation with someone, whether it was your boss, co-worker, friend, or family member, saying “they just don’t listen to what I am saying!”? This is a common frustration for many, and it happens for a variety of reasons. Whatever the reason, it causes dissatisfaction and can lead to hurt feelings or feelings of distrust.
Listening is a leadership skill that is rarely taught, yet it is a critical one for managers. And listening is getting more challenging in the world of remote employees, remote customers, and remote meetings. In more than thirty leadership and HR articles published on our website alone, listening is cited as an important component in the advice, training, or program being recommended. So, as you look to provide active listening coaching, you want to help the manager to understand both why it is important and how to become a better listener.
Why Listening Skills Matter
The ability to make others feel valued for their contributions to a project, a team, or an organization as a whole is a reflection of an effective leader. Being a good listener and ensuring that employees feel heard is essential in developing trust, respect, and loyalty.
In a recent Fast Company article discussing the science behind how to become a better listener, Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, professor of business psychology at Columbia University, shared that “how well and frequently you listen to others is a better predictor of your leadership potential than your actual intelligence or personality.” He also shared that people who are good at listening are better performers, have a high level of well-being, and have more meaningful and fulfilling relationships.
So, it doesn’t matter if someone is the smartest person in the room… if they’re not a good listener, they will struggle to develop the relationships that are necessary to be a great leader and manager.
How to Improve Listening Skills
How can someone become a better listener? Both Fast Company and the Harvard Business Review dive into science-based, specific steps on how to become a better listener. To break down their suggestions to the barest components, both sources recommend these basic essential steps:
- Be Quiet
- Listen
- Repeat
Sounds easy, right? But what do each of those steps really entail? To implement them correctly, you must:
- Focus all of your attention on the other person. Stop what you are doing with your computer, phone, or even distracting thoughts from a previous conversation running through your head. Use all of your senses to focus on what the person in front of you (in person or on-screen) is saying.
- Use non-verbal cues to communicate that you are listening, like making eye contact and nodding your head. Also, pay attention to the speaker’s non-verbal clues to see if they are congruent with the words they are saying.
- Remain calm and control any emotional response you have to what they are saying. Allow them to finish their statements before you say anything in response, and do not plan your response in your head while they are still talking. Listen to everything they have to say first.
- Restate the last few words they said, and clarify what you believe they were saying. Ask follow-up questions. If the person’s words do not match the non-verbal signs the speaker is giving, carefully inquire about the differences.
- Finally, make sure you understand why they shared this message with you, and if you do not, then ask. A good listener seeks to understand the speaker’s intent, i.e., were they just venting, were they sharing an accomplishment and they need praise, or do they expect you to take some action as a result of what they shared?
Active Listening Enhances Your Professional and Personal Life
It takes practice to be a good listener. It may come more naturally for some than others, but it is a skill that everyone can develop. As you work on finetuning the skill, ask for feedback about how well you listen… and listen to the response! Listening is a skill that will not only enhance your communication and leadership at work, but it’s valuable in your personal life as well. Working on your active listening skills will be time well spent – your employees, friends, and family will appreciate your efforts.
Thank you to Lorrie Diaz, MS, for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
Carefully choosing the right words and the best approach can make the difference between achieving your goals or having your efforts go awry. Managing your HR Communications doesn’t have to be hard – as long as you have the right tools and training. Learn more about how Strategic HR can help with your HR Communications or contact us about your needs.
Four Ways to Improve New Hire Onboarding and Training
HR Question:
Currently, our onboarding includes completing new hire paperwork, going over our company history and policies, ensuring they have the necessary technology tools, and having them meet with select employees to learn what they need to learn to hit the ground running. What else should we incorporate to improve our new hire onboarding and training?
HR Answer:
It sounds like you’re off to a great start. Just to be sure that you’re covering the basics, you should check out these key components of an onboarding plan. To move beyond the basics, I’m going to offer four additional, yet sometimes overlooked, ingredients that can greatly improve the effectiveness of your new employee onboarding:
1. Plan the Right Duration for Onboarding
Developing a solid understanding of how an organization operates, as well as understanding the significance of an individual’s role within it (all while building long-term work relationships), takes time. In some organizations, employees are provided one to three full days of onboarding during their first week. In these situations, they typically review and complete new-hire paperwork and benefit plan enrollment forms, review the safety, health, and security components of the job, and complete any other critical training to be able to hit the ground running. However, is this sufficient onboarding to create a long-term employee? Adult learning research would suggest that it isn’t enough.
Effective adult learning practices must provide opportunities for observation, asking questions, and putting facts, ideas, and experiences together to derive new meaning. This can take time, especially when your goal is to develop a clear understanding of company values, culture, and team cohesiveness and effectiveness. So, if you’re looking for ways to improve your onboarding process, be sure you allocate an appropriate amount of time to the process.
We recommend breaking the new employee learning process into two phases: 1) Employee Orientation and 2) Employee Onboarding.
Employee orientation may take place during the first week of employment and include a company tour, introductions to key staff, new hire paperwork, and cover the basics of the new worker’s job, payroll, benefits, company policies, and safety.
Employee onboarding may start within the employee’s first week and take place over several weeks or months, depending on your goals. In the course of onboarding, you may focus on company culture, values, and team development by having the new hire meet one-on-one with team members to learn about various functions within your organization and how they will play a role in them. You may provide additional specialized training to ensure your new employee is set up for success in their position.
Keep in mind that the volume of new information can be overwhelming for new employees, so you should prioritize and plan appropriately for what information, training, and experiences they need to have from the beginning versus the weeks or months down the road.
2. Design Training for Different Learning Styles
Adults have different preferences on how they learn known as learning styles. Although you might be inclined to develop training based on how you learn best, a valuable way to improve your onboarding and new employee training is to keep your employees’ needs and learning preferences top of mind. A common model for learning styles is the VARK Learning Model which illustrates four key ways that people prefer to learn:
Visual Learners – Prefer to see information. They learn best if they are shown pictures, charts, graphs, or videos to learn important information and details.
Auditory Learners – Prefer to hear the information rather than see it. They prefer to ask questions and repeat back what they have learned.
Reading/Writing Learners – Prefer detailed, written instructions with opportunities to add notes and highlights. They learn best by writing things down to process the information.
Kinesthetic Learners – Prefer to learn by doing. They learn best when they can do “hands-on” work or try to complete a project or task even if it involves trial and error.
Many people actually prefer a combination of these learning styles to meet their learning objectives. Recognizing this can help HR and/or supervisors to tailor their training to each individual. Training Magazine recommends using a differentiated training approach designed to accommodate the different ways that employees learn – ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to learn. HR professionals or supervisors can discover employee learning styles by simply asking them how they prefer to learn new information. If you’re providing training for a group, be sure to incorporate a multi-faceted approach.
3. Incorporate Coaching and Mentoring
A supervisor must provide ongoing and frequent coaching to ensure that knowledge and skills are transferred effectively following training. In addition, assigning a “mentor” or “buddy” can provide a huge boost to a new hire’s onboarding and long-term experience in your organization.
Generally, the role of a mentor is to offer the new employee a connection to someone who can guide him or her but is not in a position of direct authority over the new hire. The Business Journals touts the importance of mentors recognizing how they help new employees to quickly apply their new skills while also relieving some of the new employee’s anxiety.
Mentors may be paired with a new employee for as little as a day or as long as a year, depending on the length of the onboarding program. Their responsibilities may range from providing practical information such as directions to the restrooms, cafeteria, or parking places, to helping the employee understand the nuances of working in the organization. Mentors can also help to make meaningful connections within your organization and answer questions that the new employee may not feel comfortable asking of their supervisor.
4. Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Onboarding Experience
The best way to know whether your onboarding experience is truly meeting the needs of your new hires and your organization’s goals is to ask those who were involved. At a minimum, the new employee should be asked how their onboarding experience is going and whether there are components that should be added, removed, or tweaked. They are likely to provide great ideas for how to improve the onboarding process.
Verbal evaluations can be accomplished between the new hire and their supervisor during our recommended touch bases after 1 week and at 30-60-90 days from the new hire’s start date, or you can choose to ask for feedback via email or other internal communication software/tools. You should also solicit feedback from anyone who was involved with facilitating training and/or serving as a mentor.
No matter what method you choose, it will be important to get feedback from those who are involved in your onboarding process to ensure that it is meeting the employees’ needs and expectations as well as organizational goals.
Thank you to Terry Wilson, SPHR, SHRM-SCP for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
You need your new hire’s onboarding and training to be an excellent experience. Because let’s face it, in this labor market, you can’t afford for it not to be. Strategic HR can provide the support you need with all of your Training and Development goals. Contact us to see how we can help.
Three Ways Employers Can Promote Work-Life Balance
In the midst of a pandemic and a labor “shortage,” followed by an extremely tight labor market, it has become more important than ever that employers listen to and understand the motivations of their employees in order to best attract and retain them. Over the past two years, many employees have made changes that better support family life, financial security, and their lifestyle through remote or hybrid work situations. Many are realizing that work-life balance is not a “nice to have,” but rather it is a necessity.
In fact, in our “Generations at Work: Insights from our Survey of the Generations” report, our team at Strategic HR discovered that the ability to enjoy a work-life balance closely tied as the top reason employees across all generations both join and stay at a company. When combined with the finding that at least 56% of all workers (regardless of generation) preferred a hybrid work situation, employers are trying to strike the perfect work-life balance to attract and retain desperately needed talent.
During a major cultural shift due to the pandemic, many found they were enjoying the “hallway commute,” the additional time with family, and the lessened stress that came from spending more time at home. But for some, there was no clear boundary between when “work” ended, and “life” began. With employees making themselves accessible by email, text, or phone 24/7, it was (and still is) extremely easy to lose sight of that balance. If an employer chooses to ignore the work-life balance expectations of the current workforce, employees will simply move on to a job that suits their needs better.
Three Ways to Promote Work-Life Balance
Each person has his or her own idea of work-life balance or work-life integration, which is another term that some use for the concept of the give and take, tug and pull between work and personal life. So how can employers meet the diverse needs and desires of their employees and achieve work-life balance, particularly if it means something different to each person? Here are three potential solutions:
1) Offer Hybrid or Remote Work Options
To be competitive in today’s market, consider offering hybrid and/or remote work models to employees, in addition to flexible hours. While this may be a complete shift in culture for many organizations, we have seen just how productive and successful employees (and organizations) can be while working virtually some or all of the time.
Some employers may be concerned that remote work could lead to a decrease in productivity and quality of team collaboration. When comparing the collaboration effectiveness of teams working remotely versus in-person, our Survey on the Generations revealed that well over half (55% – 60%) of all generations reported high or somewhat high collaboration effectiveness, followed by 26% – 31% reporting no change as compared to in-person work, and 12% – 19% saw remote collaboration as highly or somewhat ineffective. So what can you do for those who might struggle with remote work?
Steps to ensure success with remote work
Working remotely can present unique challenges to individual and team productivity, collaboration, and success. We recommend that employers:
- Plan for and build internal supports for those who are working remotely to ensure they have the appropriate support (people and tools) and clear direction to optimally perform.
- Have frequent check-ins with employees to ensure that they are on the right track to meet their objectives, have questions answered, and have the resources that they need to be successful. You might discover that there are easy solutions to ensure that everyone on your team is working optimally.
- Ask for employee input to make sure that you are providing the right tools to help them be productive. Be sure that your employees are also properly trained to use the tools. For some, it may also be a matter of creating new, purposeful habits to collaborate in new ways.
Employers should also ensure that their policies and practices are updated to align with their efforts of supporting employee work-life balance. For example, if you offer remote work situations, you should formalize this through a Remote Work Policy that both supports the need for employees’ work-life balance and meets the demands of the business.
A new term for this balance is called “strategic flexibility,” a concept that allows employees and their employers to view the work-life balance holistically and offers insight into how employers can build trust and empowerment within their employee groups while still maintaining fair expectations of employees in remote or hybrid work environments. By offering the option of (at least) a hybrid work environment, employees can reduce the high levels of stress they’ve carried in the past around personal and family obligations and seek a better balance without long commutes.
2) Encourage Employees to Protect Their “Me Time”
Personal time is extremely important for a healthy balance. We are able to be more productive at work when we infuse our daily schedules with some downtime. However, working where we live can lead to blurred lines between work and homelife causing some to find it hard to turn off the workday knowing that there might be one more email/text/phone call that awaits their attention. Employees can start to feel that they need to be available 24/7… falling down the slippery slope that leads to burnout.
Employers can help employees to protect their “me time” by fostering a culture that supports that behavior. For example, it can help to set expectations and encourage employees to “turn off work” by a certain time each day. If an email request happens to be sent during a time when an employee should be “off duty,” instill the habit of noting when something isn’t urgent and can wait until their next workday. This can help employees to set healthy boundaries between work and personal life.
Encourage team members to set time aside each day by doing something for them, whether it’s for 10 minutes or for an hour. The goal is for this time to be set aside for something that truly calms their mind. It could be anything from exercising, meditating, reading, watching TV, etc.
Another way to encourage employees to protect their time is by maintaining a sense of structure throughout the day, whether employees are virtual, in-person, or hybrid. Be sure that you are continuing to host regular staff meetings, group meetings, and social gatherings to make time for some fun together as well.
3) Work Smarter, Not Harder
Help team members stay in the loop through weekly “huddles” or calls to keep everyone accountable and connected. Regular one-on-one meetings allow managers and employees to continue to touch base and uphold the objectives and goals set for the year.
Evaluate processes already in place. Don’t look for places to cut corners, but rather look for steps in the process that may not be necessary to complete the same high-quality work. It’s easy to get into the daily habit of following processes when there may in fact be an easier way.
Work-Life Balance Benefits for Employers
Whether you call it work-life balance, work-life integration, or strategic flexibility, employers who embrace it will not only thrive in terms of attracting, engaging, and keeping valuable employees, they will help to prevent burnout, increase productivity across the board, and ultimately become employers of choice with a reputation for supporting work-life balance. If an employer chooses to ignore the work-life balance expectations of the current workforce, they run the double risk of losing great employees who leave for opportunities that better meet their needs and the impossible task of attracting new talent into a less-than-desirable work environment.
Thank you to Cassie Whitehouse, M.Ed. for sharing her expertise on work-life balance.
Creating an organizational culture that is supportive of the diverse needs of employees is imperative to attracting and retaining the talent you need – not to mention critical to your bottom line. Strategic HR can support your culture strategy through employee surveys, establishing remote and hybrid work policies, identifying retention solutions, developing employee recognition programs, and more. Contact us today!
Specific Ways HR Can Cultivate an Inclusive Workplace
HR Question:
We’re celebrating the last full week of Black History month, and we want to keep the conversation going. How can our HR department cultivate a more inclusive environment beyond Black History Month?
HR Answer:
While the month of February inspires us to celebrate the successes and recognize the struggles of Black and African American individuals across the US, this focus and spotlight do not have to (and we’d argue should not) be limited to four weeks out of the year. In “The Diversity and Inclusion Revolution,” one of the eight truths the Deloitte Review focuses on is that to create a diverse and welcoming workplace, organizations have to “perform a culture reset, not a tick-the-box program.” Celebrating the work and contributions of Black Americans during one month is not enough to build a diverse culture – rather, it can contribute to a continuous, inclusive facet of a larger and ongoing conversation; one that includes a wide range of abilities, identities, ethnicities, races, and genders.
Studies have shown that increasing the diversity of teams and leadership leads to increased innovation. Additionally, it’s no secret that diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplaces see higher than average financial performance as well. It is easy to see why cultivating an inclusive workplace is not only the right thing to do; it is also a smart business decision. So as you look for ways for HR to continue to nurture and grow a more inclusive environment beyond February, we offer the following suggestions.
Embrace 3 Pillars of Diversity and Inclusion
After studying the most productive workplaces around the world, Gallup identified three requirements for a diverse and inclusive workplace culture:
- Employees are treated with respect
- Employees are valued for their strengths
- Leaders do what is right
By viewing diversity and inclusion through a broader lens as Gallup has, it opens the door for everyone to see how they can play a role. It’s naturally HR’s role to facilitate open conversations amongst employees, managers, and executives, including facilitating eye-opening and bridge-building conversations about how to understand and respect one another’s differences and the value that these differences can bring to our professional and personal lives.
In addition to having meaningful conversations that foster a respectful and inclusive environment, we recommend that you review your employee handbook to ensure that your policies and practices fully support diversity and inclusion in your organization. For example, do you have a clear path for employees to go to HR should they have concerns about the inclusivity of their workplace?
Provide Training that Meets Employees Where They are in the Journey
As your organization continues to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging for everyone, it’s important that your employees have the tools and common language to talk through related topics and issues together. When it comes to understanding diversity and how we can learn from one another, there is not a lack of potential training and development experiences. No matter where your employees are on this journey, it is important to continue to provide education and opportunities for growth. If you don’t feel that you are best equipped to educate employees on the subject matter, you may feel inclined to bring in a reputable speaker or training facilitator to optimize the experience.
Look for Ways to Foster a Sense of Belonging
There are many ways that HR can be purposeful in cultivating an inclusive culture. You can look for opportunities throughout the year to recognize important dates or impactful cultural events and help employees to celebrate them. For example, Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday beginning in 2021 – does your organization have plans to celebrate, recognize, or highlight the holiday? Can your employees take time off through established or floating holidays without utilizing their PTO in order to celebrate?
With the goal of creating an inclusive environment, consider providing forums and welcoming spaces for members of various affinity communities to exchange ideas, find mentorships, encourage a sense of belonging, and network. These groups could range from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds to LGBTQIA2S+, women, young and emerging professionals, and more. For example, look to GE’s Employee Resource Groups, which exist for the purpose of welcoming “all employees to learn, connect, advocate, and foster a sense of belonging.”
Get Involved in Your Local Community
As the Deloitte Review emphasized, “match the inside and the outside.” Internal efforts to continue the conversations emphasized during Black History month or other diversity and inclusion initiatives can be more effective when matched with external efforts to make a difference in your local community. Look for outside opportunities through community action groups or nonprofit organizations. You could also consider paying employees for their time and efforts contributing to a more inclusive and welcoming society.
As we mentioned, there are countless ways that HR can cultivate an inclusive workplace, so we hope that these suggestions inspire even more ideas for how you can nurture diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in your organization.
Thank you to Mary Mitchell, MBA, SPHR, CHRS; Melinda Canino, MS; and Samantha Osborne Kelly for contributing to this edition of our HR Question of the Week.
Having an inclusive organizational culture that contributes to your organization’s overall success doesn’t happen by accident. It needs to be nurtured. Learn how we can help you to nurture your culture through our DEIB Consulting Services, or contact us today.
Essential Leadership Attributes For Success
The demand for stellar leadership is at the forefront of every business across all industries. The workplace climate has drastically changed requiring leaders to not only focus their time and attention on the success of their core business but also to provide strategic leadership and support to their employees. Leaders must be positioned with the right leader attributes and competencies to lead in an environment that requires constant re-evaluation and change. They must also meet the needs of employees who have new expectations for personal needs, development, inclusion, and more. In this article, we discuss the demand for new mindsets and how leadership must adapt to drive organizational success in the coming year.
Developing a Culture by Design
Leaders drive culture. Creating a positive culture by design is paramount versus allowing a culture to be formed at the water cooler. This includes living out a true mission, vision, and values with integrity as a central component of your business ethos. In Deloitte’s annual study of human capital trends, culture is consistently ranked among the top three most important issues for senior leadership. Bottom line, leaders must drive a well-planned culture in order to cultivate critically essential high-performance teams.
There are multiple books written on the subject of organizational culture, but one that I’ve found to be helpful with practical advice and direction is Culture by Design: 8 simple steps to drive better individual and organizational performance by David Friedman.
How Do Leaders Impact the Bottom Line?
Leadership drives engagement and retention rates. According to The Employee Engagement Group, 60% of disengaged employees are open to new jobs; but even more alarming, about 40% of non-engaged employees will actually STAY! Much of the disengagement is attributed to poor management and/or a toxic work environment. Turnover costs may accumulate to as much as 20%-40% of an employee’s annual salary. In reality, one employee making $80,000 per year can cost employers $16,000-$32,000 to replace. Leaders must have the ability and foresight to assess engagement on an ongoing basis and to make course corrections if/when needed.
What are the Key Attributes for Success?
Leadership starts with caring and empathy – seeing employees as people first and as employees second. Showing genuine care and commitment to your employees’ well-being builds trust and establishes mutual relationships. The need for servant leadership has not diminished, and leaders must ensure that leading with their heart as well as their head is the normal practice.
Humility can be a superpower in leadership. Authentic leaders admit mistakes, give credit where it’s due, and remain coachable. They provide inclusion and ensure all voices are heard knowing that while they are at the top of the hierarchy, those on the ground often have relevant knowledge and innovative ideas unknown at the management level.
Curiosity, emotional intelligence, and effective collaboration can’t be omitted from the list of key leader attributes. Asking why, how, and what-if questions urge employees to think deeper and speculate about possibilities. Holding people accountable, yet doing so without harsh condemnation, ensures employees are supported if they try and fail. And lastly, collaboration must be fostered to ensure each individual, regardless of their style/personality, are comfortable bringing their input to the table.
Tactics for Developing Leader Attributes
The 70-20-10 rule reveals that individuals tend to learn 70% of their knowledge from challenging experiences and assignments, 20% from developmental relationships, and 10% from coursework and training. If you’re building leaders, stretch assignments provide opportunities for new leaders to learn and grow to help them to experience firsthand what works and what needs further improvement.
Job rotations are effective in growing knowledge and perspective. Rotating a potential leader into a different department or job function can expand their practical and context knowledge of your business. It can help them to further hone their strengths while also providing them with a different perspective that benefits them now and in the future.
Situational-based questions can be designed to push potential leaders outside their comfort zone and to promote more extensive strategic thinking. It may also allow them an opportunity to insert or leverage their own personal style.
Use your most efficacious team members to serve as mentors. Select someone within the organization that can help the prospective leader to see the company and its employees from a different angle. Remember, your leaders are human too and often require the same support they are providing their teams.
What Leaders Need to Unlearn/Change
Strategic planning continues to be a business essential and best practice. However, with uncertainty in economics, politics, pandemic impacts, etc., scenario planning provides an alternative contingency. Annual plans are typically rather concrete. Scenario planning is when employers make plans that enable them to be prepared in many scenarios. “If this happens, then that” planning. This serves as a live and ongoing process of checking the operating plans for current relevancy.
Leaders should consider long-term business shifts to determine which changes that are in place now will transition into being permanent and how to adapt. Examples are remote work and the discovery that an office facility is no longer a necessity to run an organization.
Another significant change for leaders is operating in an environment that drives decisions with the use of artificial intelligence and technology. Data-driven decisions are based on factual statistics as long as the “data in” is credible. Automated tasks can make decision-making easier and also free up leaders to focus on other aspects of human capital and the overall business. The most effective leaders will ensure they are optimizing their use of technology so they can focus more of their time on areas that require a human touch.
Future Forward
Navigating toward future success may require leaders to make bold moves. Combat old habits; banish outdated and ill-informed ways of thinking; drive disengaging and toxic behavior from your business. Even if that means displacing a top leader who is not willing to represent the best interests of the organization both excellently, empathetically, and unselfishly. But it doesn’t stop there. Remember that people are human. Leaders must over-communicate, develop strong and lasting relationships built on trust and transparency, and provide recognition. Always catch individuals and teams “doing something right.” The best leaders of tomorrow will be those who help their businesses thrive while helping their employees to do the same.
Thank you to Angela Dunaway, SPHR-SHRM-CP for contributing to this edition of Emerging Issues in HR.
Are challenges with leadership or organizational culture getting in the way of your company’s success? We can help you to identify your strengths and areas for potential improvement as well as provide the support, coaching, and training needed to ensure that you are positioned for success. Learn more about our Training & Development Services or Contact Us to discuss how we can help you.
Bonus Grants: A Creative Way to Retain and Reward Key Employees
HR Question:
I’ve been asked to look into how we can use bonus grants as part of our retention strategy. Can you help?
HR Answer:
Changes in the economy – as well as clashing generations in the workforce – have altered the employment landscape. Gone are the days of someone retiring after 40 years with the same company. Job hopping has become the norm, and in the war for talent, top performers are regularly being courted by the competition.
Organizations need to implement new and creative ways to keep their key employees – and keep them happy. While salaries are generally staying level, more employers are focusing on bonuses as a way of rewarding employees. But traditional bonus programs may not be good enough anymore. Enter: The bonus grant.
Bonus grants are different than conventional bonuses in that they are a commitment that the company makes to key employees. Instead of earning raises and/or bonuses that are paid out annually, key employees accrue larger bonuses over a longer period of time. The company also has the option of tailoring the program to the individual employee to provide the most appropriate benefit.
While there are many advantages associated with implementing a bonus grant program, the following are the three most significant:
Retention
Most bonus programs are paid in the year they are earned. While this may immediately inspire feelings of gratitude and loyalty, the effect quickly wears off. With bonus grants, key employees are credited a certain bonus amount each year, but they are not fully vested until a specific date determined by the employer (usually 5-10 years). This is a terrific way to help ensure retention because if an employee leaves the company, they are walking away from the bonus account that was set up for them.
Flexibility
Unlike salary raises that commit employers to funds that they may not be able to spare in the future, bonus grants provide companies the flexibility to determine how much – if any – money is given to a specific employee based on their individual performance, as well as the company’s performance that year. Employers can set a different percentage or flat rate for each employee in the program, and these numbers can vary from year to year at the employer’s discretion.
Simplicity
There are different types of retention tools and tactics in the marketplace, but most are complicated and difficult to understand – for both employers and employees. A bonus grant program can be very straightforward. By keeping it simple, key employees will easily understand the value of the benefit being offered, and the company leadership will understand what they are committing to.
Is a bonus grant program right for your company?
Here are some questions to ask when deciding whether a bonus plan is right for your company:
- Are you having issues recruiting and retaining key employees, or competing with larger companies for employees at the executive level?
- Do you wish to provide specialized forms of compensation to key executives or employees in lieu of making them partners or part owners in the business?
- Is your ability to offer a more robust benefits package to high-performing employees hindered by your business’ lack of free cash flow?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, a bonus grant program is worth exploring.
Thank you to our CSH colleagues, Bill Edwards and Lance Drummond, for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
There is some strategic planning involved in setting up a bonus grant program, but our skilled colleagues at Clark Schaefer Hackett can help your organization set up and administer one. If you’re looking for a creative way to hold onto your best employees, a bonus grant program may be something that sets your company apart from the competition. For more information, please contact us.
What is an Employee Dashboard? Why is it Important?
HR Question:
What is an Employee Dashboard, why is it important, and what should be included in its design?
HR Answer:
When it comes to keeping employees involved in the dynamics of a company and their own status as team members, the Employee Dashboard plays a vital role. Employee Dashboards are centralized electronic checkpoints where each employee can start their day. Employee Dashboards, also known as Employee Self-Service (or ESS) portals, typically provide the following features:
- Updates on company news and developments
- Links for employees to perform tasks such as personal data changes, benefits enrollment changes, and performance evaluations
- A way for employees to share ideas and feedback
- A place to provide recognition for the achievement of individual employee milestones, team accomplishments, and company feats
Many HR professionals use electronic dashboards for tasks such as employee information filing, tracking, and reporting. However, it is important to think about Employee Dashboards from the employees’ perspective as a resource that helps them each day.
Employee Dashboards can be a powerful resource for workforce communication. Before smartphones and self-service apps became commonplace, employees relied upon low-tech ways to get updates on important information about their jobs, their employment, and their organizations. Companies posted important information in break rooms or beside the time-card clock, or they announced timely updates in daily or weekly huddles or sync-ups.
However, consider all the changes that have been driven by broad and powerful business forces – the COVID pandemic, labor shortages, and supply shortages to name a few. Many employees now work remotely, either full-time or part-time, so using onsite bulletin boards or huddles may not provide employees with the ongoing supply of information needed to keep them engaged.
Why is an Employee Dashboard an Important Resource?
First, think about an Employee Dashboard as a funnel for an employee’s attention. Today, many employees are not on-site to hear in-person messages. And even if they are, how well does information get communicated? Is email an effective way to keep information in front of every employee? Unfortunately, it may work for some but not all. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), “Self-service tools applied in the right scenarios are paying dividends for HR functions, industry vendors and employees who use the applications.” A place to “check in” every day to see what is going on is a great option for communicating important information. Hence, the Employee Dashboard.
What Should Be Included on an Employee Dashboard?
If you want to have an actively used Employee Dashboard, include the following:
- Reminders – holidays, deadlines (i.e., deadlines for benefits enrollment, employee surveys, etc.)
- News updates – quarterly sales or production results, customer testimonials, and organizational changes
- Recognition – broadly: company or team accomplishments and individually: personal milestones
- Payroll information – links to the Payroll site for pay stubs, W2’s, personal data changes, etc.
- Benefits information – links to websites for health insurance carriers, 401k/retirement plan recordkeepers, and other benefits providers
- Wellness resources – links to sites to provide employee assistance for wellness and perhaps financial, legal, and social and emotional well-being
Employee Dashboard Caveats
To be most effective, the following “design considerations” must be reviewed when building an Employee Dashboard:
- Security. Employee Dashboards must incorporate security features first and foremost. A careful review to ensure safeguards on electronically stored information and prevention of loss of sensitive personal information must be completed. Thoughtful consideration of identity theft risks and other cyber-crimes is paramount.
- Ease of access. How easy is it for employees, especially new employees, to log in to this site? Does the Employee Dashboard platform or system allow access by smartphones and home PCs? Make sure that the instructions and, just as important, the “help desk” resources are readily available to assist.
- Ease of use. Is the Employee Dashboard well organized? When employees arrive on the Home Page, how easy is it to navigate? Are important/critical messages easy to see? Are links to the most-used data sites easily spotted?
- Timeliness and Relevance. Is the information current? Information MUST be current and relevant to keep employees engaged. Who will update the dashboard? How will messages be prioritized and sequenced?
Finding an Employee Dashboard System
If your company is using a third-party payroll provider, chances are that they have an Employee Self-Service portal built into their platform, including a pre-designed Employee Dashboard feature. It may require that you add access to this module to your current services, but sometimes this can be done at little or no additional cost, depending upon the richness of the services that you wish to offer.
Thank you to Terry Wilson, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Senior HR Consultant, for contributing to this edition of our HR Question of the Week!
Communication often seems like a “no-brainer.” HOW you communicate is often as important as WHAT you communicate when it comes to getting results! Strategic HR has years of experience preparing communications for a variety of audiences and topics. Visit our Communications page to learn how we can assist you with various communication-based projects.
What Are Total Compensation Statements?
HR Question:
Can you explain Total Compensation Statements … What are they? What should they include? When should we use them?
HR Answer:
Total Compensation Statements convey the total value of your compensation and benefits offerings as they include an employee’s direct and indirect compensation. They are a great tool to show not only how much an employee earned in base salary or hourly wages and bonuses in a given time period (often a year), but they also share the hidden costs of employee benefits and perks. Employers prepare and distribute Total Compensation Statements to employees typically once a year, often at the end of the year or with their W-2.
Total Compensation Statements should include the employer’s cost for the following:
- Social Security & Medicare taxes
- Workers’ compensation
- Unemployment tax
- ALL insurance packages (health, dental, vision, life, short- & long-term disability, long term, etc.)
- HSA, FSA, HRA contribution
- Retirement contributions
- Paid time off (vacation, sick, holidays, personal, bereavement, jury duty)
- EAP, wellness, or financial health programs
- Relocation
- Parking
- Tuition reimbursement & education assistance
- Professional memberships
- Professional development and training (internal and external)
- Company vehicle or equipment use
- Company events, lunches, celebrations
How to use Total Compensation Statements to RETAIN your employees
Although you are not required to provide them, we highly recommend that you distribute Total Compensation Statements to your employees. If you are not using them as an essential retention tool, you are missing out on the benefits of sharing the secret value of your employees’ “total” paycheck with them. Most employees have no idea how much it costs to employ someone and have an expectation of benefits without understanding the cost. Seeing these numbers is where the real aha moments come for employees!
Consider providing a Total Compensation Statement to your employees at the end of this year, or maybe even more than once a year. The statement provides a great reminder of the many benefits and the additional dollars you are investing in them beyond what they see in their paycheck, especially if they are thinking about joining the “Great Resignation.” As employees quit their jobs in record numbers, according to USA Today, this Total Compensation Statement may be the message that conveys that you, their employer, care about them and provide benefits that go beyond the organization’s front door to provide for their health, education, retirement, etc.
How to use them to RECRUIT new employees
I recently attended a local event where Sheetz, a ‘new to our area’ gas station/convenience store/fast food restaurant, was handing out free cookies, drawing in the crowd with sugar, and recruiting fliers. What caught my eye was not another flyer for another job, rather a flyer showcasing what you could earn working at the company in terms of Total Compensation. That total number was big and bold right at the top and included their base pay, benefits, and retirement contributions. The flier also showed how an employee could progress through their four employment levels and each level showed the total compensation in bold at the top. You immediately saw that you could earn $31,166 per year (rather than $10.60 an hour base pay). What a great way to stand out and catch the eye of job seekers!
Thank you to Lorrie Diaz, Senior HR Consultant with Strategic HR, for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
Need assistance in creating a Total Compensation Statement? Strategic HR will work with your organization to develop a great strategy for using Total Compensation to recruit and retain your talent and even create the statements for you. Contact us to get started!
What Role Should HR Play in Benefits Open Enrollment to Ensure Success?
HR Question:
I recently took on the responsibility of overseeing our company’s benefits. Can you offer advice on the role HR should play in benefits open enrollment to ensure its success?
HR Answer:
As many employers, like yourself, are in the midst of planning for benefits open enrollment, it takes me back to the early days in my HR career. During one of my first HR positions, I assumed that my employee benefits broker could effortlessly pull off a stellar enrollment while I worked on other HR priorities. That’s when I learned – the hard way – that a broker cannot work autonomously to assemble and communicate your benefits program.
There’s no doubt that employee benefits brokers play a vital role in any benefits enrollment process. They know what benefits programs are available, which vendors can provide them, and how benefits are priced. An experienced employee benefits broker will also take the time to understand your organization and develop a customized employee benefits plan to meet your workforce’s needs. However, they cannot operate effectively without an HR professional taking a leadership role in the process. Having learned this lesson firsthand, I can share the following suggestions on the role HR should play in making your benefits open enrollment successful.
Identify benefits that give your company a competitive advantage.
Can a well-stocked benefits plan make your company the lead horse in the race for talent or help improve your retention? You bet! In their August 2021 survey, PwC revealed that employers underestimate the value of benefits in retaining employees despite the fact that benefits were identified as the number two reason employees were looking for new jobs. Employers who present both employees and candidates with a mix of competitive pay AND an enticing selection of health, retirement, and financial benefits can put themselves on the “employer of choice” A-list.
Plan for benefits that fit with workplace changes.
You may have more employees who now work remotely, either full-time or for some days of the week. Their family members are likely also dealing with workplace, school, or daycare changes. Consider benefits plan enhancements that address their needs, such as supplemental child care or elder care support. In addition, a recent SHRM article shared insight from Doug Ramsthel, executive vice president and partner at Burnham Benefits, explaining that employers “are likely to see an increase in spouse enrollment, as labor statistics indicate more spouses have elected to stay at home instead of work and will need coverage now, through the working spouse.”
Additional considerations for your benefits plan design include:
- Many employees may have a greater awareness of the need for both short-term and long-term disability benefits and mental health support.
- The use of telemedicine has increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. More employees are now comfortable with receiving virtual care.
- Some employees may want help with financial concerns, like how to best preserve their retirement benefits while balancing financial cash flow needs.
If you’re not sure of what benefits your employees would value most – ask them! Taking the pulse of your employees’ preferences will help you to identify the benefits that they value the most, and perhaps shine a light on benefits that may no longer hold the value they once did.
Leverage the most effective ways to communicate with employees.
You know how to best deliver important messages to your employee audience. Differences in employee ages and life stages, locations (office, manufacturing facility, remote, etc.), and comfort levels with technology have likely driven different communications approaches. Handing out a benefits enrollment form and brochure or mailing it to employees’ homes may be useful for some, but it is only the start of the communications process. HR can play a critical role in making your benefits open enrollment successful by using additional communication tools that speak to broader communication preferences including:
- Text messages. Although email is universally used, could text messaging be a helpful tool for your employees? You know that many of your employees, regardless of age, use texting as a way to get updates. It can also be a great communication tool for employees who work on the road or don’t have consistent access to a computer in their work day. You can use texts to provide prompters, deadlines, or answer questions. You can also use texts to remind employees about underutilized benefits to drive participation.
- Website / Mobile App. Consider providing employees with enrollment information through an online benefits website or mobile app that can be accessed 24/7. This site can be updated throughout the enrollment period with FAQ’s, details of new benefit offerings, and deadline reminders. Contact information may include a chat feature or texting options for questions. You can also add events to make the enrollment process both fun and enlightening, such as quizzes, benefit enrollment scavenger hunts, polls, videos, and infographics.
- Webinars and virtual meetings. Video-based webinars, town hall meetings, and “ask me anything” sessions with members of the benefits team or broker can be effective approaches. Employees may have varying shifts or conflicting schedules, or they may want a family member or significant other to attend a meeting, so you may want to host multiple sessions over different time zones to maximize the number of participants who can participate in a live session. These webinars should also be recorded, posted on the company employee site, and include the opportunity to email or text in questions for employees who cannot attend a live event.
Take it from me. Your active participation in the benefits enrollment planning and communication process is a vital part for success!
Thank you to Strategic HR’s Terry Wilson, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Senior HR Consultant, for contributing to this HR Question of the Week.
Do you need help in determining the benefits that best fit your organization? Or could you use help in developing Total Compensation Statements? Learn more about our Benefits and Compensation Services or contact us today.
Why Employee Retention is More Important Now Than Ever
We’ve all been hearing the same thing: we’re in the Post-Pandemic War for Talent. Some have called it the Turnover Tsunami or the Great Resignation. No matter what it’s called, the reality remains the same: businesses are in a talent crisis. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 9.2 million job openings in May 2021 – yet there are only 1.2 available workers per job opening, according to the US Chamber of Commerce’s Worker Availability Ratio. Add to that, roughly 48% of Americans are considering a role change, with 53% contemplating changing industries altogether. And roughly 50% of employees say the pandemic has led them to question their current career goals.
All of these numbers are startling. For many employers, their best resource for talent is the talent that’s already on the team, which makes employee retention more important now than ever. But what are employers actively doing to keep them? While managers may say, “fine, let them go,” the reality is it may be extremely difficult to replace them.
The good news is there are actions that can be taken to improve employee retention. It takes some effort, but in the current climate, businesses can’t afford not to.
A first step to winning the “war for talent” is to lose the intention to return to pre-pandemic business. The workforce has drastically changed since March 2020. Organizations that automatically return to what was “status quo” may find themselves receiving pushback from employees who have enjoyed some elements of COVID work life.
The pandemic forced many businesses into a remote work environment. As the duration of the pandemic continued, employees and leaders had mixed feelings about remote work. Some loved it, while others longed to be back in the office. Many felt the biggest casualties of remote work were communication, collaboration, and relationships. Despite claims of increased productivity thanks to fewer interruptions, the impromptu chats and meetings fell off, eliminating the opportunity to communicate casually, collaborate creatively, and build relationships. So, where do employers go from here?
The Great Debate: Office vs. Remote
Employers who never offered remote work may experience struggles and pushback with deciding what the post-pandemic workplace looks like. A recent Korn Ferry survey found that nearly half of workers would turn down work if it mandated an in-person office presence. For employers, it’s important to be intentional in this decision as it can have a direct impact on employee retention and your ability to attract new talent. Just because in-person was the work norm pre-pandemic, does not mean that it’s right for post-pandemic. With the mixed feelings of employees and leaders, employers might consider a hybrid work environment, with some remote time and some in-office time. Many are finding this can serve as a compromise and still be an effective business model. Talk to your employees. What worked, and what didn’t? Employees want to know that their preferences were considered instead of being handed a mandate. Where possible, offer tangible business reasons for the decision.
Strategies to Improve Employee Engagement
Whether employers choose to be in-person, remote, or a hybrid of the two, it’s critical to maintain an engaged workforce. This can be more challenging with a remote or hybrid work arrangement, but it’s no less important.
Engagement starts with strong lines of communication. The need for communication is often overlooked or not seen to be of value, but choosing to remain silent can be to the detriment of the organization. Some key pointers to keep in mind:
- Share key goals and KPIs with the team, and update status on them regularly. Employers can guide employees’ focus by sharing goals and the progress toward meeting them. All too often, leaders create KPIs and then put them aside until performance review season. By keeping them top of mind and visible, the message is clear: their work is critical to the organizational goals.
- Help employees see where they fit into meeting those goals and KPIs. Engagement is achieved when employees understand how what they do impacts the organization. Every employee needs to know how their role contributes to the success of the organization. The quality of their work, the timeliness in which it is completed, even their attitudes in doing the work are all critical components to success. The best way to ensure employees care about their work is to help them see how they fit in.
- Don’t underestimate the value of morning huddles. A morning team huddle can be brief – no more than ten or fifteen minutes – but it sets the tone and expectations for the day. A huddle can celebrate accomplishments of the day before, provide updates on open issues, and establish the focus for the day. The time spent can minimize issues later. The key is to make the most of the time and adopt a structure to keep it concise.
- Demonstrate transparency. Focus on what is going well and the positive aspects, but don’t gloss over challenges. Honestly communicate issues and concerns and be open to discussing possible solutions. One of the best ways to build engagement is to ask the opinion of those that directly impact the end result.
On an individual basis, set clearly communicated performance expectations, and revisit those often. Managers must provide ongoing feedback to correct and reinforce behaviors. An engaged culture encourages employees to be problem solvers and to take ownership for finding solutions. Use problems and challenges as learning opportunities to demonstrate the troubleshooting thought process to employees. This encourages an environment of constant ongoing learning.
What are your individual employee’s strengths, and how can those be leveraged? This can be a great opportunity to recognize an employee and advance the goals of the business while also impacting employee retention.
Renew Your Focus on Professional Development
Another key contributor to employee engagement is professional development. A recent Bamboo HR survey found that 78% of employers working remotely felt their professional development was negatively affected by COVID, averaging a loss of $9,800 in promotional income. During COVID, many businesses found themselves in survival mode, where professional development was well down in the list of priorities. As we emerge from the pandemic, it is essential that employers return the focus to employee development. If it has lapsed, take the opportunity to restart the conversation with employees – revisit previous career goals. Are these still relevant or do they need to be revised?
Don’t forget that the pandemic work environment may have provided some unique learning opportunities. Are there ways to capitalize on these? A returned focus on professional development shows employees that you are committed to them and their success, and it can contribute to increased employee retention as well.
As the business world looks beyond the pandemic and begins to address the challenges that are being presented, wise leaders will recognize this opportunity to re-evaluate the culture, identify lessons learned, make the most of the talent they already have.
Special thanks to Cathleen Snyder, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, for contributing to this edition of our Emerging Issues in HR!
Would you like to find out how engaged your employees are? Strategic HR can help. We will create a custom survey to mirror your work environment and goals for the business, administer the survey as a neutral third party, and summarize the findings with recommendations for improvement. You can learn more on our employee surveys page or contact us now.
Strategies for Managing Change in Your Organization
Change – it impacts us at work and in our personal lives. Sometimes it happens suddenly and swiftly where no pre-planning can occur. We find ourselves scrambling to process what’s happened, what it means, and how it will affect us. We are forced to pivot and determine what to do differently so “the change” becomes the “new normal.” Sometimes change is planned for; individuals and organizations create change to improve something. Whether big or small, planned change is enacted because there is a belief that it will produce a positive outcome. Unfortunately, all too often, individual reactions to change or the level of effort needed for change to be embraced is underestimated or overlooked altogether. Managing change can be difficult!
What is Change Management?
According to the Society of Human Resource Management, change management is “the systematic approach and application of knowledge, tools, and resources to deal with change. It involves defining and adopting corporate strategies, structures, procedures, and technologies to handle changes in external conditions and the business environment.”
There are a variety of models for managing change that can be applied when facing a change initiative. Some models focus on an organizational response to change, while others focus on individuals and how people respond and react to change differently. No matter the model you chose to follow, consider these tools and recommendations to smooth anticipated bumps in the road.
Organizational Response to Change
When change occurs within an organization, it’s not unusual for there to be a decline in performance, morale, or overall productivity. Employees tend to enjoy and expect a certain level of status quo. When a major change is introduced, performance drops as individuals react to the change. Even in the best of circumstances, productivity levels aren’t typically perfect right out of the gate. There may be glitches, unforeseen challenges, and learning curves that must be overcome. It takes time for the organization to adapt to the change.
Adaptation Strategies
What can be done to help an organization ‘adapt’ faster? Research shows that organizations can move from ‘adapting’ to ‘thriving’ quicker if the following occurs:
- There is regular communication and understanding of the changes occurring and desired outcomes & benefits.
- Managers are working closely with their teams and aiding throughout the change process.
- There is a focus on employee training and development; individuals are provided with the tools, knowledge, and materials to operate in the new environment.
- Individuals are given time to work through the emotional ‘roller-coaster’ that can be part of a major change.
Leadership’s Responsibility When Managing Change
According to a study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership, they identified 9 critical leadership competencies of successful change efforts and change-capable leaders, later divided into “the 3 C’s of Change.”
- Communicate: including the “why” behind the change, rather than focusing only on “what” is changing, creates stronger buy-in and urgency for the change.
- Collaboration: leaders can increase their employees’ interest and investment in the change by including them in the decision-making process early on.
- Commit: Change can be scary but waffling back and forth on change can intimidate and confuse employees even more. By remaining resilient and dedicating themselves to change, leaders found themselves more successful during the adaptation process.
Individual Response to Change
Charlie Baker, former Vice President at Honda R&D Americas, described how individuals experience change is similar to how people experience grieving. Many are familiar with Elizabeth Kubler Ross’s stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. For anyone who has gone through grief, most will tell you it’s not a linear process. The same concept applies to the change curve, which includes: denial, resistance, commitment, exploration, and commitment. For some, it may be a quick process; for others, they may linger in one stage longer than another. It’s also possible for some to travel backward through the curve if the change isn’t managed well.
Strategies to Move Toward Acceptance
What can be done to help move people to the acceptance stage of change? There are multiple activities to consider:
- If employees are in the Denial phase, supervisors should be in information mode – providing as much information as possible about the change and communicate a clear business case for why change is occurring. Management needs to “own” the change themselves and reinforce the company’s (or their own) vision for the change.
- In the Resistance phase, supervisors should be in empathy mode. To help their employees overcome resistance, supervisors need to be active listeners while allowing employees to express their feelings and thoughts and acknowledge/normalize them.
- In the Exploration phase, supervisors should be in facilitation mode. Employees need to see some specific, concrete changes – particularly those that will affect them. This may include providing new organizational charts, new tools, new metrics, or setting short-term goals to allow employees to practice operating under the changed environment and seeing immediate results & benefits. It’s important for supervisors to provide support and clear direction so employees understand what is expected of them in the future. Training, as needed, is most applicable in this phase since employees are over denial and resistance and can concentrate on learning new things.
- In the Commitment phase, employees have overcome most of the obstacles and supervisors should begin setting longer-term goals. Employees should continue to be provided with support and encouragement, but supervisors should continue to eliminate barriers and opportunities for learning. It’s important to promote and celebrate the successes that have been achieved, as well as identify and communicate any additional benefits that were not anticipated.
Throughout the change process, supervisors should be doing their best to actively support their employees in potentially difficult times. It’s also important to reinforce the “what’s in it for me” – the benefits of the change for the employees, as well as to the team and organization.
Effectively dealing with change is a critical skill area for all employees at all levels – whether you are an employee who needs to embrace change, a manager who needs to embrace and manage change, or a leader who must embrace, manage, and lead change! Having a better understanding of the challenges and using a variety of strategies to address them can greatly improve your success at managing change in your organization.
Special thanks to Terry Salo, Senior HR Consultant with Strategic HR for contributing to this edition of Emerging Issues in HR.
Now more than ever, managing change in your organization requires a coordinated, strategic approach. Strategic HR can help with your leadership and HR strategy through organizational changes – no matter how big or small. For more information, please visit our HR Strategy page, or simply contact us today!
Are Employee Gift Cards Considered Taxable Benefits?
HR Question:
To thank my employees for their extra efforts, I have provided them with a $50 gift card. Accounting is telling me I have to report the value of the gift cards as taxable benefits. Is that true?
HR Answer:
Yes, it’s true! According to the IRS, cash, gift certificates, and gift cards are considered taxable fringe benefits and must be reported as wages. But you may be relieved to know that this rule doesn’t apply to all gifts or perks that you may give to employees.
The IRS tells us that we can exclude the value of a “de minimis” benefit from an employee’s wages. For those unfamiliar with a “de minimis” benefit, the IRS defines it as “any property or service you provide to an employee that has so little value (taking into account how frequently you provide similar benefits to your employees) that accounting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable.” Most employers tend to categorize de minimis gifts in the under $50 range, but for some, it can go upward of $100.
In comparison to cash or cash equivalents which are always considered taxable benefits, small gifts have much more flexibility when it comes to tax responsibilities according to the IRS. But how organizations denote “small” is still up for negotiation. When deciding on a gift or fringe benefit for an employee, consider the value and the frequency of the gift or benefit. For example, purchasing a book for an employee for their birthday would be excluded. Purchasing a book every month for an employee would not be excluded due to the frequency of the gift, regardless of the value of the book.
Additional Examples of Tax-Exempt Benefits
Other examples of de minimis benefits include such things as some meals, occasional parties, occasional tickets for events (not season tickets), holiday or birthday gifts (other than cash or cash equivalents). Essentially, occasional gifts that can’t be redeemed for cash value can be considered as these exempted benefits.
There is also an exemption for achievement awards, which come with additional rules of their own. Examples of these gifts include gifts for achievements such as safety milestones or length of service or anniversary milestones. Certain achievement awards can be excluded from the employee’s wages if the awards are tangible personal property and meet certain requirements. Notable exceptions from The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act prohibit certain property as an employee achievement award, including vacations, lodging, stocks, bonds, and securities. Limitations are further detailed in the Act, including $400 maximum for non-plan awards and up to $1600 if you have a documented, non-discriminatory program surrounding the awards.
Additional requirements exist for these achievement awards. For example, length-of-service awards can’t be received during the employee’s first five years of employment or more often than every five years. Also, safety awards can’t be given to more than 10 percent of eligible employees during the same year.
Employee awards are an important part of employee engagement. It is important, however, to make sure you don’t turn that $100 thank you gift card into a much more expensive “gift” by assuring you are properly handling the taxes accompanying such a gift.
Strategic HR knows that keeping abreast of HR Compliance issues can be daunting, especially when the laws keep changing. We can help you stay compliant by fielding your questions and offering resources to help you identify and mitigate compliance issues. Visit our HR Compliance Services to learn more.
Mental Health Concerns in the Workplace
In today’s chaotic environment, many American workers have been searching for ways to cope with the “new normal.” Between the pandemic, civil unrest, a divisive and contentious election, and frequent changes in their day to day life, it’s no surprise that mental health concerns in the workplace are on the rise. What impact can your employees’ mental health have on your organization?
In a recent study of 12,000 employees conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, individuals with better mental health were about two times more likely to maintain or improve their productivity when compared to those who were experiencing worse mental health during the pandemic. When surveyed about their mental health needs, TELUS International found that roughly 80% of workers would quit their current role if a new position provided more support for their mental health needs.
In this unique moment of increased remote work, additional challenges have presented themselves. In that same study, four out of every five workers indicated that they found it difficult to separate their work life and home life when working remotely due to the pandemic. Between the longer days and later hours resulting from a lack of structure when working from home, the mental strain led to an inability to maintain a positive work-life balance. This trend can be very difficult to sustain on a long-term basis, eventually impacting employee productivity and the quality of their work.
So how can HR and business leaders partner together in this remote/hybrid work environment? The same TELUS survey allowed employees to voice the changes they would most like to see implemented.
Encouraging the Use of PTO
Roughly 97% of those surveyed believed that taking vacation days is important to their mental health. In fact, over half of those surveyed have taken a “mental health day” since the pandemic began. Without the ability to travel or get away for vacation, employees may find themselves hesitant to take time off. Leaders should encourage the use of available PTO to disconnect, recharge, and relax – even if it’s within their own backyard.
Creating Flexible Scheduling (Without the Extra Hours)
Nearly nine out of every ten respondents agreed that a flexible work schedule would positively impact their mental health. This would allow employees to take mental breaks during the day, catering to children’s school schedules and family needs while reducing the guilt associated with “not being available.” When implemented correctly, this gives employees a feeling of control, reduces turnover, and boosts morale.
Provide Professional and Personal Interaction
Many employees would benefit from additional coaching or “reach outs” through the week from their managers or leaders. By connecting up and down the ladder and across departments, these unstructured check-ins can allow employees to fill the social gaps they lack from the isolation that naturally comes with remote work. In fact, many businesses have also implemented virtual “happy hours” to have their team gather for social interaction. Be sure to strike a careful balance here to avoid “Zoom Fatigue” by bombarding each other with video calls and check-ins.
Implement Telehealth Initiatives
There has been an increased demand for remote counselors or therapy sessions. In fact, the American Psychology Association has indicated that telehealth counseling can be just as effective as in-person counseling especially for younger generations that are used to using technology. It also allows for easier scheduling, lower costs, and a more private environment than the traditional face-to-face setting. Connecting employees to resources that provide this kind of remote support can allow individuals to work through their stress and develop coping mechanisms with trained professionals.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the ongoing conversation around mental health and highlighted the importance of taking care of ourselves, both in mind and in body. HR professionals and business leaders have an opportunity to make a positive impact on their lives and the health of their employees by building bridges for interaction, implementing mental health initiatives, and guiding employees to utilize the resources they have at hand. Strategic HR created this extensive compilation of mental health resources as an easy-to-use reference for employers to support the mental wellbeing of their employees. By encouraging frequent conversations, utilizing available resources without attaching stigma, and establishing positive practices surrounding mental health, businesses can see themselves and their employees through these uncertain times with success.
Special thanks to Mike Coltrane, Talent Acquisition Consultant, for contributing to the Emerging Issues in HR!
Your employees face challenges every day. We can help you to ensure that your company policies and benefits best support your employees’ overall well-being. Visit our Benefits and Compensation page or our Health, Safety, & Security page to learn more. Or, better yet, contact us.
Leading Change Amidst a Crisis (Part 2 of 2)
Leader performance during a crisis sets the tone for the entire organization, and the current pandemic has tested leaders like no other. How leaders respond or fail to respond is key to future success. Leaders who remain calm, encourage input, take an open-minded approach and evaluate what the company can do better post-crisis are more likely to survive and shine. As we continue our exploration of key areas of leading change amidst COVID-19, we’ll discuss topics geared toward moving through and out of this crisis.
Psst! In case you missed it, be sure to read Leading Change Amidst a Crisis, Part 1.
Leading Change with Recognition
As we work through the challenges related to COVID-19, there have been many heroes that have risen to the surface. Healthcare providers, emergency responders, grocery store workers, manufacturers, and countless other essential workers have gone above and beyond the call of duty during a time of abnormal health risks and stress. Internally, your organization has most likely experienced some unsung heroes as well. There is no way to over-emphasize the importance of employee recognition, both during this crisis and once things are under control. Recognizing your employees’ hard work and dedication will do a lot to feed their self-esteem and desire to continue to shine, particularly during stressful times.
In some cases, employers spend a good portion of their time focusing on employees with behavioral or performance problems. Most leaders have been faced with these challenges, and those behaviors must not go unchecked. However, it’s important to purposefully take time to recognize the behaviors that you want to foster and see continued. Be sure to recognize your top performers as well as those behind the scenes in less public roles who are doing a great job in contributing to your organization’s success. While many don’t require hand-holding, human beings value respect and admiration from those around them – this includes their peers and co-workers.
Some ways to ensure that your employees feel appreciated and valued include:
Involve your employees in important decisions and strategic planning of the organization. Solicit their ideas about the direction you’re headed. Discuss the future of the company with them, along with their place within it. Talk about the roles they play and how they contribute. Consider what they have to say and give them credit for their input. By doing all this, you show your employees that they’re important to you and essential to the success of the organization. In addition, your employees will feel more invested in the decisions and strategic plan because they helped to develop them.
Regularly recognize employee achievements. Don’t wait for performance reviews or end-of-year events to give employees the recognition they deserve. Use whatever electronic communication system you have in place to speak well of your employees and their achievements regularly. Perhaps institute a peer-recognition program in which employees can praise each other for jobs well done and identify behaviors that led to their success. At Strategic HR, we use the “impressions” feature in our HRIS system. Here, employees can recognize each other for how they have lived our company values including collaboration, competence, communications, and more.
Invest in your employees. Offer opportunities for advancement. If promotions aren’t possible, then help employees level-up their skills and learn new ones. Provide coaching and training sessions — or cover the costs of outside services for this type of development. If your budget is tight, allow internal mentoring opportunities between team members and those in senior-level positions. Employees will feel appreciated when they can see that you care about their professional development and future success.
Say “thank you” every day. How leaders and managers behave sets the tone for the workplace. Regularly saying “thank you” fosters a more welcoming and respectful environment, and it also helps employees feel that they are valued. Appreciation can be given in many ways, but whether you show it through engagement, involvement, investment, or recognition, you’ll be making gratitude a key value of your workplace culture.
Planning for Future Workforce & Crisis
Nobody can see what the future will look like, but we do know that change is constant. Organizations that anticipate and plan for change are more likely to navigate well through challenges. Thus, when a crisis is looming in the shadows, you can accelerate preparations and proactive movement, rather than reacting. As Tony Robbins says, “all business owners want to be the disruptor, not the disrupted.” Keep your eye on similar players in the market, and even those outside of your operating space, to consider creative and innovative ways of preparing and doing business. For example, it’s clear that 2020 has presented more unique challenges and crises in the first six months. And while it’s left a lasting impact, we can take a look at those around us for ideas and creative approaches to navigating a crisis that can apply even when we’re no longer in the midst of a pandemic.
In this unique time, leaders should meet with their teams to review and develop workforce plans through reflective assessments and brainstorming. Planning for the future requires an in-depth look at the people and the business model that serve as the pillars of the business.
People are your most important assets. Without them, the business wouldn’t be in operation. In order to lead your employees to achieve your organizational goals and objectives, you have to be an effective communicator. When having open conversations with your team, always consider:
- Foster a collaborative workforce. You will be grateful for what can be accomplished when you all work together.
- In your conversations, have an open mind when approached with feedback. Feedback can come from both above and below you – keep an ear open from both directions.
- Should you receive negative or constructive feedback (either about your leadership or the business operations), determine the reason for it and take it in stride. It is an opportunity to learn to be better next time.
- Don’t be afraid of risks or the unknown. Should a team member present a new or unfamiliar path, be willing to explore the challenge. It’s too easy to stay in your comfort zone, but that is not always going to get you where you want to go.
- Be aware of how you are using your time. These conversations should be structured to best reflect on challenges and opportunities for your people and your business, rather than spent only focusing on frustrations or worries. Time management is a learned skill but can be mastered.
Based on your organization’s experiences with COVID-19, it may be an opportunity to alter your assumptions with your business model. Consider areas such as:
- Different or additional revenue streams: i.e., workforce budget assumptions.
- Changes in customer expectations: i.e., differences in product or service delivery.
- Changes in workflow: i.e., process or task changes.
- Changes in roles: i.e., streamlined roles, role enhancements, combining positions.
- Changes in skill sets: i.e., cross-training or teaching additional skills—time management, technology, or process steps.
- Changes in succession planning assumptions: i.e., knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA’s) needed for those in the “pipeline.”
Based on the business and industry you are in, make a list of your potential vulnerabilities or those things that could go wrong that would cause a stir among the media and the public. Once identified, leaders can plan the best way to react to each unique occurrence. For example, if you are a school system, how could you respond if a bus driver wrecked the vehicle while intoxicated? If you are a restaurant, how do you respond to a case of salmonella poisoning? If you are a manufacturer, what are the potential consequences a product failure may have on users and their safety? If you are a bank, how would you respond if there was a breach of security exposing the personal financial information of a large group of your customers?
This role play of scenarios will allow companies to put plans in place so they can be prepared and fast-acting once a catastrophic situation occurs. Pre-planning for worst-case scenarios allows quicker response times and may prevent employee, community, and media backlash. So, let’s prepare for the worst while preparing to put the organization’s best foot forward.
Leading in the best of times can be a challenging, yet rewarding, role to play. Leading throughout a crisis and global pandemic presents unique learning curves and opportunities for leaders to navigate. But by doing so with effective communication, brand awareness, recognizing those around you, and keeping an eye on the horizon, leaders can come out on the other side of these trials as stronger, effective, successful professionals.
Special thanks to Angela Dunaway, PHR-SHRM-CP, and Melissa Dern for contributing to this month’s Emerging Issues in HR.
Executive/Leadership development will impact the bottom line for your business. It’s more important than ever to optimize your operations during the pandemic. Strategic HR can help with your leadership and HR strategy through COVID-19. For more information, please visit our HR Strategy and Training & Development pages, or simply contact us – we’d love to hear from you.
Leading Change Amidst a Crisis (Part 1 of 2)
Leader performance during a crisis sets the tone for the entire organization, and the current pandemic has tested leaders like no other. How leaders respond or fail to respond is key to future success. Leaders who remain calm, encourage input, take an open-minded approach, and evaluate what the company can do better post-crisis are more likely to persevere and shine. In this article, we will explore key approaches to leading change that may impact post-COVID-19 success and addresses future crisis planning.
Leading change with effective communication
Communication is one of the most critical aspects of organizational success! Although there are many components to effective communication, we’re going to highlight the top three elements to keep in mind during a crisis:
Transparency
Particularly during a crisis, it is advantageous for leaders to be transparent in communicating with their employees – i.e. sharing what they do and don’t know about the situation and how the company is responding. The more you can share about what the company is doing to address the crisis, why it’s taking a particular approach, and how it will impact employees and the business, the better equipped employees will be to prepare for, understand, and support the company’s response. If you anticipate a negative impact on the company or employees, it’s better to let them know. For example, employees can buy into bad news IF they understand information like how the company is being impacted financially; IF they understand the reasons behind a wage freeze; or IF they understand they’re all on the same ship working toward common goals which is ultimately organizational success. During the COVID-19 crisis, many employees have been scattered in different locations with some working on-site and many working remotely. It can present an added challenge to communicate effectively when you can’t have your whole organization together; yet, it is critical to ensure that all employees are properly informed about what they can expect from company leaders and what is expected of them amid the crisis.
Empathy
One definition of empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” As leaders and HR professionals, we often have conversations with employees that require us to respond with understanding and concern. This is not to be confused with sympathy or pity. Rather, empathy involves active listening, being fully present, and avoiding judgment. COVID-19 was thrust upon management without warning, and it has taken strong leaders to support and guide teams to achieve optimal performance. Communicating with empathy is a key factor in holding anxious teams together.
Employee Advocacy
It is important for your employees to be highly engaged in order for your organization to weather the storm of any crisis. According to a study conducted by MSW Research and Dale Carnegie Training, “a team member’s relationship with their immediate supervisor is one of the three key drivers of employee engagement.” Although employee engagement efforts are often led by human resources professionals, all leaders should be responsible for creating an engaging and productive work environment for those who report directly to them. Employees need to know you care about their welfare, you care about their success, and you care about their future. During a crisis, employee engagement can teeter on a leader’s ability to maintain a strong relationship with their employees and show a high level of commitment to their well-being. There is no better time to practice servant leadership in building trust and lasting relationships with your employees.
Protecting your brand in a crisis
Employees and customers pay attention to how leaders react and respond in a crisis. What if the actions taken by leaders during COVID-19 were so severe that brands and reputations were forever impacted by the backlash? Organizations may want to think about how they treated their team if there were down-sizing decisions. Did they practice good faith when employees explained why they needed to take leave? Did HR’s selection process for layoffs or furloughs appear biased or show favoritism? Were leaders transparent when an employee who had been in the work facility was diagnosed with the coronavirus? Did leaders communicate often with vendors and those expecting bill payment? And lastly, do organizations have monitoring in place to continuously assess news, problems or situations that are brewing in the public? These are just a few scenarios to consider, but it is easy to see how critical a leader’s actions are in times of crisis.
Once a crisis occurs, how an organization and the leaders of the organization respond is paramount. Below are some of the action steps we believe will make a positive difference and affect public and media reactions:
- Inform your employees. If a crisis occurs, share the news and details with your employees. Town Hall meetings or a letter and/or video from the CEO go a long way in preventing chaos and retaining team members.
- Investigate the situation. If something goes wrong within your organization, an investigation should ensue to discover why it happened. Were safety procedures skipped? If a breach of technology occurred, were insiders responsible, or was it the sole occurrence of a hacking breach?
- Keep in mind, there may be times when an outside firm or service provider should conduct or assist with the investigation. Determine if legal counsel should be involved to avoid risk(s) or prepare for litigation. Most often, it is best to consult your attorney in these situations.
- Maintain business objectives. While there may be disruption, a best practice is to keep employees engaged and moving forward when it is safe and reasonable to do so.
- Seek different perspectives. Often front-line employees are able to shed light on the nuances of situations. Therefore, it’s important to include leaders and non-leaders in the fact-finding and resolution process, but be cognizant of times when privacy is a factor.
- Take action. Once action steps are decided, ensure the plans are efficiently carried out according to timelines or deadlines. One of the worst things an organization can do is to publish remedies, then fail to follow through on promises.
- Provide updates. Keep the employees, public, and media informed of the status of the crisis. If an employee has recovered from an accident, share the good news. If a faulty part was discovered on the production line, share that it was found and what steps have been taken to alleviate future occurrences.
These are only a few steps to consider for protecting your brand during a crisis, but leaders and teams should address the matter based on internal operations, policies, procedures, and needs.
The power of influence and leading by example
Influence is another key capability leaders must possess in order to shape employee behavior, impact results, and leading change through a crisis. The old school managerial style of “do as I say” leadership is no longer acceptable, nor does it work. But here is the tricky part…trust, credibility, and respect can only be earned, and it usually takes time. Therefore, leaders should always be working to build these attributes because they will especially need to rely on them in a crisis.
Leading in a crisis doesn’t look significantly different than leading day-to-day. The challenge leaders face is getting their voices heard so that their team listens to their recommendations and takes action quickly. Leaders can’t hide and hope the crisis will go away.
One of the best ways to influence others is to lead by example. Here are ways to lead by example and get the most from your team:
- Work alongside your team. Develop the skills and learn new ones too. This will impress the team and build a stronger bond in showing that you are not afraid to get your hands dirty and work alongside them.
- Always communicate with respect. Be mindful of what you say and who is listening. If an issue requires privacy, be sure to find the appropriate time and place for the conversation and only involve those who should be part of the conversation.
- Address problems appropriately. Make sure if you have to escalate a problem, follow the proper chain of command. Nobody likes to have someone go around their back if there is a problem. Always address problems head-on.
- Be a good listener. You need to hear what your employees are saying. Be sure to stop and listen to your employees’ thoughts and suggestions, and give thoughtful and timely feedback. This will go a long way in building trust and loyalty.
- Take responsibility. As the saying goes “It’s lonely at the top.” You are the leader and blame rolls up, so know if your team makes a mistake, you will ultimately be the one responsible. When this happens, it presents a learning opportunity to make the necessary correction(s) and train your team on how to do it right the next time.
- Don’t micromanage. It’s your responsibility to communicate the company goals, mission, and values, and to provide the necessary training and tools for your employees to succeed in their roles. Don’t hover over them; empower them to take ownership of their areas and thrive.
- Take care of your health and wellness. If you are taking care of your own mental and physical well-being, not only will it help you to be a better leader, but it can also encourage others to follow in your path.
Remember, when leaders can effectively influence others, they are able to gain buy-in to action verses mandating direction and hoping others will follow. The very best leaders will develop characteristics of strong leadership that contribute to their success in times of crisis and calm.
Keep an eye out for Part Two of this topic to be published in next month’s Emerging Issues in HR where we’ll discuss the importance of recognition, resiliency, and preparing for the future amidst crisis.
Special thanks to Angela Dunaway, PHR-SHRM-CP, and Melissa Dern for contributing to this week’s Emerging Issues in HR!
Executive/Leadership development will impact the bottom line for your business. It’s more important than ever to optimize your operations during the pandemic. Strategic HR can help with your leadership and HR strategy through COVID-19. For more information, please visit our HR Strategy and Training & Development pages, or simply contact us – we’d love to hear from you.
Systemic Racism: How Can I Fight It?
HR Question:
The longstanding systemic racism and racial injustice against Black Americans is causing turmoil in my community – with my friends, with my family, and with my coworkers. What can my organization do to activate solutions to promote progress against systemic racism? How can I be a part of the solution through my workplace during these tough times?
HR Answer:
It is no secret that our nation has been rocked by heartbreak, by demands for change, and protests within our cities. As communities nationwide have processed and protested the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and more, we have seen a swell of companies speaking out against the social injustice that we operate in as a country. While these injustices are rooted as far back as 1619, if not further, we believe there is hope. Corporate America has the ability to have significant impact on improving and changing our landscape which has been sculpted, in part, by systemic racism. Now, more than ever before, it is the time to be aware of our sphere of influence to expedite action to correct misinformation and systems that do not support inclusion and belonging of Black Americans – and to do so at a faster pace than we have in the past. How do we get started?
In her Ted Talk, “Color Blind or Color Brave”, Mellody Hobson addresses the need to speak openly about race and impresses the importance of diversity in hiring. In fact, she points out that the most successful companies are the ones who make an active effort in recognizing all races, by being color-brave, not color-blind. Inspired by Mellody’s Ted Talk, we have compiled internally- and externally-focused color-brave actions that employers and individuals can take and lead, research, ask about, and/or be involved with for positive change.
Internally:
- Ensure inclusive leadership with accountability for progress on Diversity & Inclusion efforts. Leadership, management, and HR set the boundaries and example for respect and equity in the workplace. The first question to ask as leaders: are we having the difficult conversations with employees? Do we need to start having those conversations? And how do we do so? The first step in this may be embracing Crucial Conversations – but if there are only a handful of questions that we can answer, here are a few:
- Are we creating opportunities or forums for employees to dialogue about pressing social concerns?
- Are we providing the tools and training to have crucial conversations?
- Are we listening to everyone’s voice?
- Do we have the right policies in place?
- Are we communicating with compassion and focusing on human connection with our team?
- Create opportunity for self-reflection and development. We all have biases – conscious and unconscious. Provide exercises for self-evaluation and training programs (like cultural competency, unconscious bias, and respectful workplace training) to help determine personal strengths and opportunities. Bravely be willing to dialogue with others about this topic. Some good practical guidelines are: admit vulnerability and that you may say or do something that is contradictory to your intentions; be open to any feedback or comments; seek to understand instead of seeking to be understood; listen in an effort to learn another point of view and withhold judgments; and express respect and professionalism.
- Evaluate equity in the talent lifecycle. Ensure equal opportunity through measurable targets in talent attraction, talent engagement, and talent development efforts. Some examples of best practices include creating a network of sources to recruit a diverse candidate pool and have metrics around the “funnel” effectiveness throughout the hiring process; having mentoring and sponsorships for minority talent; creating metrics for retention and promotion of minorities; and ensuring individual development plans are in place and being implemented.
- Support a culture of openness and belonging with psychological safety. Tackle microaggressions that may exist in the workplace – or maybe define microaggressions in the first place. Have assessments in place to assess and reward each other as you live the standards/values. Create a welcoming environment free of posturing and aggressive competitiveness, where team members are comfortable being who they are and feel valued through a sense of psychological safety.
- Create ongoing feedback loops through focus groups (i.e. ERG’s or general) and surveys. This provides the ability to stay on track with goals and keep a finger on the pulse of what’s happening internally specifically related to inclusive practices. During emotionally charged times like these, it’s important to connect with team members quickly and create opportunities to share thoughts and feelings as soon as possible and on a regular basis. Then, create action planning and implementation of initiatives/changes.
Externally:
- Advocate for legislative changes and support political candidates for office that support advancement of pro-minority agendas.
- Assess Corporate Social Responsibility policies and practices. If none, create them. Ensure supplier diversity targets are measured and evaluated.
- Donate to funds and organizations that support the black community and social justice. Examples might include: Chambers, Foundations, United Way, and Minority business start-up ecosystem.
- Donate time and intellectual capital to support actionable solutions in the community.
- Create ongoing feedback loops with customers, partnerships, and suppliers to assess needs and experiences with the organization.
By being color-brave rather than color-blind, organizations and corporations can activate and mobilize change in communities, workplaces, and beyond to bring an end to systemic racism.
HR Strategy in Diversity & Inclusion will impact the bottom line for your business. After all, the employee experience, supplier/partner experience, and customer experience impact the bottom line. It’s more important than ever to optimize your inclusion practices during the global health pandemic and racial turmoil. Strategic HR receives numerous requests regarding diversity and inclusion strategies. We can help. For more information, please visit our HR Strategy pages.
How to Handle Political Talk During the Work Day
HR Question:
Since it’s an election year (not to mention one during an unprecedented pandemic), the conversations between my employees are becoming increasingly political. How do I handle this political talk either in the office or with remote workers during office hours?
HR Answer:
It’s natural that conversations amongst team members can quickly turn political – with it being a presidential election year, paired with heightened communication from our local & state leaders due to the pandemic, political topics are at the forefront of many people’s minds! Whether your employees are in your physical office space or communicating during office hours while working remotely, it is likely that politics and the election will become a topic of conversation as employees interact. As these conversations can include polarizing opinions, it is smart for employers to have a strategy for handling political talk at work.
Political discussions in the workplace can have both a positive and negative impact. Political expression in the workplace can contribute to a culture that values diversity of thought and the overall well-being of employees. Friendly political talk can be a team-building skill and a morale-booster, especially when it’s done with compassion and a commitment to respecting differing viewpoints. However, if the political chatter doesn’t come from a place of mutual respect and an interest to learn from different viewpoints, or if it seems to be the only topic of conversation, it can create a negative and unwelcoming atmosphere. If left unaddressed, this could lead to lingering resentment that can affect work relationships and effectiveness. Or worse, some political discussion may lead to hostile comments surrounding gender, race or religious statements that could lead to harassment and discrimination claims.
Should I ban political discussions at work?
It’s probably not realistic to mandate that politics not be discussed at work. Particularly given all that’s going on in our country and the world, it can be hard to avoid the topic – even in a general sense. For example, it’s natural that team members may want to discuss local, state, or federal regulations surrounding social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Imagine having to stifle that conversation every time it arose.
Additionally, banning political discussions may be considered discriminatory to some. According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an employer may not interfere with political speech where there is a “direct nexus between employment-related concerns and the specific issues that are the subject of the advocacy.” The National Council of Nonprofits warns that not-for-profit organizations should be careful to maintain a non-partisan stance when dealing with the election or risk revocation of their tax-exemption status. However, this Business Journals article points out that “private sector employers generally retain the right to maintain a productive and non-hostile working environment.” With all of this in mind, employers can set expectations for behavior that will help to maintain a positive and respectful work environment.
Rather than trying to police every conversation, it may be more beneficial to set expectations for how to have respectful conversations – no matter what the subject. This SHRM article provides great suggestions on how to share political opinions without damaging work relationships. For example, it can be helpful to approach the conversation with an interest in learning from someone’s point of view rather than trying to change their opinion. Recognizing that everyone may not have the skills to do this effectively, consider providing training on how to discuss sensitive subjects and how to approach disagreement in civil and respectful ways.
We recommend that employers provide clear guidelines for how to discuss politics in the workplace and make the policy clear and easily accessible to the employees. This is a prime area to address in your employee handbook.
Ultimately, employers should stress the point that work comes first always. Everyone is still expected to meet their business objectives and to work together in an environment where employees can express themselves in a professional and respectful manner.
Having an employee handbook with policies and procedures that are easy to read and understand can help alleviate a lot of problems in the workplace. Not only do they set the stage for what is deemed inappropriate, but they can also provide guidelines for what is considered acceptable and expected behavior in your organization. Strategic HR can create, review, or augment your employee handbook. For more information, you can Request a Handbook Quote or visit our Employee Relations page to learn how we can help.
Work-Life Balance Has Become Work-Life Integration
Let’s begin with the understanding that some people are going to hate this idea. Work-life integration? Work seeping into all areas of your life at all hours of the day sounds awful, right? Isn’t it already happening? It is likely that most of you thought about an upcoming deadline, had a great idea on that report you needed to finish, or thought about how to approach a coworker about an issue while binge-watching Netflix, right?
Work-life integration is happening whether you like it or not, and it has become a very important work style that allows us to successfully manage our workloads and our home. The key is embracing it correctly and managing it well, resulting in increased engagement and productivity for all involved.
What is Work-Life Integration?
So what is work-life integration? In the past, we commonly referred to work-life balance and stressed to employees the need to separate the two and maintain a balanced life. The idea ties closely to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” work reference where the buzzer rings at 5 p.m. and we go home. No work. No email checking. No after-hours phone calls. This was your time for friends and family. You work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and check out for the evening.
Work-life integration on the other hand allows for an integration of work into your “life” activities and vice versa. For example, you could work from home from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. at which time you stop and run the kids to school. You arrive at the office around 9 a.m. and work till Noon when you hit the gym for your spin class. Come back to the office around 2 p.m. and eat lunch at your desk. Pick up the kids from school at 4 p.m., run an errand, and cook dinner. Hop back on your laptop at 9 p.m. to finish up your work and check missed email. That is integration at its peak. According to UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, work-life integration is “an approach that creates more synergies between all areas that define ‘life’: work, home/family, community, personal well-being, and health.”
Today, the boundaries between work and home are incredibly blurry. It’s impossible to think that work doesn’t happen outside of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and that “life” doesn’t happen during the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. To that end, integrating and blending the two worlds seems the most logical solution. But is it really doable? Not only is it doable, it is essential. In 2018, the Harvard Business Review conducted a study on workplace flexibility. In that study, 96% of employees said they need flexibility, yet only 47% reported having access to the types of flexibility they need — a gap of 53%.
Factors to Consider When Implementing Work-Life Integration
There are obviously many factors to consider in engaging in this type of culture and implementing such a program but here are some of the most important factors to consider:
- The job. The most important factor is if the job can allow for such a privilege. Work-life integration is not an option for some positions with limited flexibility. Nursing and those on machine assembly lines for example may not be viable candidates for this type of work style. Don’t just assume, however, that it won’t work. Be creative… even traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jobs may be able to be adapted.
- Company culture. If your company has never supported this type of integrated work style this may be a challenge. The best approach in combating this is showing the positive impact and letting the company know this kind of flexibility is worth the trouble. Flexibility in work is viewed as one of the top employee perks you can offer. Metlife’s Employee Benefit Trend Survey boasts that 31% of employees interested in “gig work” are interested because of the flexible schedule it offers. Offering an environment that mimics that type of schedule may meet a need for your staff. The results? Increases in productivity, retention, and the happiness factor!
- Managing the expectations. In many instances, management sees these types of programs as a potential for huge areas of abuse. We have all seen situations where this has occurred and the employee who takes advantage of flexible schedules. They are never available, delayed in returning calls and emails, and are more away than at work. For success, management must MANAGE this! Supervisors must keep an eye on performance and actively manage an individual’s work to make this successful. It may take some time to earn the trust but if the manager is keenly aware of the requirements of the job, active performance management will keep this in check. Don’t be afraid to discipline or tighten an employee’s schedule if the program isn’t working. Be clear that it is not a refusal to allow a flexible schedule, but rather their inability to complete work tasks that is the source of the change and try to correct the course. The benefit is a privilege, remind folks of that.
Successful work-life integration allows us to focus on more of a balance and smoothly transition from one to the other. Conference calls in the car during half-time of the game are doable. A vacation away while conferencing in for a client call can be done. No one enjoys the thought of returning from vacation with 300+ emails waiting for us. Integration will allow us to blend these essential parts of our lives and enjoy work and our home life without isolation. Embrace these ideas of integration to meet your company and personal needs.
The Importance of Boundaries
As with all great ideas, there are always words of caution. With work-life integration, it will be essential to maintain boundaries. Boundaries with integration? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Sort of. Always keep in mind that it can be very easy to allow work to creep into everything. It’s important to prioritize and look realistically at expectations and maintain boundaries. Turn the notifications off on your phone during certain hours. Allow the integration, but also allow the downtime. Work already bleeds into your home life in one way or another. Technology has allowed that. Our own desire for instant gratification and responses feed that. Allow it and take advantage of it by allowing yourself some ‘me’ time as well and truly turning off once in a while. Your body and mind will thank you.
Thank you to Patti Dunham, Director, HR Solutions and Lisa Degaro, HR Consultant, both with Strategic HR, for sharing their insights on work-life integration. If you have any questions or would like to share your comments, contact us at info@strategicHRinc.com.
In order to be competitive in both attracting and retaining top talent, organizations have to understand and be responsive to the needs of employees. Clark Schaefer Strategic HR can help you to survey your employees’ needs and put programs and policies in place that promote healthy, productive work environments. To learn more, visit our Employee Relations page.
