![]() Employee handbooks are not just a long list of ingrained rules employees have to follow. Instead, they are a beneficial and necessary part of operating a business that helps outline your expectations of employee behavior, instructs your employees on what they need to know in order to be successful, and, quite frankly, allows you to tell your employees why working at your company rocks. Moreover, they can be an employer’s saving grace when it comes to helping you operate compliantly and protect your organization from claims of discrimination and other forms of litigation. As a pivotal resource that acquaints new employees to your organization, eliminates misperceptions about policies and procedures, and provides much of the information your managers need to lead their teams fittingly, it’s important your handbook is regularly reviewed and updated. So, if you’re reading this and wondering when the last time your organization gave your employee handbook a once-over, it’s time to take it off the shelf, dust it off, and consider updating this indispensable business tool. How Often Should You Update Your Handbook?![]() Ideally, it’s best practice to review your handbook at least once a year. But this isn’t the be-all, end-all rule. The fact is, you should actually update your handbook as often as needed. The truth is, laws constantly change on the local, state, and federal levels. Organizations need to make sure that their handbooks reflect the most recent laws and the most updated version of any existing laws. If your business is operating on outdated language, you could be putting your organization at risk. Employers must stay abreast of state and local laws that can affect their business. If you have employees working in multiple states, or have recently moved into new states, some existing policies might not apply or may need to be added. So, it may be time to make sure your handbook covers you in each location in which you operate. Lastly, some policies might need some revamping if your company headcount recently changed. Whether your business recently expanded or downsized, many laws are dependent on the number of employees working for you. This Sounds Like A Lot Of Work… How Do I Make Sure I Cover Everything?![]() Handbooks are a lot of information, and it can be overwhelming for managers and employees to digest. Not to worry. This is exactly what Human Resources Professionals are trained to do. Not only can an HR consulting firm help you with the heavy lifting to make sure you have all the right policies and procedures in place, but they can help you roll it out to your team as well. At EnformHR, our HR consultants can help ensure that your management team is trained on and familiar with your policies and articulate the policies and procedures to your employees in a simple, easy-to-understand way. As an employer, you need to be sure that your employees acknowledge that they have received a copy of the handbook and understand all of the policies and procedures within. As such, whenever you make updates to your handbook, you should provide the new handbook to your employees, ensure they sign a new acknowledgment form, and save that in their personnel file. At the end of the day, keeping up with an employee handbook can be a daunting and time-consuming task, but don’t let this overshadow the necessity of compliance and best practices for your organization. EnformHR can help give you the flexibility, expertise, and service you need so that you can focus on what matters: running your business. Contact us today to find out how EnformHR can help your organization. via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/6VbJoMr
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![]() Good communication is an invaluable core competency for every organization. Oftentimes, focusing on building communication skills can be easily overlooked, but believe it or not, almost every success in an organization is grounded in effective communication. There are many different types of skills that are embedded in communication, and if executed the right way, developing these skills can have incredibly positive results for your business. Communication isn’t just a hot-topic trend for the new year; it’s a resourceful set of aptitudes that can motivate your employees, build relationships, drive results, improve your organizational culture, and make your business run much smoother. To take your business up a notch in 2023, Communication Training should make an appearance on your “must-have” list. Let’s talk about why. Communication Training Can Increase Productivity and Innovation![]() At one time or another, we’ve all likely been involved in a group project or asked to team up with a coworker to complete a specific task, and some of us might continuously work in tandem with a group of people. When you throw different personalities into a room and ask them to work together, it’s easy for differences of opinion to arise and tensions to develop. One benefit of communication training is to teach your employees how to interact professionally with each other and create better working relationships. Employees will learn about verbal, non-verbal, and written communication, body language, preferred communication styles, and how to tailor communications to different types of audiences. Taking a deep dive into the impacts of unprofessional conduct, understanding your audience, and how to work successfully with different types of people can yield better outcomes for projects and overall work product. It can also help your employees develop better methods when dealing with customers and clients. Moreover, when employees communicate with each other professionally and respectfully, you create a psychologically safe environment for your employees. Doing so will help encourage the ebb and flow of ideas and innovative thoughts, where fear of judgment and derision is allayed, and your team can stay motivated to produce meaningful and purposeful work. Communication Training Can Improve Organizational Culture![]() Sometimes, the results of communication training aren’t always so explicit, but one major benefit is the result it can have on your organizational culture. Learning communications goes deeper than understanding how to talk to one another; it can teach employees how to be more welcoming to new ideas, how to hone in on self-awareness and emotional intelligence, and how to appreciate and invigorate diversity in the workplace. A healthy business culture can be the difference between an employee enjoying going to work or dreading it. Taking proactive steps to ensure a positive organizational culture can reduce employee turnover and make it easier for you to maintain and attract top talent. Communication Training Can Help Mitigate Employer Liability![]() Instilling effective communication can also help reduce employer liability. Communication training can educate your managers and employees on how to provide constructive feedback, how to manage expectations, how to resolve conflict, and how to avoid and eliminate inappropriate behavior. Communication training can also help prevent instances of harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Instances of harassment and discrimination can bring about hefty fines and cause irreparable damage to your culture and reputation. By teaching employees proper communication skills, you can not only give employees cognizance of acceptable behavior but also how to stop instances of harassment and discrimination before they occur. Conclusion![]() The benefits of implementing communication training with your team are worthwhile in numerous ways. It can develop employees’ skill sets, lead to increased job satisfaction and retention rates, create a more harmonious work environment, and it can be critically cost-saving. In fact, according to Debra Hamilton, poor communications can cost companies with 100 or less employees an average of $420,000.00 per year. EnformHR offers customized training and development programs to communicate your company’s policies and practices, educate and develop employees, facilitate teamwork, and promote a safe and productive work environment. Contact us for more information or to discuss partnering with one of our Human Resources consultants. via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/5bEO9ZS ![]() For many employers, managing a remote staff has presented new challenges they never had to think about before. If your organization has employees who work remotely, the main challenge you may be facing is how to effectively measure their productivity now that you do not see them daily in the office. It’s easy to think that if your employees are at their desks or in front of their computers, they must be doing productive work, right? Well, not necessarily. The truth is the amount of time employees spend at their work station may not be the best way to measure their effectiveness. Most people want to do a good job at work, so tying the number of hours spent sitting in front of a computer to how well an employee’s performing can not only give you faulty data, it can also inadvertently diminish your team’s morale. Likewise, working in a remote setting makes gauging whether your remote employees are happy or not more challenging. With a remote staff, gone are the casual conversations in the break room or during in-person one-on-one meetings that can help impact your employees’ satisfaction levels. But don’t worry. There are plenty of ways to ensure your remote teams are not only high performers but also motivated to do good work. ProductivityWhen an employee’s working remotely, you’re not there to see their work in action. So, how do you make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing? The trick here is to look at the output of your employee’s efforts. One reliable metric that can provide insight is called Revenue Per Employee, an efficiency ratio that helps you measure the effectiveness and yield of an individual employee. You can determine your revenue per employee by dividing your organization’s total revenue (usually for the last twelve months) by the current number of employees. A higher ratio indicates greater productivity, which in turn often means higher profits for your organization. There may be other mitigating factors to consider with this ratio, such as historical changes, expenditures, and the age of your company. Still, this analytic is ideal because it lets you know how well you use your resources (in this case, your human capital). A second way to measure productivity is through customer satisfaction. A few ways to tackle this metric are through web traffic analytics, customer satisfaction surveys that target key measurables, and social media insights. This is a valuable tool because looking at changes over time can give you additional insight into an employee’s work performance, skill gaps and training opportunities, and how well your human capital is meeting your consumer needs. Plus, without this metric, there may be a risk of negative feedback, such as on social media or web searches, which can hurt your business’s bottom line and reputation. Last, utilizing specific performance and project goals is a great metric to assess productivity is utilizing specific performance and project goals. Tying goals to day-to-day work is easy to measure and allows you to focus on the deliverables your employees produce. And having key outcome expectations and objectives keeps everyone on the same page. One pitfall here, however, is simply assigning a deadline to a project and then just looking at the final results- the proverbial “Have this on my desk by 5.” Instead, consider the critical steps required to accomplish set goals. Doing so helps establish and reinforce expectations without crossing over into micromanagement. By allowing your employees to be accountable, you help establish trust, keep them motivated, and promote open communication. EmployeesIn addition to the importance of productivity, companies must also consider employee satisfaction. After all, unhappy employees have a high risk of being unproductive or underperformers. If you have a productive employee who is unhappy, chances are they probably won’t stick around too much longer. Utilizing employee satisfaction data in strategic planning is equally paramount to an employee’s productivity level, so don’t overlook this vital metric. Two important systems of measurement to consider here are your retention and turnover rates. Whether or not your staff is doing a good job, your bottom line and reputation can still take a hit if you can’t hold on to good talent. When employees leave, it can create supplementary costs and reduced productivity, so don’t pass over this type of insightful data. Second, get the feedback right from the horse’s mouth rather than making assumptions. Employee satisfaction surveys are a simple and effective way to get quantitative results on how your employees feel about their compensation, work-life balance, the company culture, and other important aspects of your organization. When soliciting feedback from your staff, don’t fear negative comments. This data can actually be very valuable because it provides awareness on areas that may require change. Last, don’t forget about employee engagement. Being in a remote environment removed many of the non-verbal communications and interactions we enjoyed as part of a traditional office setting. Your employee’s level of engagement can speak volumes, so be sure you are properly utilizing team meetings, levying collaborative projects, and showcasing your presence by educating employees on productivity inhibitors and Best Practices. In a remote setting, a drop by to your boss’s office isn’t an option, so be sure to make an effort to have regular check-ins to sustain the personal touch that can get away from us when we’re all not working in the same place. In ConclusionClosely monitoring your employee’s time and surveilling desktop activity can be enticing, but this can waste a lot of time and be a silent company culture killer. Having a team of remote workers doesn’t have to be a headache. If you need advice on how to manage your remote workers, EnformHR can provide consultation at any level of your organization. Contact us for more information or to discuss partnering with one of our Human Resources consultants. via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/lO7CJxF ![]() When you hire a new employee, it’s important that you get off on the right foot and nurture their experience with your organization to ensure a long-lasting relationship. Two integral parts of that are the onboarding and orientation processes. Now, you may be thinking, “Wait, aren’t those the same thing?” The answer is, “No!” While orientation and onboarding have a similar goal in mind, their processes are starkly different. What Are the Goals of Orientation?![]() Orientation is all about first impressions. It’s your opportunity to show your new employee what you’re all about. To do this, before their first day:
Provide Employees With an Introduction and Education to Your Organization![]() The next goal of orientation is to introduce your new employee to the vision and values of your organization and take care of the “official business” required to get them up and running. This provides you with an opportunity to start your employee off with a personal touch. A designated member of your team should provide them with the key information they need before and on their first day. Provide them a tour of your office space if you haven’t done so already, and introduce them to their fellow coworkers and teammates. This is an opportune time to review safety procedures, help them fill out their new hire paperwork, and provide an overview of the employee handbook and company benefits. Reduce Information Overload in Your New Hire OrientationOne major mistake many organizations make in orientation is subject their new employees to information overload; don’t hand your employee a manual and a stack of papers and wish them “Good luck.” A proper orientation takes place over the course of a week and lays the foundation for longstanding success, helping to prevent uncertainty and early burnout. What Are the Goals of Onboarding?![]() Onboarding is a much more comprehensive function of the new-employee process. Believe it or not, onboarding can actually last up to a year or more! This process is more of an “integration” into your company that incorporates the expectations set forth for the employee and how they achieve success. The goal here is to safeguard your relationship with your new employee through assimilation, socialization, and proper training. The outcome is not only an employee who fully understands their role in your organization but one who becomes an enduring, productive, and valued member of your team. Your employee should have goals set that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, and their manager should be regularly communicating with them. One great tool to consider is a mentorship program in which a seasoned employee serves as a role model for desirable behavior in the organization. An employee who knows the ropes will be well-equipped to help guide and support your new employee as they become comfortable in their role. Performance Management Is Also a Part of the Onboarding Process![]() Let’s get real- you invested a lot of time and resources into hiring your new employee, so you should regularly evaluate them to ensure they are creating value and receiving the feedback they need to succeed. Our first tip? Throw the common “probationary period” out the window. Supervisors are encouraged to regularly interact with their employees and provide coaching and training, both informally and frequently, throughout an employee’s tenure. Establishing a good supervisory relationship early on sets the tone for future success. Create opportunities to have two-way conversations with new hires about what they think they’re excelling at and what they’re having trouble with. Conversations like these can help supervisors identify any missing tools and resources that might help their new employees perform to expectations. Moreover, don’t be afraid to talk to your employee about their career ambitions and professional goals. This will not only enable you to stay abreast of your internal talent pool for workforce planning purposes but identify the best way to give your employee a path forward in your organization. What Happens Next?![]() Effective orientation and onboarding practices are a systematic and useful way to set your employee up for success. It can help reduce turnover, create a good first impression of your organization, make the manager’s job easier, and save you money in the long run. And it’ll net you better performing employees. You can continue to provide support for your employees after these processes are done by inviting employee feedback, instituting continuous informal coaching and training, regularly analyzing gaps and opportunities, and reviewing metrics such as turnover rates to assist in developing an effective Human Resources Strategy. EnformHR specializes in Human Resources consulting. If you need advice on Human Resources best practices, contact us to discuss how EnformHR can help your organization. via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/MI0w8PD ![]() Human Resources is a field that has experienced a vast amount of transformation over the years. The truth is, in order to stand out in your industry, your Human Resources strategy and functions should be innovative, cohesive, and tactical. What that really means is you have to use your resources in a way that enables your HR functions to help your business reach its goals from a strategic standpoint. Outsourcing some or all of your HR functions can be a time-saving and cost-effective way to better position your organization strategically for success. If you’re wondering what should and should not be outsourced, let’s discuss some of the top “in-house” functions that might be best to kick out the door. Compliance![]() First, let’s talk about compliance in general, a primary function of HR. Businesses are often susceptible to common compliance pitfalls in wages and compensation, with employment laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, workplace safety, Form I-9s and other immigration laws, and even employee handbooks. Unfortunately, not understanding your organization’s compliance responsibilities can lead to hefty fines or even a lawsuit. Compliance happens at a federal, state, local, and industry level, and sometimes, you may be unaware that compliance issues even exist. Having an outsourced HR professional audit your current policies and procedures, Form I-9’s, employment documentation, compensation practices, and other crucial areas can save you thousands of dollars in potential fines and headaches. When it comes to being compliant, it might be best to leave this to the experts so you can focus on running your business. Employee Handbook![]() Employee handbooks help outline expectations of behavior and performance, ensure employees are treated fairly, and support managers in directing their teams. Even though businesses aren’t legally required to have them, handbooks are a resourceful way to ensure compliance based on your company’s size, location, and industry. In this document, policies such as non-harassment and discrimination, workplace violence, drugs and alcohol, standards of conduct, and use of company property are clearly communicated, so the tendency for discrepancies and ambiguity is substantially mitigated. An employee handbook is a critical component of the success and security of your business, and because drafting or keeping one up-to-date handbook can be a daunting task, you might want to consider outsourcing this important business tool. Workplace Investigations![]() Workplace investigations are a vital and necessary HR function to help protect the integrity of your business. If done incorrectly, you could be at risk of a lawsuit or other considerable liabilities. Outsourcing workplace investigations provides your business with the benefit of an impartial investigator, qualified and experienced in conducting a thorough and accurate inquiry. An experienced investigator with fact-finding skills and an adept understanding of the law can help your business ensure Best Practices in the investigation process, maintain your employees’ confidence in your system, and mitigate any potential risks that an otherwise inexperienced investigator might overlook. Lastly, immediate action is the key to investigations. They should occur as soon as possible and require time and focus to complete. If you or your managers are busy with other tasks, you might not have the bandwidth to properly conduct a thorough workplace investigation. In this case, it might be best to consider outsourcing this essential function. Payroll Processing![]() Managing payroll is not only highly time-consuming, but it can present a slew of compliance complications. Quite simply, outsourcing this function can save you a chunk of time and money. First, errors made when processing payroll can have financial implications such as fines, penalties, and back pay. Keeping up with regulations at every level can be challenging, so it’s useful to have an experienced professional at the helm. In addition to being time-consuming, processing payroll is also time-sensitive. Typically, the process involves a plethora of tasks, such as collecting and approving timesheets, reviewing deductions, and analyzing payroll reports for accuracy. While we all hope for seamlessness every time we run payroll, there are often unique circumstances or changes at the 11th hour that can lengthen this process. The entire payroll process could take hours and even days. Outsourcing this function can not only free up a lot of time, but it can help organizations utilize best practices and protect you from payroll and tax-related risks. Benefits Administration![]() Speaking of time-consuming functions, rolling out benefits to employees, administering COBRA, enrolling eligible employees onto plans, assisting with claims resolution, and fielding questions about your benefits should also be a consideration for outsourcing. Benefits administration requires a lot of “day-to-day” activity that can take away from your ability to focus on strategies that are income-generating and create value for your organization. Additionally, it can be highly complex. For example, administering COBRA is no simple feat, and noncompliance can result in detrimental fines. Why take the risk? Outsourcing your benefits administration can not only lead to a happier workforce and improved communication, but it’s just another example of how outsourcing can give your business another layer of protection from non-compliance. External Recruitment![]() When finding the best people to add to your team, you want to be vigilant in making sure you place the right candidate, not just any candidate. First, finding a qualified candidate means making sure you have a solid job description in place that will help drive recruitment efforts, keep your hiring practices compliant, and attract the right people for your open positions. The recruitment process can often be burdensome. Composing job descriptions, reviewing resumes, and screening applicants cuts into valuable time that can likely be better spent elsewhere. Furthermore, once you’ve found the right candidate, the job’s not over! Drafting an offer letter, conducting background checks, and preparing for the employee’s first day can be equally onerous. Outsourcing this function can also be valuable on an intervallic basis during periods of intense hiring phases when your existing staff might not have enough free time to take on a large-scale recruitment project. It also may prevent high turnover rates that can be costly, interrupt your productivity, and negatively impact workplace morale. HR experts are well-versed in evaluating and finding candidates that are best suited for your organizational needs. Performance Management, Team Building, & Training, and Development![]() It’s no secret that your employees are a paramount contributor to your organization’s success. Performance management, team building, and training and development are all facets of your business that are imperative in promoting and safeguarding a strong workforce. Not only can a seasoned HR professional guide and advise executives and managers on Best Practices in maintaining a positive workplace culture, but they can also help you stay… you guessed it… compliant! By ensuring your performance management reviews and procedures focus on core competencies, align employee performance with your organizational vision, and give your managers the tools to conduct performance evaluations correctly, you can alleviate common hazards such as executing inaccurate evaluations or providing unactionable feedback. When done correctly, performance management is one of the best tools for communicating expectations, establishing professional goals, maintaining a positive work culture, and designing training and development opportunities for your staff. This is one area where many businesses can benefit from seasoned HR experience. ConclusionSo, which functions should stay, and which should go? Honestly, every organization has different needs and goals that may help sway this decision. Outsourcing can not only save you time and money, but it can also provide you with flexibility in managing your workforce’s resources and prevent some serious headaches. EnformHR specializes in Human Resource Consulting and Outsourcing. For more information or to discuss whether or not outsourcing HR is right for you, reach out to us! via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/R6y5TvX ![]() Imagine building a house on your own without a general contractor. It can be done. You could go to Home Depot and rent demolition equipment; I’m sure there’s a manual. You could research piping and wiring and source Italian granite for your countertops. And you could most certainly find a “guy,” who knows a “guy,” that could install the bathroom fixtures. But if you GC’d your home by yourself, would it be built in the most efficient manner, with the best craftsmanship and the least waste? Most definitely not. Human Resources is much like the general contractor of the basic business model. It’s actually the “humans,” and their expertise that gets the business off the ground and on the road to profitability. Providing the scaffolding by which employees are supported is, in essence, the job of the HR strategy team. The Importance of HR in Today’s Organization![]() An effective HR strategy starts with integration. Too often, HR is viewed as an unnecessary infrastructure cost center, but there is a significant difference between HR Administration and HR Strategy. In order to gain value from the function, businesses must embrace HR at the onset and from the very top. According to Harvard Business Review, “…all strategy is executed by people who need to be supported, trained and equipped to fulfill the strategic vision. This is the real role of HR, and even though some people remain skeptical of its bottom-line importance, in fact, its relevance cannot be underestimated.” Whether you know it or not, you actually already have a good foundation for an HR strategy: your employees. The key is utilizing your most effective component to it might as well be intentional and aligned to your business’s needs. Let’s take a look at how to do this. Building An HR Strategy Roadmap![]() According to Deloitte, “An effective HR strategy provides a roadmap to create value through the organization’s workforce.” But what does that roadmap look like, and how do you construct it? According to Armin Trost, Ph.D., and professor of HR Strategy at Furtwangen University in Germany, those involved in integrating your HR strategy need to review three key elements of the business to get started:
According to Trost, once these pillars are understood, you can begin to overlay potential people-related challenges and solutions. While these details will vary tremendously from business to business, the basic formula is the same. The Society for Human Resource Management, as another example, states the following steps for Developing a Strategic HR Plan :
Execute Your HR Strategy Effectively![]() Regardless of the approach you choose, the concept of “value” is subjective by nature. Therefore, getting the most value out of your HR strategy is largely determined by the degree to which you embrace the function that business advisors recommend. McKinsey & Company recently wrote, “As the organization of the future takes shape, HR will be the driving force of many initiatives: mapping talent to value; making the workforce more flexible; prioritizing strategic workforce planning, performance management, and reskilling; building an HR platform; and developing and HR tech ecosystem. For the other initiatives, HR can help C-suite leaders push forward on establishing and radiating purpose, improving employee experience, driving leadership and culture, and simplifying the organization.” ConclusionIn summary, if you value your business, you value the people that perpetuate your business. It’s been said often, but it’s worth repeating – your employees are truly your business’s foundation. So, build your corporate “house” with intention. Embrace your HR leaders and allow them to be the general contractors of your strategic vision by including them in the plans from inception. Empower them to secure the framework of your enterprise – your employees. If you need advice on basic HR Strategy, EnformHR can provide consultation at any level of your organization. Contact us to begin a partnership with one of our HR advisors. via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/iPyBwa3 ![]() During the past few years, businesses across the globe have faced numerous unique and exceptional challenges. Many businesses were forced to make significant changes to their operations and figure out how to push forward with organizational goals while dealing with substantial and rapid changes. But, we’re here now… and there’s no time like the present to ask yourself, “Where are we going in the future?” This is a question all business owners should ask themselves because it’s essential to be prepared for the uncertainties of the future, to evolve and grow as an organization, and to make sure you have the resources to accomplish what you set out to do. To do this, you’ll need an effective Human Resources strategy. A Human Resources strategy can be one of the most significant tools to ensure your overall business plan warrants success, maintains competitive advantage, and promotes employee engagement that can lead to sustained achievements. The basis of any good HR strategy starts with the questions: “Where are we now? Where do we want to go? What do we want to accomplish?” These are great questions to ask, but asking yourself more focused questions may give your HR strategy a needed boost to yield the maximum results. To that end, consider asking yourself these eight questions to help you develop a successful HR strategy: 1. Do We Have a Clear Set of Values to Guide Our Business Objectives?![]() Values are your ultimate guide to carrying out your HR strategy. Meant to shape your organization’s vision and principles, a clear set of values will guide your decision-making, utilizing your organization’s desired standards as a reference point. Examples of organizational values might include teamwork, integrity, accountability, diversity and inclusion, and respect. When considering a component of your HR strategy, ask yourself, “Does it align with our values?” 2. Who Should Be Involved in Strategic Planning?![]() Senior leadership plays a large role in establishing a strategic HR plan, but don’t forget to consider other vital employees to help carry out your strategic plan. Middle managers, for example, can be cardinal communication agents to others throughout your organization. Because they may be more heavily integrated into your company’s daily operations, managers can help mitigate concerns of front-line employees, deliver clear communications, report valuable feedback to upper management, and reinforce the benefits of your HR strategy. 3. What Are the Obstacles We Will Have to Overcome?![]() All businesses experience different risks and obstacles during the strategic HR planning process. Some common pitfalls include a feeble communication strategy, failing to build a coalition to support change and goals, poor resource management, and a lack of buy-in and support from leadership and key stakeholders. To evaluate what obstacles your organization might encounter, consider conducting a SWOT Analysis that compiles your organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that’ll help give you the full picture of influential factors in your strategic decision-making. ![]() If your HR strategy is global, you might also want to consider a PESTLE analysis, which compiles external Political, Economic, Social, Technological, and Legal factors. 4. How Can I Make Sure My Employees’ Needs Are Aligned With Our Business Objectives?![]() To ensure your employees’ needs are aligned with your business objectives, you’ll have to do three things: a.) Establish the key competencies and duties of each role in your organization– having up-to-date job descriptions can support this feat. You can learn more about the importance of having detailed job descriptions here. b.) Examine your existing workforce; identify what high-performing employees can best support your HR strategy, find out where there are skill gaps, and determine whether you can fill them through training and development or recruitment. c.) Make sure your employees understand how your objectives affect them. Communication is critical here; if you’re not transparent about your strategy, you’ll be sure to encounter resistance from your team, which can be detrimental to your objectives. 5. What Do I Hope to Gain From This HR Strategy?This might seem like an easy question. When you envision the future of your business, you want to be the best in the game, right? You want your employees to love coming to work every day. You want your organization to be successful. However, if you want your HR strategy to succeed, you have to have clear and specific outcomes that you are striving to achieve. For example, if training and development are part of your HR plan, what definite competencies and capabilities do you hope your staff will gain? ![]() If creating a more diverse culture is part of your HR strategy, how will achieving this goal make you a more competitive business? Solidify what you hope to gain from your HR strategy and ensure your actions lead you to that desired outcome. 6. What Resources Will I Need?When ascertaining the resources you’ll need to carry out your HR strategy, think about what you don’t have. Do you have data and analytics to guide your decision-making? Depending on your HR strategy, you might consider a compensation analysis, conducting in-house surveys about employee satisfaction, or looking at your organization’s turnover rates to help benchmark your objectives and goals, as a few examples. ![]() Secondly, do you have the support from leadership and key stakeholders? Buy-in from essential personnel is crucial; without it, it will be rather difficult to carry out your objectives. Thirdly, do you have a succession plan in place? Employee separation is an inevitable part of any business. Whether it’s through retirement, resignation, or involuntary termination, your team is a primary resource in a successful HR strategy. Think about which employees can effortlessly float to other roles, who are promotable, and if you have the bandwidth to develop existing employees. And lastly, do you have a budget? Part of a good HR strategy involves being practical about what you can accomplish. If your plan is fiscally irresponsible, it can have grave consequences for your organization’s bottom line. 7. How Do We Make Sure We Are Meeting Our Goals?![]() Establishing goals is one thing, but monitoring and evaluating your progress toward those goals is what tells you whether or not you’re on track. Consider regular reviews (such as monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually) of your goals. Doing so will give you the opportunity to adapt your methods as needed, celebrate small victories along the way, and reignite the importance of meeting your goal. Consider maintaining a monthly tracking spreadsheet or dashboard, using HRIS to provide quantitative data metrics, or benchmarking to measure how your progress compares to similar organizations. 8. Do I Need an Expert HR Consultant to Help Us With Strategic Planning?![]() There are great benefits to engaging an outside HR consultant. HR consultants offer a wealth of experience to help you lead your team, provide an objective perspective, and can help implement best practices and procedures that are HR compliant. While HR consultation isn’t right for every business, it can be an added benefit and resource for your organization. EnformHR specializes in Human Resource Consulting. For more information or to discuss whether or not bringing on an expert HR consultant may work for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/wvFWHs6 ![]() Have you ever thrown out your back? Brutal. The spine of the human body is central to our every movement. It provides our bodies with a solid foundation and protects the integrity of almost all of the vital functions we use daily. Job descriptions serve an identical purpose for human resources in that they support many of your organization’s primary functions: recruiting, hiring, performance evaluations, succession planning, employee job satisfaction, training and development, and even employment law analysis can all operate more efficaciously with a meticulously crafted job description: your HR backbone. While often glossed over as a tedious and administrative task, managers and HR professionals who invest in descriptive and accurate job descriptions will have their efforts paid back in spades. Why Are Job Descriptions Important in the Recruiting Process?![]() Let’s start with recruiting. According to Indeed.com, “Your job descriptions are where you start marketing your company and your job to your future hire.” In response to an Indeed survey, 52% of job seekers said the quality of a job description is “very or extremely influential” on their decision whether or not to apply to a job post. With the current labor shortage, job seekers need to be heavily marketed and sold on both the company and the opportunity. Helps Attract the Right EmployeeJob descriptions should be written to attract the type of candidates ideal for the role. In addition, poorly written job postings will either have you buried in resumes of unqualified individuals or result in too few candidates expressing interest in the job. The time wasted with either of these outcomes is detrimental to an often-under-staffed team, tight recruiting deadlines, and the business’s bottom line. Carefully describing the job while selling it at the same time is critical to the success of the post and getting suitable candidates hired in a timely and cost-effective manner. Keep Your Job Descriptions Up-to-DateThe job description’s purpose doesn’t stop at the job board. Regularly updating your job descriptions can give managers additional value for several reasons. It’s important to be strategic about what exactly your current needs are. Keeping your job descriptions updated provides the manager with an opportunity to refresh duties based on any new or evolving business needs. Updating your job descriptions as key duties evolve and job responsibilities change can serve as an exceptional resource for managers during important decision-making. Cases such as identifying performance gaps, developing strategies for expansion or downsizing, and succession planning, are a few examples. Helps Gauge PerformanceThe job description is instrumental in conducting accurate, thorough, and meaningful performance reviews. It can serve as an outline to which the manager can refer to when providing feedback and aids in measuring progress against expectations. Once an employee is onboarded, the job description serves as an important reference for the new employee to execute and understand their responsibilities. Training and employee development can also start with a proper and accurate job description. Being thoughtful about what skills are critical to the position and which skills will benefit the employee to enhance is a strategic way to develop your team. Investing in employee development not only helps the company but also builds loyalty and job satisfaction, which is important to organizational culture and employee retention. Offer Protection After TerminationsWhile it might not seem obvious, job descriptions can play a role in employment law scenarios more often than you think. According to the Houston Chronicle, “…. poorly crafted or non-existent job descriptions pose several problems, including legal risks. They can cause issues in hiring, evaluation, employee motivation, and career development.” If an employer is required to prove, for example, that a terminated employee was let go for failing to meet minimum basic standards for the position, the first thing that will be referenced is the job description. If this is not accurate, the termination can be challenged even in an at-will state. Update Your Job Descriptions for New Fair Labor Standards![]() Job descriptions also assist employers in determining whether or not a position is exempt or non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Many employers think that just because a position is paid on a salary basis, they are exempt from earning overtime. Still, the FLSA bases the classification on other factors, including job duties. Having these duties clearly laid out in a job description helps define and support the classification and ensure employees are paid properly. Including the physical requirements in the job description also helps employers comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and determine which reasonable accommodations if any, they can make for an employee in need. Get Professional Help When Writing Better Job Descriptions![]() You can maintain and strengthen your human resources strategy by crafting and maintaining detailed and accurate job descriptions. If you are a small business and don’t have an HR professional on your team or the bandwidth yourself, seek an HR consulting firm for a short-term project. You’ll find it a healthy and critical exercise in maintaining and strengthening your strategic “backbone.” At EnformHR, we offer project-based HR Services. If you are looking for accurate job descriptions or basic HR Outsourcing, one of our HR Business Partners can assist with any of your Human Resources Management needs. via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/BvWtqHh ![]() “This meeting could have been an email.” Does this sound familiar? Whether it’s meant as a lighthearted remark or a genuine concern, team meetings are a significant business function that should add, not detract, from your organization’s productivity. Whether your team is working remotely, in the office, or in a hybrid approach, there are some common etiquettes to help ensure a productive meeting. Setting an agenda, sticking to the time frames, keeping it fresh with guest speakers, and creating an action list for follow-up items are all great ways to make your meetings more efficient and effective. Let’s dive a little deeper into how you can make those team meetings even more productive. Foster a Culture of Psychological Safety![]() If you have difficulty rallying the troops and finding ways to motivate your team members to participate in meetings, you’re not alone. It may be common for employees to choose the route of silence during team meetings. Sometimes, employees prefer keeping quiet over the risk of their ideas potentially getting shot down, experiencing embarrassment amongst their coworkers, or getting rebuked by the boss in front of their colleagues. Moreover, some employees may feel their opinions just don’t matter. A Gallup Poll found that only 30% of workers strongly agree that their opinions matter in the workplace. To create a safe environment that encourages your employees to speak up and share their ideas, you have to help set the tone. You can accomplish this by initiating group-intensive questions that relate to the purpose of your team’s functions and speak to the strengths of your current culture. Part of psychological safety relates to the approachability of leaders. Show appreciation for ideas even if they don’t come to fruition. Team meetings are a perfect opportunity for you to be a role model for positive discussions. Finally, you can reinforce your Open-Door policy, encouraging employees to come to you with ideas outside meetings as well. Proactively Interact![]() Having a structured agenda in place can help keep meetings on task and avoid the pitfalls of getting off-topic. When you have your team meeting, prepare succinct and detailed questions to levy to your team that will provide helpful feedback and offer meaningful opportunities for everyone in the meeting, even if they don’t speak up. Some examples may include:
Consider making the tone of your meetings less of a progress report and more of an interactive dialogue. This will help fuel employee engagement and morale, make your employees feel more valuable, and provide a bit more weight to the conversation. To ensure these types of questions don’t take up too much of your meeting time, try creating an interactive Word Cloud or live survey that your team can participate in during the meeting. You can share the results immediately and talk about a few of the answers that appear! And you can use polling to probe your employees’ feelings on relevant topics and interests to get insight on how to improve future meetings. This is also a great way to encourage your less extroverted team members to provide feedback and answers… and let’s be honest, Word Clouds are always fun. Be Transparent![]() Information closely held by upper management can foster a culture of uncertainty, which can lead to a skittish team, especially in times of ambiguity and when employees are looking to their leaders for answers. Use meetings to provide pertinent information to your team about ongoing projects, the future of the organization, recent accomplishments, and actions in motion. This is also a great time to clearly communicate any recent changes or policy updates in your organization. Using meetings for vital communications helps validate their purpose. You can use meetings to show employees how their efforts contribute to your organization’s success. It’s important for employees not only to do their jobs but to understand why they do them. Showing your employees their purpose is an avid way to inspire your team. Transparency and purposeful communication will help employees trust and enjoy the context of meetings. And, you’ll keep your team engaged. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Personal![]() With remote work menacing the normality of a social office scene, modern managers must find new and innovative ways to bring their teams together. A team meeting is a perfect place to support a cohesive and fruitful work environment while augmenting personal connection opportunities for your team. On occasion, it can be advantageous to steer the conversation away from “shop talk” and focus on the well-being of your employees and more casual talk…How was their weekend? What plans do they have for the summer? How did their recent 5K race go? Nothing beats feeling truly cared for and valued where you work. Using your team meetings to pursue wellness can reinforce a productive work environment. Your team is one of your most important assets. If they don’t feel valued as a person, they may not be able to contribute to the best of their ability, or worse, they might not be around for the next team meeting. Final ThoughtsStructuring your team meetings to be more productive is not without its challenges. But remember, don’t just have a meeting simply to have a meeting. Make sure your meeting is targeted, purposeful, provides value, and aims to better your organizational culture and strategy. If you keep these tips in mind, you’re bound to experience greater results from each gathering. EnformHR specializes in Human Resource Consulting. If you find your organization embarking on change, we can help. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to support you and your employees in preparing for times of transition. via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/24xRBGq Let’s talk tech. Which iPhone do you have? 12, 13, 13Pro? Sleek. Mod. Hip. I feel bad for the stubborn ones stuck with a 6, like my parents, who decline upgrades just to stay with what they know. Would you ever refuse an iOS upgrade and forgo those enhanced camera options? No, never. Who would turn down a better version of a good thing? Well, the same holds true for management styles and employee engagement in our increasingly virtual world. The remote workforce grew faster than you could say Zoom, and most evidence suggests it’s here to stay, at least in some form. The time has come to make adjustments and adapt. We can’t keep managing like the “before times.” Our world is advancing, and with that, we must consider a more modern management “operating system,” particularly as it relates to employee engagement. Creating team cohesion and fluidity while working virtually is a contemporary issue, but employee engagement has always been a Best Practice of successful corporate cultures. According to Forbes.com, “Employee engagement is traditionally defined as a sense of loyalty, commitment, and an emotional connection to one’s workplace. The more engaged a person is, the more likely they are to exhibit improved efficiency, job satisfaction, and to go above and beyond in their job whenever possible.” Connection to one’s workplace can be tough if your office is your dining room and even harder if there is no shared workplace at all, even for occasional in-person meetings. The need to keep our team in check and foster a shared mission is real and presents new 21st century challenges. It’s safe to say that engaging the remote workforce requires a bit of a reboot, and here are some tips to help. Actively Planned CommunicationGood managers know that the key to employee loyalty is to communicate clearly and often. This is not new, but it needs tweaking with the onset of virtual teams. Communication skills are more important than ever and need to be varied. Ben Wigert, Ph.D., MBA, director of research and strategy for workplace management at Gallup, states, “Engaging remote workers largely depends on effectively communicating, building relationships, providing meaningful feedback, and developing employees while they are working from home.” According to Forbes, “Having an agile communication toolbox is perhaps one of the most important things you can do to elevate the productivity levels of a remote team. You’re making a tremendous mistake if you exclusively use email. You’ll need a mix of tools for groups and teams, one-on-one collaboration, and company-wide collaboration.” What’s lost with remote teams are the snip-its of communication and relationship building that go on at the physical office. To compensate, managers need to take a more aggressive approach to schedule time with employees in group and one-on-one meetings. The key here is – scheduling. Not sharing physical space leaves no opportunity for impromptu catch-ups. Instead, organize touch-points with your team, and make sure they are regular and ongoing. Employee engagement is not a quarterly event. It’s cultural and ever-present, and it takes planning to foster. Consciously Increase InclusivityModern managers will have to make efforts to increase inclusivity when workers are remote consciously. For example, when in-office workers get business done on the elevator or in the cafeteria, they often forget to update those working from home, and it can leave some team members feeling out of the loop. 15-Minute daily kick-off meetings can help with this. Or, make use of project management software like Trello or Asana to keep information fluid and transparent. Get Personal & VisualIncrease personal connection opportunities. Gone are the days of poking your head in a colleague’s office and seeing pictures of kids, awards, or the family dog. These personal curios help us feel connected to our fellow humans and allow for identifying common ground and maybe even friendships. According to Harvard Business Review, “… employees who report having friends at work have higher levels of productivity, retention, and job satisfaction than those who don’t.” Creating opportunities to get to know co-workers on a personal level is healthy for the employees and the company as well. If you can’t meet in person, use video regularly. Facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language are often important cues lost in slacking or email. Delivering a message with a smile can be far less intimidating than an email with a pointed directive. TrustFirst off, if you don’t trust someone you’ve hired, you’ve made a bad employment decision. Add to that the fact that micromanagement is a definite barrier to employee engagement. If the pandemic has taught us nothing else, it’s that people actually DO work from home. Indeed.com quotes a survey that states, “…remote employees work 1.4 more days every month (or 16.8 more days every year) than those working in an office setting”. Trust that your remote employees are getting their work done. If you are concerned, develop measurable goals and due dates. If individuals meet these established targets and deadlines, they earn their keep. Relax about school pick up and switching the laundry. Are they meeting goals? Is their work done well? Manage that. Spend on Some TogethernessRemote work is all well and good, but it is still critically important to gather in person from time to time. As companies save money on things like physical brick and mortar, reinvest some of that savings into quarterly meetings or training sessions, periodically bringing the remote members into the office. According to the Washington Post, “MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab spent hundreds of hours tracking performance drivers across industries by collecting data from electronic badges that covered everything from tone of voice to body language. The results showed unequivocally that the most valuable communication is done in person. Typically, 35 percent of the variation in a given team’s performance was explained by the number of times team members actually spoke face-to-face.” Good Managers… you know how to manage, but don’t be a Neanderthal. Stay current. Make use of your “before” skills but upgrade for better results. Make strategic decisions about employee engagement, and be proactive about it. Offer your employees the latest management “update.” Let’s be honest- you’d never take a selfie without portrait mode now, would you?
At EnformHR, we offer customized HR solutions for your teams wherever they are located. If you are looking for management training, strategic solutions, or basic outsourcing, one of our HR Business Partners can advise you accordingly (in person or remotely). via EnformHR, LLC https://ift.tt/oEg5raS |
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July 2023
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