Put Down Your iPhone! The Biggest Hurdles to Employee Engagement
David Goldstein digs into what are the biggest challenges in getting employees engaged. See what his findings are in the article below.
Original Post from SHRM.org on July 5, 2016
As a company that works with HR leaders and executives who are looking to build stronger teams within their organizations, naturally, employee engagement is a topic that is near and dear to us. It’s a term that’s been buzzing over the past couple of years as organizations search high and low for the perfect formula to decrease turnover, increase enthusiasm and maximize productivity amongst employees.
With countless views on ways to increase employee engagement abound, we wanted to take a look at the other side of things and identify specific barriers that business owners and managers are facing. We surveyed 500 small-mid sized business owners and managers across the US and asked them to identify the number one challenge when it comes to getting employees engaged. These respondents either own or manage a business with fewer than 100 employees. Here’s what they said.
1. (31%) GETTING EMPLOYEES OFF THEIR PHONES
Turns out, when it comes to small businesses, forget the more complex problems of increasing engagement amongst virtual workers or getting multigenerational workers to integrate into cohesive teams. Owners and managers at small businesses face a much simpler problem: getting employees to put down their phones! Is it really a surprise that the majority of respondents reported this as their biggest challenge?
Mobile devices have turned us into screen-addicts, averting our eyes and attention at a startling rate. This is an especially big problem when we begin to look at low wage jobs and positions in rural areas. Small business owners and managers that are making less than $24,000 themselves a year, or those living in rural areas, were the most likely to list it as their biggest employee engagement problem (44%).
Young business managers also find it most difficult to get workers off their phones with 34% of 18-34 year olds reporting it as their largest roadblock to employee engagement. Workers phones are consistently integrated into both personal and work life so it’s hard to incentivize workers to step away from the device and into a conversation with fellow employees. Especially when 74% of employers report that their organization use or plan on using a BYOD program (bring your own device), the odds of getting distracted with social media or unrelated apps get higher and higher.
Finally, women managers and small business owners (34%) were more likely than men (28%) to note that getting employees off their phones was the biggest challenge in getting them engaged. One potential solution to this problem that HR teams can leverage? Embrace employees’ device addictions rather than trying to cure them. For example, utilizing mobile scavenger hunts or mobile-friendly engagement surveys can help build a compromise and solution to the over-used phone issue. And if that doesn’t work, you can always just create a policy.
2. (24%) HIGH TURNOVER & GETTING NEW HIRES ENGAGED
Losing employees more frequently in the worker-friendly job market and having to get new employees engaged more often is also a considerable issue for small business owners and managers. It’s most pressing in rural areas (29%), where it’s probably harder to find new talent that fits with an organization.
Turnover rates as a barrier to employee engagement were of most concern to managers and business owners in the midwest and south regions, and of least concern to those in the northeast.
That’s one reason it’s important to factor company culture into the interview process to ensure the fit is right. Then, get creative with the flexibility options for your employees. In other words, give your employees reason to stay. Then work on their engagement from there.
3. (23%) GETTING MULTIGENERATIONAL EMPLOYEES ENGAGED
The third most pressing issue for small business owners and managers is the battle between Boomers, Gen X’ers and Millennials being waged within multi-generational workplaces.
Generational differences can be a stumbling block that hinders employee engagement within an organization. On one hand, you have 45% of Baby Boomers & Gen X complaining about millennial’s lack of managerial experience while, on the other hand, you have millennials who just want flexibility and fun.
It was interesting to see that getting multigenerational employees engaged was actually the most pressing employee engagement issue (28%) for respondents that were 35-44 years old. These folks find themselves toeing the line between the two diverging generations in the workplace.
So what’s the best thing to do in this situation? Find common ground. Satisfy both sides by creating activities that everyone can partake in. Food and laughter are pretty effective across generational lines. So is getting outdoors in the summer!
4. (22%) GETTING REMOTE AND VIRTUAL WORKERS ENGAGED
While the trend of remote working was the least pressing challenge for respondents, there were groups that found it more challenging than others. Managers and owners that earn more than $150,000 a year (presumed to be working within larger organizations) found it to be the biggest hurdle to achieving employee engagement (43%).
While sweet in the sense that it breeds more freedom for workers around the world, its lack of in-person interaction can become a bitter challenge for many companies seeking strong employee engagement. In fact, 65% of remote employees report that they have never had a team-building session.
To address this issues, owners and managers may want to embrace the small talk and chit-chat online. When workers aren’t in the same office they don’t have the interactions that allow them to truly relate to each other on a personal level. Opening up internal communication platforms like Slack and HipChat, and encouraging workers to express themselves outside of work dialogue (hello GIF’s!) is important.
Another idea? Coffee Shop Days! While remote workers and work-from-home freelancers may appreciate their time outside the office, they can become bored and lonely. If you have workers on your team working remotely, consider suggesting a Coffee Shop Day once a month where you have managers work alongside the remote team members for the day. Finally, there are actually virtual team building and engagement activities out there that stimulate a day in the life of a virtual team.
See the full article and infographic here.
Source:
Goldstein, D. (2016, July 5). Put down your iPhone! The biggest hurdles to employee engagemet [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/blog/put-down-your-iphone-the-biggest-hurdles-to-employee-engagement.
Use It or Lose It: Are your employee's taking advantage of their PTO?
Are your workers taking advantage of their PTO? It is important for you employee's to de-stress and take a break to continue to be sucessful. Ensure your employees are taking the time off they need to keep a happy and healthy workfoce.
According to a Forbes article, only 25% of Americans take their paid vacation. The article also gives insight as to how not taking vacation can impact your overall effeciency in the workplace.
It’s not healthy to keep working without a break. Vacation recharges our internal batteries, gives us perspective on what we do and fuels creativity and energy. Vacation also promotes creative thinking, expands our cultural horizons and sharpens cognition, especially if we can travel to another country. “Traveling shifts us from the solipsistic way we operate every day,” Joan Kane, a Manhattan psychologist, told me a when I did a story on vacations a few years ago. “It promotes a sense of well-being and gets you thinking in different ways. It can be life-altering.”
In the article The common workplace practice that’s costing employers billions by Cort Olsen, gives more understanding of why employees do not always take the time offered.
Having diligent, hardworking employees is every employer’s dream, but it can come at a cost. Studies have shown that employees who sacrifice their vacation time to maintain their work flow could be costing an employer more than it would to have one or two employees out of the office for a couple of weeks’ vacation time.
According to the U.S. Travel Association, employees who choose not to use their paid time off could potentially cost an employer close to $52.4 billion annually due to lost revenue, employee termination or resignation, and hiring and training replacements.
“When you look at a manager or someone in a leader capacity, we run into situations where managers don’t want to be out of the office or away from the team because they feel like they need to be available,” Sciortino says. “Some people who are not in a leadership position may be the only one who does a certain task, so they know if they are not there then the work is not going to get done.”
To combat this problem, employers need to train employees to be backups for other employees who are responsible for a specific task in the event that person is out of the office for a period of time, she says.
“From an employer’s perspective, we want our teams to take PTO, because turnover is costly,” Sciortino says. “You can lose employees because they are feeling burnt, and obviously rehiring and retraining people for positions frequently can be costly on their organization.”
Another costly issue employers face when employees do not use their vacation time is paying out that unused time. Claire Bissot, managing director for CBIZ, says she is against any employer that allows employees to be paid out for not using their vacation time at the end of the year.
Read the full article from Forbes.com here.
See the full article from Employee Benefit Adviser here.
Sources:
Adams, S. (2014, April 7). Only 25% of americans take their paid vacation [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/04/04/only-25-of-americans-take-their-paid-vacation/#ea0d8c22c5cf
Olsen, C. (2016, June 7). The common workplace practice that's costing employers billions [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/the-common-workplace-practice-thats-costing-employers-billions
Office Chatter: Your Doctor Will See You In This Telemedicine Kiosk
Original Post from KHN.org
By: Phil Galewitz
On the day abdominal pain and nausea struck Jessica Christianson at the office, she discovered how far telemedicine has come.
Rushing to a large kiosk in the lobby of the Palm Beach County School District’s administrative building where she works, Christianson, 29, consulted a nurse practitioner in Miami via two-way video. The nurse examined her remotely, using a stethoscope and other instruments connected to the computer station. Then, she recommended Christianson seek an ultrasound elsewhere to check for a possible liver problem stemming from an intestinal infection.
The cost: $15. She might have paid $50 at an urgent care center.
The ultrasound Christianson got later that day confirmed the nurse practitioner’s diagnosis.
“Without the kiosk I probably would have waited to get care and that could have made things worse,” she said.
Endorsements like Christianson’s demonstrate how technology and positive consumer experiences are lending momentum to telemedicine’s adoption in the workplace.
Less than a decade ago, telemedicine was mainly used by hospitals and clinics for secure doctor-to-doctor consultations. But today, telemedicine has become a more common method for patients to receive routine care at home or wherever they are — often on their cellphones or personal computers.
In the past several years, a growing number of employers have provided insurance coverage for telemedicine services enabling employees to connect with a doctor by phone using both voice and video. One limitation of such phone-based services is physicians cannot always obtain basic vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate.
That’s where telemedicine kiosks offer an advantage. Hundreds of employers — often supported by their health insurers — now have them installed in the workplaces, according to consultants and two telemedicine companies that make kiosks, American Well and Computerized Screening, Inc.
Employers and insurers see the kiosks as a pathway to delivering quality care, reducing lost productivity due to time spent traveling and waiting for care, and saving money by avoiding costlier visits to emergency rooms and urgent care facilities.
Jet Blue Airways is adding a kiosk later this year for its employees at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Other big employers providing kiosks in the workplace include the city of Kansas City, Missouri.
Large health insurers such as Anthem and UnitedHealthcare are promoting telemedicine’s next wave by testing the kiosks at worksites where they have contracts.
Anthem has installed 34 kiosks at 20 employers in the past 18 months. John Jesser, an Anthem vice president, said kiosks are a good option for employers too small or disinclined to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in creating an on-site clinic with doctors and nurses on standby.
“This technology should make it more affordable for employers of many sizes,” Jesser said.
Kiosks are typically used for the same maladies that lead people to see a doctor or seek urgent care — colds, sore throats, upper respiratory problems, earaches and pink eye. Telemedicine doctors or nurse practitioners can email prescriptions to clients’ local pharmacies. Employees often pay either nothing or no more than $15 per session, far less than they would pay with insurance at a doctor’s office, an urgent care clinic or an emergency room.
Despite kiosks’ growing use in telemedicine, it’s unclear whether they will be supplanted as smartphones, personal computers and tablets enable people to access health care anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection or cell service. Some employers already offer kiosk and personal device options, including MBS Textbook Exchange in Columbia, Missouri, which has 1,000 workers.
Workplace kiosks’ appeal is they are quiet, private spaces to seek care. Consumers can get their ailments diagnosed remotely because the kiosks are equipped with familiar doctors’ office instruments such as blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, pulse oximeters and other tools that peer into eyes, ears and mouths. The instrument readings, pictures and sounds are seen and heard immediately by a doctor or nurse practitioner.
“The kiosk gives the doctor more tools to diagnose a wider range of conditions,” Anthem’s Jesser said.
The downside is that the machines cost $15,000 to $60,000 apiece, which may still be too much for some employers.
“Telemedicine kiosks look promising and may still take off, but I don’t see explosive growth,” said Victor Camlek, principal analyst with Frost & Sullivan, a research firm.
Employers’ experiences are mixed.
Officials in Kansas City, Missouri, estimate the kiosk placed in city hall almost a year ago has saved the local government at least $28,000. That’s what Kansas City hasn’t spent because employees and dependents chose the telemedicine option instead of an in-person doctor visit. The city also estimates it has gained hundreds of productive work hours — that’s the time employees saved by not leaving work to see a doctor.
In contrast, fewer than 175 of the 2,000 employees at the Palm Beach County School District headquarters have used the kiosk there in its first year, said Dianne Howard, director of risk management.
Howard remains hopeful: “This is the future of health care.”
The district’s kiosk was supplied at no cost by UnitedHealthcare, as part of a test also involving two other employers in Florida.
Those kiosks connect employees to nurse practitioners at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. The hospital employs an attendant at each kiosk location to help workers register and use some of the instruments, such as the stethoscope.
Other telemedicine kiosks, such as those made by America Well, are designed to be totally self-service for employees. They also offer users immediate access to a health care provider. American Well has deployed about 200 kiosks and is in midst of rolling out 500 more, mostly to employers, the company said. It also places kiosks in retail outlets and hospitals.
Telemedicine’s increasing sophistication is winning over some traditional-minded physicians.
The WEA Trust in Madison, Wisconsin, a nonprofit that offers health coverage to public employers, installed a kiosk for the benefit of its 250 workers last fall.
Dr. Tim Bartholow, a family doctor by training and chief medical officer for the trust, said he was cautious about physicians treating patients they haven’t seen in person. After observing employees using it, Bartholow is convinced it can help them get good care.
“I don’t think telemedicine is making a doctor being on site quite agnostic, but it is certainly reducing the premium on being in the same space as the patient,” Bartholow said.
Insurers declare they are moving carefully, too, recognizing that telemedicine has its limits and they must depend on practitioners to tell patients when they have to see a doctor — in person.
“We have to rely on their experience and judgment,” Jesser said.
Report: Make Workforce Analytics Work for Business
Original Post from SHRM.org
By: Kathy Gurchiek
More businesses will be using workforce analytics over the next three years, especially to help with retention and recruitment, according to a new report published by the SHRM Foundation.
For HR practitioners, it will be increasingly important to understand analytics and to be able to present the findings to senior executives. In a data-driven world, organizations will establish specialist HR teams and recruit data-oriented personnel, according to Use of Workforce Analytics for Competitive Advantage, released June 21 at the Society for Human Resource Management 2016 Annual Conference & Exposition in Washington, D.C.
“Workforce analytics is transforming human capital strategy,” said Mark Schmit, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, executive director of the SHRM Foundation, in a news release. In the foreword to the report, Schmit noted that a 2015 Economist Intelligence Unit survey found 82 percent of organizations recognize the importance of talent-related data in managing recruitment, retention, and turnover, and increasingly see workforce analytics “as a critical tool to shape future business strategy.”
“This new report can help HR and business leaders prepare for the future and leverage the power of analytics to generate valuable business insights. This new report can help HR and business leaders prepare for the future and leverage the power of analytics to generate valuable business insights.”
Organizations wanting to exploit “big data” to gain a competitive advantage are setting up small specialist teams of data analysts, training their existing staff in the use of big data and recruiting college graduates with skills in workforce analytics, according to the report.
“Executives and academics interviewed for this report consistently argue that a new-style HR professional should possess a combination of two skills—a head for analytics together with the ability to present findings in the manner and language convincing to senior executives,” the report authors noted.
The first step in getting data analysis into the HR decision-making process “is having the will to do it,” the authors said, but it’s also critical for the data to be presented in a way that is clear and accessible, if the analytics are to yield results.
Organizations seeking to effectively use workforce analytics likely will encounter some obstacles. The report offers the following recommendations for overcoming these obstacles:
- Improve the analytical skills of the HR function.
- Ensure data are clean, organized and ready for analysis.
- Keep projects focused on solving key business problems.
- Maintain rigor by not confusing correlation and causation. If data show that older sales representatives sell more than younger colleagues, for example, that doesn’t necessarily mean that age is the cause.
- Avoid the pursuit of perfectionism in data; it can lead to procrastination. Organizations don’t need complete assurance that measurements are totally accurate before beginning a project.
- Seek small wins initially, which can lead to bigger wins.
- Establish cross-functional cooperation for data gathering, storage and analysis.
- Reassure staff that analytics is an aid to human decision-making, not a replacement for it.
- Understand the legal and ethical complexities of employee monitoring.
The report includes case studies that demonstrate “the need for senior decision-makers to embrace workforce analytics as an essential aspect of strategic HR,” the report authors noted.
The report was sponsored by IBM Kenexa, researched and written by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and published by the SHRM Foundation. The EIU is a research and analysis division of The Economist Group, a British-based global organization that is a sister company to The Economist.
The report is the latest in a series from the Foundation and the EIU, which launched a partnership and strategic thought leadership initiative in 2013, resulting in this report and the following previous publications:
• Evolution of Work and the Worker, which focused on the globalization of business, changing demographics and changing patterns of mobility and how these affect the , which focused on the globalization of business, changing demographics and changing patterns of mobility and how these affect the , which focused on the globalization of business, changing demographics and changing patterns of mobility and how these affect the nature of work and the worker.
• Engaging and Integrating a Global Workforce, which focused on how “clashes/unrest will continue to grow globally at both a societal and a corporate level.”
“We believe these reports provide important insights to help forward-thinking HR and business leaders plan more effectively for the future,” Schmit wrote in the foreword.
This research, he added, also provides “excellent background information for students and researchers who wish to study the many questions raised.”
Some of those questions include cultural and practical obstacles such as the skills gap, as well as ethical and legal questions about the monitoring of employees and job candidates in the process of collecting workforce analytics, according to the report.
“Legal rulings on the monitoring of employee behavior vary from region to region and are still in a state of flux,” the report noted. “Some view such monitoring to be beyond the boundaries of acceptable ethical practice.”
Additionally, the report suggested that some executives might fear that analytics will contradict their personal judgment; however, as they see competitors benefitting from HR analytics, that barrier is likely to be overcome.
4 Ways Benefits Administrations Can Stop Cyberattacks
Original Post from BenefitsPro.com
By: Tom Pohl
There are reports of data breaches in the news every week, impacting a range of organizations and industries. These cyberattacks are costing businesses, both large and small, a great deal to resolve — from financial expenses to IT and legal resources to reputation recovery efforts.
According to a new study by the Ponemon Institute, data breaches are costing the health care industry $6.2 billion annually. Nearly 90 percent of health care organizations were victims of a breach in the last two years, raising concern for patients, employees, and others involved in the health care system.
Today, the leading cause of health care data breaches are targeted criminal attacks that seek to place valuable personal information into the hands of malicious actors. The personal information given out to health care organizations can be some of the most valuable to cybercriminals. For example, when enrolling in benefits, the information submitted can include patient names, family history, Social Security numbers, and billing information.
It’s important to also note that not all breaches are malicious. Human error is often a cause of breaches, asCompTia’s International Trends in Cybersecurity report found the 58 percent of security breaches are typically due to human error.
So what can benefits administration technology providers do to keep sensitive data secure from human error and malicious threats?
Conduct extensive user testing on your security systems
Implementing user testing through a third party vendor allows benefits administration technology providers to discover gaps or holes in their security systems. This can be done via a user testing group, which is comprised of individuals trained to discover the predominant methods that cybercriminals would abuse to compromise web-based applications.
The group is given a platform with authorized access and fake scenarios, all set up to act as if the system was running as usual. As these experts go into the system and know what areas to try and hack, the organization is able to develop plans to combat or repair these issues. User testing is similar to proofreading a paper; getting a second set of eyes on a program allows companies to see the full risks of its security system.
Educate employees on cyberthreats
As data breaches become a daily concern for IT departments, educating employees on the risks and dangers of cyberattacks becomes even more of a priority. Benefits administration technology providers need to prioritize educational resources and programs to teach employees how to spot potential cyberattacks, especially as they are handling their customers’ private information.
An effective and simple way to train employees on how to spot strange activity can be done via an email phishing awareness campaign. This involves delivering emails to employees with mocked up links or downloadable materials that, if real, would have the potential to open users’ accounts up to cyberattacks. Organizations should also consistently remind its employees to report any suspicious activity and to change their passwords regularly for a more secure system.
Automate processes to reduce the risk of human error
Recently, Google was in the news for a suffered data breach via its benefits provider. Yet the reason for this incident was human error, in which an email sender accidentally sent a document to the wrong contact. Fortunately for Google, the damage was limited, but human error is not always so forgiving.
With automation, benefits administration technology providers have the ability to decrease the chances of sensitive information getting into the wrong hands. This can be done by sending dummy files before sending the actual files to contacts. Another option is to implement triggers on email accounts when certain information is involved. For example, if a file is attached to the email, prompt the sender to confirm it is the correct file before sending. Implementing automation is a key factor in combatting human errors that could increase the risk of a cyberattack, especially when it comes to personal data.
Beware of the insider threat
While public perception is that these attacks result solely from the actions of malicious hackers outside of an organization, insider threats are a growing and serious concern. Vormetric’s 2015 Insider Threat Report reveals that over 90 percent of U.S. organizations believe they are vulnerable to insider threats such as stolen passwords or email spam. In fact, the National Association of Manufacturers released a statement in April 2016 stating the theft of trade secrets has cost businesses $250 billion per year.
Benefits administration technology may want to go a step further to ensure employees are operating in the correct space. Requiring background checks and limiting access to sensitive data will provide an extra level of security for patient, employee, and others’ personal information.
Core Benefits Drive Satisfaction More Than Niche Offerings
Original Post from SHRM.org
By: Stephen Miller
Improving traditional core benefits could be the best way to increase employees’ satisfaction with their rewards mix, new research suggests.
The three offerings with the greatest effect on how employees rate their benefits are health insurance, 401(k) retirement plans and vacation/paid time off. Among these, health insurance was by far the biggest driver of employee satisfaction, according to a new study, Which Benefits Drive Employee Satisfaction?, from Glassdoor Economic Research, the research arm of career website Glassdoor.
At organizations where employee ratings of the employer-provided health coverage increased by 1 star (out of 5), there was also a statistically significant increase in average employee satisfaction with the overall benefits package. (See graph above, from Glassdoor Economic Research. *Denotes that the increase in the overall benefits rating was statistically significant.)
Notably, 4 in 5 U.S. workers report they prefer new benefits or perks to a pay raise. This finding supports a recent Glassdoor survey that found health insurance, paid time off and 401(k) plans are among the top benefits employees would prefer over a pay increase.
Benefits with Narrower Appeal
Two benefits that did not seem to have a significant impact on overall employee satisfaction were maternity/paternity leave and employee discounts.
“Though many employers have added generous maternity/paternity leave plans, it is possible benefits that are not used by a large subset of employees do not impact overall benefits package satisfaction,” the researchers suggested.
“We know benefits and perks are an important recruiting tool in today’s challenging hiring landscape, and this study shows that the flashiest or trendy benefits aren’t always better,” said Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist of Glassdoor. “Investing in core benefits programs like health care coverage, retirement plans and paid time off will go far with new and current employees. Other benefits, like maternity/paternity leave, are important to recruit and retain smaller subsets of employees—like new parents—though we saw little impact on overall satisfaction related to benefits that don’t touch a wide variety of employees.”
He advised, “Employers who have well-rounded compensation plans that include core benefits, fair and competitive pay, and desirable perks stand to attract and retain top talent.”
A separate Glassdoor Economic Research study, The Best Industries for Benefits, found that the best benefits packages, according to employees, are found in the finance and technology industries.
Stephen Miller, CEBS, is an online editor/manager for SHRM. Follow him on Twitter @SHRMsmiller.
Have You Taken Any PTO Lately?
Original post benefitspro.com
Americans might be workaholics, but not necessarily because they’re in love with work. Studies show Americans yearn for vacation time, but some of them can’t bring themselves to take it.
A survey commissioned by Namely, a payroll and benefits company, finds that a majority of U.S. workers intend to take 15 days of vacation per year. It also found that 40 percent of employees have or would be willing to sacrifice pay to gain more paid time off. Similarly, more than two-thirds of workers said that vacation policies were at least somewhat critical when considering a new job.
But as a statement accompanying the survey from the company points out, another recent study found that the average American worker only take 11 days off per year.
The lower average is largely driven by the fact that many employees receive far less than three weeks of vacation a year, but there is some evidence to suggest that some workers who are entitled to generous PTO do not make use of it.
A quarter of workers in the Namely survey cited strict company policies as an obstacle to taking vacation, while a fifth cited “stress at the thought of missing time at work” and 16 percent reported a “negative perception” in their organization of taking time off.
“What this tells us is that despite the best intentions to take large chunks of time away from work and unplug from technology, employees are feeling confined and are using vacation time differently than previous generations,” said Matt Straz, founder and CEO of Namely.
In recent years, a number of major companies have made a point of offering generous vacation benefits. Some offer unlimited vacation, while others have put in place policies to encourage workers to make use of their vacation, including bonuses for taking time off.
Why Do Some Workers Get Away with Bad Behavior?
Original post benefitspro.com
Researchers from Baylor University are seeking to explain why some workers get away with sleazy behavior on the job.
After three studies that included over 1,000 employees, they are convinced they have found an answer: You can get away with breaking the rules or acting less-than-honorably as long as you’re productive. A valuable worker can afford to cross the line occasionally, while those whose performance lags cannot.
It’s an intuitive answer, but one that is no doubt often overlooked by disgruntled employees who wonder why they are being disciplined by their superiors or ostracized by coworkers while others have not.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Matthew J. Quade, a Baylor professor of business, wrote that productive workers who ignore rules or act unethically present a dilemma to employers because of their “contrasting worth.”
“The employees’ unethical behaviors can be harmful, but their high job performance is also quite important to the organization’s success,” he explained in the study, which was published in Personnel Psychology. “In this vein, high job performance may offset unethical behavior enough to where the employee is less likely to be ostracized.”
But that calculus is often flawed, argued Quade. If a worker is regularly engaging in unethical behavior, the employer will likely pay a big price for it down the road. As any observer of the subprime mortgage crisis might say, the short term gains of crooked business are often more than offset by major losses later on.
Unsurprisingly, the study authors concluded that employers should establish that they have no tolerance for unethical behavior from employees, no matter how good they are at their jobs.
Furthermore, they argue, employers should make clear that workers can come to organization leaders with complaints about unethical behavior from colleagues. This point is aimed not only at stopping poor behavior, but to prevent divisions among coworkers.
Another recent study found that employees are more likely to be stressed and unhappy at work when they perceive a lack of “organizational justice,” meaning that rules are not applied consistently or fairly.
Technology: Talking to a Financial Coach Reboots Financial Wellness and Narrows Gender Gap
Original post businesswire.com
In a year marked by increased market volatility and slow economic growth, it’s not a surprise that overall financial wellness levels remained virtually unchanged. Employees appear stuck, hitting a brick wall with debt, lack of emergency funds and inadequate retirement savings. However, the latest study from Financial Finesse shows that the way forward to improved employee financial wellness – and to narrow the financial Gender Gap – could be human-to-human coaching, with technology playing a supporting role.
The Year in Review: 2015, an analysis of employee financial trends based on anonymous data collected by workplace financial wellness firm Financial Finesse, describes a year where most employees have been treading water in terms of their financial wellness. Overall financial wellness levels were unchanged at 4.8 out of 10 vs. 4.7 in 2014.
The study shows that while technology was helpful in increasing employee awareness of their financial vulnerabilities, online interactions alone did not improve employee financial wellness. By contrast, employees who had five interactions including conversations on the phone or in person with a financial planner professional showed substantial progress. Those repeat interactions with a financial coach appear to help an employee get “unstuck,” and advance in key areas. For these regular participants:
- 80% have a handle on cash flow, compared to 66% of online-only users
- 72% have an emergency fund, compared to 50% of online-only users
- 98% contribute to their retirement plan, compared to 89% of online-only users
- 48% are on track for retirement, compared to 21% of online-only users
- 64% are confident in their investment strategy, compared to 42% of online-only users
Employers who offer financial wellness programs consider tailoring communications to address these vulnerabilities in particular:
- 58% may not be saving enough for retirement, with only 16% of Millennials on track to achieve their retirement goals.
- 51% don’t have an emergency fund. While this declines with age, a worrisome 25% of employees 65 and older still don’t have an emergency fund.
- 34% may be living beyond their means. For employees with family incomes of $100,000 or lower, less than half pay off their credit cards every month.
- 33% may have serious debt problems. Debt may be hurting African American and Latino employees the most, with 75% of African American and 66% of Latino employees saying getting out of debt is a top concern.
- Concern over market volatility is high. Many employees grew nervous about their retirement plan savings and turned to their financial wellness program for guidance on how to handle these market fluctuations.
Workplace Mindfulness Training Benefits Extend Beyond Individuals
Original post benefitsnews.com
Much of the research demonstrating benefits of mindfulness practice – stable attention, reduced stress, emotional resilience, and improved performance at work – focus on the benefits for the individual practicing mindfulness. But the workplace benefits extend far beyond that: Mindfulness has a huge impact on relationships. We’ve seen this in our work at eMindful, and it’s supported by considerable scientific research.
Humans are relational by nature, and the quality of our relationships deeply influences our health and well-being. The importance of relationships in the work environment is no exception. Satisfaction and performance at work are strongly linked to one’s ability to work well in teams, develop leadership skills, communicate effectively and resolve conflict.
Teamwork
Team performance obviously relies on relationship skills, and mindfulness training that improves these skills affects both the experience and productivity of teams. One study of health care workers found that a mindfulness-based mentoring intervention resulted in better active listening, more patient-focused discussion and collaboration, as well as greater respect among team members. Moreover, the newly learned mindful communication habits seemed to stick; one year later the team members still demonstrated the same skills.
Leadership
Mindfulness has become particularly popular in the business world as a component of leadership training. CEOs and senior executives have revealed that practicing mindfulness helps build leadership skills, connect to employees and achieve business goals.
One study showed that leaders’ mindfulness was associated with employees’ work-life balance, job satisfaction, and job performance. In that same study, employees of mindful leaders also experienced less exhaustion and burnout. The researchers attributed these findings to leaders being more attentive to and aware of employees’ needs, while self-regulating their own impulses and personal agendas.
Studies confirm the idea that mindful leaders are more attuned to their employees’ nonverbal communication, body language and emotions. In one study, more mindful individuals were better able to recognize the emotions displayed on others’ faces. In fact, it is not uncommon for leaders who complete mindfulness training to say communication feels somehow different, like they are truly listening to their employees for the first time.
Communication, conflict management
Much of the improvement in teamwork likely stems from improvement in communication skills and conflict management. Research suggests mindfulness is associated with better conflict management, with less aggressive communication, and better perspective-taking. During conflicts, people who rate higher in mindfulness have been shown to exhibit more positivity in interpersonal interactions, fewer inappropriate reactions, and less hostility. Mindfulness leads people to process events and feedback in a less self-referential or personal way, which fosters greater attention to group outcomes over self-concerns.
In a study of groups without leaders, teams that were randomized to a short mindfulness exercise had better scores on measurements of team bonding, and they performed better as well. These mindfulness-enhanced skills are helpful not only in better teamwork, but also in enhancing negotiation. One study showed that negotiators randomized to a short mindfulness intervention were more successful in distributive bargaining.
Mindfulness may improve negotiations and team functioning by affecting the emotional tone (positivity vs. negativity) of the team. Since mindful individuals tend to be less reactive to negative events, and recover from negative emotions more quickly, they can influence the collective mood and reduce emotional contagion – the tendency for “negative people” to “bring down” the mood of the group. By practicing focused, kind attention and skillful self-management, mindful people tend to influence through example, engaging and inspiring others.
In summary, practicing mindfulness yields personal benefits, and it can benefit everyone around you. Leaders who practice mindfulness listen differently and communicate more carefully. One result is that they have employees who are more productive and report better job satisfaction. Since mindfulness leads to less reactivity, greater focus on others’ needs, and overall positivity, practicing mindfulness also enhances teamwork through better perspective-taking and more skillful self-management. In my personal experience as a coach, clinician and academic researcher, mindfulness makes working relationships more enjoyable and productive. I’m delighted that research is beginning to confirm how the impact of mindfulness on relationships contributes to better business outcomes.