Creating a culture of recognition
Does your corporation have a culture of recognition? Companies can experience an increase in engagement, productivity and retention when employees are recognized for their work. Read this blog post to learn more.
When employees are recognized for their work, employers can see gains in engagement, productivity and retention.
But such efforts must be more than a one-time event; to really enjoy the benefits, employers need a culture of recognition, experts say. This has to start at the top and include clearly defined company values.
Live the culture you want
"A purposeful, positive, productive work culture doesn't happen by default — it only happens by design," S. Chris Edmonds, founder of The Purposeful Culture Group, told HR Dive via email.
And while HR can influence culture, a recognition culture must start at the top, experts say. And it must be part of an employer's performance management strategy.
Management can signal what's important, what it needs employees to care about, Scott Conklin, VP, HR at Paycor, said. "You have to live your words," he told HR Dive, adding that "if not seen at all levels, people aren't going to do it."
Senior leaders must create credibility for these "new rules" by modeling valued behaviors and coaching on them every day, Edmonds said. Coaching means senior leaders must praise aligned behaviors everywhere they see them and redirect misaligned behaviors in the same way. Only when senior leaders model these behaviors will others understand that these new rules aren't optional, Edmonds said.
In addition, Edmonds said, the organization must measure how well leaders are modeling the valued behaviors. This measurement often comes in the form of a regular values survey, generally twice a year, where everyone in the organization rates their boss, next-level leaders and senior leaders on the degree to which those leaders demonstrate the company's valued behaviors. Only by rating leaders on valued behavior alignment can values be as important as results, Edmonds said.
And only when everyone — from senior leaders to individual team members — demonstrates valued behaviors in every interaction will the work culture shift to purposeful, positive and productive, Edmonds said.
Create an industrial constitution
Many employers don't communicate their values well, Conklin said.
The path to great team citizenship can be clearly defined by creating an organizational constitution that includes a servant purpose statement explaining how the organization specifically improves quality of life for its customers — and defines values and measurable valued behaviors, strategies and goals, Edmonds said.
If company values don't explicitly define exactly how you want people to behave, they'll struggle to model your values, Edmonds continued. If an organization values integrity but doesn't define it in measurable terms, people won't know exactly how they're supposed to behave, he explained.
Find what works
Traditional models of employee recognition are good, but they're becoming outdated in some cultures, Conklin noted. Your recognition program has to fit your culture, he said.
SOURCE: Burden, L. (26 November 2018) "Creating a culture of recognition" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.hrdive.com/news/creating-a-culture-of-recognition/542845/
Viewpoint: Why Respect, Dignity and Kindness Are Foundational Workplace Principles
Corporate leadership shouldn't wait for disruptive incidents to occur before they focus on the state of their workplace environment. Read this blog post to learn more.
SHRM has partnered with Security Management magazine to bring you relevant articles on key HR topics and strategies.
This is the #MeToo era. The great wave of public accusations involving inappropriate conduct such as sexual harassment between managers, employees and co-workers has washed over U.S. workplaces, unsettling everything in its wake.
But sexual harassment is not the only conduct that can help turn a working environment hostile. Given this, employers who take action now to help establish and solidify a welcoming and hostility-free work environment will be better positioned for the future. Such actions can come in many forms, ranging from zero-tolerance anti-harassment policies and violence prevention training to diversity task forces and team-building exercises.
While they vary, these actions all benefit from a proactive approach. Opposing views and opinions are inevitable among a diverse workforce, but leaders of organizations should not wait until disruptive incidents break out before focusing on the state of the workplace environment. Instead, they can start immediately.
Respect and Dignity
Human resources is a team sport. No one HR manager, no matter how talented or knowledgeable, can completely shoulder the burden of protecting his or her firm from employee issues and litigation. A cohesive HR team, on the other hand, is positioned to tackle anything thrown its way. But when one gear gets out of whack, the whole team is affected and compromised.
Take, for example, how an entire company can be impacted by one disruptive manager. Sam's team was led by a small group of managers who worked well together; they collaborated to achieve goals and boost one another to success. However, a new manager, Chris, was brought on.
Chris had a markedly different type of attitude and leadership style. Chris was demanding and sometimes even yelled at employees in public. He occasionally disparaged another manager's directions to team members and would even threaten a firing in an attempt to improve performance.
A few months after this leadership transition, some employees began to leave Sam's team by choice. But those are not the only changes triggered by the new manager. Some of Sam's team members absorbed the negative qualities Chris exhibited, including degrading public chastisements, gossiping and expressing increased agitation in the office. Chris' overwhelming negativity threw a wrench into a once strong team and threatened to break it down into an unproductive group of individuals.
Before Chris took over, Sam's team members respected one another and successfully accomplished goals. Chris' harsh leadership eroded the members' respect and kindness, causing productivity to decrease and spirits to drop.
How can HR help make sure this type of situation is addressed and avoided? When building a team, it is important to establish respect, dignity and kindness as foundational principles. This will very likely increase productivity and reduce the risk of violent workplace behaviors. When employees feel respected and treated with dignity, they are more likely to treat co-workers and customers the same way. This creates a positive culture within the organization.
To facilitate this, HR should go beyond simply asking employees to be civil and respect one another. They should also explain how to do so, and demonstrate what civility means to the organization by providing examples of positive interactions.
Support the Company's Culture
During my time as a line manager, there were key opportunities for me to support the company culture. All managers can take advantage of the same opportunities, if their organizations are willing to provide them.
For example, orientation sessions are an opportunity for HR leaders to introduce themselves, their department and the values of the organization to those who are being onboarded. Time can be devoted to explaining appropriate workplace behavior through the use of scenario-based situations.
In addition, department team meetings offer opportunities for HR professionals to join in to discuss relevant issues and provide training through small group discussion or case study review. Team members can assess a situation and provide feedback on how it should have been appropriately handled. Using both positive and negative behaviors as examples will help employees understand the difference.
Open houses are another possible venue for educating discussions. HR may arrange with company leaders to have a time where employees stop by, ask questions and participate in discussions that help them understand their role as part of the larger effort to maintain a healthy, inclusive workplace.
Finally, it is important to remember that HR staff should help line managers serve as role models of appropriate behavior. If they are behaving badly by being rude, disrespectful or uncivil, how can HR expect them to help the organization promote a culture that values everyone?
In the end, HR cannot assume that people managers understand what is and is not appropriate. Setting expectations from the start, and clearly demonstrating how to positively act and show respect to co-workers is an effective way for HR to set the right tone—and a more active and effective approach than simply hoping for the best. This will have a ripple effect throughout the workforce, and it will help prevent future breaches of conduct from triggering a domino effect of disrespect, such as the one caused by Chris' behavior.
This article is adapted from Security Management magazine with permission from ASIS © 2018. All rights reserved.
SOURCE: Solon, R. (28 November 2018) "Viewpoint: Why Respect, Dignity and Kindness Are Foundational Workplace Principles" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/employee-relations/Pages/Viewpoint-Why-Respect-Dignity-and-Kindness-Are-Foundational-Workplace-Principles.aspx
Don't Mistake Perks for Corporate Culture
Are you mistaking great employee perks for great corporate culture? Too often, companies confuse employee perks with corporate culture. Continue reading to learn how to differentiate the two.
Too often, companies confuse perks and culture. Leaders think that to create a great culture, they should go purchase ping-pong and pool tables, get a keg for the office, or offer four-day workweeks. But these are all perks, not culture, which are two very different things. If a company only focuses on adding flashy perks, they may attract an employee, but they won’t retain them.
Don’t get me wrong, perks are great, but if there are beanbag chairs and no one likes each other, that doesn’t accomplish much. Allowing your employees to bring dogs to work is a perk. Texting an employee after they had to put their dog down is culture.
Culture is made up of emotion and experiences. It’s the intangible feelings created by tangible actions. It’s about caring for your people and creating a sense of community that allows employees to feel connected to something bigger than their individual role. It’s allowing them to feel comfortable to be themselves. Culture is creating an experience that employees wouldn’t otherwise be able to have. It’s spending the time to actually listen and support them in their personal lives, both good and bad. It’s about asking for their opinion and then acting on the feedback.
Perks are short-term happiness. They will attract talent, but if companies aren’t investing in professional and personal development, if they’re not willing to spend the time listening and gauging individual motivators, if there is a lack of empathy for an employee who is struggling with a personal issue, the employee will leave as soon as they are offered a higher paycheck elsewhere. It’s like a relationship: If all you get are flashy gifts from your significant other without any emotional investment or support, it will fizzle.
Culture is transparency, and that is a two-way-street. If leaders expect their staff to be transparent, they too have to be transparent with their staff. They stand up in front of their co-workers and share their mistakes that have cost money, damaged confidence and produced tears and heartache. They share mistakes to show employees, new and old, that if you are running 100 mph, mistakes will happen, but the future success will overshadow them. That you can learn from them.
What about the companies that have their core values of integrity and honesty painted on their walls, but when influential employees go against them, they’re not penalized? That’s fake. Culture is when leadership removes someone from the organization who is bringing others down regardless of them being the company’s top producer. They are dismissed because that is the right thing to do for the team.
Culture is holding people accountable. Pushing them to be better. Training them to learn how. Developing their skills and then allowing them to execute the directives. When people are challenged and pushed and they become better, you are establishing culture.
Building a culture is hard work. It’s not a one-month or one-year initiative. The truly great places to work—the ones that get all the recognition and accolades—didn’t start investing in employees for the awards. The awards were ancillary.
An employee who thinks of jumping ship can compare perks easily, but culture is much harder to evaluate. Instead of focusing on temporary benefits, leaders should focus on creating an environment which makes your company hard to leave.
SOURCE: Gimbel, T. (14 November 2018) "Don't Mistake Perks for Corporate Culture" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/blog/dont-mistake-perks-for-corporate-culture
Originally posted on LaSalle blog.
Reducing benefit costs while still valuing employees
Originally posted August 26, 2014 by Steve Grossi on https://ebn.benefitnews.com.
As part of valuing our employees, benefits are viewed as a direct extension of pay and considered to be a vital part of an employee’s total compensation package. Benefits represent a sizeable investment for BOK Financial as well as for each employee. It’s our corporate culture to place a great deal of attention on benefits, and helping employees understand all of the value of their benefits package is a key focus for our HR team.
People who work for us are independent thinkers. It’s important to make our own decisions, and that’s especially true when it comes to health benefits. This is the reason our company is committed to a program that offers employees the flexibility to choose their coverage in most major benefit areas. Each employee can put together a personal package to suit their needs, and I believe that this flexibility shows the company’s commitment to each and every member of our staff as well as their families.
But this level of commitment to our employees – although vital – is expensive. After payroll, benefits costs were our No. 1 company expense, and as a result we found ourselves coming to terms with the impending Cadillac Tax, a penalty against companies over a particular threshold in terms of premiums resulting from the Affordable Care Act.
We added a consumer-directed health plan to our benefits offering, along with a health savings account, hoping to bring overall benefits costs down and reduce our exposure to the Cadillac Tax. Our belief was that the CDHP would suit the needs of many employees, and premiums would be lower for both the company and the employee. But explaining the benefit of a CDHP to employees is challenging – people are confused by the options, and most simply choose to do nothing and remain in their current plan. Others assume that the most expensive plan is the best, and default to that choice.
After one year with the CDHP, adoption was well short of our company goal, at only 5%. We went looking for help, and ended up with a solution from Tango, a company that helps organizations save money by optimizing health benefits, while keeping employees happy.
The first step was to educate our employees, and Tango explained the differences between each plan in simple, relevant terms. A plan optimizer tool allowed employees to walk through a series of questions and decide which plan was the best based on their individual needs. Since the tool is online, employees can log in from home and walk through the steps with their spouse, and discuss their options. Our CEO and his wife went online at home to use the plan optimizer, and they ended up choosing the CDHP. In all, over a thousand of our employees logged on to the online tool, with most spending at least 20 minutes reviewing and comparing their options.
For even more employee awareness, Tango put a communication plan in place that included email-based updates and information. Weekly and monthly communications continue to go out to the employees explaining how to open and use their HSA, and other helpful tips on topics like reimbursements and tax filing. The emails were very specific and targeted, so employees were more likely to open and read them. Tango also provided videos and webinars specifically created for our employees with a direct comparison between the CDHP and the traditional PPO plan – helping to demystify the choice between the plans. Normally this kind of information would come from the HR team, but Tango’s level of service meant that our HR team could focus on other critical employee needs.
Reviewing our results at the end of the first enrollment period with Tango, we saw adoption of the CDHP and HSA go from 5% of the employee base up to 30%. Our employees were pleased with the plan changes and with the amount of information they were getting about the growth of their HSAs. And it was a huge win for the company: BOK Financial saved over $880,000 in premiums and avoided an additional $190,000 in taxes.
BOK Financial continues to work with Tango to boost further adoption of the CDHP, and to retain existing plan members and ensure that employees are getting the maximum benefit out of their HSAs. As a chief human resource officer, the ability to increase adoption of the CDHP while maintaining our relationships with employees was very important to me. I’m thrilled that we’re able to retain our commitment to value our employees, even as we make changes that benefit the company’s bottom line.
Financial services companies renew focus on talent management
Originally posted May 29, 2014 by Michael Giardina on https://ebn.benefitnews.com.
As the financial services industry recovers from the recession, HR leaders at companies such as BNY Mellon and Invesco are re-examining their talent management programs and putting a new emphasis on corporate culture.
Following the recession, many executives in the financial services HR field began to question the industry’s focus on top-down management. At BNY Mellon, combining the firm’s traditional corporate structure with a new focus on talent management was an important part of its business strategy.
The global investment company has more than 50,000 people in 100 different locations, which makes culture and communication integral to its growth.
“We spend a lot of time thinking about culture,” says Sarah Allen, global director of HR strategy and talent solutions for BNY Mellon. “We really do try and reinforce the values.”
The company is in the process of implementing a year-long rotational development program, also known as a management training program, for interns and current employees.
“We think it’s really important because it gives us a chance to offer a differentiated experience, and gives these new employees a chance to see the company from a completely different perspective, from a 360 [degree] perspective,” says Allen. She notes that BNY Mellon is also rolling out a new employee career center to foster development, networking and coaching for motivated employees looking to grow.
According to Nancy Lupinski, head of people development at Invesco, the company is developing numerous programs with a focus on its more than 6,000 employees.
“We are continuing our focus on robust talent management processes, with enhanced efforts related to leadership development, as well as succession and development planning for key roles,” she says. “We work closely with business leaders to target development solutions that accelerate top talent development.”
Identifying, developing and managing talent in an industry as complex and global as financial services is a constant challenge, says Chris Farbo, global leader of Towers Watson’s talent and rewards financial services practice.
“We’re seeing a difference now,” he says. “We’re seeing organizations challenging what have been the historic norms on the staffing pyramid. Do we really need that many seniors to this many middle managers to this many juniors or should we change the slope of that pyramid?”
In a recent poll, Towers Watson found that approximately 44% of financial services companies said that identifying and developing talent would be the primary focus of their HR department over the next 12 months. Also, manager effectiveness, performance management and career architecture were cited by executives as being part of their 2014 HR roadmap.
“I think the industry has been very good at creating very good vertical executives who know their particular area of expertise incredibly well,” says Farbo. “But, as I speak with executives in the industry and boards of directors, where they want the industry to go is having executives grooming talent with a broader horizontal perspective on the business, so they can see and understand the different pockets of activity that are taking place across what are increasingly global and very diversified business portfolios.”
Allen says BNY Mellon is launching a manager feedback component to its employee review process this year, which will allow employees to rate the effectiveness of their managers.
“The manager will use that as input into their professional development plan, but it’s something that our employees have asked for that we think will be pretty powerful,” Allen says. “It just ensures that greater two-way communication.”
Forty-two percent of respondents to the Towers Watson survey said both manager effectiveness and performance management would be the talent initiatives receiving the most attention over the next 12 months.