Why employers should take offboarding more seriously
According to Glassdoor, 79 percent of job seekers use employer review sites during their job search. These sites provide a public stage for employees to rate and review their employers. Continue reading to learn more.
When it comes to layoffs in today’s online world, companies must focus on providing the best experience possible for departing employees, not only because it’s the right way to treat these individuals, but also because it can have a direct effect on the company’s public reputation.
Websites like Glassdoor, Fairy God Boss and Indeed provide a public stage for employees to rate and review their current and former employers. A whopping 79% of job seekers use sites like these during their job search, according to a recent Glassdoor study. Reviews can come in the form of happy employees who cheerlead and promote their employer, as well as disgruntled employees who take the opportunity to air out their employer’s dirty laundry.
In an economy with nearly full employment, where disgruntled employees can and do turn to public online review sites where prospective employees are sure to visit before an interview, organizations cannot afford to take their separation and off-boarding processes lightly.
Reviews by exiting employees have the potential to be very damaging to an employer’s reputation and deter prospective employees from even applying for potential jobs. This kind of transparency also offers a lot of benefit to job seekers; prospective employees can get a better idea of what it would be like to work for a particular company and have greater ability to select a company whose culture and values match their own. In fact, Glassdoor’s study found that 69% of job seekers would not take a job with a company that has a bad reputation – even if unemployed.
One theme that repeatedly appears in negative reviews centers around the topic of layoffs, including write-ups of various HR blunders made throughout the process, inadequate communication, and a lack of empathy and respect toward the departing employees.
While much consideration is given to the onboarding and retention phases of the relationship between employee and employer, the separation phase is often given far less attention. Whether due to a layoff, reduction in force, performance termination, or some other event, managing employee separations can be challenging and can easily turn for the worse, leaving the employee with a negative perception of the company – and an axe to grind on social media.
To address the organizational need for reputation management during a reorganization, many companies work with a third-party specialist to guide them through the necessary steps to maintain employee good-will and satisfaction. A consultative partner can offer added benefit by bringing a fresh perspective and specialized experience to a delicate situation.
For companies committed to attracting new talent, maintaining a strong online reputation should be a priority. Whether you choose to work with a partner-firm or not, ensuring that offboarding is carefully planned and managed will help your organization be more prepared and better equipped to manage a layoff action skillfully, in a way that leaves people feeling heard, cared for and appreciated.
SOURCE: Mellis, L. (21 January 2019) "Why employers should take offboarding more seriously" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/why-employers-should-take-offboarding-more-seriously?feed=00000152-a2fb-d118-ab57-b3ff6e310000
No primary care doc, no problem: How millennials are changing healthcare
Do you have a primary care physician? Forty-five percent of 18- to 29-year-olds reported that they do not have a primary care physician. Read this blog post from Employee Benefit News to learn more.
Millennials, and Generation Z behind them, are changing the way they access healthcare. In fact, 45% of 18- to 29-year-olds say they don’t have a primary care physician. Instead, they’re opting for on-demand healthcare.
Traditionally, individuals and families see primary care physicians several times a year and build relationships with their doctors over time. Visiting the same primary care physician when an illness strikes, or for an annual wellness checkup, can help the doctor notice changes in a patient’s health and catch issues before they become more serious (and costly).
But for millennials, having a primary care physician isn’t necessarily a priority.
That’s in part because they seem to prefer on-demand healthcare options, such as urgent care, drug store clinics and telemedicine services, which are easily accessible and typically include shorter wait times. The number of urgent care centers reflects the trend — they’re projected to grow by 5.8% in 2018, according to the Urgent Care Association.
Then there is employers’ shift away from health maintenance organizations, which often required that each employee choose a primary care doctor at the start of the plan. HMOs also require a referral from the primary care physician to see specialists. Recent research shows that most often, employers offer preferred provider organizations (84%), while 40% offer consumer-directed health plans and 35% offer HMOs.
Finally, physician shortages are leading to longer wait times for appointments. The U.S. population continues to grow and age, which may lead to a shortage of 120,000 primary and specialty doctors by 2030, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
For employers, it’s important to understand the reasons behind the shift to on-demand healthcare and educate employees to ensure they can get appropriate medical attention when they need it.
One crucial part of this education is helping employees understand when they should visit urgent care versus the emergency room, and reminding them that telemedicine is available. More than 95% of large employers and just over one-third of small- and mid-size employers offer telemedicine benefits. But adoption rates among employees remain low — only 20% of large employers report utilization rates above 8%, according to the National Business Group on Health.
Ensure your employees know that the service is available throughout the year and help them understand the cost if any is associated with the service. You may consider offering $0 copays for telemedicine visits to encourage employee use.
Encourage employees to get a wellness visit each year to help uncover health issues and take steps to prevent others. One way to do this without forcing employees to wait for an appointment or commit to a doctor is to bring the service in-house. Increasingly, large employers are adding this service to help employees stay healthy. In fact, one-third of employers with more than 5,000 employees and 16% of employers with 500-4,999 employees now have onsite clinics. Another 8% of midsize employers plan to add clinics in 2019.
Providing health assessments as part of a health and wellness program is another way to get employees, especially money conscious millennials, in front of a doctor. Younger workers are likely to embrace incentives or premium discounts that are tied to a physician visit.
Direct primary care is yet another employer option to provide easy-to-access primary care. With direct primary care, employers partner with primary care physicians to offer a designated doctor for their employees. The benefit for employees is more face time with a doctor and the opportunity to get personalized care.
Importantly, employees who have known chronic issues should see a primary care doctor regularly to help monitor and manage their condition.
The trend toward seeking on-demand healthcare at alternative sites isn’t likely to reverse direction any time soon. Instead, it’s up to employers to understand why it’s happening and educate employees of all ages on their options for care.
SOURCE: Milne, J. (7 January 2019) "No primary care doc, no problem: How millennials are changing healthcare" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/no-primary-care-doc-no-problem-how-millennials-are-changing-healthcare?brief=00000152-14a5-d1cc-a5fa-7cff48fe0001
When every day is bring-your-kid-to-work day
Canopy, a software developer, has adopted many family-friendly employee benefits, including a benefit that allows employees to bring their newborns to work up until they are about 6 months old. Continue reading this blog post to learn more.
When recent college graduate Hanna Arntz first interviewed for a job at Canopy, a Utah-based startup that develops practice management software for accounting firms, the recruiter asked her about her long-term career goals. Arntz wasn’t sure about what she wanted, but she was sure of one thing: She wanted to be a mom.
The recruiter told Arntz that Canopy was developing benefits for pregnant and working mothers. Arntz was interested, and accepted a position at the company in 2017. She is now a talent acquisition manager, a role that allowed her to witness the company’s development of family-friendly benefits firsthand.
“We had a lot of focus groups for parents within Canopy to understand what parents need in the workforce and how to retain them, particularly mothers,” she says.
Canopy now offers 10 weeks of maternity leave, plus a two-week ramp period where parents can work part-time to readjust to work. The company also offers two weeks of paternity leave. In addition to these policies, Canopy has an unusual offering: It allows parents to bring their newborns into work every day up until they are about 6-months-old.
Canopy CEO Kurt Avarell says many of the employees on the more than 300-person team have children, and there is a level of understanding when new parents bring their little ones to work. The company also welcomes older children into their office from time to time.
“Pretty much any day is a bring-your-kid-to-work day,” he says. “It’s pretty typical to have kids in the office.”
Arntz gave birth to her son, Jude, seven months ago. After taking maternity leave, she returned to the office with her newborn. Initially, she was nervous about bringing him to work.
“I was worried he was going to be crying in meetings,” she says. “There was so much anxiety around that.”
Since she has returned to work, though, colleagues have not treated her any differently, she says. Balancing her work with taking care of her son can be tough, she admits, but the company has been supportive.
“Even if the baby was crying and I was bouncing him, they’d still be looking at me in the eye and engaging me in conversation,” she says.
Employers like Canopy are beginning to recognize the value of adding family-friendly benefits with many beefing up paid parental leave, breast milk shipping, and free babysitting services. For example, dozens of companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb, CVS Health, Dollar General, Eataly and General Mills made changes to their paid parental leave benefits in 2018. Meanwhile, Home Depot, Trip Adviser, Vox Media and Pinterest added breast milk shipping benefits, and Starbucks began offering subsidized child care as a benefit.
In addition to its maternity and paternity leave benefits, Canopy has a flexible paid time off policy that allows new parents to work from home. The company also has separate mothers’ and fathers’ rooms in the office and provides new parents with a gift of diapers, clothes, baby care products and gift cards.
Avarell says offering family-focused benefits is a good way to retain employees because it shows workers that they are supported at home and in the office. It’s a part of Canopy’s culture that he hopes to maintain long-term.
As for Arntz, the benefits have played an integral part of her staying at the company.
“The company has invested in me for a reason,” she says. “They want to retain me.”
SOURCE: Hroncich, C. (7 January 2019) "When every day is bring-your-kid-to-work day" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/when-every-day-is-bring-your-kid-to-work-day?brief=00000152-14a5-d1cc-a5fa-7cff48fe0001
4 ways to help employees make better choices about what they eat
Are you looking for ways to help your employees reach their wellness goals? The RAND Corporation reported that 60 percent of Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition. Read this blog post to learn more.
Doughnuts in the conference room. Soda and chips from the vending machine. Cookies in the office kitchen. A recent CDC study of employees across the U.S. found that the foods people get at work tend to contain high amounts of salt, sugar and empty calories.
When people are busy and on-the-go — a common reality for full-time employees who spend more than a third of their day at work — it’s all too easy to fall into poor eating habits. And poor eating habits contribute to poor health. According to a RAND Corporation Study, 60% of American adults suffer from at least one chronic condition (like diabetes or high blood pressure) and 42% have more than one. These conditions are costly, and not just for individuals themselves. The CDC estimates that productivity losses related to health issues cost U.S. employers $1,685 per employee per year, or $225.8 billion annually.
For employers that care about wellness, improving food and beverage offerings represents an untapped opportunity: Better nutrition at work can not only have a powerful impact on employee health but also contribute to a happier, more focused and productive workforce. Making large-scale changes across an organization is not always easy, however, especially when it comes to ingrained habits and preferences. What can today’s employers do to incentivize their employees to make healthier choices?
1. Make healthy food and beverages a benefit.
It’s pretty simple: When more nutritious offerings are readily available — and especially if they are free or subsidized — people are more likely to try them. Companies that offer high-quality food and beverages as a benefit will reap rewards not just in terms of a healthier and more productive workforce, but also in attracting and retaining people, like millennials, who value wellness and appreciate the fact that their employer is investing in their health and happiness.
2. Get personal.
With a better understanding of habits, preferences and what drives people to the kitchen or break room in the first place (boredom? low energy? social time?), employers can begin to build a food and beverage profile that’s tailored to their workforce’s individual needs and thus more likely to be embraced.
3. Consider the “psychology” of snacking.
For example, kitchen spaces that are attractive, comfortable and inviting encourage people to take a little more time and put more thought into selecting their snacks, and can also serve as a welcome place for people to connect with each other and de-stress. Taste is another important consideration. People sometimes assume that healthy food won’t taste as good as the bad stuff, but this is often just a misconception. Special tastings or fun office activities like offering a “snack of the week” can get people to try more nutritious options and see for themselves that they can be just as — if not more — delicious than what they were eating before.
4. Nudge, don’t push.
Workplace wellness initiatives continue to grow in popularity, but there are still questions about whether these programs are as effective as they could be. While health screenings, smoking cessation programs and gym memberships are a good start, corporations shouldn’t overlook a key driver of good health — what their people eat and drink. Providing easy access to a great diet at work is a smart strategy for improving wellness, and one that employees will come to appreciate as a valuable benefit. Plus, healthy, enthusiastic and energized people makes for a much happier and more productive workplace — a win-win for employees and employers alike.
SOURCE: Heinrich, M. (3 January 2019) "4 ways to help employees make better choices about what they eat" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/list/4-ways-to-help-employees-make-better-choices-about-what-they-eat?brief=00000152-14a7-d1cc-a5fa-7cffccf00000
5 ways employers can boost employee engagement
Are you looking for ways to boost employee engagement this year? According to Work Institute, employers could prevent 77 percent of turnover by improving the employee experience. Read this blog post to learn more.
With it being a new year, employers are in a unique position. Unemployment is at its lowest rate since 1969, leaving HR managers with a dearth of qualified candidates to fill open positions.
But filling current openings isn’t the only challenge HR teams face: An estimated 42 million employees will leave their jobs in 2019 in search of workplaces that better meet their needs and expectations. Turnover that significant leaves employers with only one option — focus on improving the employee experience to increase employee retention and satisfaction.
The good news is that employers could prevent 77% of that turnover, according to a study from Work Institute.
Beyond competitive pay and benefits, how do employers create an exceptional experience for their employees? By offering engaging programs, resource groups and events that enhance employee connections and develop a more thriving workplace culture.
We predict that successful companies will use a combination of the following five trends to increase employee satisfaction and improve retention in 2019.
1. Make employee experience technology easy to use
In addition, a poor user experience also can negatively color an employee’s opinion of the organization as a whole, making them more likely to leave.
Consumer-grade interfaces on user-friendly platforms are critical for encouraging employees to participate in workplace groups and programs. When companies invest in employee groups and programs, they expect to see ROI in the form of increased engagement and satisfaction. The key to success is making participation easy.
2. Keep employee experience programs consistent across the organization
For example, wellness programs help improve employee health, satisfaction and engagement. But a lunchtime yoga series offered at company headquarters may make work-from-home employees feel left out.
3. Give employees more control over benefit spending
Giving employees this autonomy not only increases the likelihood that they’ll participate, but it also makes it easy for HR teams to distribute benefits fairly across the entire organization.
4. Streamline data to accurately track employee engagement
Having participation metrics readily available makes it easy for HR teams to see which programs are working and which aren’t resonating with employees. They’re also able to deliver that information to the C-suite and make the case for additional funding where needed.
5. Devote more funding to employee resource groups
Making ERGs a priority when allocating funds for the year will pay off, but only if they’re handled the right way. Using an automated platform to manage ERGs, promote events, track participation and encourage feedback saves HR teams both time and resources, giving them the opportunity to devote more time to improving the employee experience.
Want to fight employee burnout? Focus on well-being
Employees with higher well-being are more likely to be productive, energized and engaged in their work. Read this blog post to learn how you can fight employee burnout by focusing on well-being.
Well-being can be described as feeling good and living with a sense of purpose. When employees have higher well-being, they’re more likely to be productive, energized and engaged in their work, as well as feel more committed to their organization. It’s what all leaders want for their employees. But can there be such a thing as too engaged? Can a super high level of engagement actually leave employees susceptible to burnout?
New research shows that burnout is real — and it can happen to anyone. But the saddest part is that the people it affects the most are people that care the most. In other words, your most dedicated people. It happens when highly engaged employees have increasingly low well-being due to overwhelming job pressures, work overload and a lack of manager or organizational support. Prolonged exposure to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job can lead to exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy — even for people who are all in at work. Ultimately, these top-performing, highly-engaged employees will leave — or worse, the burnout will spread to other employees causing a toxic fire across your company. The good news is that burnout is totally preventable. You just have to know where to start.
Employee burnout is actually more a problem with the company than with the person. Both the root causes and the best solutions start at the organizational level. This doesn’t mean we should stop building emotional skills like mindfulness, resilience and fitness. But it does mean that in order to solve for burnout at your company — or at least extinguish the flames — the organization is driving the bus.
Here are four ways employers can take action by focusing on well-being to extinguish employee burnout.
1. Help employees connect to their purpose. Today, more employees are looking for real meaning and purpose in their work. Whether it’s a connection to a greater mission or following personal passions, purpose-driven employees give more and feel more fulfilled in doing so. In addition to feeling an emotional connection to their work, a sense of purpose also connects them to the company and ultimately affects their well-being and engagement. In fact, according to a study by Deloitte, 73% of employees who say they work at a “purpose-driven” company are engaged, compared to just 23% who say they don’t.
Helping employees connect to their purpose is key for burnout prevention. Focus on effective communication that linearly connects each employee’s work to the company’s mission. Set clear goals to continue to support employees in not only finding their purpose but staying connected to their purpose.
2. Foster a well-being mindset. We’re all wired differently — and that’s even more apparent when it comes to the workplace. How people think about stressful situations has an impact on their ability to handle and recover from them. For example, an employee who fears conflict versus an employee who takes it head on are going to have different reactions and recovery times.
As a leader or manager, when you know how people think about stress, you can help them cope with it and prevent burnout. Avoid organizational consequences such as absenteeism or turnover by communicating and encouraging positivity, self-care and weaving well-being into daily tasks.
3. Promote social support and connectedness. At the core, people want to rely on people. Support from an employee’s peers can mean everything. In fact, social support impacts stress, health, well-being and engagement — and ultimately, people feel better and have higher well-being when they feel connected to others. It’s more than a like on a community feed or high-five in the hallway — putting social connections at the forefront of your people strategy or employee engagement program can make a real impact.
Social connections like a company community feed, women in the workplace group or lunch buddies paired up across different departments helps employees get the support they need and guards against burnout.
4. Invest in tools to combat burnout. People who push themselves without taking breaks have a greater chance of being unproductive and burning out. Recovery time from workplace stress is key. Whether physically or mentally, everyone needs a break to recover — it’s natural to need to recharge and refresh. Even small recovery times or breaks can help people deal with the symptoms of burnout. And there are great new tools to make it easy to schedule and take a vacation and “hit refresh” with the full support of your company.
Make well-being a priority to reduce stress by investing in technology that can help you spot burnout, adjust workloads and have awareness of your employees’ stress levels. Take the Limeade burnout risk indicator for example. It allows leaders to see the risk levels for specific groups, and automatically target science-based activities to improve well-being and avoid cynicism (and worse).
When it comes to burnout in the workplace — you can tackle the symptoms to prevent top performers from burning out. Don’t make the mistake of misinterpreting burnout as disengagement. It’s time to take responsibility for burnout and take action at every level.
SOURCE: Albrecht, H. (31 December 2018) "Want to fight employee burnout? Focus on well-being" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/want-to-fight-employee-burnout-focus-on-wellbeing?feed=00000152-a2fb-d118-ab57-b3ff6e310000
The Importance of Working For A Boss Who Supports You
Do you work for a boss who supports you? Trust and commitment are at the core of any professional relationship, and employees who work for a boss that supports them is crucial to professional and company success. Continue reading to learn more.
Employers seek loyalty and dedication from their employees but sometimes fail to return their half of the equation, leaving millennial workers feeling left behind and unsupported. Professional relationships are built on trust and commitment, and working for a boss that supports you is vital to professional and company success.
Employees who believe their company cares for them perform better. What value does an employer place on you as an employee? Are you there to get the job done and go home? Are you paid fairly, well-trained and confident in your job security? Do you work under good job conditions? Do you receive constructive feedback, or do you feel demeaned or invisible?
When millennial employees feel supported by their boss, their happiness on the job soars — and so does company success. Building a healthy relationship involves the efforts of both parties — boss and employee — and the result not only improves company success, but also the quality of policies, feedback and work culture.
Investing In A Relationship With Your Boss
When you’re first hired, you should get to know your company’s culture and closely watch your boss as you learn the ropes. It’s best to clarify any questions you have instead of going rogue on a project and ending up with a failed proposal for a valuable client.
Regardless of your boss’s communication style, speaking up on timely matters before consequences are out of your control builds trust and establishes healthy communication. Getting to know your boss begins with knowing how they move through the business day, including their moods, how they prefer to communicate and their style of leadership:
- Mood: Perhaps your boss needs their cup of coffee to start the day. If you see other employees scurry away before the boss drains that cup of coffee, bide your time, too.
- Communication: The boss’s communication style is also influenced by their mood. Don’t wait too late to break important news. In-depth topics may be scheduled for a meeting through a phone call or email to check in and show you respect your boss’s time. In return, your time will be respected, too.
Some professionals are more emotionally reinforcing that others. Some might appear cold, but in reality, prefer to use hard data to solidify the endpoint as an analytical style. If you’re more focused on interpersonal relationships, that’s your strength, but you must also learn and respect your boss’s communication style.
- Leadership: What kind of leader is the boss? Various communication styles best fit an organization depending on its goals and culture, but provide both advantages and disadvantages. Autocratic leaders assume total authority on decision-making without input or challenge from others. Participative leaders value the democratic input of team members, but final decisions remain with the boss.
Autocratic leaders may be best equipped to handle emergency decisions over participative leaders, depending on the situation and information received.
While the boss wields a position of power over employees, it’s important that leaders don’t hold that over their employees’ heads. In the case of dissatisfaction at work, millennial employees don’t carry the sole blame. Respect is mutually earned, and ultimately a healthy relationship between leaders and employees betters the company and the budding careers of millennials.
A Healthy Relationship With Leaders Betters The Company
A Gallup report reveals that millennial career happiness is down while disengagement at work climbs — 71% of millennials aren’t engaged on the job and half of all employed plan on leaving within a year. What is the cause? Bosses carry the responsibility for 70% of employee engagement variances. Meanwhile, engaged bosses are 59% more prone to having and retaining engaged employees.
The supportive behaviors of these managers to engage their employees included being accessible for discussion, motivating by strengths over weaknesses and helping to set goals. According to the Gallup report, the primary determiner of employee retention and engagement are those in leadership positions. The boss is poised to affect employee happiness, satisfaction, productivity and performance directly.
The same report reveals that only 21% of millennial employees meet weekly with their boss and 17% receive meaningful feedback. The most positive engagement booster was in managers who focused on employee strengths. In the end, one out of every two employees will leave a job to get away from their boss when unsupported.
Millennials are taking the workforce by storm — one-third of those employed are millennials, and soon those numbers will take the lead. Millennials are important to companies as technology continues to shift and grow, and they are passionate about offering their talents to their employers. It’s vital that millennials have access to bosses who offer support and engage their staff through meaningful feedback, accessibility and help with goal-setting.
In return, millennial happiness and job satisfaction soar, positively impacting productivity, performance, policy and work culture. A healthy relationship between boss and employee is vital to company success and the growth of millennial careers as the workforce continues to age. Bosses shouldn’t be the reason that millennial employees leave. They should be the reason millennials stay and thrive in the workplace, pushing it toward greater success.
SOURCE: Landrum, S. (8 December 2018) "The Importance of Working For A Boss Who Supports You" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahlandrum/2017/12/08/the-importance-of-working-for-a-boss-that-supports-you/1?
How employees really feel about asking for time off during the holidays
A new study reveals that 51 percent of employees feel uneasy about asking to use their vacation days during the holidays. Continue reading this blog post to learn more.
Are employers checking their PTO list? They may want to check it twice, according to new data, workers may be leaving vacation days on the table during the holidays because they feel uncomfortable asking for time off.
More than half of employees (51%) feel uneasy about asking to use their paid time off during the holidays, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 employees from management and technology consulting firm, West Monroe Partners. This discomfort was even more prevalent in smaller companies with smaller staffs, where employees work more closely with their managers and colleagues.
Michael Hughes, managing director at West Monroe Partners, says part of the reason employees are so nervous about asking for time off is the expectation that they have to be available 24/7. An employee may also be concerned they will appear to be slacking if aren’t in the office with many companies being short staffed to begin with, he says.
“With the war for talent, people are being asked to do more and more because either they’re shorthanded or can’t find people,” Hughes says.
Nearly two-thirds of employees working in the banking sector felt uncomfortable asking to use their PTO, according to the survey. Although Monroe Partners did not specifically review why this might be the case for banking, Hughes says he thinks that, like other service industries, bank employees often have to work during the holidays to attend to customers.
Banks were hit hard during the 2007 economic recession, he adds, and some have been cautious about beefing their workforce — forcing current employees to carry heavy workloads. But, he adds, this is fairly common across many industries.
“I think it’s something that impacts industries across the board,” he says. “[But] just based on the study banking is one that sticks out.”
West Monroe Partners recommends companies close the office on days other than just federal holidays and accommodate for remote working or flexible scheduling.
Training managers to fairly process PTO requests may also be necessary, the report notes. Managers can do a better job of having open conversations with employees around PTO and job satisfaction.
Despite worker’s anxieties, employers should communicate the importance of taking time off during the holidays, Hughes says. It’s good for workers to get time to rest, he adds. If employees are unhappy in the office, it will likely trickle down to the customer experience.
“A lot of it is just personal health,” he says. “If you give people the opportunity to recharge, they’re going to be more productive when they’re happy.”
SOURCE: Hroncich, C. (7 December 2018) "How employees really feel about asking for time off during the holidays" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/how-employees-really-feel-about-asking-for-time-off-during-the-holidays?brief=00000152-14a7-d1cc-a5fa-7cffccf00000
5 overlooked keys to attracting, retaining great workers (and keeping them beyond the holidays)
Disorganized or absent onboarding processes can severely impact how long employees stay with a company. Continue reading this blog post for the 5 overlooked keys to attracting and retaining employees.
As 2018 winds to a close, the lowest unemployment rate in almost 50 years seems like cause for celebration. But for bosses battling for talent on the front lines — particularly in high-turnover industries like retail, hospitality and food service — it’s anything but.
Rarely easy, recruiting and keeping hourly workers has become a pitched battle this frantic holiday season, with some employers going to new lengths to fill roles. Fast-food franchises are turning to seniors to flip burgers; sit-down restaurants are sending line cooks to culinary school.
But simpler — and far less costly — ways to boost recruitment and retention among hourly workers often go overlooked. Here are a few small steps that, in my experience, can go a long way in keeping workers happy and on the job this holiday season and beyond.
1. Don’t ignore onboarding.
Whether you’re running a restaurant that’s short on servers, or a retail store that sorely needs sales staff, it’s easy to throw new hires into the fray in the hope that they’ll hit the ground running. But doing so can seriously undermine their longevity in the job.
Studies show that a disorganized — or worse, absent — onboarding process can severely impact how long a new hire stays. Conversely, research from the Brandon Hall Group shows that a structured onboarding process can increase retention by 82% and boost productivity by more than 70%.
Too often, onboarding gets ignored in an hourly context — or confused with on-the-job training. Onboarding is much more than that. It’s an introduction to the company and the workplace culture, outlining expectations and opportunities for advancement. It can even include a peer mentor to help new hires with tips like where to park or a good place nearby to grab lunch. This might seem like a luxury — but in actuality, it’s this kind of onboarding that earns Whole Foods and Old Navy top employer honors year after year.
2. Crowdsource your schedules.
One of the greatest sources of frustration for hourly workers is unpredictable schedules. A recent study from Workjam found more than 60% of hourly workers said the most difficult aspect of their job search was finding a position that matched their availability, and more than half said they receive their schedules a week or less in advance.
Setting consistent work schedules around employees’ needs is an important signal that employers care about their work-life balance, family demands or school schedules.
But managing a complex schedule doesn’t have to fall solely on employers. In fact, including your employees in that process can have a positive impact on morale and retention. New platforms that allow workers to swap shifts directly with each other — without involving a manager — give hourly employees some autonomy over their time at work — something shown to boost retention even more than a pay raise.
3. Find meaning (even in the small stuff).
Research is clear: People who feel they have a purpose at work are more productive at their jobs and stay with them longer. And that goes double for millennials and Gen Z, who want to know they’re working for more than just a paycheck.
It might not be obvious from the outset, but showing hourly workers how their jobs make the world a better place can be a powerful tool for retention. It worked for 1-800-Got-Junk, whose commitment to the environment through recycling household items won kudos from its bought-in staff.
For employers who struggle to connect those dots, something as simple as adding a collection box for the food bank in your break room or regularly coordinating your team for volunteer efforts can work wonders in instilling a greater sense of purpose among your team.
4. Modernize your payroll.
We live in an instant world, but you wouldn’t know that by the way most workers are paid. Compared to our on-demand, digital existence, the traditional two-week pay cycle can seem hopelessly outdated. Not only does this hurt hourly workers who often struggle financially between paychecks — especially during the holiday season — it hurts employers competing for talent.
A survey of more than 1,000 people by the Centre for Generational Kinetics showed the majority of millennial and Gen Z workers would prefer to be paid daily or weekly. Further, more than 75% of Gen Z workers and more than 50% of millennials said they’d be more interested in applying for jobs that offered an instant-pay option.
Companies like Uber and Lyft are already updating the pay paradigm, and winning workers, with same-day pay options for drivers. Online platforms now enable any employer to offer that same convenience, in a way that’s easy to implement and cost-effective. But there’s one important caveat here: to work as a retention tool, on-demand pay needs to be free for employees. Charging people fees to access their own money just makes workers feel like they’re being nickeled and dimed.
5. Culture counts (even when you’re on the clock).
Strong company culture is a major contributor to engagement and belonging — a huge predictor of retention. But it’s too often ignored by hourly employers, as evidenced by the fact that hourly workers consistently rate their company culture to be worse than that of salaried workers.
Particularly in the service sector, where the focus is so directed at customer experience, it’s important for employers to spend time making sure employees feel just as valued. For example, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants clinched the No. 6 spot on Fortune’s list of the 100 best employers with culture-building policies like allowing employees to bring pets to work and recognizing good grades among employees’ kids.
With the U.S. job market predicted to remain tight for the foreseeable future, competition for talent will continue to be a big hurdle for hourly employers. But a few small changes can yield big returns in retention and recruitment — without breaking the bank.
SOURCE: Barha, S. (3 December 2018) "5 overlooked keys to attracting, retaining great workers (and keeping them beyond the holidays)" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/keys-to-attracting-retaining-great-workers-beyond-holidays
Poor hiring practices costing employers valuable talent
A survey by CareerBuilder and SilkRoad discovered that 68 percent of employees believe that their experience as a job candidate reflects how a company treats their employees. Read this blog post to learn more.
A growing number of employers say they find it hard to land good talent — but their own complicated or outdated hiring process may be partly to blame.
Job candidates today have higher expectations for communication, technology and onboarding during their job-search process, according to a new survey from job site CareerBuilder and onboarding tech provider SilkRoad. In fact, 68% of employees believe their experience as a job candidate reflects how the company treats its people.
Dissatisfaction with the process can begin as early as step one: Close to half of prospective workers (46%) are only willing to spend up to 15 minutes before giving up on an application, according to the report.
Not only is time of the essence, but the application experience is paramount, too. While potential workers won’t discount a company entirely for not having a mobile application option, employees are searching for jobs on their mobile devices more than ever before.
The fight for talent is only going to become more intense, and employers need to deliver on job seekers’ continuously evolving expectations to attract the best candidates, says CareerBuilder CEO Irina Novoselsky. “This starts with streamlining the entire hiring process, from the first candidate engagement to new-hire onboarding, which can be achieved through technological innovation and a more intuitive, mobile-friendly experience.”
A consistent dialogue remains another big must-have for candidates. Expectations among applicants are changing for when and how they hear from a prospective employer, the study found. Once they’ve applied, job seekers want more — not less — communication.
Many applicants cite a lack of acknowledgment or receipt notification from an employer for a submitted application as a top frustration of the job search. Additionally, 76% of job seekers say they expect to receive a personalized email from an employer acknowledging they received the application. This percentage decreases steadily as the age of the job seeker increases, but it’s consistently the top method of communication expected.
Other top notification methods include phone calls (36%) and text messages (18%).
Regardless of the type of communication, a majority of applicants want — and expect — employers to keep them updated throughout the process when they apply for a job. Candidates want a clear timeline for the hiring process and will begin to discount a company if they are left in the dark. When applying to a job, 55% of employees are willing to wait less than two weeks at the most to hear back from an employer before they give up and move on.
And employers shouldn’t end the engagement once an offer is made, the survey results suggest, because with 51% of potential candidates continuing to look for new opportunities after being extended an offer, the use of personalized, ongoing communication through the onboarding process will remain key.
When nearly one in 10 employees have left a company because of a poor onboarding experience, it’s important to understand the full scope of onboarding that is expected by today’s employees, according to the survey. Successful onboarding for a new hire is critical for their long-term vision of culture and career potential at the new company. However, a focus on the mission and growth factors of the company can’t neglect seemingly basic onboarding elements for the employee’s day-to-day experience and overall integration into operations.
“Technology is playing an increasingly critical role in enabling touchpoints along the recruitment and new-hire journey to facilitate human interactions,” says Robert Dvorak, CEO of SilkRoad. “We realize the customer’s journey doesn't end with a purchase, nor does the employee’s end with an offer. By using technology throughout the entire employment journey, employers can intentionally onboard candidates and employees, keeping them engaged at key points over time.”
SOURCE: Otto, N. (28 November 2018) "Poor hiring practices costing employers valuable talent" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from: https://www.benefitnews.com/news/poor-hiring-practices-costing-employers-valuable-talent