by admin | Oct 2, 2024 | Human Resources, Workplace
In today’s diverse workplaces, effective communication across generations is essential for fostering collaboration, productivity, and a positive work environment. Understanding the unique communication preferences of each generation can help bridge the gap and create a more inclusive and harmonious workplace. Technology can play a crucial role in bridging the generational gap and facilitating seamless communication.
Understanding Generational Preferences
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Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964): While comfortable with traditional communication methods like face-to-face meetings and phone calls, Baby Boomers may also benefit from using technology to stay connected.
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Generation X (born 1965-1980): Gen Xers are generally comfortable with technology and may prefer email or instant messaging for communication.
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Millennials (born 1981-1996): Digital natives, Millennials are highly proficient with technology and often prefer using social media and collaboration tools.
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Generation Z (born after 1996): Even more tech-savvy than Millennials, Gen Z is comfortable with a wide range of digital communication platforms.
Leveraging Technology for Effective Communication
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Choose Appropriate Tools: Select communication tools that are familiar and accessible to all generations. Consider using a combination of platforms, such as email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and project management tools.
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Set Clear Expectations: Establish clear guidelines for communication, including response times, preferred methods, and expectations for etiquette.
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Provide Training: Offer training on how to use communication tools effectively, especially for those who may be less tech-savvy.
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Facilitate Face-to-Face Interactions: While technology can be a valuable tool, don’t overlook the importance of face-to-face interactions for building relationships and fostering trust.
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Encourage Open Communication: Create a culture where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas, regardless of their generation.
Specific Technology Tips
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Video Conferencing: Use video conferencing tools to facilitate virtual meetings.
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Instant Messaging: Choose a platform that is widely used and accessible to all generations, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and WhatsApp.
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Social Intranet: Create a company-wide social intranet to foster connections and facilitate knowledge sharing.
By leveraging technology and understanding generational preferences, organizations can create a more harmonious and productive work environment where employees from all generations feel valued and respected.
by admin | Oct 17, 2023 | Workplace
As the flu and RSV season gets underway, companies are asking themselves how they can support employees who need to stay home to care for their children. In fact, last October, 104,000 Americans missed work because of “childcare problems” – the highest total since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the figure in 2003. Although that number has since lowered, it has remained above historic levels. Experts have noted that one possible cause is the “Tripledemic” which includes flu, COVID, and RSV.
This isn’t just a problem for parents. Workplace absences are a problem for employers. When parents have to take time off work to care for their children due to illnesses, school closures, or other unforeseen circumstances, it can create challenges for employers in terms of maintaining productivity, meeting deadlines, and ensuring a stable work environment. This is especially true in situations where there is a lack of adequate family leave policies or flexible work arrangements.
How Can Employers Support Working Parents?
Remote Work Options: With the return to office in full swing, employers need to simply recognize that kids get sick. Allowing employees to work from home offers a distinct advantage. It makes all the difference to be able to take a mid-day appointment with your child’s pediatrician. In fact, a FlexJobs survey reported that two-thirds of working parents called remote options a top workplace priority. Additionally, 62% said they would quit their current job if they couldn’t work remotely at times.
Flexibility: Another key tool employers can offer is flexible hours. Kids’ schedules often don’t match up with their parent work schedule. Flexible hours allow parents to make appointments during the day to care for a sick child, allowing them to work in the evening or in the early morning while children are still sleeping is helpful to manage responsibilities both at work and at home.
Empathy and Understanding: Show compassion and understanding when employees need to take time off due to sick children. Avoid making them feel guilty for needing to prioritize their children’s health.
Cross-Training: Cross-train employees or have a backup plan in place so that work can continue smoothly even when someone needs to take unexpected time off.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs): Working parents can often feel isolated as employees, struggling with responsibilities they aren’t typically encouraged to share with others. Offer access to EAPs that provide counseling, resources, and support for managing work-life balance and stressors related to caring for sick children.
Remember that supporting working parents with sick children not only improves employee morale and retention but also contributes to a positive company reputation and a more productive work environment. Offering support to employees helps them thrive in their job as well as at home.
by admin | Nov 21, 2022 | Health & Wellness, Workplace
The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, recently released the Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Wellness to set a new standard for expectations of employers. In this new normal, Human Resources leaders must take some responsibility for the wellbeing of those who work in their organization.
The report is comprehensive and includes research and data supporting the need for wellness and describing the reality for many of the 160 million U.S. workers. More than 80% of people say workplace is a factor in one or more of their mental health challenges, according to Mind Share Partners’ 2021 Mental Health at Work report, which is cited by the U.S. Surgeon General. Also, more than 75% of U.S. workers reported having at least one symptom of a mental health condition, according to that same report.
Why Focus on Wellness Now?
Not surprisingly, this data, along with the recent trauma of the pandemic, led Murthy to share this report.
“People have been going through a reckoning, asking themselves what they really want out of work but also what they’re willing to sacrifice for work,” said Murthy on CBS News.
In the latest HR Exchange Network State of HR report, HR leaders revealed that burnout was the greatest consequence of the pandemic, so there is urgency around this kind of guidance. Because few Human Resources professionals are trained in mental health, they are hungry for the kind of information found in this government report.
To begin, here are the 5 recommendations for moving forward:
Protect from Harm
The purpose of this suggestion is to emphasize the employer’s role in ensuring that workers and those connected with the business are psychologically and physically safe. Obviously, the bare minimum is having plans for fires, emergencies, and other events that could cause physical harm. Laws usually guarantee some sort of adherence. However, this tenet goes a step further by suggesting enabling people get plenty of rest and that the organization has a diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility plan to help develop a sense of belonging and security.
Build Community
In the report, the U.S. Surgeon General directs employers to help people develop social connections. It is the obligation of employers to create an atmosphere ripe for collaboration and teamwork. Of course, most employers are already trying to help teams thrive because it is beneficial to the bottom line, too. But this report also recommends cultivating trust. That’s deep and requires business leaders to develop empathy and encourage socializing and bonding.
Opportunity for Growth in the Workplace
This suggestion is pointed and interesting because the health practitioners are clearly connecting a person’s ability to develop their minds and move forward in their jobs and careers to their wellness. The U.S. Surgeon General recommends offering quality training, mentorship, pathways to promotions and growth at work, and regular, reciprocal feedback.
“When people thrive at work, they are more likely to feel physically and mentally healthy overall, and to contribute positively to their workplace,” according to the U.S. Surgeon General report.
A Sense of Self-Worth
People need to feel needed. The Surgeon General suggests that employers express that they value their workers. They should show gratitude and help people recognize the meaning and purpose of their work no matter what it is. In this tenet, the report includes information about providing a living wage, letting employees weigh in on decisions, and connecting the work of employees with business objectives.
Work-Life Harmony
The idea behind this tenet is to provide better work-life balance and flexibility. Employers should give people the time and support they need to fulfill responsibilities outside of their work. Respecting boundaries is an obvious suggestion. Some companies are prohibiting emails and calls after a certain time of day, for example. But the U.S. Surgeon General goes a step further by recommending greater access to paid leave and allowing for more autonomy when it comes to how and when employees get work done.
“It’s not only about work,” says Murthy. “It has a broader benefit for society as a whole.”
By Francesca Di Meglio
Originally posted on HR Exchange Network
by admin | Oct 27, 2022 | Workplace
There may not be an “I” in team, but there is an “I” in disengaged.
What does this have to do with leadership? Well, regardless of what, why and where you lead, you — as the leader — are directly responsible for the engagement of those who follow you. It’s up to you to decide whether you are leading positively or negatively — and whether you choose to focus on engagement or merely output.
Effective leadership results in increased employee happiness, engagement, and retention rates. But that’s not all. An engaged workforce leads to 17% higher productivity, a 10% increase in customer ratings, a 20% increase in sales, and 21% greater profitability.
Improving leadership is an idea that can be difficult to grasp in tactical or practical ways.
The first step to improving it is to define it.
Leadership is “the act of getting individuals aligned and moving in the same direction toward a desired outcome.”
A key to effective leadership is the ability to define outcomes, but then helping individuals put their talents to use to get there. The best leaders know their people and are aware of their strengths and also their weaknesses.
This level of leadership is achievable when you work at building the leader-muscles in you. Here’s a quick list of the traits that leaders possess so you can begin exercising these muscles in your next leadership workout:
- Self-manage: Make a list in your planner or phone that outlines your goals for the week and how you plan to achieve them. You cannot manage others if you cannot manage yourself.
- Good communication: Many of us have heard the phrase “You have two ears and one mouth so you can listen twice as much as you talk.” An effective leader “knows when to talk and when to listen.” Leaders can communicate company goals and tasks to all levels in the organization and can gather information from all levels by listening.
- Accountability: A successful manager gives credit where it is due and is not afraid to take responsibility for mistakes made by them or the team. Shifting blame does nothing more than undermine your team. Taking all the praise does the same thing. Leaders evenly distribute both in a respectful manner.
- Promote teamwork: When building a team, it is important for the leader to create a culture of teamwork. This is beyond the task of sharing workload, it is also the leader’s skill of team-led problem-solving, communication, and reliability.
- Set clear goals with vision: Good employees can follow instructions and complete tasks. Good leaders share vision and good employees are motivated by it. “Vision can be defined as a picture in the leader’s imagination that motivates people to action when communicated compellingly, passionately and clearly.”
Just as you cannot build strong muscles in your body by occasionally going to the gym, you cannot shape leadership muscles by sporadically flexing these traits—you have to work them out daily. By continually doing the hard work of leading a team, you will be able to effectively build your team’s culture of respect and cooperation.
by admin | Sep 13, 2022 | Hot Topics, Human Resources, Workplace
Many young employees from Gen Z are taking to TikTok to express their frustration about the workplace and profess their practice of quiet quitting. Essentially, they are remaining at their jobs and still receiving paychecks and benefits, but they are sticking strictly to their the job descriptions and maintaining precise schedules.
On social media, some are bragging about doing the bare minimum because of their disappointment in their employer or simply as a lifestyle choice. Some older workers are suggesting this is a result of laziness or lack of ambition. Many in Gen Z argue that they are simply doing what is expected of them contractually, and nothing more, to maintain work-life balance.
The Phenomenon of Quiet Quitting
More than 3.9 million TikTok posts (and presumably counting) have addressed this phenomenon. Many explain that quiet quitting is really about setting boundaries and improving work-life balance or fighting the proverbial man.
“You’re not quiet quitting,” says Claudia Alick in a TikTok video. “You’re just resisting being stolen from. Unfortunately, that’s how capitalism works. That’s how they make a profit. The profit comes from you not getting paid your full value.”
But some career experts and even other TikTok users suggest that young employees are playing with fire. By never going above and beyond, they are making themselves vulnerable to layoffs at a time when budget is a concern. In addition, they might rule themselves out of promotions down the road.
Emily Smith, a TikTok user, reminds people that their boss might not know all their tasks or how long it takes for them to get everything done. She suggests having a conversation about what to prioritize and how to spread out the deadlines is a better route than quiet quitting. Others suggest this practice is bad news for employers.
“Experts say any lack of motivation among a company’s youngest workers can become a troubling sign. ‘Organizations are dependent on employees doing more than a minimum,'” says Mark Royal, senior director for Korn Ferry Advisory, according to a Korn Ferry blog.
What Should HR Do?
HR leaders should investigate the phenomenon of quiet quitting to determine whether it is happening at their organization. After all, a lack of employee engagement is top of mind in Human Resources. Thirty percent of those who responded to the latest State of HR report said employee engagement and experience is their top priority.
The pandemic forced people to rethink their lifestyle and reprioritize work. For many, family, friends, and personal pursuits have replaced work in the top spot. Some say that quiet quitting is the new checking out. Regardless, the Great Resignation has shown that employers, who do not take these shifts in culture seriously, will pay in a loss of talent.
At the same time, the top consequence of the pandemic, according to the respondents of State of HR, was burnout. That may be why TikTok users are leading the charge to demand better working conditions. Certainly, HR leaders are responding with different benefits, such as unlimited PTO and zen rooms, and policies like devising rules that limit calls and emails outside of work hours.
Even Goldman Sachs, famous for its 100-hour work weeks for associates, is requiring employees to take paid time off. Salesforce is testing work weeks with no meetings. Others are experimenting with four-day work weeks, flexibility in when and where employees work, and company-wide vacation days. This experimentation is part of the transformation of work that everyone is witnessing post pandemic.
The question becomes whether quiet quitting is an afront to employers that will degrade their ability to serve customers and innovate or is simply a new way of working that puts people’s personal lives and wellbeing above everything else. Perhaps, this is just part of the cultural shift and workplace transformation the country has been experiencing since the start of the pandemic.
By Francesca Di Meglio
Originally posted on HR Exchange Network
by admin | Aug 23, 2022 | Human Resources, Workplace
The Great Resignation has paved the way for resignation remorse, according to a number of publications. In fact, 72% of the 2,500 U.S. workers surveyed by The Muse said their new role or company was very different from what they had been led to believe. For HR leaders still dealing with a labor shortage or simply trying to fill open positions, this news could help.
Ideally, HR professionals are tracking employees and can address issues before the valued employee decides to quit. Predictive analytics can prove beneficial in these cases. However, sometimes, there’s nothing HR can do, until and unless ex-employees realize they made a mistake.
Learn about how HR can capitalize on resignation remorse:
Court Departing Talent
Some employees are not a good fit, and it might even be a relief when they give notice. However, there are many employees that HR professionals and hiring managers wish would stay. Always make a person’s exit a positive experience.
To start, express disappointment when a valuable employee quits. If possible, see if there is any way to get him or her to stay. Conduct an exit interview to pinpoint the reasons the employee decided to quit. Sometimes, the answer will be as simple as receiving a higher salary. Often, there’s not much HR can do about that kind of resignation.
However, there are other reasons people leave jobs. Maybe they need more flexibility because they are parents. Perhaps, they want to a job that gives them more of a sense of purpose. HR professionals have an opportunity to share ways they could have accommodated those needs.
Even if the employees are still going to move on, they will know of the possibilities should they ever want to return. Of course, let them know they could always come back to interview again should there be openings that might be a good fit.
Create an Alumni Network
Speakers at the recent Employee Engagement and Experience event talked about the employer brand. One of the ideas that many companies have had is staying engaged with employees who leave the company. Previously, the idea was simply for the employee not to burn a bridge.
However, now some employers are reaching out and staying connected to former employees, who have had positive experiences. They ask them to spread the word about their time with the organization and recommend job candidates. HR leaders can stay connected on social media to promote the company and follow the achievements of their former employees. Sometimes, these groups of alumni form organically online. It’s just a matter of discovering them.
Stay in Touch
At top business schools, people always talk about proper ways to network. One of the biggest bits of advice is to connect with people regularly for the sole purpose of checking in. In other words, one should not reach out simply for transactional purposes.
HR professionals can come up with a schedule for dropping a note to stellar, former employees who could be an ambassador. Of course, they should follow them on social media, and they can celebrate new achievements. The point is to develop a relationship, so this ex-employee can either promote the employer brand or return to the company at some point.
Actively Recruit Alumni
Not every former employee is going to be a good fit for a comeback. Some will, however. They come back to the company with certain benefits to the employer. They know the basics of how the place works. Even if things must have changed while they were gone, they still have some contacts and basic institutional knowledge. They will not require as much training. Most importantly, they have likely picked up new skills in their time away.
As a result, HR professionals should use this alumni network to actively recruit for positions. Even if the alumnus is not interested, he may be able to connect you to others, who would be a good fit. The bottom line is that HR professionals should stay connected to former employees as part of a complete and innovative recruiting strategy.
By Francesca Di Meglio
Originally posted on HR Exchange Network
