Tips for High Volume Hiring

in /by

Organizations pursuing high-volume hiring propel job creation and fuel economic growth. Unfortunately, filling high-volume requisitions isn’t for the faint of heart.

When you’re dealing with mass hiring, you need creative and practical ways to complete it. Talent is one of the most coveted assets, and organizations succeed only when they have the right skills and talent in the pipeline.

What is High-Volume Hiring?

High-volume hiring refers to the practice of filling a high-number open requisitions within a short timeframe. High-volume hiring seeks to fill many available job positions within a limited time.

Organizations and sectors that use high-volume hiring face seasonal hiring periods and experience massive organizational growth or shifts. For instance, a construction company may conduct a mass-hiring exercise to find construction workers for an unusually large project. If that same company specializes in an area like road repair that is impacted by climate, they may hire hundreds for the spring and summer months, but wind hiring down in the fall.

High Volume Hiring Challenges

The Covid-19 pandemic had far-reaching implications on individuals, families, and organizations. Businesses sustained job losses, mass resignations, and supply chain disruptions. They are still finding it hard to identify, train and keep new hires–not to mention their struggle to keep mass hiring initiatives organized.

So obviously, high volume hiring is a challenge at a time of mass resignation with employees are quitting jobs at record highs. HR managers must respond to these dynamic shifts with creativity and agility in attracting, hiring, and retaining talent that’s in high demand.

And with mounting pressure, industries that rely on mass hiring are getting more creative by the day. For instance, TikTok is maximizing video resumes, with companies such as Chipotle, Great Clips, Target, and Shopify trying out TikTok to fill entry-level positions.

Other common challenges for dealing with mass hiring include:

  • Time crunch. It takes a lot of time to place an ad and to officially onboard the first group of new hires. Where possible, look to automate common, repetitive tasks.
  • Interview process overload. Successful high-volume recruitments rely heavily on efficient application screening. Software can help hiring managers quickly focus on the best qualified applicants, while also supporting DEI initiatives.
  • Analysis paralysis. High volume application processes need to be strategically conducted and executed to manage stress and anxiety. This means having a screening plan in place before recruiting begins.
  • Providing a positive candidate experience. It’s easy to focus on getting the job positions filled, but don’t forget about the people behind the job applications. Provide positive feedback and highlight benefits and positive experiences to new hires.

Strategies for High Volume Hiring

Let’s discuss tips for high-volume hiring. These tips will help you navigate the existing challenge of mass resignations and help you identify, attract, and retain high-demand employees facing high turnover rates.

  1.) Alignment with hiring managers

Misalignment is the source of all problems in recruitment and onboarding exercises. The slightest disconnect with the hiring team can cause major problems in the recruitment process. Ensure that you’re on good terms with all the hiring managers before going far in the hiring process.

You can use the following three tips to ensure internal alignment with hiring managers:

  • Identifying overarching key performance goals
  • Identify different tasks that support or complement each performance goal
  • Identify the skills and proficiencies that will help the hire succeed in their work

By identifying the relevant skills needed to succeed in a certain position, you enable new hires to develop feedback mechanisms and understand and respond to customer needs.

  2.) Put quality first

When you have a pile of requisitions, it doesn’t mean you need more candidates. It means you need quality new hires to get the job done. One way to get quality candidates is to write job descriptions that match the people you want to hire.

Your job description will appeal to the caliber of people you want to hire. Quality job descriptions will clarify the values and attitudes needed for the job and appeal to the right candidates for an open requisition.

You can use the following tips to craft a job description that targets the best candidates:

  • Tell job stories. Tell your candidates why the position is the ideal place to work based on a job story that transcends the job description.
  • Communicate your culture. Clearly state the values and characteristics defining your company’s culture and describe how you view and reward success.
  • Emphasize and impact. Every job candidate has this question in mind, “what’s in it for me?” when they skim dozens of job postings. Most candidates are looking for something intangible – something rewarding and satisfying and worth their time and effort. So, ensure that your job description stipulates the rewards and benefits, tangible and intangible, that come with the job position.

For instance, LinkedIn job postings encourage quality applicants. LinkedIn postings give candidates a personalized window that clarifies the open position and helps them decide whether it’s right for them.

  3.) Create a ‘candidate-first application’ process

Research by Indeed found that 42% of applicants find lengthy job postings intimidating. They found long applications as the most frustrating parts of the application process.

So, while Snapchat’s snaplication model may seem impractical at first glance, it presents a creative and unique opportunity for creating mobile-first and super-speedy applications. Mobile phones and mobile apps will help organizations deploy a candidate-first application process.

Some of the best practices for candidate-first application include:

  • Talent intelligence. Always be where your applicants are – TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter; surround yourself with potential candidates and hires. Talent intelligence drills down on candidates based on geography or location.
  • Mobile-optimization. Ensure that your job application process is mobile-optimized. According to Indeed, more than 50% of job applicants use their mobile phones to navigate job postings.

Using and optimizing mobile phones is especially significant to hourly workers who don’t have access to desktop computers. So, ensure that your application process supports a pipeline of potential candidates who may not necessarily have the means or access to application materials or devices.

  • Keep it short. Create a one-click application process and reduce candidate friction. If this model doesn’t work for you, keep the application questions to a minimum. Enable candidates to apply using their social profiles and pre-populate text boxes to avoid lengthy applications.

Focusing exclusively on job candidates helps you fill open positions faster, saving you time and money on resume screening processes.

  4.) Expand your reach

Now that you’ve created crafty job descriptions and targeted quality candidates, it’s time to put your job posting in front of as many eyes as possible. The more people you reach, the higher the likelihood that you’ll receive more quality applications.

Some of the tactics you can use to amplify the reach of your job postings include:

  • Encourage current employees to share postings with their network and add personal touches
  • Give people something creative and compelling to talk (and share) about by adding images and video
  • Consider sponsoring job posts through job boards, or boosting your social posts

Tip: It’s crucial to keep an eye on who comments, shares, or likes your job postings on social and say thank you. Expressing gratitude may go a long way in attracting the pipeline of potential candidates and new hires.

  5.) Speed up with talent rediscovery

Talent rediscovery involves digging and searching your resume databases to find relevant but old applications.

A prime concern for employers is recruiters failing to examine their resume databases. However, this complaint is slowly being phased out now that Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) have internal search functionality.

ATS technology is useful in today’s volatile labor market. Most organizations are channeling their focus toward rebuilding internal talent and re-skilling in response with an unpredictable labor market. Talent intelligence provides visibility, enhancing your understanding of your workforce’s skillset requirements.

  6.) Automate candidate screening

Perhaps the most unique and innovative way of dealing with mass hiring is the automation of candidate screening. Research shows that 75% of resumes collected from high-volume job postings are considered unqualified. Organizations without an ATS spend time and money screening applications instead of focusing on the bottom line.

A manual, hands-on approach to mass hiring wastes countless hours in skimming unqualified paperwork and documentation. Screening dozens of applications can be mind-numbing for HR teams,  but recruiting software can help you stay organized with high volume hiring and give you back time to focus on other key areas.

 

Contact ExactHire to stay organized when dealing with mass hiring–consider using our ATS software, or let us do the hard work of filling your candidate pipeline, so you can focus on final hiring decisions and onboarding new hires.

 

 

What are the characteristics of a good employee?

in /by

Knowing the characteristics of a good employee positions an employer to hire best fit job candidates and build a culture that supports positive employee engagement. Many employers will define what makes a good employee as a combination of soft and hard skills. But skills can only go so far in making someone a great employee. Personal characteristics such as hard work, determination, and critical thinking are crucial in identifying great employees too.

In this post, we explore seven characteristics or traits that make good employees.

7 Characteristics of Good Employees

Improve productivity, build a stronger work culture, and increase employee engagement by hiring good employees with the following characteristics.

1. Dedication

Dedication is the trait of having a strong sense of commitment and loyalty to your career role or business. Moreover, dedicated employees are purpose-driven in their careers. Dedication is exemplified by the following traits:

  • A strong passion for work or profession
  • A positive attitude towards profession or job
  • Punctuality for work-related events, meetings, or projects
  • Flexibility when assigned roles, duties, or tasks

Dedicated employees don’t need extensive experience to succeed. Rather, they’re willing to learn, train, or sacrifice the hours required to excel in their work. These employees are purpose-driven and goal-oriented. They’re ready to strengthen any areas that may need reinforcement to excel in their careers.

2. Confidence

Confidence, performance, and productivity go hand-in-hand. Confident employees are not only sure of their abilities, talents, and skills; they’re also willing to convince other employees of their ability to get the job done.

Confident employees are not scared by complex tasks or undertakings. They know they can research, consult, and collaborate to get results. This translates into confident employees being able to complete more complicated, harder, or sophisticated tasks with the same level of effectiveness.

As employee confidence grows, employees exhibit the following traits:

  • Seeking ways to improve personal and professional skills.
  • Adapting fast to new roles and new tasks
  • Knowing when to seek help

Employees exhibiting high confidence levels find new ways to adapt to challenging tasks. They’re ready and willing to embrace workplace challenges. Confidence includes the ability to look at new ways to overcome challenges, including optimizing existing resources (personal, equipment, or knowledge).

3. Communicative

Excellent communication skills are a must-have to succeed. That’s because most workplaces only excel with effective internal communications. Processes and procedures must be conveyed to relevant people employees, and outcomes must be communicated back.

Managers need excellent communication skills to convey instructions, guidelines, and policies to middle-level and lower-level employees. Similarly, employees need great communication skills to converse with upper management about their responsibilities and whether they understand directions clearly or not.

Relaying information quickly and efficiently is critical, especially in industries where data is crucial to operational success. This makes communication skills a top priority to look for in candidates, as well one that should be foster through processes and work culture.

Excellent communication skills can lead to success and competitive positioning. The ability to communicate denotes the ability to collaborate on shared tasks. That, in turn, leads to greater efficiency and productivity.

4. Reliability

Reliability is perhaps the most sought-after characteristic of an employee in most industries. A reliable employee is trusted and transparent. Reliable employees have strong moral codes and ethical standards.

Reliability is a critical factor in ensuring that the job will get done – and done well! Reliable employees are strategic assets because they can do the job with little or no supervision.

Being a reliable employee includes:

  • Consistently meeting deadlines
  • Coming to work on time
  • Attending work-related seminars and events
  • Showing a readiness to take on responsibility
  • Giving high-quality work
  • Showing initiative when needed

Reliable employees are especially valuable in industries with highly sensitive information, including personal data, credit card numbers, and social security numbers.

5. Teamwork

The importance of teamwork and collaboration cannot be over-emphasized. Teamwork is a requirement in most work settings. Teamwork and collaboration require dedication, tolerance, openess, and patience.

Being a team player means you’re a positive contribution to your team. It’s possible to exhibit a set of other desirable characteristics by being a team player. For instance, most team players are communicative.

Some of the traits and characteristics of good team players include:

  • Committed to their success and their team’s
  • Strong problem-solvers
  • Supportive and respectful
  • Responsible and reliable
  • Flexible and adaptable

Organizations that rely heavily on teamwork often need greater adaptability. For instance, a team member who can flexibly adapt to being a leader will be an important contributor to the organization.

6. Independence

The ability to work alone is just as important as the ability to collaborate. Even in heavily team-oriented companies, employees will likely find themselves doing some work alone. This is necessary and healthy, as it provides employees time to focus and complete work more efficiently. Independent work requires respect and trust between co-workers and managers that work will be completed independently and efficiently!

Autonomous employees offer the following qualities:

  • Strong time-management skills
  • Ability to review and critique work or projects
  • Strong focus
  • High productivity

Remote employees must be trusted to work independently without supervision. And since remote work calls for greater autonomy, independent employees can adapt faster to working remotely.

7. Leadership

There’s a debate on whether leaders are born or made. However, what’s not debated is that great leaders are admired, loved, and are hard to come across. But what makes great leadership?

Well, leadership is the ability to motivate a group of people towards a common and shared goal. This requires vision, strategy, and confidence, and communication. Great leaders must have a vision and leverage their teams’ efforts to achieve a defined goal.

Employees with strong leadership skills can move companies forward. They can guide team members toward developing their skills. Influential leaders have a wide range of skills, including honesty, reliability, and self-confidence.

Leaders exhibit the following traits:

  • Give constructive feedback instead of being judgmental
  • Show great empathy to fellow team members
  • Act as a source of inspiration to fellow team members
  • Strong ability to identify a team’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Confidence in their ability to lead teams
  • Strong organizational skills

Leadership is a critical quality. People with strong leadership skills are usually promoted by an organization into a more strategic role. That’s because internal recruitment or promotion from within helps companies cut recruitment costs.

Likewise, hiring someone who shows strong leadership skills gives others someone to look up to, which increases organization and productivity in the workplace.

ExactHire – Solutions to Hire Good Employees

ExactHire is a provider of custom hiring solutions to employers of all industries and sectors. We provide applicant tracking software, employee onboarding software, and full service hiring (where we do the hard work of delivering you candidates to hire).

Contact ExactHire to refine and enhance your search for good employees.

 

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

Why Would an Employee Want Pay Equity?

in /by

Today’s companies can only expect to grow and scale when they’re able to attract and retain the best talent. The hiring landscape is vastly different today, too. Candidates are interviewing your organization just as much as you’re interviewing them. And one aspect of your company operations and culture that matters is pay equity.

If you’re wondering why a career professional might care about how you structure pay for everyone else, keep reading. There’s more to pay equity than you might know. We’ll get into the core definitions and benefits of adopting a fair and equitable pay platform, as well as answer why any employee might want pay equity.

Understanding Pay Equity

Don’t mistake pay equity with pay equality. The terms encompass different ideas. Pay equity typically refers to equal pay for equal work, regardless of the employees’ demographics. This pay includes all aspects of compensation, including base salary, bonuses, overtime rates, benefits, and opportunities for advancement.

Alternatively, pay equality often refers to the same ideology – equal pay for equal work. However, pay equity dives deeper into understanding why people might fall into varied demographics and how to level the playing field with those pay disparities.

When you’re looking to incorporate pay equity practices into your organization, you’ll consider these more common demographic classes that might impact a candidate’s earning potential:

  • Age
  • Race
  • Disability
  • Religion
  • Gender
  • Sexual Orientation

For many employers, pay equity is an umbrella concept that encompasses all issues related to fair compensation. For your business, it’s a lens through which all of your pay and benefits decisions should be made.

How Pay Equity Benefits Employers

Pay equity isn’t just an employee-facing term. There are actually a host of advantages a business can leverage when pay equity and fairness concepts are involved. For starters, you can attract a broader and more diverse workforce when you promote pay equity enforcement. Focusing on fairness among the ranks will also help to reduce turnover since staff will want to work for an organization that promotes awareness and equitable best practices. Workplace loyalty matters, especially as you explore better employee retention strategies.

For many small businesses, there are also compliance concerns to note. Providing equitable pay initiatives will ensure you remain aligned with state and local employment laws. The number of employee lawsuits regarding pay has grown in recent years, only solidifying the need to address pay and benefits practices.

What Today’s Candidates Are Looking for in a Company

Pay equity isn’t a trendy nuance to be overlooked. In today’s hiring market, applicants are more decisive about the employers they choose. And they’re looking at your company culture more intently than ever before. Unfortunately, there are still major pay disparities out there, despite many organizations’ best efforts to address them. In fact, a study in 2021 showed that women are still earning an average of 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. And for those who represent women of color, that wage gap is even broader. Shockingly, the Economic Policy Institute found that wage gaps among black and white employees were actually more significant in 2016 than they were back in 1979.

With the onset of social media and celebrity activism, pay equity has been brought back to the forefront of today’s workplace discussion. And it’s a hot-button topic for candidates right now as they explore new career options. If you want to effectively attract and retain the best staff, pay equity needs to be at the forefront of your company’s initiatives.

How Companies Ensure Pay Equity Best Practices

To embrace an equitable pay platform, it requires a series of efforts that address more than just pay and benefits. Companies are also exploring complex causes, including systemic contributors to wage disparities. There are strategies you can be implementing to identify and address social norms in the workplace, biases, and advancement opportunities. And pay equity can be monitored with proper wage audits.

When developing a pay equity audit process for your company, consider the following key elements for the equation.

First combine all the annual salaries of your full-time and year-round employees who represent the demographic you’re looking to compare. Then determine the median salary for each demographic. Finally compare the median salaries for each demographic to each other to identify pay gaps.

This is just one of many calculations used to uncover wage disparities. But if you’re not already auditing your company’s pay and benefits platforms, it’s a great place to start. From there, you can also explore other audit methods that might include comparing weekly salaries or benefits considerations. Whatever audit process you use, make sure you’re measuring equally across the board and in conjunction with any federal or state wage laws.

How to Have the Pay Equity Discussion with Your Teams

Half the battle in addressing pay equity is creating an equitable set of processes by which your company abides. The other half of the effort involves communicating your pay equity strategies to your employees and potential candidates. So, how can your company roll out its plans for addressing pay equity, so everyone understands your initiatives? Consider these best practices as you develop your communications strategy:

  • Make sure your compensation systems and platforms are transparent. This might include sharing goals, metrics, performance, and advancement requirements.
  • Communicate regularly, not just about the roll-out initiatives, but about ongoing efforts to improve pay equity.
  • Provide ample and thorough training for all your managers and supervisors about the hiring, compensation, and retention strategies you have in place.
  • Standardize pay ranges and guidelines for the various roles and responsibilities within your company.
  • Audit and improve job descriptions ongoing to make sure you’re promoting your need for diverse, skills-based employees, offering equitable pay for all.

As you wrap up Q4 for your business and forge new strategies and recruiting initiatives for the new year, consider looking closely at your pay equity. It’s a new hiring market, and today’s companies are improving their cultures to attract top talent. Pay equity plays a big role in that conversation and effort. And ExactHire can help you realign your company’s position to embrace fairness and equity in a way that attracts the best employees.

 

Photo by deeptuts on Pixabay

The Great Remorse

in /by

Since COVID-19 changed the world in 2020 emotions have been elevated. Human Resources professionals continue to ride an emotional roller coaster as they diligently try to fill job openings, minimize attrition and reduce spending in an ultra-competitive job market with more openings than talent can readily fill. However, HR professionals are not the only individuals full of uncertainty at this time.

COVID-19 was the catalyst for job seekers to maximize their job satisfaction. In all career fields, no matter if hourly or salary, an increasing number of employees decided to redefine their lives by choosing to leave their current role in hopes of attaining a role that would offer a better work-life balance to acquire a sense of mental renewal and improve logistics. Some individuals who hit their threshold gambled and exited without acquiring a new job. This mass exodus of employees leaving their employing organizations in hopes of greener pastures was coined “The Great Resignation”.

“The Great Resignation”

According to findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2022 compared to only 42 million workers who quit in 2019. A multitude of reasons exist as to why Americans were quitting their jobs, but the main reasons include low pay, lack of advancement, work disrespect, child care challenges, and lack of flexibility. During the pandemic many fields were thrust into remote work. As employees became acclimated to the flexibility and benefits of remote work, their preference, and even need, for it increased.

When companies sought to bring employees back onsite, numerous employees rebelled at that request and started searching for something different. Many employees believed that something better existed somewhere, so they submitted their resignation and took a giant leap into the unknown. For many individuals, that leap into uncertainty proved successful, as they landed a new role that fulfilled missing needs. Not all pastures turned out to be greener though.

For others, the uncertainty transitioned into remorse as they did not find something better than what they had. What they found was often worse than what they anticipated leading into the expanding ideology called the “The Great Remorse”.

“The Great Remorse”

Research is showing that many job seekers are starting to question their decision to quit their previous role. According to a Harris poll, two-thirds of job seekers feel they should have started looking for a new job sooner. Another 67% feel that it would have been easier to find a job in 2021 as compared to this year. What is startling is this statistic:  approximately 72% of job seekers say that companies are ignoring applications. This is by either not scheduling interviews, or ghosting applicants. While time is of the essence in the Human Resources world, taking time to acknowledge submitted applications and informing applicants that they were not selected for the role in which they applied is an essential professional behavior.

HR Communication

Communication with all applicants shows professionalism reflective of the Human Resources department and organization as a whole. Even more, it is ultimately a kind gesture to communicate the status in the hiring process to an applicant. No applicant wants to be rejected, but at least the applicant will receive some closure. Instead they are left wondering if or when they might be acknowledged. The applicant that is rejected for one position might be the best talent for another open position. This makes it imperative that an organization leave the applicant with a positive view of the hiring process for potential future positions.

Ghosting is the concept of communicating with individuals and then no longer responding. This is not a concept that HR wants to be perceived as doing with applicants. Work loads are undoubtedly heavy for Human Resources personnel. However, active communication engaging applicants in the hiring process keeps applicants more satisfied. It allows them to know more of what the expectations and next steps are in the hiring process. ExactHire HR Software can streamline communication with applicants offering the convenience of emailing or texting communication with applicants. Communication is quick and easy.  Create unique messages or customize existing communication templates to allow software users to craft messages that can be personalized towards one or more applicants.

Impacts of The Great Remorse

In March 2022, a Harris poll showed that over one-third of those who quit during the previous year were regretting that decision as work-life balance either did not improve, or it worsened. Their new job was not what they thought it would be, or they actually missed their previous organization’s culture. Another study indicated that nearly 20% percent of resigned employees returned to their previous company. Employees who leave their employer, work at a different employer, and then return to their previous employer are called “boomerang workers”.

LinkedIn data reveals that the number of boomerang employees increased from 2% of all new hires in 2010 to 4.3% in 2022. Not all employees are employees that an organization might want back on the payroll; however, if employees leave on good terms and have proven themselves as successful contributors to the organization, it is beneficial for the organization to consider rehiring them. Boomerang employees offer many benefits to an organization. They are familiar with the organizational culture and job responsibilities so less time is spent on onboarding them.

They also have a higher time to productivity ratio. The company saves a tremendous amount of money as they do not have to invest time and financial resources. They don’t have to post a vacancy, screen applicants, conduct interviews and offering the role to an applicant. The applicant might then decline the role, but if they accept then you need to onboard a new hire.

Looking at the Future

Human Resources professionals will not forget 2022 anytime soon. As 2023 rapidly approaches, HR professionals and management can make resolutions to welcome boomerang talent. If previous employees reach out with regret for leaving, listen to what they say and what their needs are. Listen, not hear but listen, to their words, and evaluate the current situation, reasons for their departure and what they can provide to the company.

Employees are human, and the last three years have taken an emotional toll on everyone. The grass is not always greener on the other side, but taking time to care for oneself can lead to having a greener pasture. For some individuals, it takes time to realize that. If a former employee wants to come back to an employer, the employer can benefit from keeping the door open to boomerang employees. This allows all entities to thrive in a renewed environment supportive of each others’ needs.

Photo by Startupstockphotos on Pixabay

5 Ways to Create Positive Work Culture

in /by

Creating a positive work culture isn’t just a trend anymore. Today’s leaders are recognizing that the primary way to attract and retain top performers and quality staff is by providing a great place to work. And there are a variety of elements that go into defining what a positive work culture is.

In this post, we’ll discuss the challenges you might be facing in building  positive work culture, along with some solutions. There are five pivotal ways to make significant improvements to your company’s work environment. Here’s what you can be doing to make improvements within your business.

How to Define a Positive Work Culture

Happiness is subject to personal preference. What one employee values most may only be an afterthought benefit to another. So how are today’s employers able to discern what constitutes a positive work culture? It boils down to active listening.

Employees aren’t likely to be as demanding as some of the polarizing news headlines suggest. In fact, employees can be rather forgiving about a company’s growing pains…as long as they feel valued and heard. To meet these needs, employers should consider anonymous feedback strategies, such as launching online surveys or even soliciting employee suggestions with a “suggestion box” (yes, it can still work).

Alternatively, inviting employee perspectives can be an exercise in employer-employee transparency. This could take the form of one-on-one conversations between managers and reports, solely for the purpose of exchanging improvement ideas. This approach requires accountability and trust–two important characteristics of a positive work culture.

The more active employers are in learning what inspires employees, the better positioned they are to develop a positive work environment that fuels their inspiration.

Common Characteristics of a Positive Work Culture

There will be unique aspects to how a company defines and executes a positive work environment. This requires employers to get creative with what makes sense in supporting their teams. But a few general characteristics of a positive work culture include:

  • Employees feel empowered to take on new responsibilities and leadership roles.
  • Workers feel satisfied with their performance and metrics.
  • Staff loyalty increases when they’re appreciated, challenged, and encouraged.
  • Individuals feel compelled to problem-solve instead of departmentalizing or “passing the buck.”

If you believe your teams follow these examples, you’re moving in the right direction for creating a positive work culture. However, if you’re experiencing alternative behaviors, it could be a sign that your company culture needs improvement.

Contributing to a Positive Work Culture

Cultivating a positive company culture requires ongoing initiatives. People change, and so do their values. Additionally,  when organizations grow, they add new dynamics to their workforces. Company culture initiatives, then, should be looked at as an evolving effort. Here are five ways to contribute to improving a work culture.

1. Identify Company Mission, Vision, and Values

This may require an employer to go back to its startup roots, revisiting founding documents. A mission statement should be a constant reminder to employees as that their work matters, so it’s important that the statement is accurate and authentic. Values inform a workforce how they should work in fulfilling a mission–this differentiates a company from competitors and inspires loyalty. Finally, when an employer establishes a vision, it ensures that the impact of the mission will continue to grow and inspire employees to perform.

Once the foundational pieces are reviewed–and refreshed if needed–employers must promote them across the organization so that each individual can understand and support big-picture objectives. Everyone must be held accountable for supporting these objectives, especially managers. The goal is to develop an employee base that can become just as passionate and energized about the company as the C-level.

When employees see how their work matters, they will feel more connected to their coworkers and employer. And that’s the best foundation for a positive work culture, according to Forbes.

2. Manage and Establish Realistic Expectations

Harmony and consistency are key ingredients in the positive workplace. To achieve them, employers must first establish and maintain clear expectations. When a workforce precisely understands what is expected of them, they’ll be more apt to follow those guidelines. And for the overachievers and top performers, knowing where the bar is set will allow them to determine how to go above and beyond.

Unpredictability in management harbors distrust and staff-level contempt. So employers must make sure that managers know their expectations, too. Finally, it is ideal for employers to share companywide, departmental, and specific role expectations with everyone. The transparency will breed an environment of trust and respect, which is essential for positive workplaces.

3. Employees Need to Feel Valued

It’s more than just catered office lunches, front-row parking, or workplace happy hours. Yes, those are all great for promoting team unity and corporate appreciation. However, employees are most satisfied when they feel valued. Company culture is rooted in the individual’s daily experiences. It’s their day-to-day routine that shapes their beliefs about the company. And it’s in those daily routines where employers can improve how they share appreciation for valuable contributions. Check out these stats:

  • 90% of employees who feel their work and presence are valued agree they are more motivated to do their best.
  • 33% of employees who don’t feel valued will perform their best.
  • 83% of executives believe having motivated employees contributes to a company’s success.
  • 84% of employees believe that motivated teams substantially contribute to a company’s success.

4. Foster an Environment of Collaboration

There is a commonly shared school of thought that promotes a “stay in your lane” approach to productivity. And yes, for some companies, those guidelines serve a valuable purpose. However, fostering an environment that welcomes collaboration will develop a company’s culture. When everyone can pitch in to solve a problem or provide insights into company challenges, it sends the message to the employee that his or her opinion and expertise matter. Sharing ideas and improvements lead to innovation, as well.

Employers must do the work by actually hosting these team meetings and asking for departmental and companywide insights. They can’t just promote teamwork as a value and not follow through on initiatives that support it.

5. Communication Has to Flow Freely

Leadership and management within an organization should encourage open and honest dialogues between colleagues, departments, and managers. Employers may consider auditing company communication to see who is interacting with who and what feedback is being processed.

Coffee mornings, team contests, and inter-departmental activities can help people feel connected to others outside of their daily routines. And appropriate levels of management should welcome complaints, suggestions, and ideas for swift follow-up and solutions.

What Inclusivity Means in Today’s Workplace

Inclusivity is another element of a positive workplace. It’s a pillar element worth protecting and supporting. It means every member of an organization has value, is treated with respect, and is provided with the same support and opportunities. Anyone challenging that level playing field should be removed before setting a toxic workplace example. Individual differences contribute to an organization’s productivity, and  tolerance of anything else will only undermine positive culture initiatives.

Keep these company insights in mind as you continue to develop and improve your company’s culture. And when you’re ready to grow your teams, let ExactHire be your guide to finding top talent that fits in with your culture!

 

 

Photo by Windows on Unsplash

3 Ways to Improve Employee Retention

in /by

Employee retention is the secret ingredient for long-term growth and competitive differentiation. Employers that hold fast to their best talent can wade off any storms, including pandemics, market competition, and even regulation.

For these reasons, retaining best talent must be a priority for employers.

Why is Employee Retention Important?

Organizations that successfully retain employees experience benefits beyond the saving of training and hiring costs. High retention helps attract the best talent as a company grows. This is because high employee retention rates contribute to:

  • Consistency in operations leading to efficiency and growth
  • Better customer experiences
  • A strong company culture that fosters employee engagement.

When you think about the importance of retention, don’t just consider long-term savings and benefits. High turnover can be costly by leading to financial deficits and the inability to fund required operational expenditures.

Statistics show that turnover alone costs the United States $1 trillion annually. This figure represents a trillion reasons companies must prioritize retention.

But many may ask, why such a high price tag?

Well, that’s because when employees leave a company, there are some costs to consider.

These costs include:

  • Lower morale levels for those left behind
  • Money and time to replace employees, including recruitment and onboarding costs
  • Reduced concentration and productivity
  • Lost knowledge and expertise that lead to inefficiency

Gallup estimates that replacing an employee may cost almost twice as much as hiring them.

So in order to avoid the costs of turnover and reap the benefits high retention, improve employee retention before the first day in these three ways.

Ways to Improve Employee Retention Before the First Day

1.) Write a great Job Description

A great job description should not only attract the best candidates, it should set accurate, positive expectations. This includes laying out company mission and values and, importantly, how current employees live them out.  Don’t hide company values as bullet points near the bottom of a description, as applicants are likely to gloss over them or view them as unimportant. Instead, tie your values to the job requirements.  Writing a great job description that tells a job seeker what to expect–beyond the job duties–is the first step to landing the best candidates.

How to write the best job descriptions?

  • Get the job title right. Ensure you capture the right title for the right job. Avoid fluff and be straightforward as to the nature of the job.
  • Short and sweet. It’s advisable to start with a succinct and straightforward job description. Give an engaging overview of the job, its history, role, and requirements.
  • Modifiers. It’s advisable to avoid extreme modifiers or superlatives. Superlatives include over-the-top languages like ‘best-of-the-best’, ninjas, Rockstars, and world-class tend to prevent potential candidates from applying. Instead, be straightforward.
  • Align responsibilities with growth. Ensure that the roles and duties captured in the job description align or reiterate the candidate’s possibility for development. Match the job requirements with the candidate’s expectations for continued professional growth.
  • Involve current hires. It is advisable to involve current employees in drafting job descriptions. Too often, job descriptions remain hidden in an HR department. Involving current employees may help provide a compelling illustration of the organization that best highlights a workplace.
  • Create urgency. There’s no denying that even if you’re not in dire need of workers or employees, you still want potential candidates to feel obliged to apply now. So, your job description must show urgency.

2.) Center Hiring Process Around Culture

Culture is a critical component of the hiring process. Unfortunately, many recruiters don’t realize how culture impacts recruitment and retention.

Have you ever encountered an organization that claims to have ‘respect’ as a core value, but then doesn’t promptly follow up with its applicants? This is an example of an employer that enshrines the opposite of what they exemplify in behavior. Any good candidate will quickly run away from the process.

Employers must promote values and culture that they can actually backup. This works both ways by attracting the right candidates and discouraging bad-fit candidates from applying. Organizational culture is at the center of the hiring process when everything reflects your culture – from the application process to conducting your interviews, negotiating offers, and onboarding new hires.

3.) Mentorship Programs

Employees want to feel appreciated. Most importantly, they want to grow with the company. The best way to retain employees, even when others are leaving, is to help them feel that they are important part of the company and its success.

Mentorship programs are a classic way of engaging employees and building long-term loyalty and trust. Employees who feel part of  a culture will remain loyal to an employer even when things get tough.

Mentorship programs help new hires feel part of the company by clarifying values and onboarding the employee–physically, emotionally, and psychologically.

Mentorship programs achieve the following:

  • Extend opportunities for professional and career development
  • Improved productivity and onboarding
  • Building diversity
  • Leadership development
  • Creates opportunities for reverse mentoring
  • Supports and sustains a learning culture

There’s no denying that pairing up a new hire with a mentor is a great addition to the onboarding experience – particularly in a highly technical role, or when the hire is working remotely.

Mentors can welcome new hires to the company, offer guidance, and act as role models. In addition, hires can learn the ropes from experienced employees, creating a culture of continuity and momentum in workload processing and workflow activities.

ExactHire – Improving Your Employee Onboarding and Retention

ExactHire believes that the onboarding process begins long before hiring an employee–with proper planning, resources, and a strong work culture. We work with professionals from multiple industries – finance, insurance, legal, healthcare, education, administrative, and many more –to help them hire and onboard best-fit talent for their organization. Contact ExactHire to leverage recruitment solutions that breed the highest retention levels.

Importance of Organizational Culture

in /by

Recently, I’ve written a couple posts reflecting on content from the HR Indiana SHRM conference. This post builds upon that content by focusing on the importance of organizational culture as it relates to  job candidate motivations. Also note that company culture also factors in to an employee’s motivation to stay at their current place of employment, so the lessons can be applied in both situations.

Let’s discuss some statistics and strategies that an organization can analyze in its quest to hire and retain talent.

According to statistics published by G2:

  • 70% of professionals in the U.S. would not work at a leading company if it meant they had to tolerate bad workplace culture,
  • 77% of job seekers consider a company’s culture before applying for a job, and
  • 92% of people would consider changing jobs if offered a role with a company with an excellent corporate reputation.

These percentages loudly shout a distinct message – culture matters when recruiting new talent and trying to keep existing talent.

What is company culture?

According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), culture consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders, and then communicated and reinforced through various methods that ultimately shape employee perceptions, behaviors, and understanding. This is a good definition, but it’s helpful to break it down further to reveal its impact on an organization.

Shared beliefs and values constitute the foundations of company relationships. Leaders communicate and embody an organization’s shared beliefs and values, which are then reinforced through employee behaviors as they strive towards fulfilling mutual goals and personifying the organization’s mission.

 

 

ExactHire Importance of Company Culture

Organizational Culture: What it is & What Makes it Sustainable, HR Indiana 2022

Work Relationships and Company Culture

Relationships with teammates and managers are important to employees. Even though the pandemic shifted many work environments into more remote settings, individuals seek to have a “work family” regardless of the physical work location. Just because coworkers are not sitting next to each other onsite does not mean that connections to others are unimportant.

Employees can strategize and learn from each other in formal and informal discussions. Inclusive and diverse teams build high-performance teams. An organization needs to provide ways to allow professional relationships to flourish through on and offsite activities, this will greatly improve company culture.

Now, more than ever, people are seeking teammates and supervisors who understand the stressors resulting from the blending of personal and professional challenges. Empathy and support between employees help foster trust, leading to enhanced mental health and productive work relationships.

Employee Growth

Employee growth is essential for a positive company culture. Companies that promote personal and professional development and provide opportunities for employees to learn and grow on the job are more likely to recruit and retain employees as compared to organizations that do not. Provide ample opportunities for additional hard and soft skill training during the work day.

Lunch and Learns and group training sessions for certifications offer a way for teammates to learn and socialize simultaneously. Online courses through sites like LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda), Udemy or Coursera offer convenient, relevant content. If employee training needs to be facilitated by a university, consider tuition reimbursement plans so employees can take classes, or partner with the university to bring learning onsite.

Learning new skills and applying those skills to daily tasks not only reduces employee boredom but leverages the organization into a more competitive stance amongst competitors. Research by Forbes states that 76% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training. If there are concerns about the expense of creating or expanding a Learning and Development (L&D) budget, what about the expense of having open positions due to attrition and being unable to quickly fill them with skilled talent?

Once talent is hired, there is a gap of heightened productivity and ultimately financial loss while new employees seek to apply their knowledge and skills to the role and become acclimated to their new culture. Investing in learning opportunities for employees is a financial investment that will yield favorable returns.

Creating Expectations

Another cultural expectation of employees is understanding what management expects as quantifiable results demonstrating successful task completion. Delivering results in one’s job duties can be a bit opaque, as people have differing definitions of results. Management needs to provide clear parameters of what is expected of the employee and their performance of assigned job duties.

Having clear-cut duties and expectations will aid in improving company culture by limiting confusion. Job seekers benefit from job descriptions that itemize tasks and outline distinct expectations, as opposed to a generalized, vague job posting.

How does it feel to have a task, but not know what the expected results should be?  Frustrating, agitating, unnerving…these are a few emotions that arise when a job seeker or employee is unsure of what successful performance looks like. Even though the world we live in often falls into the gray, management needs to articulate specific expectations of what outcomes yield successful accomplishments. When employees understand the results expected, it fosters a clearer way to complete tasks and learn from the process as well as improve organizational culture.

Work Flexibility

Flexibility is a key part of culture, especially since 2020. Organizations need to reiterate that they value employees acknowledge their lives exist outside the workplace. When an employer offers flexibility with its employees, it is a motivator. Flexibility can include working locations, times and/or days. Can the employee finish the work in  a four-day work week? If so, consider that flexibility. Can the employee come in earlier and leave earlier or the opposite? If so, consider that flexibility.

Having an open and honest dialogue where the employee and supervisor can discuss needs and expectations will help identify a flexible plan that supports not just the employee but the company as a whole. Individuals seek to effectively balance their personal and professional lives, and flexibility helps achieve that balance.

Becoming a Workplace of Choice

Employees seek to stay in or leave a work environment based on the motivators discussed above. And considering that the average person will spend over 90,000 hours working in their lifetime, spending that time completing tasks that are enjoyable in a generally positive workplace matters.

Help your organization become the workplace of choice, where job seekers want to apply and where employees want to stay. Establish and promote your positive and inclusive organizational culture. This will clearly illustrate to job seekers and current employees that your organization is the workplace to be.

Productivity will rise; attrition will be low; and the positive impact on the local and large-scale communities will be ongoing.

 

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Job Candidate Compensation and Benefits

in /by

Job candidate compensation and benefits are a motivating factor for job seekers as they evaluate job opportunities, as well as for employees as they decide whether to remain with an organization.

Recently, I wrote a post reflecting on content from the HR Indiana SHRM conference. This post builds upon that content by focusing on compensation and benefits as it relates to job candidate motivations. Let’s discuss some statistics and strategies that an organization can analyze in the quest to hire and retain talent.

Inflation Impacting Job Candidates

Inflation is soaring. As of June 2022, the United States is experiencing a 9.1% inflation rate. Nearly all goods and services are increasing for the consumer, and here are a few specific examples:

  • Groceries up 12% YOY (year-over-year; largest increase since 1979)
  • Chicken up 17.4% (largest increase EVER)
  • Restaurants up 9% (largest increase EVER)
  • Fuel Oil up 87% (largest increase since 2002)
  • Electricity up 12% (largest increase since 2006)
  • Rent up 5.4% (largest increase since 1987)
  • Airfare up 33% (largest since 1980)

Federal and State Government Affairs Update, HR Indiana 2022

Employees are on edge as they seek to pay bills and save for retirement. According to Wilis Towers Watson research, the anticipated 2023 annual merit increase is approximately 4.1%. But even though wages are increasing, bigger increases in the price of goods and services has job seekers and the employed feeling the pressure. And as much as employers would like to reward and help current employees, pay raises will rarely surpass the current inflation rate. This dynamic is creating fierce competition among employers to retain and recruit talent, and meet their compensation needs.

How can employers create competitive rewards systems to compete for talent?

Creative Compensation and Benefits

According to the United States Labor Department, average hourly earnings grew 5.2% in July from a year earlier, and annual wage gains have exceeded 5% each month this year. While increasing wages were meant as a competitive tool to attract and retain employees, rapid wage growth also contributes to the inflation rate. And wage gains have not kept pace with inflation. Private-sector wages and salaries declined 3.1% in the second quarter from a year earlier when accounting for inflation.

New employees are being hired at a higher pay rate than current employees due to market demand causing pay compression. Pay compression occurs when the pay of one or more employees is very close to the pay of more experienced employees in the same job, or even those in higher-level jobs, including managerial positions. To offset pay compression, HR departments are getting creative with their benefits offerings and diligently trying to increase salaries within and/or accentuating other compensation.

Three Main Areas of Compensation

Compensation can overlap into three main areas:

  • Base Salary (Hourly Rate),
  • Short Term Incentives (awards granted typically ≦ 1 year of employment), and
  • Long Term Incentives (awards granted typically ≧ 1 year of employment).

HR must conduct market analyses on pay and incentives to ensure a competitive edge in the recruitment process. Prime Short Term Incentives include bonuses or variable pay. Variable pay is often known as “pay-for-performance”. Long Term Incentives include stock options and 401k (profit) / 403b (nonprofit) retirement plans. A high employer match rate to employee retirement plan contributions enriches the employee’s perception of the employer’s long-term commitment to the employee. During times of high inflation, giving smaller increases or larger bonuses more frequently can help reduce the pain of high inflation and demonstrate a sense of empathy towards employees.

Personalize Incentives

Evaluating employees’ needs and wants are crucial to developing a solid benefits structure for an organization. Promote the organization’s culture and work/life compatibility, but also include more incentives such as:

  • remote work and flex time,
  • student loan repayment,
  • scholarships for employees’ dependents,
  • personal sabbaticals,
  • phased retirement and professional development funds,
  • onsite childcare,
  • and petcare.

Be creative. Take an intrinsic look at your employee team, and collect feedback from them as to what they seek. If an organization can support the means to do so, explore a cafeteria-style benefits system. Employees can select the benefits that are the most essential to their well-being, resulting in more satisfied employees and an increased retention rate.

Pay Equity

According to SHRM, pay equity is compensating employees the same when they perform the same or similar job duties while accounting for other factors such as experience level, job performance, and tenure with the employer. An organization that is effectively leading the way with pay equity amongst its employees will not have pay gaps based on any of EEO’s protected classifications.

To be a leader in pay equity, an organization needs to conduct pay equity audits to ensure that gaps do not exist among individuals performing parallel job duties. HR and senior management will need to review the existing compensation philosophy, revise as needed for equity and communicate the philosophy with openness and transparency to employees of all levels. Questions will arise among employees so encourage employees to discuss concerns and questions with HR directly.

Keep in mind that many states and local municipalities require the removal of salary history information from job applications as part of the “Ban the Box” movement to promote salary equity among individual groups. And even if a company is not subject to Ban the Box legislation, many companies proactively remove salary history questions from the application as an effort to reduce pay discrepancy.

Pay Transparency

According to Harvard Business Review, “pay transparency has positive impacts on employees’ perceptions of trust, fairness, and job satisfaction and has been found to boost individual task performance.”  Many states have passed pay transparency laws where organizations are required to disclose salary ranges for job opportunities. And beyond legal requirements, job sites like Indeed are now providing salary estimates when employers choose not to disclose salary ranges along with their job posts.

Job Candidate Compensation and Benefits

While an employer cannot directly combat rising inflation and supply costs, HR can help lead the charge for competitive job candidate compensation and benefits that will help recruit and retain employees. Pay rate is not the sole deciding factor for an employee; benefits that are truly relevant to the employee’s personal and professional goals will impact employment decisions as well. Solicit feedback from employees, and evaluate their concerns and suggestions. Transparency and action will help build trust between employees and HR, and in the long-term, develop a true team atmosphere.

 

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Quiet Quitting – What Employers Need to Know

in /by

Quiet quitting by employees is shouting a profound message to their employers that Human Resources professionals, and organizations as a whole, cannot ignore. The pandemic impacted businesses in myriad ways, and for many employees, the pandemic delivered an epiphany. Through lockdowns, quarantines, and long periods of remote work, workers had the opportunity to reevaluate their personal and professional lives. Part of this evaluation was taking a hard look at their daily lives and discerning what really mattered to them. Many determined that a healthy work-life balance was essential.

LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends 2022 report attests to employees’ wants and needs evolving into a more distinct work-life balance. The intrinsic flame burning in many employees started to flicker, and for some that flame went out completely. While quiet quitting is not a new concept, it is on the increase in many organizations. Leadership needs to identify and implement solutions to address the concerns of “quiet quitters” on their teams.

Quiet quitting is getting increased notoriety through social media today. However, the idea has been around in some form for quite a long time. In the past, the idea was used to describe employees who had hit burnout and shifted gears to do the minimum work needed to do the job adequately. That definition is accurate for some quiet quitters; however, quiet quitting has evolved into a more broad concept.

What is Quiet Quitting?

Quiet quitting does not have a strictly defined meaning, nor does it look the same for all employees. Some quiet quitting employees do not take on additional work or responsibilities, but still complete their responsibilities with excellence. For other employees, their version of quiet quitting is doing the minimum required–and nothing further.

TechTarget generalizes quiet quitting as a “rebellion” against the “hustle culture” of going above and beyond what a job requires, and instead, limiting their tasks to only those within their job description to avoid longer hours. These employees are technically fulfilling their job duties; however, they reject the “work-is-life” mindset where they feel obligated to continually do more. They are not seeking the “golden employee” label. Rather, they are trading long hours, additional projects, and accelerated promotions for the ability to go home and focus on non-work activities. They leave work at work. Ultimately, less is more for them.

From data collected in June 2022 through a Gallup poll, quiet quitters make up at least 50% or more of the United States workforce. Mic drop. Over half of the country’s employees are “quiet quitters”.

What is the Impact of Quiet Quitting?

Quiet quitting is increasing the level of apprehension within companies and impacting productivity. Productivity levels are crucial for a business to thrive especially in our current economic state. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States non-farm worker productivity in the second quarter has fallen 2.5% since the same period last year which is the largest annual drop since 1948. The economy may be on the cusp of a recession due to supply chain issues, inflation, and other factors stemming from the pandemic. Companies are fearful that their financial bottom line will suffer if the production of goods and services cannot meet the demand.

The challenge for employers as they grapple with quiet quitting is that not all employees actually want to leave their jobs; hence the “quiet” part of the quiet quitting concept. Lack of advancement opportunities, low pay, and feeling disrespected were the top reasons Americans quit their jobs in 2021, according to a Pew Research Center survey. But many quiet quitters are not experiencing those reasons to quit, they are content with their job…as they decide to perform it.

There will always be a population of employees who feel content being “worker bees” and whose job performance “meets expectations” on their performance evaluations.nd there will always be the employee population that strives for the “gold star” and attains “exceeds expectations” on the performance evaluation.These groups of employees can coexist, but is labeling the “worker bees” as quiet quitters accurate?

Why are People Quiet Quitting?

With layoffs and terminations at a record low, employees have heightened sense of job security. Companies cannot afford to lose employees since they are scrambling to fill a high number of job vacancies. Even if a termination does occur, the odds are favorable for the employee to find another job quickly.

According to the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), an organization’s culture directly contributes to employee behavior. Some cultural issues that may contribute to quiet quitting, include:

  • Lack of engagement by and between management and employees fosters weak relationships.
  • Communication challenges, along with the fear of conflict, mitigate open dialogue between teams.
  • Remote and hybrid work is a contributing factor to quiet quitting because additional challenges exist to have candid, honest dialog.
  • Management faces additional challenges validating work efforts and task completion in remote and hybrid environments.

Workplace culture sets the foundation of an organization and reiterates what behaviors and performance levels are accepted, rejected and tolerated.

Disadvantages of Quiet Quitting

Quiet quitters who are emotionally uninvested in their jobs often have challenges working in a team environment through a lack of motivation and flexibility. Employees who are not quiet quitting might become frustrated at having to pick up additional responsibilities or tasks from those employees who will not. Resentment builds amongst teams and that dissolves trust and motivation. Employees who do the minimum in tasks have a higher chance of being passed over for promotions and pay increases as compared to other employees.

Advantages of Quiet Quitting

Advantages to quiet quitting do exist. Employees who leave “work at work”, and then spend time on personal interests, might be more relaxed and motivated when they return to work. That could help increase productivity. Quiet quitting for a temporary time could help reduce burnout if the employee takes time to refocus and prioritize. So quiet quitting is ultimately a plea for open communication between employees and management to discuss concerns and deficiencies in the working environment.

How to Combat Quiet Quiet

HR professionals have quite the challenge on their hands, as they are the catalyst for communications between management and quiet quitting employees. HR and senior management within an organization need first to check how engaged entry and mid-level managers are within the organization and with their teams. If engagement is lacking, senior leadership needs to help reskill and motivate managers to help others, especially in new remote and hybrid working environments.

Managers need to find 15-30 minutes weekly to have a sincere, purposeful conversation with members of their teams. These conversations should strengthen relationships and reiterate value in each team member’s efforts. If employees see how their work contributes and is a benefit to the organization, they will be motivated to see value in their work and heighten their accountability for performance.

Listening is just as important. Often employees convey a message without saying a word. So managers need to learn how to recognize these messages and, in response, hold conversations to address and reduce burnout. All employees have challenges in their work and personal lives to varying degrees. It’s up to managers to know their team’s needs and be cognizant of ever changing factors that could transform productive employees into quiet quitters.

Employee Engagement Matters

Considering that the average person will spend over 90,000 hours working in their lifetime, spending that time completing tasks that are enjoyable in a generally positive environment matters. Time magazine shared that Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report found that job dissatisfaction is at a staggering all-time high, and that unhappy and disengaged workers cost the global economy $7.8 trillion in lost productivity.

Organizations cannot afford to lose talent through attrition or sustain a loss of productivity without it impacting the internal dynamics and the external competitiveness of an organization. Quit the status quo and invest in designing and maintaining a workplace culture where employees thrive, and do not just simply survive. When an organization is invested in its employees and is committed to providing a supportive and rewarding culture, employees will see that quitters–even quiet ones–really do not win.

The win-win comes from both inside and outside the organization, where employers and employees agree on how work and life can balance together.

 

 

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash