Tag: employees

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Work Environment

6 Tips to Set Employee Goals That Matter

6 Tips to Set Employee Goals That Matter - The Collection

Encouraging and setting employee goals is important for a healthy mindset, and will ultimately benefit not only the team, but the company’s success as well. Here are a few tips!

 

Goal setting is more than just a metric for performance – it’s an important motivational tool. It’s one that can help teams and organizations come together during these difficult times, when most of us feel isolated rather than part of something bigger than ourselves.

 

This message is more important than ever, as COVID-related research has gone to show that burnout rates among remote workers are at an all-time high.

 

But when setting goals, you have to come up with ideas that are attainable, sensible, and provide both individual and organizational incentives – helping employees and businesses alike feel that they are making progress on a day-to-day basis, rather than simply getting by.

 

Tip 1: When Goal Setting, Work Backwards

 

Goals should either be aspirational or grounded, but with the intent of supplementing a greater dream. Whether we’re talking about individual employee goals, personal goals, or the goals of an organization, the goal setting process must always begin with the fundamental question of: what do we want to achieve? 

 

At its core, every business has a vision it wishes to fulfill, driven either by its founders or its workers. Identifying that vision and defining what it might mean to fulfill that vision in 2020 should be the first step towards setting goals in a COVID world. How can you make a meaningful impact in the industry you inhabit over the coming months?

 

As for individual employee goals, the key is identifying a professional benchmark, as well as an educational one. The modern employee is one who embraces change – jumping at the opportunity to develop horizontally and vertically, picking up relevant skills in different fields and specializing towards the future.

 

Start by identifying an aspirational goal, then developing the benchmarks that you feel are most relevant to that dream or vision. Then identifying the individual monthly, weekly, and daily goals that would lay the foundation for your organization’s success, or an individual’s success.

 

Tip 2: Create Goals Around Achievable & Trackable Metrics

 

Goal setting is most effective when it leverages today’s wide range of existing data analysis tools and productivity metrics. If your ultimate goal for the year is to be the premier service in a specific region, identify the metrics that are most relevant to that goal – such as increasing the number of targeted ads you’re using in your marketing campaigns, shifting towards more local engagement, and picking up at least an extra client every month from key neighborhoods.

 

The same goes for individual employee goals during remote work. If you want to improve on your performance while working from home, consider tracking the amount of work you get done over a week’s total hours, picking smaller goals that help you improve that ratio. Examples would be:

 

 

The use of day-to-day goals to gauge and improve performance will vary in both type and effectiveness. For example, it’s easier to track productivity when working at a call center, versus working the desk as a book editor.

 

In such cases, tracking measurable data can come at a cost of losing the forest for the trees, and focusing on the speed of a task over its quality. This is where employers and employees have to navigate goal setting together – and identify goals that would balance and satisfy a business’ need for growth with the professional’s desire for self-improvement and ensure the two never need to conflict.

 

Tip 3: Employee Goals Should Be Incentivized

 

Some goals are self-incentivizing, such as the goal to improve in one’s field, learn a new skill, or work towards a promotion. These goals all share the basic principle of personal progression, and the goal itself is the reward.

 

But when a business’ goal becomes an employee’s performance metric, additional incentive might be needed to help employees strive to achieve those goals. These incentives can also help employees feel that they’re being rewarded for a business’ success – and that the better they do, the better the company does, and the better the company does, the better they do.

 

Emphasizing this connection is especially important now, where many of us haven’t been able to return to an office setting, or redevelop ties with our fellow officemates, or the company’s culture and identity.

 

Whenever employees are given goals such as landing three clients this quarter, meeting a deadline for a application’s development, or improving the results on a biannual customer survey, incentivizing these goals is important – both through recognition and credit, and through compensation.

 

 

Tip 4: Include Employees in the Goal Setting Process

 

Management needs to include employees in the goal setting process, as they’re key to determining what’s needed and what’s attainable. Too often, the problem with goal setting is the fact that there remains a dissonance between leadership in a company and the company’s workers, and workers end up struggling under unrealistic deadlines or expectations that don’t match up with reality.

 

By ensuring that each team or individual is represented depending on the size of the business, managers can set more effective goals for individuals and the total organization alike.

 

Tip 5: Relevant and Time-Bound

 

The last two letters of the popular SMART goal-setting acronym represent the qualities of Relevant and Time-Bound goals, emphasizing that it’s important to pick and set goals that reflect the company’s and employee’s current needs, while imposing an attainable deadline that encourages performance without accidentally incurring the opposite through work-related anxiety. Especially in a time like this, where burnout is not just a plausible risk, but a seeming inevitability.

 

This ties back into the importance of making sure employees are represented or take part in the goal setting process. This helps ensure that realistic goals are not only set, but also met.

 

Remote workers can pitch in on monthly or quarterly meetings to chime in on or suggest company and individual goals, and comment on what kind of a timeframe they can support without burning out.

 

Tip 6:  Encourage Employees to Share Goals and Announce Achievements 

 

While there should be a boundary between personal and professional lives, there is always going to be overlap in places where employees are comfortable enough with one another to talk about non-work-related subjects, such as personal interests and hobbies.

 

Setting goals isn’t just important for the survival of a business during COVID, or for the continued professional improvement of an employee, but they’re important for a person’s own psyche as well, giving us something to strive towards and provide us with more structure.

 

A company could encourage remote employees to share both personal and professional goals through the company’s network and discuss or share whenever a personal or professional goal is met.

 

Landing a client, hitting a new personal record, finishing the tenth book of the month, or reaching a milestone in a personal project are things to be appreciated and celebrated. This helps give employees the sense that they’re part of a larger network, and encourage them to continue working on their goals.

 

Read More:

Strengthen the Culture of Accountability in the Workplace
Categories
Office Space

The Key to Inspiring Innovation Through Your Office Space

Inspiring innovation is always something employers are trying to factor in to each working day. So read below on how utilizing office spaces can help and be beneficial to your employees.

 

It seems far-fetched to associate innovation with office spaces, especially given that the generic image conjured in each of our minds when we think of the typical office space is the kind of place where innovation goes to die – cordoned by grey cubicle walls, drenched in awful white light, and built for hive-like efficiency.

 

But the space we work in is integral to the work we do, and how we do it. Our workplaces and office spaces can be bountiful sources of inspiration, if built to facilitate it. The keys are flexibility, framework, and freedom.

 

But reconciling these features with a space that still improves productivity and adheres to modern-day safety policies in a post-pandemic world can be challenging. Let’s define how office spaces can help inspire innovation in our day-to-day work.

 

Flexibility

 

Workplace flexibility is a quality that can be interpreted in different ways. A flexible office is one that can be transformed and adapted to serve multiple needs and purposes.

 

It is a modular office, one that provides what is needed for the perfect setup but does not presuppose what that setup might look like. Allowing for that level of flexibility without completely devolving into a chaotic setup that leaves everyone confused as to where to work requires a design approach that provides a natural framework for how spaces and furniture are meant to be setup, while leaving room for creativity to help fill in the rest.

 

An example would be a common area with multiple seating arrangements and different kinds of furniture, several outlets, movable chairs, sofas, and tables, and plenty of space to move between them. This encourages people to congregate and separate as needed and use a large and open common space to collaborate and interact between tasks, or lounge while looking for inspiration.

 

Outside of the common area would be the individual, private spaces – conference and meeting rooms, smaller offices, and rooms set up for small teams to work together, or for individuals to take a break from others. Booths that exist between these separated rooms and common areas give workers the option to work alone while still being in an atmosphere surrounded by others.

 

Flexibility is a concept that moves beyond the workplace as well and minimize restrictions while adhering to social distancing rules. Encouraging employees to work from anywhere, including coworking spaces, cafes, the main office, or home, can give workers the option to decide which space best complements the work they’re about to do.

 

Framework

 

Flexibility is only a boon when an established ruleset exists. Otherwise, like muscles without bones, it all just collapses into itself.

 

Office setups meant to boost innovation are supposed to help workers surround themselves with the environment that best fits their needs that day – a room with a view, a common space among others, the atmosphere of a café, some quiet time at home, or a brainstorming session with the team in a private meeting space.

 

A proper and innovative office space framework builds around popular concepts such as the hub-and-spoke model to create a variety of spaces for companies and people to move between depending on their creative and productive needs, including the main office and satellite offices such as coworking spaces. Only through a robust framework can flexibility shine.

 

Freedom

 

Freedom permeates the concept of innovative and effective office spaces by avoiding preset styles and instead encouraging companies and teams to freely build around a loose framework. But freedom is also an important part of fostering innovation by encouraging office spaces to reflect each employee’s needs to manage their own work and play time.

 

Play is an established part of the creative process. Rather than being antithetical to work, the importance of play in developing unique and innovative ideas is recognized and implemented in offices and workspaces around the world, including renowned tech companies like Google and Dropbox.

 

Again, framework plays a role here – employees are encouraged to manage their time and utilize the space around them as a source of inspiration, but are still expected (and incentivized) to bring results to the table, and focus effectively on work over leisure.

 

Play is a restorative activity in this sense, much like an afternoon nap or a nature break. Restorative activities can help reinvigorate and prepare us for new tasks and refocus between endeavors.

 

 

Hard Boundaries and Soft Rules

 

Creating and utilizing an office space that inspires innovation requires the right balance of hard boundaries and soft rules. There are still standards to keep – deadlines to meet, work that must get done, policies that go unbroken, and a divide between common and private spaces, where employees are encouraged to interact and cooperate, or huddle and focus, as a group or alone.

 

But between the hard boundaries and clear lines are gradients and soft rules, suggestions and arrangements – furniture, toys, break spaces, coffee machines, snack bars, large open spaces and tables meant to bring people together and make in-office conversation inevitable.

 

These invite creativity and customizability, to encourage workers to make themselves comfortable and mold their own ideal space with the options at hand, in every sense.

 

The Collection emphasizes this blend of flexibility, framework, and freedom in its coworking spaces, providing community amenities and an open common space to emphasize collaboration and encourage innovation between tenants and company members, while also offering a variety of individual spaces blocked off from one another with noise reduction features and natural light.

 

Safety and Security

 

Office spaces must adhere to current rules regarding social distancing and basic personal protection to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

 

Coworking spaces are well-equipped to handle these policies by providing a variety of private rooms with individual ventilation, modular common areas that can easily be adapted to social distancing rules, a reception ideal for screening workers for temperature and symptoms, and the ability to employ roving cleaning teams to keep the space safe and disinfected between uses.

 

As companies continue to operate partly via remote work and partly via de-densified office spaces, coworking spaces and other flexible working arrangements will play a long-term role in reducing harm and providing greater safety in a post-pandemic world.

Read More:

7 Ways to Foster Creativity and Innovation (and Why You Need To)
Categories
Work Environment

Employer Branding: What Is It and How Can It Grow Your Business?

A company’s provided service or product is important, but a company’s employer branding is even more important for long-time success. Read more below, including how this special aspect can grow your business.

 

Nearly everything has a metric. Even employer reputation, and how it affects a company’s chances of securing top talent. Data shows that most workers – up to 86 percent – would not apply for or continue to work for a company with a bad reputation, either among the public, or among former employees.

 

While the importance of a company’s reputation has never been higher than in the age of social media, where every product and service is at the mercy of the opinions and influence levels of the customers who have had experience with them, a company’s reputation among its employees is equally important, if not more so.

 

Your employer branding, which represents how your employees perceive your company and how they rate their experiences while working with and for you, can be key to gaining and retaining talent, building a productive company culture, and avoiding bank-breaking controversy.

 

Defining the Employer Brand

 

At its most basic, a brand as a concept is a way to distinguish one service provider or product from another. The more your brand can separate itself from the competition in a positive way – through better quality, a better experience, a better reputation – the more likely you are to take control of the local, regional, and even international market.

 

The same concept applies to hires and long-time employees. Your brand’s identity at work and to the people who work with you is important as both an incentive, and security. Positive employer branding means people want to work with and/or for you, to the point that they’d take a position at a company with better employer branding for lower pay.

 

When things do get rough, having a great employer brand can help you keep your talent around. They know that it’s worth wading through a crisis together to help the company survive, than simply take the opportunity to jump ship and find a better place to work. But building an employer brand is a different process from customer-facing branding.

 

Building a Better Brand in 2020

 

When top talent looks for a place to work, they want their value to be recognized. They want good incentives, including great pay and benefits. But they also want a work environment that they can be excited about.

 

And when they’ll ask around to learn more about what it’s like to work at your company, they won’t just be interested in your products and services, but they’ll want to hear about day-to-day management, workplace culture, work philosophies, and the company’s ambitions and values.

 

They want to get a sense of what it’s like to be part of the team. And if that experience doesn’t sound appealing or doesn’t make for a very good story, then your employer branding is lacking.

 

Creating a strong employer brand requires a multi-faceted approach. Some things you want to be aware of include:

 

  • Understanding who you want to attract, and what it is that might attract them.
  • Creating and supporting a compelling narrative on the company’s values and mission.
  • Figuring out how your existing employees feel through tools like Glassdoor.
  • Keeping tabs on how the competition builds their employer brand.
  • Generating branding through shared employee experiences.
  • Developing an effective onboarding process.
  • Prioritizing personal and career growth and constant learning.

 

With the advent of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, a successful employer brand will also include a forward-thinking and adaptive approach toward the difficulties of the crisis. This means offering innovative flexible working conditions, a widescale adoption of cutting-edge communications tools and policies, and a speedy retrofitting of all existing office space to accommodate new workplace requirements and create a safe and secure workspace.

 

While a lot of employer branding relies on utilizing your own means to create a better employee experience, not every company has the means to invest heavily in creating safer workspaces. However, that’s where companies can turn to coworking spaces, and leverage their services to fortify their employer branding, with a focus on flexibility and safety.

 

Coworking places like The Collection help small to medium businesses opt for safe and flexible working conditions during and after the pandemic. They make for an excellent way to transition into a work-from-anywhere workplace policy.

 

Coworking spaces are also an excellent option for larger companies seeking to minimize costs as they transition into a hub-and-spoke model (based on hub-and-spoke distribution), without compromising workplace benefits or eating into their employee’s expectations of a convenient and welcoming workspace.

 

 

Live and Breathe Your Brand 

 

Customers spend time and money on your products and services. They expect quality on par with what they’ve invested. A successful business will go above and beyond those expectations and develop a relationship with a customer rooted in a product or service that is much better than the competition. And a customer experience that continues to outperform the rest.

 

But building a brand around that quality, and catering to a loyal customer base, is very different than building an employer brand.

 

Where your customers spend some time and money on your brand, your employees spend an inordinate amount of their time working to bring those results to the table.

 

Not only do they want to be appreciated and paid, but they want a company culture that reflects how they feel about their work – a sense of pride for quality, dedication to the end product or service, and a workplace they can be happy about. All of that requires a genuine relationship between the employer and the employee.

 

While marketing and a strong customer-facing reputation can mitigate the impact of a product’s weaknesses on a brand or minimize the drawbacks of an earlier-than-planned rollout, there’s no point obfuscating anything between a worker and their boss.

 

Employees know how a company operates better than anyone else, and any employer branding that doesn’t match the day-to-day reality and experiences in and out of the office will come off as disingenuous and condescending.

 

The worst thing you can do is try to sell your brand to your workers without the substance and culture to back up your material. It might work when it comes to attracting new hires – but if you plan on keeping them around, your employer branding should shed light on how great it really is to work at a company like yours.

 

Final Thought

 

Building your employer brand to attract and keep talent is a long-term process, one that requires identifying what your workers need, communicating often enough to ensure that they feel heard, and fostering a workplace culture and environment that makes your business the best place to work in town.

 

Categories
Work Environment

7 Tips to Improve Digital Communication While Remote

How can you grow a stronger team while working remote? By always improving the digital communication between each other. Read for some tips below.

 

With no clear end to the current crisis in sight, it’s likely that remote work will continue to play an important role in keeping non-essential workers healthy while they continue to do their jobs from home, or from safe and sanitized satellite offices. An important part of enabling continued remote work is strong digital communication.

 

Digital communication will remain the backbone for businesses seeking to thrive and grow during this pandemic, as well as after it. As we continue to look toward the near future with increased workplace flexibility in mind, finding ways to leverage current and upcoming communications technologies to make it easier and more convenient to cooperate remotely will be key.

 

Managers and leaders need to pick platforms that are easy to use and avoid overwhelming their employees with too many tools, systems, and messages, while current employees will need to learn how to best communicate with the platforms they’ve chosen, while onboarding new hires and integrating them seamlessly into the company communications network.

 

But navigating the new normal can be challenging, particularly when it feels like the sudden shift towards remote work has been especially hard due to cluttered, overwhelming, and disorganized communication. Making the most of digital communication tools is about more than just picking the right platform.

 

Here are some important tips.

 

1. Pick a Consistent and Effective Communications Platform 

 

Stick to the fewest possible number of communications platforms to enable you to do two things well: group communication and individual communication. To that end, pick a platform everyone is at least partially familiar with, or one people know for its shallow learning curve.

 

Make sure you can host clean one-on-one video calls, and effective group meetings. Pick a platform that lets you organize group chats, and effectively integrate collaborate tools such as Google Docs.

 

And finally, accept that email still isn’t going away for some time, so don’t try to replace it – and find a platform that exclusively fills the gaps where email fails, particularly in regards to instant messaging, group communication, voice, and video. Having too many platforms and avenues for communication can make it difficult to keep track of conversations, find files and topics, and get in touch with the person you’re trying to reach.

 

2. Always Schedule One-on-One Calls for Important Matters

 

Avoid hiding critical messages or important meetings in emails. Develop a clear and simple system for prioritizing messages, so when a message comes through on the appropriate channels, its importance is clear.

 

Something that needs to be addressed via a direct message might be much more urgent than an email, while something mentioned offhandedly or with a direct tag/mention in the group chat is probably more casual, or even off-topic.

 

But when something requires immediate attention or a prepared and nuanced conversation, schedule a call. Too much information is lost in chat or voice calls – make it face-to-face.

 

3. Consolidate Messages and Cut Cluttered Conversations

 

There’s little use in sending a dozen emails a day when there is so much else to do during the day.

 

It’s better to consolidate important or relevant topics for the day or week in a single long email at the beginning or end of the day or week, unless it’s an urgent message – in which case a direct message would be more appropriate, to convey urgency.

 

Learning to cut through the clutter and make it immediately clear when something should be responded to immediately and when it can wait (via something as intuitive as the delivery of the message) can help you avoid miscommunication and wasted time.

 

4. Make It Clear When a Response is (and isn’t) Needed

 

Emails can be notorious examples of miscommunication, particularly in cases where it isn’t immediately clear when a response is needed or not needed. This goes for any other messages, as well.

 

Consider making it clear in the body of an email or message if you need a response or not, so the recipient can be clear on whether they should respond immediately, respond later, or get to work and let you know when something relevant has changed or occurred.

 

5. Set Schedules for Communication 

 

Living in a mostly remote world has its advantages, but it also has significant drawbacks, especially with regards to hours spent at work, and work life balance.

 

Set clear schedules for when it’s okay to check into work and communicate on work matters and make it clear that there’s a cut off period for receiving, sending, and/or responding to communication.

 

There may be exceptions from time to time – serious emergencies – but there should be boundaries nonetheless, and any exceptions to those boundaries should be rare or nonexistent.

 

6. Create Clear Lines of Communication Between Management and the Workforce

 

One of the great benefits of effective digital communication is that it’s easier than ever to communicate with the people we need to communicate with, regardless of their physical location. Not only does this let a manager speak directly to any employee they need to address, but it also lets employees speak directly (and immediately) with their managers.

 

Utilize this as a strength, and establish clear and simple methods of reporting to and communicating with coworkers up and down the chain of command, making it easier to bring up grievances or suggest changes, vote on certain matters, or just ensure that management hears when employees have some sort of issue.

 

A culture of promoting openness and making it safe for employees to bring up any matters regarding management can promote trust between employers and employees, as employers know their employees can be more upfront with them, while employees understand that their individual opinions (and opinions as a group) matter, and can have an impact on the company.

 

7. Utilize Group Chats and Group Communication to Make Company Goals Clearer

 

At their worst, group chats can serve as a behemoth of information to wade through to get back to an old conversation, or a source of constant distractions.

 

But when organized, moderated, and used properly, group chats can enable companies and departments to communicate effectively, create a greater sense of cohesion and unity, and make it clearer to everyone what a company’s immediate and long-term goals might be. Every employee should be on the same page, and feel that they’re working towards something together.

 

 

Conclusion

 

There are many benefits to properly leveraged digital communication, and it’s more important than ever to take full advantage of these benefits.

Categories
Work Environment

How to Give Constructive Feedback Over Video Calls

As a leader, it’s imperative to give constructive feedback to your employees in order to solidify a strong foundation for business success. But what’s the best way to do this through a video call? Follow the tips below.

 

While many of us have taken the necessary steps to adjust to the new day-to-day, some difficulties may remain – particularly for those among us who are still working from home. Communicating effectively with your coworkers and employees can be a serious challenge under normal circumstances, and unfortunately, we are still far from normal circumstances.

 

Adaptability is a key skill for any business aiming to thrive during this crisis. And overcoming the challenge of communication is an important first step towards acting more cohesively and avoiding the pitfalls of remote work. This includes increased burnout and miscommunication.

 

This is true for management and workers alike, as every member of an organization must learn to communicate effectively with their teammates and coworkers to ask the right questions and give the right answers. Miscommunication remains a big issue as many of us continue to rely on technologies that we might not be completely familiar with.

 

But when conversations are particularly sensitive, clarity is of the utmost importance. When aiming to provide feedback to an employee or ask for feedback from an employer, there can be no room for uncertainty or miscommunication.

 

Here’s how you can improve on your feedback, and make sure it comes across as intended.

 

Make Sure Your Tech is Working

 

The fundamentals are important. You can’t have an earnest conversation with someone when there are ten walls between you two in the form of terrible mic quality, audio lag, video stutters, or far more egregious issues such as a muted mic or broken camera.

 

An important video call isn’t something you should start with a troubleshooting session.

 

Always do a test call beforehand, calling a friend or family member to make sure that everything is going smoothly and that there are no major issues on your end. Check the video feed, check your internet connection, and check your mic quality. Test the delay between saying something and it being heard by the other party.

 

At this point, you should have a decent quality microphone, especially if video calls are a frequent business matter. Be sure that your words are coming across clearly and without any stutter, echo, or significant distortion.

 

Establish Etiquette for Video Calls

 

Just as there should be a basic standard for the quality of your equipment, there should be a basic standard for video calling etiquette. It’s all fine and good to enjoy some of the perks of remote work, such as the ability to work from home in your PJs.

 

But when we let all pretenses of professionalism break down completely, it can become difficult to distinguish between work and personal life, let alone friend and employee.

 

Putting a little effort into your presentation on camera (and asking the same of anyone working with you or for you) also shows that you care. Next, it also helps you avoid camera issues that might come across as unprofessional, intimidating, or embarrassing, including poor posture, angle, and lighting.

 

Sit up straight, face the camera head-on, speak clearly, and hopefully find a corner of the home where you can be alone without any significant background disturbances.

 

 

Figure Out Your Core Message

 

Before scheduling the call, it helps to sit down and figure out exactly what it is you want to address. Boil things down into simple sentences and keep them on-hand for whenever you feel that the conversation is trailing off.

 

You can even go so far as to write up a script for how you’d like the conversation to go. However, even if you plan on just having an organic face-to-face, it’s important to keep your agenda in mind (and on hand).

 

Make Your Intentions Clear and Schedule the Call 

 

One of the important keys to providing constructive feedback is honesty, and by extension, trust. To that end, this isn’t something you should spring on someone. If you’re planning to schedule a call to provide feedback over a recent project or someone’s performance over the past few months, make it clear upfront that this is what you intend to do.

 

It doesn’t have to be threatening or intimidating. Managers often feel that they’re harsher with their employees than they really are, and they fail to realize that employees typically welcome constructive criticism more than praise. That isn’t to say that recognition is overrated – but criticism is more helpful, especially when it provides information that helps employees do better.

 

Give Honest Feedback 

 

One of the worst things you can do when offering constructive feedback is coating it in praise and positivity. This so called “compliment sandwich” ends up muddling the message by taking away from the key point (helping an employee improve) by confusing them with talk about how they’ve been doing so great.

 

Separate recognition and criticism. There’s a time for praise, and a time for reflection and re-evaluation.

 

Hear Them Out as Well

 

Constructive criticism is much more effective when you have a better handle on your employee’s situation and turn the call into a two-way exchange. A manager’s job isn’t to squeeze blood from a stone, but to help individuals thrive at work, so the whole organization can thrive together.

 

That means listening to your employees, and maybe getting a better feel for how current circumstances have been affecting them and their performance, and how you might be able to help them perform better at work.

 

If they’ve been struggling with the latest project because of a personal problem (such as a sick spouse), you could offer to give them some time off for a few days so they can focus their energies on taking care of things at home, so they can come back ready to rededicate their attention to work. Criticism isn’t just about telling someone that they’ve been slacking (they likely already know that) – it’s about finding ways together to improve their performance.

 

Follow-Up is Critical

 

It’s an easy mistake to make, but never assume that criticism or feedback ends with a simple one-and-done video call.

 

End the first call by scheduling another in a few days’ time, and expect to check in on your employee at least a few times over the next few weeks to monitor their progress and make sure that your message has come across – while giving them ample opportunity to communicate with you and let you know what they might need to do better for the company.

 

By scheduling a follow-up immediately, you let them know that this is an ongoing process that you’re willing to dedicate time to, and that your professional relationship (and their career) is something you find important enough to invest in, rather than just giving them a simple warning (before eventually letting them go).

Read More:

How to Run a Productive Virtual Meeting
Categories
Business Trends

5 Recruiting Techniques Worth Considering

If you’re looking to hire high quality employees, who will grow your business and make a positive impact on your existing team, then it’s best to keep these recruiting techniques in mind. Read below for more details!

 

Recruitment is one of the most important things a business can invest in. Not only is a business’ product and/or service tied directly to the quality of the work put in by its employees, but a business’ reputation is entirely based both on how employers treat their employees, and how employees treat their customers.

 

No matter what you do or what you sell, the success of your company is tied to the abilities and smarts of the people you hire. There are two ways to develop quality employees:

 

      1. Hire quality people.
      2. Help inexperienced workers develop new skills.

 

Recruiting Techniques and Strategies

 

Recruitment strategies are critical to helping businesses fill their desks and positions with motivated, incentivized workers. It’s critical for any business to be hypercompetitive (as well as hyper-analytical) with its recruiting techniques.

 

In other words, in a candidate-driven market, it’s important to take the initiative and play a more proactive role as a recruiter.

 

Here are 5 effective recruiting techniques that aim to either increase the number of potential workers asking for a position, or help you specifically target the workers you are trying to find.

 

1. Take Advantage of the Gig Economy

 

The gig economy is growing, not in small part because more and more people are seeking ways to supplement their full-time or part-time income or support a better lifestyle. Combined with the ease and convenience of beginning a freelance career through successful and large platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and PeoplePerHour, more and more people are flocking towards temporary positions with flexible pay and terms.

 

That might pose a problem to recruiters, but it can be turned into a benefit instead. Consider the advantages of hiring a freelancer to fill a crucial position for a short-term period of a few months as they:

 

      • Can be paid per project.
      • Pose a reduced risk.
      • Require less commitment.
      • Don’t need benefits.
      • Allow you to draw from a global pool of workers from all throughout the world.

 

It’s not all rosy – there are downsides to hiring a freelancer, and it’s not always applicable – but for short-term projects, they often can’t be beat. And if you manage to snag a superstar, you can always try to make them an offer to become a full-time employee and reap the benefits of having extensive proof of the quality of their work.

 

 

2. Advertise on Platforms Where Your Targets Are

 

Programmatic marketing refers to designing and deploying adverts in places and spaces where the people you’re trying to target are more likely to see them. Some examples of programmatic marketing include:

 

      • Targeted ads through data-driven ad programs developed by Google and Facebook.
      • Aiming to gain recruits from specific age and gender demographics by making use of specific apps, like Snapchat, Instagram, and even Spotify.

 

Simply marketing your job opening on common networks like LinkedIn is no longer innovative enough. To further narrow down your candidates to those you’re more likely to hire, consider an approach that tries to find the candidates where they’re most likely to hang out.

 

Thinking outside the box will garner you plenty of potential ideas for finding resourceful workers – for example, Amazon successfully made use of Tinder to find engineers, while Virgin Trains recruited former felons to take advantage of a group of quality yet stigmatized workers, doing society a service by giving them a better shot at reintegrating into society, while garnering a better chance at picking the best and brightest from a series of potential hires most other companies wouldn’t consider.

 

Think physical, too. Many potential candidates are spending their time getting close to companies by working where they work – visiting coworking spaces and shared offices, searching for potential clients through entrepreneurs and companies that work from these spaces. The benefits of collaborating through coworking cannot be overstated, and it’s also a great place to recruit new workers.

 

3. Reach Out to Passive Candidates

 

We’re living in a day and age where more people care about their personal brand than ever before – and for good reasons. As our lives become continuously connected in ever-growing ways, it becomes more important to tailor how we appear to others – not just our friends or colleagues, but to respective employers as well.

 

Recruiters can take advantage of this trend by making use of many workers’ existing information to take note of particularly interesting and talented workers. From there, develop strategies to potential lure them over into a better position at their own company.

 

Sometimes, snagging the perfect hire is a long-term process – and everything from a potential hire’s Twitter account to their LinkedIn, to their projects on GitHub or their articles on HuffPost can help you develop the right strategy to reaching out and offering an attractive position at your company, even if they aren’t actively looking for work.

 

4. Don’t Forget Referrals

 

In many cases, a company’s best hires will come from quality referrals through existing employees. While this shouldn’t replace your recruiting techniques, it can be an effective supplemental strategy to help get more potential hires. However, to effectively make use of employee referrals, you have to build a strong employee referral program.

 

Start with the basics: your employees need to know what you’re looking for, and they need to know what they’re getting out of this.

 

      • You don’t just want your employees to refer their friends – they need to refer excellent potential coworkers.
      • There’s a clear difference between the kind of friend you can work with, and the kind you can grab a drink with; and while we all need a healthy mix of both, companies want the former rather than the later.

 

Having incentives is crucial for success – yes, if you’ve got an amazing company culture, great atmosphere, excellent management and plenty of opportunities for career growth, then just letting your employees know that there’s a job opening available can be enough to start getting a few referrals rolling in.

 

However, to get the input of employees who are less likely to go the extra mile out of sheer hype, you will want some form of incentive. Cash incentives work best, but there are other options – such as extra vacation days, or maybe recognition. Rewarding good referrers doesn’t just incentivize other employees to work on referring more people, but it also helps your existing employees feel appreciated.

 

5. Look to Present and Past Data

 

Perhaps the most important and critical part of building an effective recruitment system is to reflect on the information you currently have, in order to create a strategy for the future. Before your HR team sets out on the recruitment cycle consider the following:

 

      • Where have your best hires come from so far?
      • What unites them?
      • What do they have in common?

 

Once you can identify where you’ve been getting the most bang for your buck, consider investing the majority of your resources and effort in finding more potential hires in a similar way.

 

 

Conclusion

 

You’re sure to find exceptions to the rule, and exploring a variety of recruiting techniques is crucial to finding great and unexpected talent – but why waste a good portion of your budget on ads that aren’t bringing in any quality hires, when you could instead invest in avenues that have brought in the best results?

 

Read More:

The Current and Future Trends of a Remote Workforce
Categories
Work Environment

5 Ways to Boost Employee Wellbeing Remotely

Working from home has its benefits, yet can also be a little too stifling. And in order to be productive, we need to be sure we are in good mental and physical health. Read below on different ways to boost employee wellbeing.

 

Remote work has been growing in relevance for years, but it remained relatively niche in 2019. Then COVID-19 gripped the world, and for the past few months, over half of the American workforce spent most of their workdays getting things done from home.

 

Though not an ideal showcase of the benefits of remote working, surveys have been able to capture how this spontaneous and sudden shift in working conditions has affected productivity, wellbeing, and more.

 

80 percent note that they’re better able to handle and manage interruptions from coworkers. 80 percent like being able to spend more time with family. Two thirds feel more productive. Two thirds also say they still prefer the office (or any workplace, like a coworking spot) from the casual atmosphere of home.

 

While the freedom to choose to work remotely has been a big perk for millions of Americans in the past few years, it’s not any easier or harder than working at the office. It is, however, substantially different. COVID-19 has thrust millions of Americans into a position where they and their managers had to work together quickly to adapt to a completely new set of circumstances and continue to serve clients and customers.

 

As a result, many have been working longer hours while struggling with loneliness and isolation. In turn, companies have stepped up to the plate to improve their employees’ wellbeing remotely.

 

Here are a 5 ways they have been doing so.

 

1. Promoting Physical Health

 

One of the best things to do for the mind is to take care of the body. While most American workers aren’t as physically fit as the surgeon general recommends, they were still getting more exercise in the pre-COVID-19 days as a result of frequent commutes, walking through the office, taking the stairs, and having access to the gym. Easier access to fresh food and produce via farmer’s markets and supermarkets also meant an easier time eating healthy.

 

Ever since COVID-19, however, the likelihood of relying on online food delivery services (particularly takeout food) has greatly increased. The combination of poorer food choices and far fewer options for movement and exercise help contribute to the isolating and negative mental effects of lockdown.

 

Some companies have taken the necessary steps to encourage their employees to get active with at-home alternatives, offering workout regimens (with stat tracking for competitive employees), and online yoga and HIIT classes, as well as helping employees organize online grocery purchases and share recipes.

 

2. Frequent Breaks from the Screen

 

For every hour of productive work, take a quarter hour of time off. That rule of thumb only serves as a broad guideline for how to make effective use of breaks, but it’s common knowledge that people don’t work through their entire shift remaining perfectly focused, but instead break their day down into a series of tasks with a few minutes spent “refreshing” between tasks.

 

Rather than refreshing on a Slack channel or on Facebook, however, managers would do well to encourage their workers to take their breaks away from the computer and phone – looking out a window, taking a short break to walk around, exercising, grabbing a snack, or just taking a few minutes to read something or stand on the balcony. If you enjoy working in shorter spurts, take shorter breaks.

 

If you’re taking a break every 90 minutes, consider taking a few more minutes off. The key to being productive with a break is to clearly separate work and break time. And to learn to “turn on” and focus solely on the tasks at hand whenever break time is over.

 

3. Minimize “Presenteeism” By Assessing Employee Needs Individually

 

Presenteeism is a phenomenon typically described at the office, where a worker shows up for work but is barely “there.” They may be distracted by problems at home, or by mental or physical discomfort, or by a sense of disenchantment with the work they’re doing.

 

To minimize presenteeism, maximize communication. Managers and leaders can consider taking the time out of their day every few weeks to communicate individually with each employee, and get an update on how they’re doing, whether they’re bothered by something at work or at home, and whether they need help in any shape or form.

 

Not only does a personal conversation with the boss help show employees that you care, but it also serves to give you a better sense of what every member of your organization needs to perform better.

 

4. Offer Comprehensive Telehealth Services

 

Research shows that mental telehealth services can be just as helpful as face-to-face conversations and therapies in cases of depression and other common mental health issues.

 

As workers face an increasing risk of developing stress-related problems as a result of the sudden shift towards quarantine and total isolation at home, many will continue to need both physical and mental healthcare, and telehealth services are often a great way to help workers deal with their most immediate issues.

 

5. Create an Environment for Organic Watercooler Talk & Virtual Happy Hour

 

Another way to combat isolation, loneliness, and boredom outside of work is to create an environment for virtual interaction. Established teams won’t have a hard time switching to a virtual way to communicate and stay in touch, through collaborative and communications tools like Skype and Slack. Teams that have just been formed during the COVID-19 days can still network via organized online events, such as a Friday night quiz or a virtual happy hour.

 

Final Employee Wellbeing Tip

 

There are other ways to boost employee wellbeing and morale, including basic gratitude and recognition. Many strive to feel like they’re part of something greater, and it’s harder to do so remotely. By awarding recognition individually and encouraging other managers or leadership within the organization to take special interest in every one of their employees, you foster a culture that shows it understands the role every employee plays in making a company’s success possible, and recognizes the value of every team member.

 

Categories
Work Environment

Strengthen the Culture of Accountability in the Workplace

If the goal of your business is to thrive, then be sure to strengthen the culture of accountability in the workplace. What does this mean exactly? Read below to find out!

 

When we consider the purpose of accountability in the workplace, we must consider the fact that most American workers are disengaged and are barely emotionally invested in what they do for a living. And it’s overwhelmingly a management issue.

 

Accountability is not only a critical element in establishing an employer-employee relationship that leads to tangible and impressive results, but it is the key to trust. Trust that allows an organization to function far more self-sufficiently and without the constant watchful eye of a resented taskmaster.

 

By bringing workers to care more for their role in the future and success of an organization, you allow them to play a part as a leader. They bear the responsibility for their own actions and their part in an organization’s success. And that only they can truly lead themselves towards making that contribution.

 

Yet to harness an employee’s passion, employers and managers must begin to strengthen the culture of accountability. Rather than relying on ineffective motivators or a superficial attention to teamwork.

 

Accountability Builds Trust

 

At the heart of the matter is the role of trust in an organization. Trust is a self-evident necessity in any group endeavor. That is because people are not uniform beings. We each have our own unique capacity for productivity, for honesty, and for discipline. And every employee has their own unique perspective of what they are owed and what they care about.

 

If you cannot trust that every member of your team has the capacity to adapt to the requirements of the job, in exchange for basic and individually tailored concessions to help them perform better, then the whole thing falls apart. Without trust in their abilities, and without them having trust in your capacity to listen to them and bring out the best in each of them, your workers will try to skirt responsibility, do the minimum, or only work in fear of being fired.

 

By prioritizing accountability as an important quality in the workplace, you are effectively entrusting your workers with the responsibility to play a significant role at work, and conferring a sense of mutual respect as you retain the ability to enforce that responsibility, yet also believe they have what it takes to live up to your expectations.

 

Trust Leads to Quality 

 

When workers begin to feel the stakes, they begin to work at a better capacity. We aren’t built to give our all every single day – and we each have our ups and downs – but a team that functions on accountability and trust is a team where every member has some skin in the game. And this spurns them to do their best regardless of what that might be, as their work naturally reflects on them, and the success of the business is something they can ultimately identify with.

 

To make the most of an employee’s talents, they must feel that their work is being rewarded in correlation to how well it is being performed. And that when they slack off, they feel it and are reminded of the importance of their commitment to the organization, and that when they do their best, they receive an award commensurate to the effort they put into being an accountable and responsible team member.

 

When you seek to enforce that sense of accountability and ensure that everyone feels they have skin in the game, you must find ways to reward effort and discourage disengagement.

 

 

Establish the Importance of Accountability Early On

 

A culture of accountability is only built by example. Make it a point, especially during the interview process and throughout the first few weeks of orientation and work, to drive home the point that a worker’s input is valued. And that their efforts are proportionally rewarded based on the results they bring in.

 

Give workers a myriad of ways to express themselves and ensure that they frequently hear about how they’re doing as well. Ensure that they understand that their work is a living breathing part of the business. And that its success relies on them. Furthermore, that they can benefit off the fruits of that success with better pay, bonuses, certain benefits, freedoms at work, or any number of tangible rewards. This allows them to celebrate alongside everyone else as they watch the company grow and mature.

 

This is especially true for small businesses. Success is often a question of just how many in the company are willing to work past the normal 9-to-5 for extraordinary results.

 

Give & Receive Frequent Feedback 

 

Communication is critical to accountability. Employees must be reminded of their responsibilities and the role they play. They must be given the opportunity to speak earnestly about the challenges that are keeping them from performing at their best.

 

A good leader knows how to draw the most out of their workers not by draining them, but by empowering them to push their limits. In addition, to seek out breaks when they need to and come back stronger, to give them the sense that they can be honest about their problems, and to teach them to expect only honest answers back.

 

It’s a two-way street, for both negative and positive feedback. And it’s only through a trusting and honest employee-employer relationship backed up by frequent communication that workers can remain engaged and feel truly accountable.

 

Workers Want to Matter (and Get Paid)

 

Why do we work? If it’s just to feed the kids, then we’ll do what we must to provide for those we love. Work becomes a toll on the soul that we must heal and nourish in every way possible. As it’s something we have no control over, no agency in. We begin to burn out.

 

But when we find that our work has purpose, when we can feel like a vibrant part of something growing and dynamic, when we can be a part of the ups and downs of a growing company or concept, or when we sense that our work is changing someone’s life in one way or another, we can nourish ourselves with a sense of purpose beyond the daily grind, a reason for getting up and doing what we do past a sense of obligation or the need to survive.

 

Conferring that to your workers via accountability and trust can help turn them from being disengaged to knowing that they matter.

 

Categories
Business Trends

How to Run a Productive Virtual Meeting

As we work remotely, we must learn how to continue to best be productive as a collaborative team. It all starts with a productive virtual meeting. Read below for more details.

 

While we all like to rail on the inefficiency of the meeting, it is an important part of the brainstorming and decision-making process. And it’s not easy to run a productive meeting.

 

Some people are more inclined to bring their opinions to the table than others. And some are more longwinded than others. Reconciling that with the need to give everyone the chance to contribute while staying within a set timeframe of less than an hour is tough.

 

This is especially true virtually, where many feel that it’s not only harder for organizers to get everyone engaged, but it’s harder for workers to feel and stay engaged. As we continue to move towards a day and age where the virtual meeting will play an increasingly important role in our professional lives, managers need to adapt quickly and learn to leverage existing technologies to make the most of the virtual meeting.

 

The Same Rules Apply

 

It’s estimated that meetings cost American companies $399 billion last year in lost time and wasted resources. And that nearly half of surveyed employees found that bad meetings kept them from other important work. It’s not uncommon to hear workers lament that an hour-long meeting could’ve been summed up in an email. And it absolutely did not require everyone’s attendance and concentration.

 

Even when most workers are distracted at meetings, they’re still unable to get any meaningful work done. All they can really do to fill time while waiting for a meeting to be adjourned is check emails and browse the web.

 

As such, the same basic rules apply to the virtual meeting that already applied to the physical meeting:

 

      • Have less of them.
      • Keep them short.
      • Have fewer people on at a time.
      • Limit the amount of time spent on a given topic.
      • Address a small and succinct agenda per meeting (don’t scattershot your meeting topics).
      • Utilize visual stimuli to cut down on words.

 

Video conferencing tech means that we can continue to hold the same meetings we always did, but remotely. That isn’t a good thing, as many companies are holding way too many meetings. But video conferencing tech and collaborate software paves the way for a new and better way to communicate and brainstorm as a group.

 

Leverage Cooperative Technologies to Improve Collaboration

 

There are limitations to virtual communication tools, particularly the absence of full-body language and subtle visual or auditory cues due to video and audio quality varying based on internet speeds and equipment quality. This can have an impact on communication.

 

However, virtual communication makes up for it with a wider suite of collaborative technologies and communicative options. Employees can engage with one another on multiple fronts without “speaking” over each other by working on a single document together and offering written advice in the form of annotated comments. Images and visual aids can convey meaning and intent. Or succinctly explain a concept without taking up an excessive amount of time.

 

 

Many communication platforms today offer the ability to switch between voice/video channels. Meetings can take a set amount of time to split attendants into individual groups to brainstorm more freely on a single idea without the burden of having to fight over so many voices at once, before coming back together to succinctly describe what was discussed. This is easier and simpler than physically cordoning off a room or splitting a group into five separate rooms to try and encourage greater engagement and discussion.

 

The ability to split a meeting’s members off to encourage greater discussion, or leverage “silent” brainstorming via document collaboration can greatly boost engagement. No one feels like they have to wade through a loud opposition to get heard. And they don’t have to worry about taking up anyone else’s time (as everyone is contributing at the same time).

 

Avoid “Speechifying” 

 

Brevity remains important during meets, whether virtual or not. Beware of trying to cut a concept down to such a degree that its true usefulness is lost. But consider taking notes to send around for consideration after the meeting itself, so as not to lose too much time on a single idea. Even virtually, it’s important to take notes for the inevitable follow up.

 

When ideas are useful but not relevant, they can go to the “parking lot.”

 

Write Down Useful but Unrelated Information

 

The meeting “parking lot” is still a useful concept when organizing and managing a virtual meeting. When a meeting is managed well, especially when it’s a brainstorming meeting, a lot of ideas can float to the forefront that are interesting, albeit ultimately not relevant or unhelpful.

 

These ideas may be able to play a role in the future, however, and they should be acknowledged and stored. One way of doing so is to allot a virtual parking lot where unrelated ideas are noted down. They are then reviewed later either after the meeting or when they become relevant.

 

Not only does this encourage your team members to bring up good ideas even when they aren’t immediately relevant, but it’s also encouraging to see your idea acknowledged, rather than being shot down for being “wrong place, wrong time.”

 

Lay Out a Clear Agenda

 

This is important in any meeting, and it’s still important when running a productive virtual meeting. Meetings can often run long because they have the tendency of trying to address either too many things at once or tackle a single goal that should really be broken down into further steps.

 

Succinct meetings are best because you want to maximize the amount of information people retain. That means keeping meetings short and sweet, and preferably focused on just a couple of main questions. Be sure to send everyone the meeting agenda beforehand. They get the chance to consider what they think and how they might contribute.

 

Conclusion

 

Successful virtual meetings are about blending lessons that have always worked. This includes creating an agenda beforehand, keeping things succinct, and giving everyone a chance to contribute. New technologies and opportunities will help, such as collaborative software, different voice and video channels, and easier visual aids.

 

Categories
Work Environment

Best Practices for Handling Disengaged Employees

It’s important to properly oversee your workforce to ensure not only productivity, but also that they are simply happy. If you are feeling like there are some disengaged employees, read the guide below on how to best approach the situation.

 

Employee disengagement is a worryingly common issue. While no executive or manager would argue with the idea that there are bad apples in the workforce, the majority of professionals are people trying to do a good job – and many hires do very well in the first few weeks at a new position.

 

But that enthusiasm often dies down and, after a honeymoon period, many employees begin to distance themselves from the person they were on Day One and start to feel absent and “barely there.” A more complex issue than meets the eye, disengaged employees are estimated to be a problem for most businesses as surveys indicate that two-thirds of Americans are disengaged from their jobs.

 

Most of these disengaged workers simply come in, punch in, and leave to go home as soon as they can. They don’t do overtime willingly, they aren’t invested in the company, they don’t feel like they belong or have any reason to be loyal to their employers, and generally just fly under the radar.

 

Can disengaged employees be motivated to do better? Oftentimes, yes. But only if you understand why they’re disengaged, to begin with.

 

What Makes an Employee Feel Disengaged? 

 

A disengaged employee is a person who is bluntly unhappy with their job. They feel that they either:

 

a.) don’t fit in

b.) are undervalued or poorly managed

c.) feel cheated, or wronged by their employers, either directly or indirectly.

 

Disengaged employees can be recognized by the hallmark signs of professional stagnation, diminished output, and toxic behavior.

 

As with any relationship where one party is deeply unhappy, the root of the issue is often misunderstood or completely unknown to the other party. An important step in converting any disengaged employee back to an engaged one is communication – allow them to earnestly air their grievances and explain themselves, and their lack of motivation.

 

This is especially important if the person in question was once a promising and very enthusiastic hire. This is someone with tremendous potential and great initial energy – why did they stop bringing that energy to work with them?

 

Is It Your Fault or Theirs?

 

The blame game rarely leads to any sort of productive change at the office or elsewhere, but it bears mentioning that surveys found about 70 percent of cases of employee engagement were due to bad management. More often than not, it’s the manager’s fault.

 

But what do you do with that information? First, don’t allow yourself to jump to conclusions. There are still cases where employee engagement drops simply because the employee no longer feels they are a good fit for the company, and they’re looking for the right opportunity to afford themselves an amicable exit.

 

However, when it is a matter of poor management, finding ways to effectively measure why your workers feel disengaged will play a critical role in managing and eliminating the disengagement.

 

 

Workers Seek to Be Valued

 

A common grievance for many employees is that they no longer feel they have any reason to feel loyal to their company. We spend more time at work than we do with our family, on average, which often means that the office and one’s coworkers effectively must function as a second family away from home. A lack of social engagement, a poor or hostile company culture, or a woefully inefficient leadership style can all contribute to feeling disappointed in one’s workplace.

 

However, the most common grievance for many is a lack of opportunities for continued growth. Workers want to not only improve themselves and become more effective, more efficient, and more skilled, but they want to be more valuable – and they want that value to be recognized.

 

Many workers today seek to be a part of something greater, and while not every worker can make a serious impact on the course of a company, every worker does ultimately matter. And making sure they understand how they fit into it all and see how the fruits of their labor are leading to positive change can be a great motivator.

 

Communicate Often

 

Millennials (born in the 80s up until the mid-90s) make up most of the workforce in America since 2016, and only about 20 percent report being happy with the way their performance is being managed and reviewed.

 

While generational differences are often exaggerated for clickbait, some of the marked differences in the way millennials engage with their work versus previous generations are real. Chief among them is the need for constant feedback as a way to seek out improvement and better efficiency.

 

If you are in a managerial position and largely employ millennials, be sure to provide feedback on their performance more often. Be constructively critical, praise them when you feel it is deserved, and help them achieve their goal of becoming a better and more efficient worker.

 

Offer More Location Flexibility

 

Today’s workforce, more so than at any other point in modern history, craves the ability to choose where to work. With remote working options touting a long list of benefits for productivity and creativity, it’s easy to see why the trend of working from anywhere but the office has grown drastically in the last few years.

 

Easy telecommuting tools make this much more feasible than it had been even just a decade ago. Coworkers can communicate, see each other, and collaborate on projects almost seamlessly, even across thousands of miles of distance.

 

Workers today shop online, do their banking online, date online, consume entertainment online, and communicate with loved ones online. With the spread of COVID-19, the transition into an increasingly digital world has been accelerated for many.

 

Rather than see the ability to work remotely as a privilege, many feel that modern technology has arrived at a point where, for most, it should simply be the new normal. Furthermore, consider that a whopping 44 percent of workers would agree to take a 10 percent pay cut for the ability to work remotely.

 

This doesn’t need to mean “work from home forever,” mind you. Companies can utilize the growth of coworking to encourage workers to work from anywhere, based on what currently suits them and their tasks best. Whether that’s the main office, a coworking space, a cozy and quiet café, or the comfort of their home office.

 

You can improve worker engagement by showing that you trust your workers to remain productive and dedicated to their job without constant micromanaging or supervision (but with constant access to a myriad of tools for instant feedback and communication).

 

You Can’t Force Someone to Engage

 

While you can adopt a variety of strategies to improve employee engagement, there will always be hires who started out looking like the perfect pick but lose interest over time.

 

Employees and employers can part ways amicably when their goals no longer match up. When an employee feels they’ve outgrown their position and their employer cannot offer a better opportunity, there’s no shame in ending a working relationship and wishing them the best in their endeavors. Disengagement is not always caused by a poor work environment – sometimes, it’s just not the right fit.

 

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