Celebrating Mother’s Day in the office, where work-life balance often intersects, can be a powerful gesture. It’s a chance to show respect and support for the moms on our team; acknowledging their contributions in and outside of work. 

In honor of this special day, we’re excited to share some creative and thoughtful ways to celebrate Mother’s Day at work. Let’s get to it!

13 Ways to Celebrate Mother’s Day at Work

Mother’s Day is the perfect time to show your employees appreciation and create lasting memories at work. Here are some of the most fun and meaningful ways to celebrate:

• Host a Mother’s Day Brunch: Kick off the Monday after with a yummy brunch at the office. A spread of delicious pastries, fruits, and drinks is a sure bet to make working moms feel special.
• Office Potluck with a Twist: Invite everyone to bring their mom or grandma’s favorite recipe to an office potluck. This activity adds a personal touch and sparks conversations and fond memories.
• Organize a Relaxing Yoga Class: A peaceful yoga session can be a wonderful way for moms to unwind and relax. The class can be held in the office or at a local studio.
• Book a Spa Day: Coordinate with your favorite local spa to offer mothers a chance to pamper themselves with massages, facials, or manicures.
• Gift Cards: A simple yet effective idea – gift cards to their favorite store or restaurant allow moms to choose what they enjoy.
• A Day Off Post Mother’s Day: Give the gift of time by offering parents the Monday after the holiday off. This can provide them with a much-needed break or extra time with their families.
• ‘Bring Your Kids to Work’ Day: Encouraging moms to bring their kids to work for the day can be a really fun experience, creating a sense of community and family in the workplace.
• Sponsor a Family Activity: Organize an outing for moms and their kids, like a day at the zoo or an amusement park. Guaranteed to create lasting memories while taking a break from the normal routine.
• Highlight Working Moms on Social Media: Post a heartfelt message on social media featuring photos of the working moms on your team with their kids, celebrating their dual roles.
• Customized Gifts: Make personalized yet practical gifts like stationery, mouse pads, or calendars. These items, customized with an inspirational message or photo, will make daily work life a bit more special.
• Team Volunteering for Mother-Centric Causes: As a team, volunteer for a cause that supports mothers. This activity not only honors them but also gets everyone involved to give back to the community in a meaningful way.
• Decorate the Office: Spruce up the office with decorations that celebrate motherhood. Think flowers, banners, and artwork that add a personal touch.
• Workshop or Seminar: Host a workshop or seminar on topics relevant to working moms, such as work-life balance, parenting tips, or self-care strategies.

7 Best Mother’s Day Gift Ideas For Your Coworkers

Mother’s Day is not just for celebrating our own moms but also a fantastic opportunity to show appreciation to the working moms you admire most on your team and the ‘work moms’ – those incredible women in the office who support, mentor, and care for their colleagues just like a mother would. Here are some thoughtful gift ideas to show these amazing women how much they mean to you:

• Flowers: A classic gift yet always appreciated. Brighten her desk with a bouquet of her favorite flowers.
• Sweet Treats: Whether it’s fancy chocolates, a box of macarons, or homemade cookies, sweet treats are a delicious way to show your gratitude.
• Personalized Note: Sometimes, words mean more than presents. A heartfelt, handwritten note expressing your appreciation can be incredibly meaningful.
• Her Favorite Candle: Gifting a luxurious candle with her favorite scent can be a perfect way to help her relax and unwind.
• Inspirational Books: Consider a book by a successful working mother or a motivational title. It’s both thoughtful and empowering.
• Custom Coffee Mug: A personalized coffee mug, perhaps with an inspiring quote or a picture of their kids, can be a daily reminder of your appreciation.
• Surprise with Coffee or Breakfast: On the Monday after Mother’s Day, bring her favorite coffee or breakfast. It’s a simple gesture that can start her week off on a bright note.

Tips for Creating a Supportive Work Environment for Moms Year-Round

While Mother’s Day is a special occasion to honor mothers, remember to create a supportive work environment for them all year long. Continuous recognition and support of their dual roles as professionals and parents help foster an inclusive and empathetic workplace.

Here’s how your company can integrate ongoing support:

Flexible work arrangements

By offering flexible hours, remote work options, or a compressed workweek, companies make it easier for moms to balance their professional and parental obligations. The reduced stress and commuting time will significantly improve their work-life balance.

Childcare assistance

Whether through on-site childcare facilities, partnerships with local childcare services, or subsidies to offset the expense, these initiatives relieve a significant burden. Access to reliable and affordable childcare helps employees focus on their work without worrying about their children’s safety and well-being. It’s not only a benefit to the employees but also boosts productivity and reduces absences in the workplace.

Wellness programs

Wellness programs might include fitness classes, mental health days, and health screenings. By recognizing the unique pressures parents face, companies can create a culture that prioritizes employee health, ultimately leading to higher employee retention and job satisfaction.

Professional development opportunities

To combat the ‘maternity penalty,’ you can provide training, leadership development programs, and promotions that are accessible to all employees. In addition to supporting equality, this approach allows mothers to pursue their career goals confidently, knowing that their familial responsibilities won’t hinder them.

Support networks and mentorship

Creating support groups or mentorship programs specifically for working moms can offer them essential resources and a community of peers who understand their struggles. Mentorship from fellow mothers who have navigated similar paths can inspire and guide others, reinforcing a supportive network within the company that nurtures both personal and professional growth.

All mothers deserve acknowledgment for their dedication, resilience, and countless contributions. At 4 Corner Resources, we understand the importance of supporting working moms not just on May 12th but throughout the year. 

As you celebrate Mother’s Day in the office, remember to express gratitude to the working moms on your team. Their hard work and determination deserve recognition and appreciation.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms out there! Your dedication and love inspire us every day.

St. Patrick’s Day Contests for Your Team

There’s nothing better than a friendly competition to bring excitement to St. Patrick’s Day at work. These St. Patrick’s Day office games promote camaraderie among team members and add a bit of lighthearted competition to the celebration. Here are some engaging contests that you can easily organize:

• Leprechaun hat toss: Set up a fun ring toss game using mini leprechaun hats as targets. Employees can take turns tossing rings from a distance, aiming to land them on the hats. It’s a simple yet entertaining game that can be set up in any open space in the office.
• Pot of gold hunt: Hide small pots of gold (or gold-colored candies) around the office and have team members search for them. The one who finds the most gold wins a prize. This game encourages movement and interaction, perfect for a midday break.
• Best dressed in green: Encourage your team to wear green and have a fashion show to see who’s the best dressed. Award prizes for categories like ‘Most Creative,’ ‘Most Festive,’ and ‘Best Overall.’
• Irish trivia challenge: Test your team’s knowledge about Irish culture, history, and St. Patrick’s Day traditions. An activity like this can be a great way to educate and have fun at the same time.
• Shamrock art contest: Provide team members with paper, markers, and other art supplies to create their own shamrock designs. Display the artwork around the office and have everyone vote for their favorite.

Each of these contests celebrates the holiday, reinforces team bonding, and creates a memorable experience for all. Remember, the goal is to keep the activities inclusive and enjoyable for everyone.

Related: Team Building At Work Ideas

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St. Patrick’s Day Food Ideas

What’s a celebration without yummy treats? This St. Patrick’s Day, elevate the office festivities with these mouth-watering food ideas sure to please every palate. Here’s how you can add a taste of Ireland to your office party:

• Green-themed potluck: Invite team members to bring in dishes that are either green or Irish-inspired. Think spinach quiche, pesto pasta, or even green cupcakes. It’s a great way to eat a bunch of different foods and honor the holiday spirit.
• Candy salad: A trendy and sweet addition to your St. Patrick’s Day menu, candy salads are all the rage on social media. Mix in various green candies – like mint chocolates, green jelly beans, and lime gummies – to create a playful and colorful dessert that’s as Instagram-worthy as it is delicious.
• Irish soda bread: Enjoy traditional Irish cuisine with freshly baked Irish soda bread. This simple, hearty bread pairs wonderfully with sweet and savory spreads, making it a versatile choice for an office snack.
• Shamrock shakes: For a delicious and festive treat, blend up some homemade shamrock shakes. Use vanilla ice cream, milk, mint extract, and a few drops of green food coloring to create this creamy, minty delight.
• Mini shepherd’s pies: For a savory treat, make some mini shepherd’s pies. These bite-sized versions of the classic Irish dish are perfect for an office setting, so everyone can try a bite without feeling stuffed.

With these ideas, you’re not just treating your team to tasty snacks but also creating a memorable and engaging experience that highlights the fun and flavor of the holiday.

St. Patrick’s Day Decor Ideas for the Office

Transforming your office space with festive decor is a fantastic way to get everyone into the St Patrick’s Day spirit. From subtle touches of green to full-blown Irish-themed decorations, these ideas will help you create a warm and inviting atmosphere for your team:

Green balloon arch

Welcome your team with a grand entrance by setting up a green balloon arch at the office entryway. Mix different shades of green balloons, and maybe even add a few gold ones to mimic a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Shamrock garlands

Drape shamrock garlands around the office – over doorways and along the walls. You can buy these or have a fun DIY session with your team to make them using green construction paper.

Table centerpieces

Create simple yet impressive table centerpieces using jars filled with gold-wrapped chocolates and a few artificial green shamrocks. These can be placed in common areas like the break room or meeting tables.

Irish quote posters

Decorate the walls with posters featuring famous Irish quotes or sayings. Not only does it add to the decor, but it also introduces an element of Irish culture to the office.

Green lighting

For a more subtle effect, replace regular light bulbs with green ones in certain areas, or use green string lights to add a cozy, festive glow to the office.

DIY leprechaun hats

Set up a small craft station where employees can make and decorate their own leprechaun hats. It’s a fun activity that also adds to the overall decor.

Pot of gold corner

Create a ‘Pot of Gold’ corner in the office to serve as a photo booth spot, adding an interactive and fun element to the decor. It’s a great way to encourage employees to engage with the theme and capture memorable moments.

With these St. Patrick’s Day decor ideas, your office will look festive and feel more lively and engaging. It’s important to create an environment where the entire team can feel the joy and excitement of the holiday.

As we wrap up our list of ideas for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the office, remember that the holiday is about coming together in good spirits and making memories. Each effort, whether organizing team contests, providing delicious Irish food, or decorating your office, contributes to a more vibrant and engaging workplace.

Celebrating holidays like St. Patrick’s Day at work can significantly boost morale, strengthen team bonds, and break the monotony of everyday routines. These moments of shared laughter and camaraderie often become cherished memories among colleagues.

We at 4 Corner Resources wish you a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day filled with fun, laughter, and lots of lucky moments. May your day be as rich as gold and as bright as a rainbow. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The Importance of Celebrating Employee Appreciation Day

Serving as both an important day on the workplace calendar and a reminder to celebrate your team’s efforts at work, this event is an excellent opportunity to boost morale and motivation among your employees and show your gratitude for their dedication.

But, the benefits of celebrating this day extend beyond individual employees, as it can positively affect your organization as a whole. A happy and motivated workforce is likelier to be engaged and committed to their jobs. Ultimately, recognizing this day can boost productivity and morale within the company.

This holiday isn’t just about giving gifts and bonuses. It’s about cultivating a workplace culture that values and appreciates its employees. 

What to Say on Employee Appreciation Day to Convey Your Thanks

As we know, words are powerful. Despite their ability to uplift and inspire, they can also cause significant harm. Choosing the right words to acknowledge an employee’s dedication can have an immense impact and make them feel genuinely appreciated. It can also motivate them to keep up the good work and remain committed to their jobs. Simply saying thank you can go a long way to making your team feel appreciated and valued.

Here are some recognition ideas for how you can convey your thanks: 

Celebrate individual achievements

Acknowledge the unique contributions each of your employees has made. Highlight how their efforts have been instrumental in advancing the company’s goals.

Express sincere gratitude

A simple thank you can be incredibly powerful. Make it a point to express your genuine appreciation for their hard work and commitment to the organization.

Offer encouragement and support

Recognize their skills and achievements, encouraging them to continue their excellent work. Showing confidence in their abilities can be a significant motivator.

Share your vision

Employee Appreciation Day is an excellent opportunity to discuss your vision for the company’s future. Emphasize how each team member plays a crucial role in achieving these goals.

Remember, the impact of your words can resonate far beyond this special day. Crafting a message that is both meaningful and sincere can leave a lasting impression, strengthening the bond between you and your employees.

Thoughtful Gift Ideas for Employee Appreciation Day

It’s all about the thought that counts. Although giving your employees gifts is unnecessary, a small token of appreciation can go a long way. 

To get you started, here are nine gift ideas you might like:

Personalized stationery

Get your employees a set of personalized note cards, pens, or notebooks with their names on them as both a practical and thoughtful gift.

Gift cards

Treat your employees to a delicious meal or memorable experience with a gift card to their favorite restaurant or activity.

Office decorations

Brighten your employees’ workspace with some fun and functional office accessories, such as:

• Desk lamp
• Office plant
• Picture frame

Flowers

Celebrate your employees’ day by sending them a fresh bouquet of their favorite flowers. 

Sweet treats

Send your employees a delicious dessert, whether it be cookies, cupcakes, or a fruit arrangement, to enjoy on this special day. 

Educational opportunities

Invest in your employees’ professional growth by providing workshops, training, and online courses. 

Health and wellness subscriptions

Support their well-being with a subscription to a fitness app, wellness program, or meditation service.

Tech gadgets

Gear them up with the latest technology, like noise-canceling headphones or an ergonomic mouse.

Experience days

Gift an unforgettable experience, such as a cooking class, art workshop, or a day at the spa.

Remember to choose a gift that you believe will resonate with your employees to show appreciation for them.

Creative Employee Appreciation Event Ideas

Organizing a fun event can also be a great way to commemorate this workplace holiday. Possibilities could range anywhere from a team meal to a fun group activity or a chance to enjoy each other’s company!

Here are six ways to celebrate as an organization:

Team lunch

Spend some quality time together and enjoy a tasty lunch with your employees. You can either host this in your office or at a restaurant nearby.

Team happy hour

Invite your employees to an in-person or virtual happy hour to relax, chat, and enjoy a drink together.

Gameday

Plan a day where employees can enjoy games around the office, such as foosball, ping pong, and trivia.

Team activity

Take your team on a field trip out of the office for a fun new experience, such as an escape room, mini golf, or craft bar.

Charity day

Organize a day for your employees to volunteer with a local organization and give back to the community.

Team workshop

Conduct a team-building workshop on communication, problem-solving, or creativity skills to enhance their professional growth.

No matter which event you choose, remember to create a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere where your employees can connect and bond with each other.

Related: Team Building at Work Ideas

Tips for Employee Appreciation Day

This day is a wonderful opportunity to express gratitude and appreciation for your team. Taking the time to acknowledge your employees for their hard work and dedication is the perfect way to show them that their efforts are valued.

To make the most of your day, follow these tips:

Plan early

Start organizing your appreciation activities well in advance. Early planning helps ensure everything is in place, creating a smooth and positive experience for everyone involved.

Get input from your employees

Ask your employees for suggestions on how to celebrate. By doing this, everyone will feel appreciated and have a more enjoyable and meaningful experience at the event.

Make it personal

Spend time personalizing your messages and gifts for each of your employees. They will feel valued as individuals knowing you paid attention to them specifically.

Get creative

When it comes to a day dedicated to employee recognition, don’t be afraid to try something new. Whether it’s a unique gift or an unconventional activity, the goal is to create an inclusive and memorable experience for all.

Show gratitude

Remember to show gratitude to your employees. Make sure they know how much you and the company appreciate their contributions and dedication.

Ultimately, Employee Appreciation Day is an opportunity to show your employees how much you value them and to encourage a positive and supportive work environment. Planning and creativity can make the day unforgettable and meaningful for everyone.

Hosting a Super Bowl contest at work will not only add some extra excitement to the day, but you’ll also allow your employees to bond and compete with one another in a fun and lighthearted way.

Running a contest is easy, and the options are endless. Whether your staff are football enthusiasts, Taylor Swift fans, or just enjoy friendly competition, there’s something for everyone in these easy-to-organize contests.

From predicting game outcomes to choreographing touchdown dances, the ideas we present here are designed to be inclusive, entertaining, and suitable for both in-office and remote participants. So, let’s gear up for a Super Bowl celebration that’s more than just football—it’s about team spirit, creativity, and, most importantly, having fun together!

Here are seven popular Super Bowl contest ideas you can do with your team:

1. Prediction Contest

Taking part in a Super Bowl prediction contest is a fun and easy way for all of your employees to participate in the excitement. They can make predictions about various aspects of the game, such as the final score, MVP, the first team to score, and the length of the national anthem.

With Usher headlining the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show, you could also invite your team to predict his setlist. Will he open with a classic hit or a newer tune? Maybe even end with a surprise collaboration? Everyone can submit their guesses for Usher’s opening and closing songs.

Whether or not your employees are watching the big game, everyone will want to join in for this one. Use an online survey tool, like Google Forms, to make it easy for them to submit their answers and let the predictions begin. The employee with the most accurate predictions wins!

2. Touchdown Dance Competition

Another way to get your employees involved in the Super Bowl is with a touchdown dance competition. Encourage them to choreograph and perform their touchdown celebration dance, live or via video, as a fun way to celebrate the festivities. Give them the option to perform solo or as part of a group, and get ready for lots of laughs! You can choose one judge or let everyone vote on the most impressive dance for a prize.

3. Snack Stadium Competition 

This contest is about creativity and presentation, so those full-time foodies will love this one! The idea is to have your employees build their snack stadiums using a variety of treats and snacks to represent the two teams. Those in the office can kick off the weekend with this fun competition, and your remote employees can enjoy their creations with family and friends on game day. Choose your judges and let them pick which snack stadium will win a first place prize.

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4. Super Bowl Bingo 

Bingo might be older than the Super Bowl itself, but it stands the test of time! It’s square pool (or bingo), a simple betting game where employees can purchase squares representing the score of the game. Each square on the grid represents a different score and can be sold to your employees at a set price.

There is no limit on how many squares you can sell, but each employee can only buy one. You will assign the prize amount for each quarter and reveal a winner at the end of each quarter. Everyone has a chance to win in this contest, but consider the size of your team and budget beforehand.

5. Team Spirit Photo Contest

Rally your team’s spirit by encouraging them to dress in Chiefs or 49ers colors. They can upload photos to a shared company platform like Slack, showing their support for their favorite team. This contest is a chance for employees to express themselves and add a personal touch to the workplace, even if it’s virtual. The best-dressed fan, as voted by the team or a selected panel, wins a prize of your choice (or theirs!).

6. Super Bowl Trivia Quiz

Organizing a trivia quiz that covers various aspects of the game, including the history of the Super Bowl, facts about the Chiefs and 49ers, and even past halftime shows, is another great idea. This can be done via a virtual quiz platform, making it accessible to all your employees. 

The quiz can be a fun way to take a break from work and engage in some lighthearted competition. The trivia champion could be rewarded with a trophy or a certificate, celebrating their sports knowledge. This contest is a great way to engage employees and promote team bonding.

7. Commercial Rating Roundtable

Super Bowl commercials are always a hot topic of conversation. Plan to set up a virtual roundtable the day after the game, where employees can discuss and rate their favorite commercials. This could be a relaxed, informal way to start the workday, encouraging discussions and sharing different perspectives. 

It’s also an excellent opportunity for the marketing and creative teams to analyze and discuss what makes these commercials stand out. To add a competitive element, employees can vote for their favorite commercial, with the most popular choice winning a fun, informal award.

Tips for Hosting Your Super Bowl Contest

These are just a few ideas, but hosting a contest is a great way to build camaraderie and friendly competition among your employees. To set your contest up for success, remember to communicate the rules, prizes, and entry deadline to ensure everyone has a fair chance to participate.

And when it comes to choosing a grand prize, you may give something simple, such as a gift card, or something more elaborate, such as a paid day off. Remember to announce the winner after the game is over, whether it be via email or in a company-wide meeting, to encourage the team to participate in your next event!

Whether your employees are in the office or working remotely, a Super Bowl contest can help bring some extra excitement and fun to the day. With creativity and organization, you can create a game that will be enjoyed by all and create lasting memories. Enjoy this year’s Super Bowl Sunday game and halftime show, and may the best team win!

Related: Ideas for Team-Building at Work

In this article, we will detail how to conduct an exit interview, share some of the best exit interview questions, what to avoid, and how to process the feedback productively. We’ll also provide an exit interview template for your next interview. Take advantage of this helpful tool.

What is an Exit Interview?

In the simplest terms, an exit interview is a meeting that takes place between an employee who is leaving the organization and a representative of the (soon-to-be former) employer. These interviews are often conducted by an HR representative or a third party but can sometimes be conducted by the employee’s manager (depending on the organization’s size). Interviews can be conducted in person or over the phone, typically lasting between 20-40 minutes.

Why it is Important to Conduct an Exit Interview

Rather than flying through your next exit interview as a way to simply “check the box” and do what corporate requires, consider the benefits of conducting a proper exit interview.

1. Employees exiting the business will be more forthcoming, and you can gain insight into potential internal issues and a candid look at the company overall.
2. You’ll understand ways to improve onboarding for the replacement and help them start with a good foundation.
3. It allows the employee to leave on a positive and productive note with the feeling that they were heard. 
4. You’ll have the chance to clearly review any continuing obligations, like non-competes, with the employee. 
5. Learn what can be done to improve retention and better understand why the employee is leaving.

Related: Ways to Improve Your Employee Relations

Steps for Conducting an Exit Interview

1. Formalize and document your process

Exit interviews should be consistently completed with all employees leaving the company. Document the offboarding process so employees know it’s a mandatory step. Choose your questions and keep the template similar from interview to interview. You can make updates and changes as necessary, but asking the same questions allows you to compare experiences and track progress.

2. Choose the interviewer and help them prepare

The interviewer should be a third party, like an HR representative. Employees are more likely to provide honest feedback to someone they are not closely connected to. If their manager conducts the interview, it will be hard for them to share any constructive feedback. 

Prepare the interview questions in advance and review them with the person conducting the interview. You can share them with the participants if you want them to have time to think about their answers.

3. Schedule the interview

Timing is important for exit interviews. Some companies perform these for the last day or last week of employment. Others opt for a conversation to gather the most honest feedback after they are officially done. If it’s done too early, the subject may be more filtered and concerned about how their answers might impact their remaining days at the company.

4. Listen to the employee and document responses

While conducting an exit interview, it’s so important that the employee feels comfortable sharing their answers. Don’t interrupt them, and avoid getting defensive when listening. There may be negative feelings, or office gossip brought up, but you don’t need to feed into it. Let them share what they think is relevant and answer your questions while listening. Take good notes so you can share the feedback after the interview.

5. Process the feedback

Exit interviews are only helpful if you can process the information received and work with the teams to improve employee retention. Direct managers should get relevant feedback from their team, but it’s important to document anything that can help the company culture or processes. Document exit interviews similarly and review them annually to see if there are trends to address. 

Exit Interview Questions to Ask

There are dozens of exit interview questions that you could ask, but only a handful are truly valuable. The questions below will focus on employees who have resigned.

The most important thing to get out of an exit interview is understanding why the employee wants to leave. This feedback should be used to monitor and improve employee satisfaction and retention constantly. Based on the employee’s answer, you might ask somewhat customized questions to further elaborate on their reason for leaving.

However, to keep things simple, we’ll provide you with a handful of general questions you can ask during any exit interview.

1. Why are you leaving your current role?

This question essentially sums up the entire point of the exit interview. You want to know precisely why the employee is leaving. Did they receive a better offer? Were they unhappy with their work hours? Did they have issues with coworkers or managers? Are there other non-work-related issues going on? Whatever the case, knowing which factors impact employee retention (or lack thereof) is valuable feedback.

2. What did you like most about your job?

Knowing what employees like about their job is equally important as understanding what they dislike. Figuring out what they enjoyed most about their job allows your organization to double down on what’s working while attempting to resolve what is not working.

3. What did you dislike most about your job?

This question provides a great opportunity to receive honest feedback from a soon-to-be-former employee. It’s uncommon for current employees to be completely honest about their company “dislikes.” But for an exiting employee, it’s another story. Receiving honest feedback about some of the key areas for improvement allows you to attempt to resolve some of these issues for future employees.

4. How would you describe your relationship with your manager?

Management can make or break an employee’s experience. We have seen countless employees leave organizations they loved simply because they had a manager they disliked immensely. Understanding how your employees perceive management is crucial to developing a positive work culture and increasing employee satisfaction.

5. What key skills should we be looking for in your replacement?

The employee being interviewed will know better than just about anyone else which skills will be required for their replacement to succeed in the job. Now is a great opportunity to receive insight that will be instrumental in interviewing and hiring the right fit. You might even consider asking them if any of their colleagues can take over the job. This could save your organization countless time and money trying to find a suitable replacement.

What to Avoid During Exit Interview

Above, we mentioned a handful of questions that are appropriate to ask during an exit interview. We will review some of the questions and comments you should avoid while conducting an exit interview.

• Avoid sharing your own opinions regarding people, teams, or company policies. Focus on listening without sharing your dissatisfactions or agreeing with theirs.
• Try not to ask highly targeted questions about specific individuals in the organization. It’s ok to ask for general feedback on managers or team members, but you should avoid calling out anyone specifically.
• Stay on topic. Avoid personal stories and issues. Focus on the exit interview questions while remaining professional.
• Do not try to persuade the employee to stay. The exit interview is neither the time nor the place for this.

Best Practices for Exit Interviews

• Be prepared for the interview by reviewing the employee files and asking questions that are relevant to their experience.
• Listen to the employee and avoid jumping in when they are sharing their candid thoughts. 
• Try for a face-to-face interview, but if that isn’t possible, try to still connect over the phone.
• Have a neutral third party, like an HR rep, conduct the interview whenever possible.
• Document the process so employees know it’s a mandatory offboarding step.

Exit Interview Template

You’ve come to the right place if you are looking for one of the best exit interview templates online. Our exit interview template is downloadable and even allows you to fill in the blanks and edit questions directly on your computer. You can choose to print out the blank document and write by hand or type out your answers and then print out the completed exit interview form.

Exit Interview Conclusion

As you wrap up your exit interview, take time to reflect on the information provided. Was there anything serious mentioned worth investigating? Are you starting to notice any patterns of dissatisfaction expressed by various employees? Exit interviews provide valuable feedback for companies that care about culture, retention, and reputation.

Now that you have all the information on how to conduct an exit interview, document your process and start these as soon as possible. Don’t leave the helpful information on the table. Use it to improve your organization and attract the best talent.

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A strong employee value proposition helps attract new talent and retain existing workers while giving meaning to employees’ work beyond a paycheck. Find out the components of an effective employee value proposition and how to craft one that makes a compelling argument in favor of being employed by your organization. 

What is an Employee Value Proposition?

An employee value proposition, or EVP, is a statement that encapsulates what’s in it for employees who work for your company. It includes tangible factors, like compensation and benefits, and intangible ones, like company culture and brand values.  

An EVP describes how you’re different from other companies and uses employees’ own motivations to create incentives for them to continue working for you. 

EVP Versus Employer Brand

As you begin to explore the idea of an employee value proposition, you might think that it sounds a lot like an employer brand, which is the set of factors that defines a company in the eyes of prospective employees. And you’d be correct; the two are similar concepts. 

While employee value proposition and employer brand both contribute to building a strong, highly skilled workforce, they’re distinct from one another. 

Whereas your employer brand is public-facing, your employee value proposition is primarily an internal concept. Employer brand focuses on the company and what makes it unique, while EVP is centered on employees and what inspires them to want to work there. 

Both employer brand and employee value proposition should be constructed with the other in mind to complement one another and work toward the same goals. 

Importance of a Strong EVP

Strengthen talent acquisition and retention 

You want to create a strong EVP to help you attract and retain great employees. Hiring skilled workers continues to be challenging, especially in fields like tech and healthcare. Your EVP gives candidates clear motivations to join your team and helps remind existing employees of their ‘why’ for staying.

Increase employee engagement

EVP incorporates your mission and values, which give meaning to employees’ activities and help make the company a place they’re proud to work. EVP also summarizes how you invest in your employees, like providing professional development opportunities. 

These things keep workers engaged with their jobs, promoting greater employee satisfaction. They’re also a net positive for the company, which reaps the benefits of an increasingly skilled and productive workforce.

Related: Ways to Invest in Employee Development

Contribute to organizational goals

When your EVP aligns with company and department goals, it ensures that everyone is working toward the same purpose. This overarching strategy keeps everyone on the same page, which is more effective than when leaders make decisions without considering their effect on employee engagement.  

4 Components of Employee Value Proposition 

In addition to gauging the satisfaction of people who quit during the Great Resignation, the survey we referenced earlier revealed some compelling insights about why those workers ultimately decided to leave their jobs. 

While the first wave of workers to resign did so mostly to pursue better pay and more flexibility, the later resigners left because they felt out of alignment with their company’s values or failed to see a path forward for them within the organization. 

This tells us that if we want to create a compelling case to retain employees, we need to consider the material and immaterial aspects that are important to them. Here are four main categories to consider when crafting your EVP. 

1. Pay and benefits

These are tangible aspects of your EVP–things you can put a dollar figure on or otherwise quantify. This category includes offering competitive salaries, health insurance, employer-sponsored retirement, and on-the-job benefits like scheduling flexibility. 

Employees can immediately feel the impact of these offerings because they affect them on a day-to-day basis. Thus, these are some of the primary EVP elements candidates consider when deciding where to work.

Related: Hiring and Salary Guide

2. Employee opportunities

The second tangible aspect of EVP is opportunity. This includes things like continuing education programs, mentoring, networking opportunities, and the company’s approach to internal promotions. Simply put, does the employer take steps to help employees advance in their careers? 

These are long-term elements of EVP that employees are more likely to recognize once they’ve been with the company for some time. 

3. Company culture

Culture is an intangible factor that describes the essence of being part of your workforce. It includes your approach to work, like communication and leadership styles. It also encapsulates the types of relationships between employees and between employees and managers. 

Positive work culture is important in attracting talent in the short term, but it’s also a major factor in whether employees stay for the long term.

4. Meaning and purpose

The final intangible factor is your mission and purpose. We touched on this earlier; the deeper reason drives employees to show up to work beyond just collecting a paycheck. This can include things like a meaningful company mission, a strong set of admirable values, or a distinguished reputation. 

How to Develop Your Own EVP

Define what makes you unique

How is working for you different from working for your competitors? You probably already have a solid idea, but you can gain valuable insights and key descriptive phrases by asking your employees directly. 

EVP Example: 

“At Aspire Lifestyles, we believe in fostering success from within. By offering constant on-the-job support, paired with career guidance and rewarding benefits, we make dreams come true for our people. We empower you to bring your best to our world of global opportunities.” -Aspire Lifestyles

Make it aspirational, yet realistic

Your EVP should capture the type of company you want to be, but it also needs to reflect what it’s like to work there. If there are milestones you haven’t achieved just yet, incorporate what you’re doing to work toward them. 

EVP Example: 

“We see the value that diversity brings to Featurespace and truly believe that everyone’s voice is equal. However, we know there’s more to do. As we grow in 2023 and beyond, our focus is on attracting more diverse talent across all departments.” -Featurespace

Align it with organizational goals

Flowery language is nice but it lacks purpose if it doesn’t correlate with what the business is trying to achieve. Review your EVP to ensure it’s contributing to–rather than detracting from or simply existing alongside–your goals as a company. 

EVP Example: 

“We promise an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who are laser-focused on quality, and clinical and customer service excellence.” -Devereaux

Keep it simple

Don’t try to be all things to all people. This is where organizations fail, because it’s impossible. Instead, focus on the areas where you can shine. Less is more. 

EVP Example: 

“Do work that matters. Come as you are. Thrive with us. Learn for a lifetime. Make your mark.” -KPMG

Gather feedback

Before publicizing your EVP far and wide, share it among a trusted group of company leaders and employees to ensure it resonates. Ask for and incorporate their feedback into the final version. 

Incorporate it into all aspects of the business

Your EVP should be top of mind when creating company materials and building programs. Work it into your recruitment collateral, new hire onboarding, and in regular employee communications. 

Consider making your EVP easy to find by giving it a dedicated page on your website, either in your Careers or About Us section. This can be a useful feature to build brand awareness and convince interested applicants to apply to join your team.

Reasons to Promote an Employee

In the past, staying with a company for five years, ten years, or more was grounds for an automatic promotion. However, the days of a person working for just one or two companies in their career are all but extinct. 

So, though an employee’s history with the company is important to consider, tenure alone isn’t an effective criterion on which to base promotions. Instead, promotions should be determined by a combination of seniority, performance, and situation.

Consider promoting a team member if they:

• Regularly exceed performance expectations
• Step up to take on additional responsibilities 
• Take initiative to expand their skills
• Step into a leadership role during an emergency situation
• Help train new members in their department
• Acquire a more advanced degree or credential
• Bring in a new client
• Increase sales
• Create a process that strengthens efficiency or saves time

When to Promote an Employee

There’s no formula that will tell you when it’s time to promote an employee. Some will be ready to assume a higher job title after six months, while for others, it may take six years. Also, be mindful of the fact that some employees are perfectly happy in their current roles and aren’t looking to climb the ladder. 

For those who are interested in advancing, though, a good rule of thumb is to promote when an employee is 70-80% ready. This means they have the technical know-how to handle the daily functions of the job and can grow into the leadership components of the role with a little additional development. 

Also, it’s necessary to factor in how long it’s been since an employee’s last promotion and the role they play within the organization. If they’re a rockstar you want to retain, and it’s been a few years since they had a salary or title bump, sometimes it’s worthwhile to take proactive measures to make a promotion happen to keep them on your staffing chart. 

Promotion Process Steps

The logistics of a promotion can often be straightforward–a single employee is ready for a more senior role. When such a role becomes available a promotion is a natural progression. 

Other times, though, there’s only one role and several potential internal candidates to fill it. If this is the case, following a systematic promotion process is important to ensure fairness and transparency. 

1. Evaluate your needs

First, begin by evaluating the demands of the role. What skills and capabilities will the right candidate need? What duties will they be required to accomplish? If this is an existing role that recently became vacant, these needs may already be well-defined. 

2. Assess your staff

Work with managers to determine who among your staff meets or has the potential to meet the criteria you outlined. Incorporate what you know about employees’ career ambitions from their performance reviews and regular check-ins with their managers. 

Also, consider employees who may lack the confidence to pursue a promotion but could step into a leadership role with the right training. 

3. Publicize the position

Nothing kills morale quicker than when an employee is promoted, and all of their coworkers are caught by surprise. If you’re considering internal candidates for a leadership role, it’s best practice to make this process known to anyone who might be interested. 

Set out very clear requirements to apply and outline the criteria you’ll be using to make your decision so that all applicants start off on equal footing. 

Related: Hiring From Within: The Dos and Don’ts

4. Evaluate interested candidates

Even if you have a clear handful of top contenders, it’s important to interview every internal candidate who throws their hat in the ring. This will eliminate the appearance of bias or favoritism, which quickly creep in when it seems one employee was already pre-selected for the role.

Related: How to Conduct an Internal Interview

5. Make your decision and announce it 

Once you’ve decided on a candidate to promote, act quickly to confirm their acceptance and share the news with the team. You want the announcement to come from the company rather than being shared through the grapevine–again, it’s about preserving transparency in your promotion process. 

How to Create an Employee Promotion Announcement 

In most cases, an email is a sufficient way to announce a promotion. The exception would be for someone stepping into a major or public-facing role, like a C-suite position. In this case, an in-person announcement followed by a company-wide email works best. 

An employee promotion announcement should contain the following:

• Congratulations. Begin the message on a celebratory note. 
• The employee’s full name and new job title. Let everyone know what role they’ll be moving into, with a brief summary of their job duties. 
• Overview of achievements. Give some context on what the employee has accomplished for the company in their previous role(s). 
• Encourage participation. Invite other employees to congratulate the promotion recipient or to reach out with questions.

Here’s an example.

Good morning team,

We’re pleased to congratulate John DePaulo on his promotion to Content Marketing Director. John will lead the content team in developing materials that inform, engage and delight our audience. 

John was the mastermind behind our ‘day in the life’ video that went viral last month and gained us 2,200 new followers on social media. We’re excited to see what new ideas John and the rest of the content team will come up with next. 

Please join me in wishing John well in his new role. 

Warmly, 

Steve Edwards

Best Practices For Promoting an Employee to a Manager

Start early

Plant the seed for employees to begin thinking about internal mobility from day one. In their early days on the job, have conversations about new hires’ career ambitions and make it known that you’re invested in being an ongoing part of their growth. 

Use mentorship

A mentorship program is invaluable for identifying and developing internal talent for upward advancement. It also gives junior employees a chance to learn about different career paths available to them and understand the steps that are necessary to move up. 

Related: How to Start a Workplace Mentorship Program

Develop over time

Ideally, a move into a managerial promotion shouldn’t happen overnight. It should involve structured training, coaching, and ongoing conversations to assess progress and gauge employee’s feelings in their new role. 

Related: Strategies for Supporting Employees in the Workplace

Incorporate employee feedback

Promotions are most successful when they involve lots of communication–both before and after the bump in title. Employers should strive to stay abreast of employees’ career goals and find or create advancement opportunities that serve those goals. 

Additionally, seek employee feedback on where staffers feel under-confident in their skills and what skill areas they’re most interested in developing further.  

Prioritize transparency

When a promotion is imminent, it’s best to keep the entire team in the loop as much as possible, both in terms of inviting candidates to apply and letting others know how their role will be affected. 

Here are some data points that are worth sharing:

• How many candidates are being considered
• What criteria will be used to make a promotion decision
• Whether external candidates are also in the mix
• How you’ll handle the vacancy if someone internal is promoted
• How the team hierarchy will be affected

Understand individual differences

Don’t be that manager who assumes all of your reports should take the same path you took. Every employee will have unique professional and personal goals–which is key to understanding. 

Some employees simply aren’t interested in being promoted vertically, and that’s okay. They might love their work and want to become a subject-matter expert in it or gain experience in new areas through cross-training or lateral career moves. 

Promotions don’t have to be limited to upward advances in job title. They can happen across departments and as employees become more specialized in a certain area. Consider all options when deciding how best to engage and retain talent. 

Give feedback

Finally, it’s important to have a game plan for handling the internal employees who are not selected for a promotion. Provide a clear explanation of why they were passed up for the job and action-oriented feedback to help strengthen their chances for the future.

You might be able to see what we’re getting at: that it’s pretty much impossible to think of a job or industry that hasn’t been transformed by technology. That means companies must transform their workforce skills as well. We’ll explain why upskilling and reskilling are essential ingredients for future-proofing your company and share strategies for making it an organizational priority. 

What is Upskilling?

Upskilling is the process of learning new skills or improving existing ones as they pertain to a person’s job. It heavily revolves around digital technologies, helping workers and their companies evolve to meet the new demands and standards of a global, interconnected market.

Upskilling can take many forms, from formal classroom-style training to online programs, informal one-on-one coaching, and more. Employers may offer upskilling opportunities to their employees, or they may pursue it on their own to make themselves more competitive candidates and advance their career prospects.  

What is Reskilling?

Reskilling is similar to upskilling, but it focuses specifically on learning things that are different from a person’s existing skill set. It may be used to transition to a new career or to take on additional responsibilities associated with an employee’s existing job. 

Sometimes, reskilling happens out of necessity when a person’s job is eliminated (i.e., layoffs) or becomes obsolete due to technological advancements. Other times, a company chooses to reskill workers to meet shifting demands in the market. Or, employees may pursue reskilling independently when they want to get into a new line of work, like taking a coding boot camp on the weekend or going back to school in the evenings to get a new degree. 

Benefits of Upskilling and Reskilling Your Workforce

Keep pace with changing technology

To keep up with the never-ending evolution of technology, companies must essentially be on a path of continuous advancement. Organizations that want to stay on top can’t afford to be complacent regarding their workforce’s skills. A strategic approach to upskilling can ensure that the company has the skilled workforce it needs to compete in the market and not be left behind. 

Continuously engage staff

Employees have different expectations for their careers than they did a generation ago. People want to work in jobs that hold their interest, not show up and do the same thing every day for decades. Upskilling helps employers keep staff engaged, contributing to higher levels of productivity and boosting retention.

Related: Employee Incentive Programs to Motivate and Engage Your Staff

Stay competitive as an employer

Providing upskilling opportunities also helps an organization from a hiring standpoint. Firstly, job seekers see it as a benefit, the best of whom will be looking for companies that provide them pathways to advance their careers. Secondly, it keeps you on par with top employers in the industry, which have adopted upskilling as a core part of their business model in keeping with evolving business norms. 

Tips For Upskilling and Reskilling Staff

1. Set concrete goals

Before you help your staff acquire new skills, you must first determine what those skills should be. Conduct a skills analysis to assess your current technical capabilities and identify which ones are lacking. Then consider the future and the skills you’ll need 3 to 5 years from now. Consider the technology on the horizon and any advancements that are in the process of changing how you work or how your customers shop. 

This analysis should give you a solid understanding of which skills to prioritize. Set tangible outcomes around these skills that you want to work toward and plan programming around these goals. 

2. Establish formal upskilling programs

Companies like AT&T and PwC have recently announced billion-dollar initiatives to formalize upskilling through digital career-enhancement portals. While these are wonderful initiatives, you don’t need a billion dollars to make upskilling part of your operations. You need a plan, a budget, and time. 

What your upskilling program looks like is entirely up to you, but it must be two things: accessible and regular. Employees must be able to easily use the programs (and be given the time to do so), and they must be conducted on a periodic, ongoing basis. 

Here are some examples of what formal, employer-led upskilling might look like:

• Monthly job shadowing sessions with a more senior colleague
• Quarterly in-person skills workshops
• Cross-training opportunities between adjacent departments
• A certain number of hours per month devoted toward online learning 

3. Make mentoring a company value

The benefits of mentoring include higher retention, increased employee satisfaction, and faster promotion rates, to name a few. But mentoring also aids in upskilling, tapping into the existing knowledge base of more tenured workers, and helping pass it on to newer ones. 

And it’s not just older workers mentoring younger ones; upskilling also works in reverse. Younger workers bring value to the relationship by introducing more established colleagues to new and emerging ideas they may have been exposed to in school or other settings. 

Mentoring can take place in one-on-one or one-to-many settings. It can be coordinated via software, which matches participants with mentors, or via manual matching based on employees’ skills and needs (again, this is where the skills analysis comes in handy). 

Related: How to Start a Workplace Mentorship Program

4. Encourage self-led, company-subsidized career development

In addition to company-led initiatives, make upskilling and reskilling part of the company culture by encouraging employees to pursue it independently–and helping foot the bill. The company can cover or subsidize things like online courses, certifications, conference attendance, and organization memberships that employees are interested in, which simultaneously expand their knowledge base. 

Letting employees self-direct their upskilling path demonstrates the company’s trust and investment in its workers and keeps them engaged and excited about their jobs. 

5. Cater to employees

The tricky thing about upskilling and reskilling is that initiatives can’t be applied unilaterally. Employee A doesn’t have the exact same skills (and skills gaps) as employee B, so their upskilling and reskilling needs will look a little different. 

In order for upskilling to work–and to serve the organization best–it must be tailored to individual employees’ needs, learning styles, and preferences. This is where managers need to be lopped in to assess their teams and identify strong matches for different programs.

Also, don’t discount the fact that employees largely know where their skills are falling short. Gather feedback from staff and use it when developing future upskilling and reskilling opportunities. 

Related: Ways to Invest in Employee Development

6. Partner with a third party

When in doubt, hire an expert. The rising need for upskilling has spurred the creation of numerous firms that specialize in helping companies execute it, from consultants who merely advise on best practices to agency-style teams that handle clients’ upskilling needs end to end. 

Considering the massive impact of skills gaps on your performance and ability to compete, it’s well worth investing in upskilling and reskilling.

A good manager strives to strike the right balance between being a figure of authority and a source of support. Here, we’ll outline some of the top ways to support employees in their personal and professional needs. 

Benefits of Supporting Employees in the Workplace

Increases productivity

Perhaps the most self-serving benefit of supporting employees is that it will produce better results for the company. 

When employees have the proper tools and direction to do their jobs, they can work faster, more efficiently, and with fewer errors. This, in turn, increases output through better work and more satisfied customers. 

Improves job satisfaction

Think about any personal relationship you have. If the other person supports you, you’re more likely to trust them and enjoy spending time together. It’s no different in the workplace. You may be colleagues, but you’re still human, and humans feel happier when they have support. Workers who feel supported by their manager are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. 

Related: How to Measure Employee Satisfaction

Promotes longevity

One of the biggest reasons employees quit their jobs is being dissatisfied with their manager. Either they butt heads, feel they have unrealistic expectations, or, worst of all, feel they’re not being managed whatsoever. 

On the other hand, employees with strong manager relationships can work through professional challenges more easily. This means that when an issue does arise, their manager helps resolve it rather than the worker feeling like quitting is the only option. 

9 Ways to Support Employees as a Manager

1. Lead by example

Supportive managers don’t sit on the sidelines. They’re actively involved in the work of their staff. This doesn’t mean you need to have a hand in every day-to-day task of your department, but you should have a firm understanding of what staff is spending time on and make sure your team has the supplies, technology, and equipment they need to complete the work. 

Want your team to show up on time? Show up on time yourself. Want employees who act with integrity? Model honesty and fairness in your actions; you’ll earn their respect in return. 

2. Listen to them

As a manager, it’s natural to put out fires and troubleshoot. But part of supporting your employees means letting them speak–not cutting them off or assuming you already understand the problem. 

First, give them an adequate platform to speak, whether that’s a dedicated block of time to meet in person or an all-staff survey where employees can submit anonymous feedback. Take time to process what they’re saying–the good and the bad–and ask questions to understand more. 

Finally, take action on the input employees to give you to make them feel heard. Not only does this build trust, but it ensures employees will come to you with issues in the future rather than feeling that their concerns fall on deaf ears. 

Related: How to Handle Employee Complaints

3. Communicate

Employees thrive on communication. Though their preferred communication styles may differ, all employees must receive clear direction and periodic feedback on their performance. When these things are lacking, misunderstandings occur. 

Be honest and forthright in your communications, even when you’re delivering unpleasant news. Much of your success as a manager will be determined by how readily you can have uncomfortable conversations. 

Your employees should hear from you regularly, not just when there’s a problem. Dedicate time to check in with staff regularly, like daily stand-up meetings and quarterly performance reviews. These meetings should be an opportunity to learn what employees are working on, pinpoint any places they’re struggling and give targeted feedback. 

4. Establish systems

If your work is a freight train, systems are the track the train runs on. You don’t lay down a new track for every single trip–that would be crazy! Instead, you lay the track once and use it to move the train every time. 

In a professional setting, systems provide the infrastructure that allows work to happen smoothly. They consist of software that facilitates collaboration between teammates, automation that reduces manual tasks, and policies that dictate how work is done. They ensure workers know what’s expected of them and eliminate the guesswork that can lead to mistakes.

Systems help your employees do their jobs and make your job as a manager easier. When there’s an established way of doing things that’s the same each time, it reduces the number of touchpoints you need to have with the work. It also makes for a safer workplace. 

5. Be flexible

In survey after survey, employees say flexibility is the number one perk they desire from their job. Offering flexibility is a major way to show your support for your staff. This might mean different things for different people or workplaces.

In a traditional office, flexibility might mean employees can choose their own hours and take time off without managerial approval. In a setting where flexible scheduling isn’t feasible, it might mean giving staff more autonomy over the projects they work on or the green light to experiment with new ways of doing things. 

Since all employees are different, your managerial style should also be flexible. A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works well. While a cautious employee might require more frequent feedback on their work, a more assertive staffer might prefer greater independence. The more flexible you can manage your team, the better results you’ll get from them.

Related: The Importance of Flexibility in the Workplace

6. Offer development

It’s hard to overstate the importance of employee development, whether informal development like one-on-one coaching or formal development like a leadership training program. Activities like these boost staffers’ performance while helping them gain new skills. 

Employee development is a tangible way to show that a company is invested in an employee’s success, which helps them feel more engaged with their job and increases the likelihood they’ll stay with the organization longer. 

Related: Ways to Invest in Employee Development

7. Reward them

Positive reinforcement is one of the oldest tricks in the book if you want to get someone to behave a certain way. In the workplace, this means rewarding employees for a job well done. It shows you care and encourages them to achieve similar success in the future. 

You can reward employees monetarily, like with a bonus or other incentives like additional time off. Recognize their efforts in front of others, like in a staff meeting or company newsletter. 

Even a sincere thank you via a handwritten note goes a long way to demonstrate your appreciation for your employee’s contributions.

Related: Unique Employee Recognition Ideas

8. Have their back

Thus far, we’ve discussed strategies for directly supporting employees, but there’s also a level of support beyond managing your staff. Great managers stick up for their employees when dealing with other parties, from clients to upper management. This sometimes means taking the fall when one of your team members is to blame or standing up for an employee’s decision, which ultimately leads to negative results. 

When employees know they have this level of support, they don’t fear making mistakes and can focus on doing their best work. They’ll also be more eager to strive for high performance when they know it reflects well on a boss who has their back. 

9. Be human

There’s a fine line that dictates the appropriate boundaries of an employee-manager relationship. It would help if you were their boss and not their best friend to manage effectively. Still, it’s important to recognize that your staff isn’t robots; things going on outside of work, like illnesses and family challenges, can greatly impact employees’ performance at work. 

When an employee’s performance suffers, and you suspect a personal issue might be to blame, look for ways to offer support where you can. This might mean providing accommodations like the ability to work remotely or offering more flexibility with deadlines while being clear and direct about how performance issues might jeopardize their employment.

While it’s ultimately your employees’ responsibility to meet their job requirements, you’ll do them (and yourself) a big favor by cultivating a safe and supportive work environment.

If you’ve been using the same tired old employee handbook for the last ten years, it’s time to give it a refresh. You want your employee handbook to be engaging–something employees will actually read, not the stuff in a folder and dig out only when there’s a problem, or they’re ready to quit. 

Follow these tips for creating an employee handbook that covers practical new-hire information while capturing what makes your company unique. 

What to Include in Your Employee Handbook

An employee handbook isn’t just for giving instructions. In addition to sharing need-to-know information can also be an asset for engaging employees and helping them better understand the company they’ve decided to join. 

Here are some core sections that should be included in an employee handbook. 

• Table of contents
• Introduction/welcome statement
• Company mission
• Employment terms (i.e. exempt versus non-exempt, at-will employment, operating hours)
• Legal topics (i.e. equal opportunity employment, anti-discrimination policies)
• Compensation information
• Benefits (i.e. health and insurance)
• Time off policies (i.e. PTO, FMLA, etc.)
• Employee code of conduct

Additional sections can be added at your discretion, depending on the style and length you’re going for. 

Some other topics you might cover if they’re relevant to your company, include:

• Company history
• Employee development opportunities
• Bonus structure
• Nondisclosure requirements
• Noncompete policy
• Social media policy
• Dress code
• Referral program
• Recognition and reward programs

There’s no one structure that fits every company. Your handbook should be a reflection of your organization itself, so its contents should be customized accordingly.

Related: How to Design an Employee Benefits Plan

10 Steps for Writing an Effective Employee Handbook

1. Outline your policies

One great thing about writing or updating your employee handbook is that it forces you to get clear on your company policies (or create them if they don’t yet exist). 

For example, if you’re a small company, you might not have had reason to consider things like military leave or accommodating employees with disabilities. As you grow, however, these policies will become necessary. It’s better to have given them some thought ahead of time than to develop them on the fly. 

When developing your handbook outline, gather your stakeholders and take stock of your policies. Determine if you’re missing any or if anything needs revision. 

2. Choose the right format

The format of your employee handbook matters more than you might think in getting employees to actually read it. 

While it’s nice to have a hard copy to hand to new hires during orientation, this requires them to remember to sit down and crack it open at some later point, which probably won’t be high on their list of priorities after a jam-packed first day on the job. Also, physical documents are costly to update and reprint. 

Instead, consider a digital format like a PDF, flipbook, or interactive website. Digital handbooks are searchable, easy to update, and convenient to refer back to at any time. Plus, you can send it via email once they’ve accepted your job offer to build excitement ahead of their first day of work. 

3. Use clear, action-oriented language

All too often, employee handbooks read as a lawyer wrote them. Nothing against lawyers–they can and should be involved in the process of creating your policies. But legalese doesn’t make for very engaging reading. 

Writing your employee handbook should be left to someone with a deep understanding of your company’s culture and brand voice. 

Describe your policies in clear, direct language. So, instead of this dry, corporate-speak anti-harassment policy:

[Company] is committed to maintaining an environment free from harassment, bullying, or discriminatory conduct.

Use a statement like this instead:

We don’t tolerate harassment of any kind. 

Direct language makes your handbook more enjoyable to read and makes your policies easier to understand.

4. Highlight your culture

Your employee handbook is one of the first company documents that a new hire will experience. It’s a valuable opportunity to set the tone for the work environment and how employees communicate with one another. Your word choices and tone of voice should be reflective of these things. 

Also, consider the message you’re conveying visually. Instead of a black-and-white text-on-the-page document, consider leveraging a graphic designer to make the document aesthetically appealing and help the sections flow together smoothly. 

5. Make the most important information easy to find

Employees are most likely to be looking for key information in your handbook: pay, time off, and benefits. Make these sections prominent and easy to find, and be especially mindful of making the information in them easy to understand.

Use visuals to help communicate complex information like the employee-employer cost sharing of different health plans or how your retirement contribution structure is set up. When you lay out these vital details clearly in your handbook, you’ll reduce the time your HR reps spend fielding inquiries for basic information. 

6. Emphasize the positives

Sure, the readers of your handbook are already employees, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to continue building your employer brand. Include content that emphasizes the selling points of working for your company–those same things you work to highlight in your recruitment marketing. 

Employee referral bonuses, perks like gym memberships or tuition reimbursement, and employee development opportunities are all worth highlighting in your handbook. This is not only useful to build engagement but is important in making sure employees actually know the benefits exist. 

Related: How to Make Your Employee Referral Program a Powerful Recruitment Tool

7. Make it a team effort

Creating an employee handbook usually falls to HR, but the most effective handbooks are a collaborative effort. You have diverse talent on your team–creative thinkers, copywriters, designers, marketers, and so on. Why not tap that talent for an internal project: improving your handbook?

Additionally, gather feedback from department chairs and the C-suite. You might learn about frequent employee questions your handbook doesn’t address or policies you’ve yet implemented. 

8. Loop in legal

While we’re not big fans of handbooks written mainly by lawyers, we do strongly advocate for looping them into the creation process. 

As you plan your handbook content, have your legal counsel weigh in on whether you’ve covered all your bases in the eyes of the law. Once it’s finished, ask them to give it a final once-over before you begin distributing it. 

9. Get feedback from actual employees

You wouldn’t launch a new product without getting feedback from test users, so why would you hit the proverbial ‘publish’ button on your handbook without getting feedback from test readers? 

Before putting your handbook out far and wide, get the first draft in the hands of a few team members and collect their thoughts on structure, style, readability, and usefulness. 

10. Keep optimizing

Just as your company is always evolving and changing, so too should your handbook. 

Revisit it for edits at least annually, or any time you undergo a major company change. This will ensure it’s always up to date and the content doesn’t feel stale. 

Creating an excellent employee handbook takes more time than just copying and pasting an employee handbook template that you found online. Still, the final product will go much farther in making a positive impression on new hires and providing the essential information your employees actually need to be productive and happy at work. 

We’ll explain why employee relations matter now more than ever and share tips to help you build strong, productive employer-employee relationships. 

What are Employee Relations?

Employee relations are the relationships between managers and their reports, HR departments and staff, and employees and one another. Employee relations are established over time via individual interactions as well as company-wide initiatives. 

Employee relations can be influenced by:

• Company policies
• Benefits packages
• Communication methods
• Conflict resolution strategies
• Employee development opportunities
• And more

A big function of HR is maintaining employee relations conducive to a positive, functional workplace.

Benefits of Improving Employee Relations

Positive work environment

Strong employer-employee relations correlate with a healthy work environment. It’s in the company’s best interest to create a workplace where staffers feel safe, supported, and engaged so that they can do productive work. 

Less conflict

One major aspect of strong employee relations is communication. Breakdowns in communication, like when an employee lacks proper direction, or a manager fails to address a performance issue, cause workplace conflict. A company that prioritizes clear and transparent communication naturally reduces conflict in the process. 

Increased Productivity

Good employee relations can create a sense of loyalty to the organization. Employees who feel a connection to their employer beyond just the paycheck are more motivated to do great work, which can lead to increased output and a better overall work product. 

How to Improve Employee Relationships

1. Develop a strong mission

Your mission gives greater purpose to your business activities and gives employees something to buy into. Having a concrete, worthwhile mission can help employees feel a stronger sense of meaning in their work. It also provides a framework for the rest of your employee relations strategy.

Develop a thoughtful mission and communicate it to employees regularly. Infuse it into your business practices. Live it via the company’s operations on a day-to-day basis and in long-term initiatives.

2. Create employee support channels

Information shouldn’t just come from the top down. It should flow the other way, too, with channels that facilitate communications from the bottom upward. 

When employees need help, are they able to get it? It’s essential to create proper support channels and make them known to employees and encourage their use. Workers need to feel confident that they won’t face negative repercussions if they raise an issue. 

3. Leverage technology

Technology can be used to streamline workflows, facilitate communication, and provide recognition for a job well done–all important aspects of employee relations. But it’s not just a channel; technology should be your employee relations strategy’s core tenet. 

When you prioritize the right technology and invest in it consistently, you make employees’ jobs easier, less stressful, and more enjoyable. Happy employees are loyal, productive employees. 

4. Ask for feedback

How can you know what employees really want from their relationship with you as their employer if you don’t ask them? Gather input from your workforce via feedback surveys, one-on-one conversations, and focus groups made up of a cross-section of workers from around the company. 

Use these methods to ascertain what’s important to your staff and use the intel to guide employee relations efforts. Ask what’s lacking to understand where more resources are needed. 

5. Make employees feel valued

Recognize your employees regularly for their contributions and reward them when they go above and beyond what’s required of them. Building a culture of employee recognition helps retain top talent, increases employee engagement, and contributes to strong performance. 

Recognition isn’t the only way to show employees they’re valued. Committing to a solid benefits package, including high-quality health insurance, retirement contribution matching, and ample PTO, shows employees that their well-being matters. 

Related: Empowerment in the Workplace: What it is and Why it Matters

6. Turn employees into evangelists

There’s more competition out there than ever, not just for customers, but for talent. In this landscape, employee satisfaction is just as important as customer satisfaction–maybe more so, since you can’t please customers without a dedicated, hard-working staff. 

Approach business decisions with your employees in mind, with the goal of turning them into brand evangelists. There’s no better spokesperson for your company than a highly engaged, devoted employee of it.  

Related: How to Become an Employer of Choice

7. Make management more visible

Managers are notorious for being in meetings from the time they clock in to the time they step out the door. Yes, meetings are a necessity when leading a team, but they can also make managers feel out of touch and out of reach. 

Find ways to make company leaders feel like familiar faces by having a regular presence around the office. Use activities like all-staff meetings and department events to give staff important facetime with the executives who are running the place where they spend 40 hours or more a week. 

8. Offer development opportunities

Actively developing your employees is a highly effective way to show that you value the relationship. Offer tuition reimbursement, cover entrance fees to conferences, give them leadership opportunities, and make other investments to convey that you’re committed to helping them grow with the company.

Related: Ways to Invest in Employee Development

9. Resolve conflicts quickly

Coworkers have different backgrounds, beliefs, and personalities, meaning some level of workplace conflict is inevitable. Ideally, employees will be equipped with the tools they need to resolve their own conflicts before escalation is required. 

If that doesn’t happen, the company needs to be willing to step in and nip disputes in the bud. Taking a passive approach to conflict–or worse, turning a blind eye to it–is a surefire way to push out good workers and kill the credibility you’ve built with your staff. 

Ensure that employees have access to proper conflict resolution channels, like peer mediation and an effective HR team. Be willing to seek out outside help if necessary, like outsourced HR if you’re a small organization or expert legal help in situations involving discrimination or harassment. 

Taking workplace conflict seriously makes employees feel that their job is a safe space and helps build a culture of trust.

10. Start from day one

Strong employee relations begin from a new hire’s first day on the job, so it’s necessary to have a thorough and strategic employee orientation process. You can even take it a step further and start before day one by incorporating employee relations into your hiring process, prioritizing frequent candidate communications in a tone that’s consistent with your employer brand.  

Excellent employee relations don’t just materialize organically. They’re built intentionally, over time, through strategic decision-making. Following the steps above will help you leverage employee relations to hire, engage and retain the best workers.

Employees want jobs where they feel challenged and engaged. Companies want workers who are the best at their jobs and who will stick around for the long term. Continuous learning in the workplace yields both of these outcomes. 

We’ll define a continuous learning environment, explain why it’s a win for both employers and employees, and share strategies to adopt a continuous learning culture in your organization. 

What is Continuous Learning in the Workplace?

In a professional context, continuous learning is the ongoing development of workers’ knowledge and skills. It’s a strategic process that aims to benefit the individual and the organization. 

In the traditional sense, continuous learning describes a structured approach to acquiring new hard skills, like taking a coding class or attending a seminar. However, continuous learning also includes informal experiences and the acquisition of soft skills, like leadership and teamwork. 

Continuous learning isn’t a single, one-time event. Rather, it’s a long-term process that unfolds over the course of repeated, intentional learning experiences designed with a specific outcome in mind. 

The Importance of Continuous Learning at Work

In any industry, the only sure thing is change. Preparing for change, then, is critical to an organization’s survival. Implementing continuous learning will expand your staff’s knowledge on an ongoing basis, helping prepare them for the future.  

The best employees seek career development potential when looking for new jobs. It’s a selling point in getting them to apply and a major factor in improving your employee retention. According to a LinkedIn survey, 94% of employees worldwide said they would stay with a company longer if it invested in their education.

When it comes to future-proofing your business, continuous learning is essential both from an operational and staffing standpoint. In a tough hiring market, it’s a key differentiator between the good companies and the great. 

Benefits of Continued Learning

Adapt to the unexpected

If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that the companies that survive during trying times are the ones that are able to adapt. Continuous learning arms the members of your workforce with tools they need to bring forward creative ideas and try new things, which can make the difference between success and failure when it matters most. 

Stay ahead of the curve

You don’t want to be the “last to know” company in your industry, always late to the game and trying to mimic or catch up to what your competitors have already done. Your employees are the ones who help you stay ahead of the curve, and you empower them to do that through purposeful personal development. 

Achieve organizational goals

What do best-in-class companies have that other lower-performing firms lack? The smartest, most productive, most innovative employees, for one thing. More knowledgeable workers lead to stronger business outcomes like profitability and bigger market share. 

Invest in employees

Employees know that they need to sharpen their skills to compete in a modern, global job market. In a recent survey, 40% of workers said they worry their skills will become outdated because of technological advancements, and 52% said they are easily replaceable thanks to tools like automation, robots, and AI. Equipping your workers with cutting-edge skills helps them–and your company–stay relevant and competitive while letting them know you’re invested in their future with the organization. 

Related: Ways to Invest in Employee Development 

Recruit and retain top talent

It’s increasingly important for employees to have a job and do something meaningful with their lives. Continuous learning challenges and engages the brain, which creates a positive response. Thus, professional development opportunities are an enticing aspect to job seekers, while greater job satisfaction from continued learning prompts employees to stay at their jobs longer.

Examples of Continuous Learning in the Workplace

Continuous learning in the workplace can be formal or informal, structured or unstructured. A continuous learning experience may take place for a fixed amount of time, or it may build over the course of the employee’s tenure with a company. 

Here are just a few examples of what continuous learning might look like in a professional setting:

• Taking a formal, structured course with a defined curriculum, like a six-week leadership training program
• Using a company stipend to pursue a more advanced degree
• Attending an industry conference
• Shadowing more senior employees
• Cross-training in a different department
• Doing independent study using industry blogs, trade publications and other materials 
• Casual conversations with coworkers of various experience levels

While continuous learning might involve one type of activity or several, the key is that it takes place sustainably to not only build new knowledge but reinforce the knowledge the employee already possesses. It is also important to provide constructive feedback to help your employees improve their work performance.

Tips for Creating a Continuous Learning Culture

1. Make a plan

It should be clear by now that in order to be effective, continuous learning has to be an intentional business objective. Start by mapping out a clear plan containing employee engagement initiatives at the individual, team, department, and organizational levels, then assign ownership at each stage.

Create learning goals the same way you set performance goals. Managers should hold regular check-ins with their reports to discuss their continued learning progress and learn about new interests while developing new skills.  

2. Provide support

Support for continued learning has to be ingrained into your business policies. It’s nice to say that you support employee development, but it doesn’t translate into reality if employees can’t, say, get time off to attend a conference or receive reimbursement for educational materials. 

Make scheduling allowances for employees to pursue continuous learning, like giving staffers a set number of days per year or quarter to dedicate to learning new skills. Sometimes this may mean you need to shift workloads or deadlines to accommodate–again, it’s a case of setting priorities. 

3. Allow employees to self-direct

Sometimes, you have to tell employees exactly what they need to learn, like training on a new software the company is switching to. As much as possible, though, employees should be given the freedom to direct their own course of learning as long as it aligns with their role in the organization (and if it doesn’t, consider exploring other paths for them within the company). 

Of course, if you’re financially investing in employees’ continued learning, it’s reasonable to expect that there will be some payoff for the company. So, consider allowing employees to choose from a set of provided courses, and instructional materials for learning paths, all of which are beneficial to the company in some way.

4. Facilitate mentoring

Mentoring programs are an excellent way to foster both structured and unstructured learning, and they’re relatively simple to set up. Most mentoring programs pair junior employees with more senior members of the company for regular meetings, during which the mentees can discuss their career aspirations and get feedback on various aspects of their careers.

Serving as a mentor is also rewarding for senior employees, who feel invested in the success of their mentees and engaged with helping shape the future of their profession. 

Related: How to Start a Workplace Mentorship Program

5. Keep up the momentum

One-off learning activities are fun and engaging. However, development must be continuous to make a meaningful impact on employees’ knowledge and reap long-term benefits. To help keep up the forward momentum, set learning benchmarks and reward employees and managers for achieving them. 

Establishing a culture of continuous learning isn’t easy, but if you do it successfully, it can set your business up for adaptability and success for many years to come. 

The best thing to do when one of your reports lets you know they plan on leaving is to respond in a swift and professional manner. It’s in your best interest to make the most of their remaining days on the job, and that begins with how you handle their resignation. 

Here, we’ll explain exactly what to do (and what not to do) when an employee puts in their notice so you can finish out their employment on a positive note, preserve your company’s reputation and leave the door open for a future relationship. 

Employee Resignations Are Soaring

If you’ve been a manager for some time, it may feel like resignations are suddenly happening left and right. It’s not just in your head–the quit rate is at a near all-time high. 

In what’s been dubbed ‘The Great Resignation,’ four million Americans quit their job each month for 11 months straight. Interestingly, there’s been an even greater increase in resignations among people in management positions. Three-point-eight percent of managers quit their jobs in the first half of 2021 versus 5% in the first half of 2022, which is a much bigger jump than for non-managers. 

With a potential recession on the horizon, the quit rate has tapered off some, but it’s still high compared with pre-pandemic times. So, it’s a good idea to anticipate and plan for continued resignations for the foreseeable future. 

Related: Reasons Employees Are Leaving Their Jobs & How To Prevent It

How To Respond To An Employee Resignation

Keep a cool head

Responding to employee resignations gets easier with experience, but it can still sting or catch you off guard. Before you react, pause and take a moment to collect your thoughts. 

Remember, resignations are a standard part of doing business. Advancing from one position to the next is how careers work. If you can frame it that way in your mind, it can help you move on from your initial reaction and into action mode, so you can figure out what needs to happen before the person departs. 

Ask questions

While it’s important to take action after an employee resigns, it’s equally important to understand what’s prompting them to leave so you can prevent unavoidable turnover in the future. 

Questions like ‘can I ask the reason for your decision?’ and ‘is there anything we can do to change your mind?’ are a gentle yet pointed way to learn what you might be able to do to keep them and other employees from leaving. Be respectful of the fact that employees might not want to share more information and back off if they dodge your initial inquiries.

In addition to asking departing employees questions, we highly recommend conducting exit interviews with someone from HR or via an electronic survey. Employees may be more candid about their reasons for leaving when they’re not talking directly to their manager.

Get it in writing

If the employee hasn’t already given you an official resignation letter, ask for one. Then, write a response letter acknowledging their resignation. This creates a paper trail, which is helpful for the company to have on record. 

A letter to acknowledge an employee’s resignation can be simple. Here’s an example:

[EMPLOYEE NAME],

This letter is an acknowledgment that we’ve received your resignation from the [JOB TITLE] position at [COMPANY NAME], effective [LAST DAY OF WORK]. We wish you well in your future endeavors. 

Warmly, 

[YOUR NAME]

Loop in human resources

Let the appropriate HR contact know as soon as an employee hands in their notice. Send them a copy of the resignation letter so they can get the ball rolling on the official offboarding process. Give your employee the information of who to contact about their final paycheck, transitioning their benefits, and other HR questions. 

Set expectations

As soon as possible, meet with your departing employee to discuss what you need from them before their last day on the job. Outline clear expectations about what work will be completed and by when, and what materials (if any) they’ll be leaving for their successor. Provide instructions for returning any company-owned belongings like their ID badge, work phone, or laptop. 

Discuss their timeline for departure, including any upcoming days off, to avoid a surprise where they’re trying to cram all of their unused PTO into their final two weeks. 

Create a transition plan

This is the most important step in creating a smooth transition when an employee resigns. The last thing you want is to find out an important task has fallen through the cracks because no one was assigned to take it over. 

So, consider the following:

• What essential tasks is the person responsible for that need to be reassigned?
• What projects are in progress, and how will they be handed off?
• Will you be hiring someone to replace them?
• Who will be taking over the person’s duties until someone new is hired?
• Can any training be done before the departing employee leaves?

If you’re hiring someone new, post the position as soon as possible to minimize the staffing interruption. 

What Not to Do When an Employee Resigns

Don’t get emotional

When an employee tells you they’re leaving, it can be difficult not to get upset. You might feel hurt, blindsided, or stressed out about the prospect of finding a replacement. But remember, it’s not personal. Just as the company acts in its own best interest, employees must do what’s best for them and their career, which sometimes means leaving a job. 

Take a beat, notice your emotions and stay professional during the conversation. Be respectful of your employee’s path and try to be supportive of their next opportunity. This is something the best managers have mastered and helps leave the door open for a positive relationship if the two of you ever work together in the future (which happens more often than you might think!). 

Don’t be invasive

While you do want to give them the opportunity to explain why they’re leaving, avoid asking too many probing questions. Although you’re probably curious about where they’re going next, leave it up to them to decide whether they’re comfortable sharing that information. If you’ve built a positive relationship over the years, they may trust you enough to tell you more, but don’t be surprised if a departing employee wants to keep the details of their next position private. 

Don’t ignore it

You still have a team to manage, and it’s up to you to ensure a smooth transition for the rest of the departing worker’s colleagues. Employees value transparency, so you’ll want to do your best to make sure the news of a teammate’s imminent departure comes from you rather than being spread via break room gossip. 

Your employees will notice how you handle a resignation–whether you’re reactive and petty or whether you respond with respect and grace. This goes a long way toward building a healthy team culture that will help you ensure fewer resignations in the future. 

But what exactly does employee empowerment mean, and how can organizations ingrain it into their culture? We’ll define empowerment in the workplace, explore why it’s so important and reveal some actionable strategies for making it a reality in your place of work. 

What Is Empowerment In The Workplace?

Empowerment in the workplace means enabling employees to take ownership of their work and contribute to meaningful decision-making. In a culture of empowerment, company leaders delegate responsibilities, share information freely and seek out input from members of their team. 

A culture of empowerment isn’t just about how company leaders treat employees; it’s also about what is asked of them in return. When you empower your employees, you hold them to a higher standard, set ambitious goals, and establish an expectation that they’ll take accountability for their performance. 

When executed correctly, employee empowerment can help organizations motivate workers, retain top talent and achieve optimal business outcomes. 

Why Is Employee Empowerment Important?

Empowerment in the workplace is a net positive for workers, managers, and organizations as a whole. Here are a few of the top benefits of empowering your employees. 

Improve engagement

Empowering employees yields the most dramatic impact in the area of employee engagement. Empowered employees feel more invested in their company’s mission, are more willing to step up when extra work is required, and are more likely to make contributions that can lead to meaningful change. When employees are able to take ownership over their work, they’re more invested in doing a good job and feel a stronger sense of pride when they accomplish a goal.

Retain top talent

One aspect of employee empowerment is catering to workers’ strengths–capitalizing on what they’re good at and interested in. When employees are doing a job they’re good at, they’re more likely to enjoy it, and workers who are happy at their jobs are more likely to stick around. 

Another aspect of empowerment in the workplace is recognizing employees for a job well done. This contributes to stronger retention since top performers want to work at a company where they feel that their contributions are valued. 

Related: Effective Strategies for Employee Retention

Accelerate professional development

Managers who empower their reports are constantly supporting professional development, providing regular feedback and seeking out opportunities to increase their employees’ knowledge. Professional development is beneficial on a personal level since it feeds into employee engagement, but it’s also a win for the organization, which reaps the benefits of a more skilled workforce. 

Related: Ways to Invest in Employee Development

Support strong leaders

At the organizational level, empowerment in the workplace means trusting that managers know their teams best. When managers are empowered, they’re able to better connect with their staffers and provide what their team needs to succeed. Empowered managers are transparent with information, that employees value. Processes become more optimized thanks to direct input from the employees who work through those processes on a daily basis.

Strengthen financial performance

Adaptability is one of the strongest predictors of an organization’s financial success. Empowered workers are more likely to embrace change and even be drivers of it, which can yield creative solutions and innovative business developments. Research has found that employees with autonomy are more likely to feel responsible for their jobs and engage in change-oriented behavior like proactive problem-solving. When you empower employees, they’re motivated to do good work, which is always an upside from a business perspective. 

How To Implement A Culture Of Empowerment In The Workplace

1. Start at the top

You can’t have empowered employees without an empowered leadership team. When an employee brings a concern to their manager, the answer should never be “it’s out of my control,” but rather “I’ll see what I can do about it.”

To achieve true empowerment in the workplace, an organization must support its managers fully and provide for their needs. This means investing in leadership training, giving managers autonomy in their decision making and engaging them in conversations about the company’s future. 

2. Embrace transparency

Empowering employees revolves heavily around allowing them to take ownership of their work, but it also requires a heavy dose of communication. An organization with a culture of empowerment gives employees the information they need to have a thorough understanding of the business and its goals, which helps them make stronger decisions and be more successful at their jobs. Messaging about the company’s mission, objectives and direction should be communicated by leadership clearly and often.

3. Listen to employees

There’s a reason customer surveys are so effective when optimizing a product–because they gather feedback from the people who directly use and experience that product. It’s no different when you’re looking to optimize your business. You have to gather input from the people who work in that business. Employees can be the most amazing source for transformative change–if you actually listen to their contributions. 

Give them channels to express their feedback, then ask for it regularly. Use tools like employee advisory panels to include the voice of the worker in company decision-making.

Related: How to Measure Employee Satisfaction

4. Make space for creative work

It’s hard for employees to feel engaged with their work if they’re boxed into a rigid set of tasks every hour they’re on the clock. Give staffers space to stretch beyond their typical skill sets by involving them in new and interesting projects. Offer direction and provide structure, then back off and see what they come up with. This not only builds trust between managers and teams, but gives employees a chance to develop new skills.

5. Hold employees accountable

Empowerment in the workplace isn’t all sunshine and daisies. Giving workers autonomy means sometimes they’re going to make the wrong decisions. There will be failures and disappointments. In a culture of empowerment, managers support their employees in taking ownership of those failures, analyzing how they happened, identifying lessons learned, and forging a path forward with the newfound insights. 

6. Prioritize company culture

We’ve mentioned company culture several times already, but it’s not something where you just say the word ‘empowerment’ and it materializes overnight. Building a culture of empowerment requires strategic planning and intentional decision-making over the long term. It also requires putting your money where your mouth is and allocating resources to initiatives that support employee wellbeing, innovation, creative thinking, and transparency. 

7. Invest in technology

It’s impossible for employees to feel empowered if the tools they have to do their jobs aren’t functional. Any rhetoric about empowerment will immediately be undermined by outdated software, broken equipment, and ineffective systems. 

Invest in the tools and technology that enable workers to get the information they need, communicate with colleagues, work faster and optimize tasks. This is a great opportunity to walk the walk by listening to your employees by asking what they need. 

8. Focus on the why

Leadership experts from Harvard Business School advise that rallying employees around a shared purpose is one of the best ways to mobilize a team. To do this, clearly delineate the organization’s mission and the driving force behind it, like improving customers’ health, making people’s lives easier, using technology to drive change, etc. Use this ‘why’ as a compass when making decisions; it’s not the right move if an initiative doesn’t contribute to the purpose. 

Empowerment In The Workplace Examples

Here are some tangible examples of what employee empowerment looks like:

• Conducting employee feedback surveys to ask what needs improvement
• Assembling an employee task force to come up with creative ways to address a problem
• Using a gamification tool to recognize employees for their contributions
• Hosting a training retreat for managers
• Providing a stipend for continuing education
• Letting employees set their own work schedule
• Giving floating holidays for volunteer work
• Establishing a mentorship program

As you can see, empowerment in the workplace can take many different forms. At its core, it’s about trusting workers to do the jobs they were hired to do and supporting them with the resources they need to continuously improve, which ultimately yields better outcomes for the business. 

Resources and sources

1. https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0022676
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5673857/#B57
3. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/how-to-empower-employees

But when done correctly–that is, strategically, with purpose, in an inclusive way team-building exercises can be an effective tool to build more collaborative, creative teams of colleagues. 

Here, we’ll discuss some reasons for implementing team building at work, offer some ideas for activities employees will actually enjoy, and share best practices for making your team building events as successful as possible.  

What Is Team Building?

In the workplace, team building is the planning of structured events that encourage groups of colleagues to work together to accomplish a task or learn something new. Typically taking place outside the office, team building exercises allow coworkers to interact during an activity that’s unrelated to work in a new setting, from an obstacle course to a national park and anywhere in between. The goal of team building is to create teams that work more seamlessly together. 

Effective team building isn’t just a one-off event. Rather, it’s a series of intentional activities scheduled at regular intervals that’s part of a larger employee engagement and retention strategy. 

When To Use Team Building At Work

So, when should you use team building? Here are a few ideal use cases.

Bridging the gap between remote and onsite workers

With so many companies moving to a hybrid model, team-building exercises can be a great opportunity to connect with colleagues that don’t get a chance to regularly interact face to face. This can help offsite workers feel included and allow onsite employees to put a face to names they might only know from an email signature or Zoom thumbnail image. 

Onboarding new employees

Introduce new employees to the fold and help them get acquainted with their coworkers in an informal, low-stakes setting. For bigger organizations that regularly onboard large groups of workers, team building that’s specifically geared toward new hires can help create a sense of camaraderie among them right from the start.

Related: New Hire Checklist: The Easiest Way To Onboard

Leading up to an important goal

Use team-building to build momentum before the start of the busy season or inspire staffers ahead of a challenging project. Holding a kickoff event can help get the creative juices flowing and put employees in the mindset of working together toward a shared objective.

Regularly to maintain engagement

Employees will be more enthusiastic about team-building activities if they’re a part of your regularly scheduled programming. Just be sure not to overdo it–we’ll talk more about the appropriate frequency for team building in the tips below. 

Related: Employee Incentive Programs To Motivate and Engage Your Staff

Benefits Of Team Building At Work

Build connections between colleagues

At work, most of us interact with the same few people day after day. Team building is an opportunity for workers to connect with people outside their normal professional circle, including staffers in different departments. Building cross-company, inter-departmental relationships leads to a stronger overall workforce. 

Practice communicating

People communicate in all kinds of different ways; it’s only natural, but using disparate communication styles can complicate teamwork. Team building exercises give colleagues a chance to test out different communication styles in an environment where the end result doesn’t have a direct bearing on business outcomes. 

Promote creative thinking

There’s a reason going for a walk is the remedy of choice for everything from writer’s block to fatigue; breaking out of your usual box is a surefire way to gain fresh perspective and get more innovative ideas flowing. In the same vein, getting out of the office and into a novel space can help team members discover new and creative ways to solve problems, which will have a residual impact even when workers are back in the office. 

Better understand one another

Interacting in an atypical setting can help employees see their colleagues beyond their job titles and get to know one another as people. When coworkers feel a stronger relationship with each other, they’re more likely to be invested in working together successfully than colleagues who are just that–colleagues only. 

Related: How to Improve Collaboration in The Workplace

Discover development opportunities

Team building exercises can unearth employee characteristics that might not be apparent in the office, like leadership and creativity. This can help managers identify opportunities for employee development, which is a key factor in retaining top talent.

Related: Ways to Invest in Employee Development

Have fun

There’s something to be said for lightening the mood–you know that old adage about “all work and no play.” Having fun with one’s coworkers contributes to a strong company culture, boosts morale, and gives employees something to look forward to, all of which can make a company a more desirable place to work. 

Tips For Successful Team Building

1. Make it inclusive

The best team-building activities are those that everyone on the team can comfortably participate in. Planning such activities means you need to think about exclusionary factors that might not be immediately obvious. 

For example, a physically strenuous event (which caters to non-disabled employees), events that involve alcohol (which isolate non-drinkers), and so on.

2. Don’t encroach on personal time

Some organizations think they’re doing employees a favor by planning “fun” events after hours or on weekends, but the fact is that most employees resent it when their employer usurps their personal time, if even for a good cause. It’s not just that employees don’t want to go to a job-related event during their time off; many have prior personal commitments that are non-negotiable and asking that they shuffle them around for a non-urgent work activity creates an undue and unnecessary burden.

Mandated team-building activities need to happen on company time. In most cases, the same goes for non-mandatory events, which many employees will feel obligated to attend even if they’re billed as optional. 

3. Don’t overschedule

When it comes to effective team building, frequency matters. If you don’t do it often enough, it won’t have a big enough payoff to make it worth your while. Do it too often, though, and you risk employees getting burned out on too much bonding. 

In a study on how workers feel about team bonding activities, participants said they most preferred activities to take place monthly or quarterly. Volunteering events, company retreats, and food-related events were the top-ranked types of activities for effectiveness and value. 

Ideas For Team Building At Work

The study we cited a moment ago revealed important insight into the types of team-building activities employees see as worthwhile. Activities that had a purpose–giving back to a good cause or working together to solve a problem, for example–were seen as much more valuable than events that were held for their own sake, like potlucks, which many saw as unnecessary use of company time. 

With that in mind, here are some ideas for team building at work that serves a purpose. 

Supporting a cause

A charitable event like a road cleanup or fundraising walk gives employees a chance to get to know each other while giving back. Cause-based events lend themselves to regular repetition and can also help the company build goodwill in the community. It’s a win for all involved. 

Escape room

Ideal for smaller teams, this activity sees staffers working against a ticking clock to get out of a locked room by uncovering and piecing together a series of clues. On the surface, it’s a whole lot of fun, but look a little deeper and the skills involved are a close match to the ones employees need in order to work together successfully: collaborative problem solving, creative thinking, and time management. 

Build the best paper airplane

To do this simple team-building exercise, you don’t need to go past the parking lot. Break employees into teams of two or three and task them with creating a functional and aesthetically pleasing aircraft using only the provided materials, like paper, cardboard, and tape. The team with the aircraft that flies the farthest wins bragging rights.

Take a class

When groups learn to do something new together, like cooking a gourmet meal or making a piece of pottery, it increases social connections between employees and builds a sense of trust that facilitates stronger teamwork. 

To summarize, team building in a professional setting works best when it serves a purpose, is inclusive to all employees, and takes place during company time. When executed correctly, it can strengthen your company culture and enhance the skills colleagues need to work together effectively, ultimately leading to more productive teams. 

Resources and sources

1. https://nulab.com/blog/collaboration/team-bonding-exploring-how-mandatory-and-optional-activities-affect-employees/

The kind of employees you want are engaged with their work, invested in the success of the company, and driven to advance within their field—but such employees don’t just appear from thin air. They’re created and molded through employee development by the organizations that employ them.

Here, we’ll showcase why investing in career development is a prudent business move and share 9 employee development ideas you can use to breed engaged, high-performing employees.

What Is Employee Development?

Employee development is a combination of coaching, formal training, informal relationship building and professional experiences that helps employees advance in their careers. This might include learning new technical skills, increasing their knowledge, improving their performance, and enhancing skills in non-technical areas like leadership. 

For organizations, employee development is a cohesive strategy for achieving the best possible workforce–one where workers are not only highly-skilled but enjoy coming to work and making meaningful contributions to the organization. When employees are developed in this manner, they’re able to provide better service to customers, collaborate more effectively with one another and produce better overall results.

Why Invest in Employee Career Development?

Build workers’ skills

Employee development is about more than just training for a role (though that’s important too—HR industry figures estimate that 40% of employees who receive poor job training leave their positions within the first year). It’s about helping employees sharpen their existing skills, acquire new ones, and build beneficial relationships; all of which will help them advance professionally.

Boost retention

Investing in employee development helps you retain your best performers. In an SHRM 2017 survey, employees cited a lack of career development as the number one reason they left their jobs. On the flip side, employees who are engaged with their companies stay longer and quit less frequently, while also missing less work. We know that employees’ commitment to their company depends on how they’re treated by that company and their managers; investing in their development is a tangible way to show strong performers that they’re valued. 

Related: Strategies For Employee Retention

Compete with other employers

Employee development helps organizations stay competitive, which is critical in a tight labor market. Today’s top candidates have their pick of employers that are eager to hire them. Offering a strong development program can be a key differentiator that sets you apart from comparable employers in your market. 

Related: How to Be an Employer of Choice

Address staffing challenges

Winning top talent is one challenge; finding talent to even interview is another. A persistent labor shortage is making qualified workers hard to find for even the most attractive organizations. Growing the skills and expertise of your existing employees is one way to alleviate some of the staffing strain. 

Drive creativity 

Employee development breeds innovation. By arming your workers with the skills they need to tackle challenges head-on rather than running from them, they’ll be better equipped to find creative solutions which, in turn, drive revenue. Multiple studies support the correlation between a workplace culture of innovation and strong profits.

Build strong leaders

Investing in your employees is a surefire way to assemble a rock-solid management team. By identifying workers who are candidates for advancement, grooming them for leadership roles, and then promoting them upward, you’ll build a team of leaders who not only have a fundamental understanding of the company but who are invested in its growth and success.

Strengthen your reputation

Finally, employee development strengthens your employer brand—a.k.a. how your organization is perceived among current and prospective employees. When you invest in your workers, it demonstrates a level of respect that employees value greatly. Satisfied workers who feel valued by their employer are the best possible spokesmen for your brand.

How to Invest in Employee Development

With so many direct and indirect benefits, employee development just makes good business sense. You don’t need a huge budget to pull it off, either.  Here are 9 ways to invest in your employees to generate a more engaged, productive, and satisfied workforce:

Send employees to industry events

Industry events present a valuable opportunity to stay on top of market trends, learn about the latest advances in your field, and network with other movers and shakers. For employees, they’re a chance to step into the role of a representative of your company, which builds a sense of ownership for the organization (it also reflects positively on your company as a whole to have a presence there).

When sending employees to industry events as a form of professional development, a best practice is to set some expectations ahead of time. What are you hoping they’ll gain from attending? Are there any overarching goals you want them to accomplish while there?

Some organizations send employees to events and then have them report back on key takeaways via a post-event debrief with their team. This is not only a great way to share knowledge, it also gives employees a chance to exercise their presentation skills.

Facilitate mentorship opportunities

Mentoring is a longstanding technique for developing in-house talent; helping employees gain knowledge and hone key skills. 70% of Fortune 500 companies report having a formalized corporate mentorship program.

In addition to helping employees gain leadership skills and grow in their profession, mentorship helps organizations save money. The California Nurse Mentor Project, for example, reported cost savings related to reduced attrition ranging from $1.4 million to $5.8 million over three years. The existence of a strong mentorship program can also be a selling point for attracting new candidates.

Mentorship programs can take many forms, from formal and structured to casual and loosely structured. Mentorship can take place on a one-to-one or one-to-group basis, and mentors may even be mentees themselves. Because a mentor is not a direct supervisor, the relationship gives the employee the unique opportunity to receive open, honest development feedback that’s not tied to a performance evaluation.

Related: How to Start a Workplace Mentorship Program

Provide more frequent, less formal reviews

Employee engagement is a key goal of employee development, and regular performance check-ins are one of the best ways to keep employees engaged. Rather than structuring your review system around one big, formal review once a year, consider implementing a less formal monthly or quarterly check-in structure. It’s a shift that’s being adopted with positive results by some of the largest business and consulting firms in the world, including Adobe, Microsoft, PwC, and Deloitte.

Harvard Business Review points out how annual reviews can be detrimental to employee development, stating that “with their heavy emphasis on financial rewards and punishments and their end-of-year structure, they hold people accountable for past behavior at the expense of improving current performance and grooming talent for the future, both of which are critical for organizations’ long-term survival.”

Having more frequent reviews takes away the pressure that often surrounds year-end reviews and creates a more open line of communication between managers and their reports. For employees, it provides consistent feedback on the quality of their work and actionable steps to address any issues before they snowball. For managers, it shifts the focus from accountability (“why didn’t we hit our stretch goals this year?”) to employee development (“what are some things we can do differently in Q4 to move closer to our goals?”), which creates an atmosphere where employees are more likely to thrive.

Related: Tips for Conducting Successful Employee Performance Reviews

Bring in the experts

Employee development needn’t be limited to individual positions. You can provide collective development opportunities by bringing in outside experts to educate employees on universally beneficial topics, like public speaking, relationship building, and critical thinking.

LinkedIn, for example, offers a monthly speaker series that exposes staffers to inspiring ideas and innovative thinkers from around the globe. Recent speakers have included author and media executive Ariana Huffington and financial expert Charles Schwab. You can institute a similar development program in your organization by partnering with local universities and community groups to connect with speakers of interest.

Encourage membership in industry and community organizations

Having a presence within industry organizations looks good for your company’s image, but it’s also an important means of development for the members of your team. Being members of trade organizations can help employees feel a deeper sense of connection to their career path. They’ll also forge relationships that can help them grow and develop as an asset to your organization.

In addition to facilitating membership in industry groups, encourage participation in community and service groups. Groups for young professionals, service organizations like the Kiwanis Club, and leadership boards like your local economic development council can all be beneficial outlets for professional and personal development.

Provide discretionary funds for employee use

One of the most meaningful ways you can invest in your employees is by empowering them to make decisions about how and where they’ll pursue career development. You can do this by providing a discretionary stipend. Replenished quarterly or annually, this fund can be used by employees to cover things like continuing education courses, event attendance fees, or educational materials like books and videos.

Tuition reimbursement is one such example that pays big dividends in employees’ development, boosting engagement levels, career outcomes, and employee loyalty. In a survey of more than 22,000 participants in tuition reimbursement programs, 93% of respondents said that the program helped them develop skills they needed to grow within their company, while 85% said they were more effective employees as a result of their participation.

Offer cross-training opportunities

The days of one-dimensional jobs are long gone. Today’s top workers crave challenging projects and new experiences, and cross-training is one way to offer these things. In cross-training, select employees work with a designated mentor or team in a different area of the business to broaden their skills. 

A UI designer might cross-train with the development team to learn how visual designs are integrated into a functioning application. A member of the sales team might cross-train with marketing to broaden their understanding of the company’s customer base. Cross-training develops employees in a way that not only builds their skills but helps them increase the effectiveness of their work. 

Create a strategy

Employee development shouldn’t be an in-the-moment undertaking, with managers giving feedback only when it’s at the top of their mind. Instead, it should be a scheduled, structured program not unlike other company initiatives like your retention strategy or your employee referral program. Formalizing your employee development program will help ensure that initiatives are carried out effectively with an increased likelihood of success.

Practice what you preach

If you’re truly committed to career development, you’ll need to continuously keep the door open to development ideas from your employees themselves. You can’t say you value development and then balk at coughing up the money to send one of your team members to an upcoming conference, for example.

Practice what you preach and instill a culture that’s not only receptive to but encouraging new development ideas from employees.

Connect with Engaged Employees in Your Field

Let 4 Corner Resources be your trusted partner in building a connected, committed, and engaged workforce. Our staffing experts are skilled at identifying professionals who have the right mix of technical skills and personality traits to excel in your company.

Our headhunters match the top technology, finance, marketing, legal, and healthcare professionals with your open roles, handling sourcing and screening to deliver the best ready-for-hire candidates to you. Get started finding the right person for your job vacancy today by scheduling a free consultation now.

Resources and sources

1. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/how-to-reduce-employee-turnover-through-robust-retention-strategies.aspx
2. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/are-innovative-companies-more-profitable/
3. http://www.bu.edu/questrom/files/2013/07/Forrester-Research-Report-Drive-Employee-Talent-Development-Through-Business-Mentoring-Programs.pdf
4. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180108006550/en/New-Study-Shows-Lasting-Impact-Tuition-Assistance
5. https://www.go2hr.ca/training-development/employee-training-is-worth-the-investment

Here, we’ll outline the different workplace communication styles, explain how to identify them, and share tips for managing employees who use each one. 

What Are Workplace Communication Styles?

Communication style describes how we interact with one another, and it’s different for each person. While one person might prefer to be direct, another might take a more subtle approach. Some people weigh the reactions of others heavily when they communicate, while others think primarily about getting the information across and not about how others will respond.

In addition to varying from person to person, communication styles can also change depending on the interaction. For example, a person probably uses a different communication style with their spouse than they do with their colleagues. 

Some factors that determine a person’s communication style include their level of confidence, tone, word choice, body language, and even volume. 

In the workplace, communication style has a heavy bearing on how colleagues interact with one another and in turn, the quality of their relationships. 

Why Are Workplace Communication Styles Important?

Communication is key to a functioning workplace. We need it to convey information, ensure that work is completed properly, and keep from offending one another. 

The problem with communication is that it’s subjective. Saying “sure” in response to a request might seem totally unremarkable to one person, but might come off as curt and impolite to another. Knowing a person’s communication style can help you understand and anticipate their response. 

In a professional setting, a person’s communication style offers clues to how they interpret and process information. It can help you parse meaning from their words and predict how they’re likely to react after receiving a piece of information–all helpful things for a manager looking to establish a productive relationship with their employees. 

As a manager, understanding the various communication styles of your employees can empower you to give instructions in a way that your employee is most likely to understand, deliver feedback that helps them improve, and ensure each member works smoothly as part of the whole team.  

Related: How to Be a Leader

Main Communication Styles in the Workforce

Passive

Employees with a passive communication style are uncomfortable expressing their viewpoints. They will often minimize their own needs and opinions in order to let those of others take precedence. They have trouble saying no, which can lead to overwork and burnout. 

Though passive communicators get along well with others, their indirect approach can result in them being steamrolled, which can lead to resentment. If passive employees fail to develop a stronger voice, they won’t be able to contribute to the team at their full potential. 

How to identify it

A passive communicator avoids conflict. They’re apologetic and blame themselves even in situations where it’s not warranted (“sorry for so many questions!”). They deny help even when they appear to need it.

How to manage it

With a passive communicator, it’s important to pay attention to their actions over their words. If they’re saying everything’s great with their workload but you’re catching more mistakes in their work, it’s probably a sign you need to help them delegate or work together to decide how to balance priorities. 

As a manager, it’s up to you to help your passive employee communicate more confidently. Ask them open-ended questions and allow them time to respond. Give them ample opportunities to weigh in and step up the frequency of your one-on-one interactions. 

Passive communication isn’t always a negative trait; there are some circumstances where a passive communicator’s deference can be an asset, like when a demanding client needs to feel heard or when two opposing parties need a neutral mediator. 

Passive-Aggressive

Passive-aggressive communicators straddle the line between passive and aggressive. They’ll act passively at the moment during a confrontation, but become aggressive later on, often once the other person is no longer present. 

People who are passive-aggressive communicators say one thing but mean another; responses like “I don’t care” or “do whatever you want” may be used in place of expressing their true feelings on a subject. 

Passive-aggressive communication causes conflict in the workplace because it’s difficult to understand what the person actually thinks or needs. This can create confusion among team members. Employees with this communication style are often challenging to work with because they undermine others and bring down morale. 

How to identify it

A passive-aggressive communicator says one thing now but another thing later. They frequently talk behind others’ backs, make snide remarks or “jokes” that are thinly veiled expressions of what they really think. Look for body language like crossed arms, sighs, and eye-rolling. 

How to manage it

To be an effective manager and keep your team running smoothly, it’s important to nip passive-aggressive communication in the bud. Have a direct conversation with employees who use this communication style, naming the behavior and explicitly stating what needs to change. Set boundaries for behavior that won’t be tolerated, like sarcastic remarks or bringing you petty complaints about their coworkers. 

Passive-aggressive employees may not know how to communicate effectively or may lack the confidence to express their true opinions. You can help them communicate in a more productive way by asking for their input, recognizing them for their positive contributions, and making them feel their ideas are valid. 

Aggressive

The aggressive communicator is the person who always says what’s on their mind regardless of how it will affect others. They feel it necessary to express their opinion about everything, dominating conversations they’re in and striving to have the last word. 

Aggressive communicators like to be in control and can be manipulative, doing whatever it takes to get their way even if it comes at the expense of others’ viewpoints being heard.

How to identify it

An aggressive communicator openly and frequently expresses their thoughts without regard for the feelings of others or collateral damage they may cause. They speak over others in a group setting and use negative communication strategies like placing blame and attacking the individual. 

How to manage it

When managing an employee with this communication style, avoid the urge to mirror their aggression. Calmly deliver clear, specific feedback and keep them on topic during work-related discussions. If their aggression escalates, it may be necessary to involve HR. 

Aggressive communicators are good at selling their ideas and getting others to follow them, so they can make great leaders when their energy is properly channeled. Coach employees with this communication style to express themselves more diplomatically and consider additional resources like conflict resolution training. 

Assertive

Assertive communicators express their thoughts honestly and directly, but with consideration for how their words may impact others. They’re confident yet empathetic in their delivery, seeking to hear others’ opinions in addition to sharing their own. 

In the workplace, an assertive communicator tends to express themselves in terms of “we” rather than “you” or “I” and prefers to find solutions that incorporate input from everyone on the team. 

How to identify it

An employee with an assertive communication style thinks before they speak, using discretion when discussing delicate topics. They’re not shy about expressing their viewpoints but are also comfortable listening to and considering those of others. 

How to manage it

When managing an assertive communicator, don’t beat around the bush. An employee with this communication style appreciates clear and direct feedback. 

Give them the space to work independently and trust that they’ll come to you with issues that need your assistance. Help them feel that their contributions are valued by taking their ideas and suggestions seriously. 

By tailoring your management style to the unique communication needs of your workers, you’ll better understand one another and help a diverse team work together more productively. 

Related: How to Improve Collaboration in The Workplace

But what does flexibility in the workplace look like in practice? What are its advantages for modern organizations? We’ll take a deeper dive into workplace flexibility and share some examples of how you might incorporate it into how you work.

What Is Workplace Flexibility?

Flexibility refers to the ability to change with ease. In the workplace, that means adjusting to accommodate unexpected circumstances and being able to navigate situations that don’t go as planned. We may see workplace flexibility at play internally, as with staff schedules and assignments, and externally, with things like new product development and PR campaigns.

If the past two years have made one thing clear, it’s that workplace flexibility can make or break an organization. The ability to respond and adapt quickly to unforeseen, unprecedented events can be a defining factor in whether a company succeeds or folds during challenging times. As for employees, flexibility at work has gone from being a luxury to a necessity for many top job seekers. 

Examples Of Workplace Flexibility For Employers

First, let’s start with the area that typically comes to mind first when thinking about workplace flexibility: flexibility on the employer’s behalf. In this case, flexibility refers to the way employees are managed, the level of autonomy they’re given, and the way feedback is delivered and received. 

For a lesson in this important workplace value, let’s look to Ryan, an international tax consulting firm. The company was named by Fortune as the number one workplace in America for flexibility. 

The firm recognized the benefits of non-rigid scheduling well before the pandemic and put the concept on the global radar. With the company’s virtual collaboration platform ‘myRyan,’ employees are able to work where they want, when they want, without the pressure to log a certain number of hours each week. They’re assessed based on the results they achieve versus the amount of time they work, which is a fairly radical approach for the accounting industry. Employees are empowered to eliminate tasks they deem to be a waste of time or money.

The company says that since rolling out myRyan and giving employees maximum flexibility, it’s seen a dramatic increase in both employee retention and satisfaction. 

While this is one great example, you don’t have to create a bespoke cloud-based work environment to give employees more flexibility. Some other examples of employer flexibility in the workplace include:

• Offering non-traditional scheduling, flex time, or unlimited PTO
• Offering different types of work environments, like private and collaborative spaces
• Allowing the option to work remotely
• Using different management styles for different employees based on their work styles and preferences
• Encouraging creative thinking
• Asking for feedback on what the company or management could be doing better
• Rewarding employees for providing constructive input

We often think of flexibility in terms of time, but it can also apply to the setup of physical spaces, work locations, how meetings are conducted, the types of conversations that are held, and more. 

Advantages Of Workplace Flexibility for Employers

Aids in talent acquisition

Flexibility is the fastest-growing priority among job seekers in 2022, with work-life balance being the number one factor top applicants consider when deciding where to work. If you want to win candidates in a cutthroat labor market, workplace flexibility is a must. 

It’s also necessary to bring applicants in the door. According to the latest CareerBuilder research, jobs that allow flexible work arrangements, like the ability to telecommute or work part-time hours, attract seven times more candidates than those requiring a more rigid structure.

Demonstrates trust in employees

Giving your employees flexibility is a vote of confidence. It shows your faith in their ability to make decisions about where and how they work, as well as their competence in managing their own time. 

When you show trust in your employees, it boosts their engagement. Highly engaged employees are more productive–22% more productive than less engaged employees, to be precise–which is good for business.  

Related: How To Engage Employees When Working Remotely

Boosts morale

Employees who feel valued and trusted by their employer are more likely to feel good about coming to work each day. This is further strengthened by your staffers having the flexibility to make changes at work when they need to. Greater flexibility contributes to a stronger sense of morale and makes it easier to retain your best workers. 

Related: Highly Effective Employee Retention Strategies

Examples Of Workplace Flexibility For Employees

In the ideal scenario, flexibility at work is a give-and-take relationship. While employees enjoy flexibility in their work schedule and style, they can also provide flexibility to their employer by adapting to accommodate the needs of the organization. 

This might include:

• Working overtime to finish an important assignment
• Taking the lead on a project outside their normal realm of responsibility
• Stepping up to help a coworker in need
• Filling in to cover scheduling gaps when colleagues are out
• Being open to trying new ways of doing things
• Taking constructive criticism gracefully
• Embracing change rather than resisting it

When employees are flexible, it facilitates smoother teamwork. It’s easier to get things done when colleagues can put aside their differences and focus on accomplishing a task.

Being flexible as an employee helps the company respond quickly to changes when the need arises. This can make the company more agile and likely to succeed amidst changes in the market, which leads to stronger job security. 

Advantages Of Workplace Flexibility for Employees

Reduces stress

Juggling work and home life is stressful, especially when employees feel like they’re forced to choose between the two. With more work-life balance, employees feel less unnecessary pressure and can focus on doing their best work when they’re on the clock. 

Related: How to Reduce Stress in the Workplace

Increases job satisfaction

Workplace flexibility has a major bearing on an employee’s sense of well-being at work. Flexible scheduling, for example, reduces job-related stress by 20% and increases satisfaction by 62%. When workers feel satisfied and rewarded by their jobs, they’re less likely to seek employment elsewhere. 

Leads to more opportunities

Being a flexible worker can open doors. Stepping up to take on a new level of responsibility can hone an employee’s leadership capabilities, while covering for a coworker can help expand their skill set. When you adopt the mentality of “I’ll give it a shot” versus “it’s not my problem,” you make yourself more valuable to your employer, which can benefit you professionally. 

Helps with landing a job

Being adaptable is also a major asset when you’re looking for a job. Flexibility is consistently among the top characteristics hiring managers include in job descriptions. If you come to an interview armed with anecdotes that demonstrate your flexibility, you’ll be a stronger contender for the position. 

Key Takeaway On Workplace Flexibility 

Workplace flexibility doesn’t pertain solely to employers or employees. Rather, it’s a two-way street. Organizations reap the greatest benefits of flexibility when it’s something that’s valued and prioritized by both the company and its workers. 

By being adaptable to change, accommodating to requests, and open-minded to new ideas, companies and employees will enjoy a more positive, productive work environment where people feel valued and the work feels more meaningful.

Resources and Sources

1. https://www.ryan.com/about-ryan/press-room/fortune-names-ryan-americas-best-workplace-for-flexibility/
2. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/04/flexible-jobs-are-attracting-7-times-more-applicants-than-in-person-jobs.html
3. https://hbr.org/2013/07/employee-engagement-does-more
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8004082/

At no time in recent memory have companies had to work so hard to recruit top candidates. Close to 40 million workers left their jobs during 2021’s ‘Great Resignation,’ smashing the record quit rate of previous years. By the end of that same year, there were 11 million open positions U.S. employers were looking to fill. 

With Americans leaving the workforce in droves and competitive companies offering all sorts of lucrative benefits to lure top candidates, employers must do everything in their power to keep their best employees on the payroll. One tactic that’s gaining popularity is the stay interview. 

Learn how stay interviews can help boost your retention rate and how to incorporate them into your talent management strategy. 

What Is A Stay Interview?

You’ve heard of exit interviews, where departing employees are asked to share their thoughts on their experiences and suggest how the company can improve. 

While they share some common goals, a stay interview is the opposite of an exit interview in that it gathers insights from employees who are staying in their jobs rather than leaving them. 

Typically held with high-performing employees, stay interviews are conducted with the goal of learning what motivates the individual to come to work each day, what they enjoy about their job and what they might change to improve the organization. Stay interviews are an opportunity to discover what the company is doing right and where it can make improvements that will help with retention, but they’re also a valuable tool in building trust with the company’s most valued workers. 

One important thing to understand about stay interviews is that their primary purpose is not to prevent employees from leaving (although lower turnover can be one of the secondary benefits of implementing them). Rather, stay interviews are an intelligence-gathering mission meant to help you fine-tune your talent retention strategy. 

Related: How to Conduct an Exit Interview

Benefits of Conducting Stay Interviews

Learn what drives top performers to stay 

Stay interviews can help you uncover why your best workers keep coming back day after day, year after year. When you know what’s important to them, you can do more of it–or improve upon the areas that are lacking before it drives them to seek opportunities elsewhere. 

Get first-person insights on what needs to change

What matters to the rank and file of an organization is often very different from what matters to its leaders. If most of your day is spent in the corner office, it’s easy to lose touch with how workers are feeling on the ground floor. Stay interviews can give you invaluable first-person feedback on what should be done differently to make a direct impact on employee satisfaction. 

Related: Strategies for Culture Change Management that Works

Take a proactive approach to retention

When one of your top performers hands in their resignation letter, it’s standard practice to make them a counteroffer to try and get them to stay. At this point, however, you’re already behind. Stay interviews are a proactive way to hold onto your employees rather than fighting to keep them once they’ve decided to leave. 

Related: Highly Effective Strategies for Employee Retention

Make employees feel heard

From entry-level workers to seasoned veterans, employees want to feel that their voice matters to their company. It’s a major driver of on-the-job engagement. In a Forbes global study of more than 4,000 workers, highly engaged employees were over three times more likely to say they felt heard at work than highly disengaged employees. Stay interviews give workers an active channel to exercise their voice. 

Related: How to Measure Employee Satisfaction

Build a culture of trust

Stay interviews establish the ability for employees to speak candidly with their managers–an important component of an organization with a strong culture of trust between leadership and staff. 

How To Conduct A Stay Interview

Follow these tips for conducting stay interviews that get results. 

Choose the right format

How you conduct your stay interviews will depend upon your organization’s culture. Is it a place where managers and their reports are in close and frequent communication? If so, a face-to-face conversation will work well. However, if your organization has a more hierarchical structure where there’s a perception of distance between managers and employees, an anonymous survey might work better. Remember, you want your interviewees to be able to speak their mind honestly, so choosing the right format is key to making sure that happens. 

Identify good candidates

You should conduct interviews with your highest-performing and longest-tenured employees–these are the ones whose experience you want to replicate since clearly there’s something that has kept them engaged and coming back. 

Time it strategically

Build-in enough of a buffer between your interviews and any significant company events; the week before performance reviews or year-end bonuses is not a good time to conduct stay interviews, as this may color the answers you receive. Also, it’s a good idea to do them all at the same time, otherwise, you risk giving the impression that certain people are being singled out. 

Make it a conversation

Even though it’s called an interview, it shouldn’t consist of the interviewer firing questions at the subject. Instead, shoot for a more back-and-forth format. Your employees will be more inclined to speak freely if it feels like a natural conversation and not like they’re under a spotlight. 

Put the feedback you get into action

The intel your stay interviews generate is useless if it’s just filed away in a folder somewhere. To reap all the benefits we outlined above, you have to actually do something with what you learn! So, make your efforts worthwhile–and maintain the confidence of your employees–by using their feedback to make organizational changes that will help with acquisition and retention.

13 Stay Interview Questions To Ask

1. What do you like about your job?

This will help identify the top-selling points of working for your company and/or in a particular department. 

2. What motivates you to come to work every day?

Find out what you’re doing right to engage your top performers and what it is about the role that makes it appealing. 

3. Describe what a “perfect day” at work looks like. 

What’s not mentioned may be even more telling than what is. 

4. What do you dislike about your job?

This pointed question will produce some of the most useful insights you can use as the basis for change. 

5. What aspects of your work would be the biggest motivators for you to change jobs?

Whether it’s low pay, lack of advancement opportunities, or poor morale, these are the things you want to focus on correcting ASAP. 

6. What do you want to do more/less of at work?

In addition to being useful on an organizational level, these answers can help you offer the right opportunities to your best employees on an individual level. 

7. What do you think of the way our employees are managed?

As we talked about earlier, it’s critical to get perspective from the people with ‘boots on the ground.’

8. How would you describe your work/life balance?

In survey after survey, top candidates cite work/life balance as one of the most important factors when deciding where to work. 

9. What could be done to improve your work/life balance [or any other job aspect that employees value]?

Use this opportunity to gather direct recommendations for improving the factors that matter most for recruiting and retention. 

10. What do you think of the professional development opportunities offered by the company?

Organizations that offer professional development enjoy retention rates that are an average of 34% higher than those that do not offer such programs. 

11. What “work things” do you think about when you’re not at work?

The more you can prevent employees from taking their work home with them, the happier they’ll be. 

12. Do you see a future for yourself at the company? What does it look like?

There’s no better way to gauge whether your top performers plan to stick around–and how they envision it panning out–than to ask. 

13. If you were the boss, what would you do differently?

Getting an honest answer to this question depends on a solid level of trust between the interviewer and the subject, but the responses can be eye-opening. 

Boosting retention should be a top objective for companies looking to maintain a strong staff in the face of a persistent talent shortage. Stay interviews can help you collect the data you need to formulate an effective employee retention strategy. 

Resources and Sources

1. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-why-workers-quit-jobs-this-year-great-resignation-2021-12
2. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/08/october-jolts-report-shows-11-million-openings-as-quits-remain-high.html
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecenizalevine/2021/06/23/new-survey-shows-the-business-benefit-of-feeling-heard–5-ways-to-build-inclusive-teams/?sh=4c691bc55f0c
4. https://www.umassglobal.edu/news-and-events/blog/professional-development-benefits

What Is Human Resources Development?

Human resources development is a systematic process by which organizations help their employees advance and grow in a professional capacity. It can take many forms; activities, like employee coaching and skills training, benefits, like tuition assistance, and opportunities, like leadership programs, might all fall under the umbrella of a human resources development strategy.  

The goal of a human resources development program is to help employees maximize their full potential as it pertains to their role in the company (and any future roles they might go on to hold). When deployed successfully, such a program can boost employee retention, encourage upward mobility, strengthen the company’s competitiveness in the marketplace and ultimately increase its profitability.

One important thing to note is the distinction between human resource development and human resource management. While they’re both HR functions and the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there are some subtle differences between them. Whereas human resource development focuses on developing employees’ competency, human resource management is primarily focused on increasing efficiency. A specialist in human resource management strives to improve employee productivity, optimize output and control costs. Both areas are important to a well-functioning organization, so it’s ideal when companies prioritize both. 

How Does Human Resources Development Benefit Companies?

To illustrate how human resources development can benefit companies, let’s consider two hypothetical organizations.

The first, Company A, doesn’t have a concrete human resource development program. Once an employee’s initial onboarding is complete, it’s largely in their own hands if they want to acquire new technical skills that would help them do their job. Because there’s no formal structure for employee development, they’re not regularly offered opportunities that might help them grow as a thinker and a leader. And, because the company lacks development benefits, it falls behind others in the industry in attracting new talent. 

Now, let’s look at Company B, which has a strong human resource development program. After an employee is onboarded, they receive regular one-on-one coaching to fine tune their skills as well as periodic training to acquire new ones. Their employer presents them with opportunities, both internal and external, that help them become a better communicator, project manager and team leader. Because the company offers perks like tuition reimbursement and training stipends, it’s a place where the best candidates in the field want to apply and existing employees want to stick around.

Company B clearly sounds like a more attractive place to work, but it’s not just about having a good image. Human resource development is a virtuous cycle where each aspect positively impacts the next: regular training strengthens employees’ skills, which boosts their engagement and investment in their jobs. Strong engagement leads to better job output, which breeds happier customers and higher profits. Profitable companies are able to offer higher salaries and better perks, which aids in attracting top talent. Great candidates become great employees, who enter the system and continue the cycle. 

If you’re more of a numbers person, consider the findings of a global Gallup study that looked at nearly 50,000 business units with over a million employees. The study focused on how ‘strengths-based interventions’–A.K.A. strategic employee development–impacted the organizations in six key areas: sales, profits, customer engagement, employee engagement, turnover and safety. 

The findings were stark. The organizations with teams that received strengths-based intervention saw significant improvements in all six areas. Teams that did not receive such development saw little to no impact. 

In short, human resource development fosters the competencies that an organization needs in order to excel. It helps companies build a workforce that’s highly skilled, deeply engaged and always improving. 

Now that the benefits for companies are clear, let’s look at the pros of a human resources development program on the employee’s side. 

How Does Human Resources Development Benefit Employees?

Without a human resources development program, it’s easy for employees to feel a bit like ships in the night, clocking in and clocking out day after day without being on any sort of broader course. On the other hand, when there’s a formal development program in place, it helps employees feel more engaged with their jobs on a day-to-day basis while also seeing a larger path forward within the organization. This is the kind of engagement the best employees are looking for. 

Human resources development also benefits employees by helping them acquire new skills, which strengthens their resume. This puts them in a position to compete as a top candidate in their field and negotiate for the best pay and benefits. 

Finally, human resources development contributes to a sense of overall job satisfaction that eludes many workers in today’s market. When combined with other factors like competitive wages and a strong company culture, the result is a job employees are happy to have and will want to stay at for years to come. 

Related: In-Demand Human Resources Skills

Tips For Successful Human Resources Development 

Align development opportunities with organizational goals

The Gallup study we mentioned earlier found that even organizations that did the bare minimum in terms of employee development saw benefits from it. However, when organizations matched employee development opportunities to organizational goals, their benefits increased exponentially. You can get the most out of your development initiatives with strategic planning of the programs themselves and the selection of the employees who will participate in them. 

For example, a company with a goal of improving its public perception might zero in on PR training for employees with strong communication skills. A brand looking to reach a younger customer demographic might offer social media workshops to its entry-level employees who show promise as brand ambassadors. Zeroing in on employee strengths can make development programs more rewarding for both the participants and the company. 

Related: How to Invest in Employee Development

Communicate about it

A human resources development strategy doesn’t do much good if it’s a behind-the-scenes program that only a few HR staffers have a hand in. To get the most from it, employees need to know it exists. So, talk about it! Use your internal communications channels to spread the word and generate buzz about your company’s professional development initiatives. Get department heads and managers involved to make it something employees look forward to. 

Incorporate it into the broader culture

Human resources development works best when it’s ingrained into the fabric of the company as a whole. As such, prioritize employee strengths–both the recognition of them and the development of them–as a focus within the company’s day-to-day operations and the larger employer brand. 

Training and development are just two of the many ways an organization can make its employees feel valued, which is a critical component to retaining them over the long term.

Related: Strategies for Culture Change Management that Works

Resources and Sources

1. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236288/global-study-roi-strengths-based-development.aspx

Creativity stems from a collaborative effort. Whereas that genius in the corner can get bogged down with finding the right solution, a team of diverse talents feeds off each other to continually throw out new suggestions and move forward with new ideas and innovations. This is a huge benefit to an organization, leading to increased productivity and business growth. 

Implementing a collaborative workplace is a must for your organization to fully leverage the talents of your employees. Team members bring different skills to the table and have different strengths and weaknesses. Collaboration allows them to learn from each other and draw on varied strengths and talents to achieve a common goal. Collaboration is even important in remote positions. Employees can gain a better understanding of what other departments do and better see the big picture of the company.

9 Practical Steps to Creating a Collaborative Workplace

1. Create a supportive work environment to share ideas

Collaboration doesn’t work without support and sharing. The fastest way to kill collaboration in the workplace is to offer no support for team members, or worse, create an environment where they feel afraid to speak out or intimidated. They won’t feel comfortable sharing ideas if they think they might get laughed at, ridiculed, or rejected. What generates creativity in others is encouragement and appreciation for what they have to offer. A supportive environment builds trust, which is the opposite of fear. Establishing a judgment-free culture will lead to a healthy sharing of ideas in the workplace. 

When you set too many guidelines and restrictions, you’ll end up stifling creativity. On the other hand, when you constantly welcome new ideas, suggestions, and decisions, regardless of how strange, different, or off the wall they may be, you’ll establish a safe place for employees to collaborate with confidence and freedom. Creating a safe, supportive environment takes effort, but the benefits are well worth it. Not only will your team communicate more openly, but they’ll also gain a better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and will be better prepared to help each other in the collaborative process. 

2. Encourage openness and transparency

It’s not easy to motivate employees to collaborate with others throughout the organization if they don’t have a good sense of why they are being asked to do it. It’s important to be open and transparent about company goals and the challenges you’re facing. Keeping employees in the loop is crucial to inspire and motivate employees. In turn, they will be more loyal and productive. When everyone knows what they are working toward, you have a much better chance of the team collaborating to reach that goal. You will also get better input, suggestions, and ideas from employees when they have a good sense of the challenges and the business goals. 

3. Encourage employee growth 

Employees who do the same things the same way day in and day out are not going to be the best innovators. Not only will they get stagnant and not grow, but the company also won’t either. Allowing team members to question procedures and ways of doing things without being judged can lead to better and more efficient ways of doing them. Regularly encouraging the sharing of ideas will allow employees to freely speak up and share their thoughts. Give your team options to share ideas as not everyone will be comfortable speaking out in a group. A group online platform where they can post ideas or a group email are ways to encourage those less likely to participate face to face. 

Another way to encourage employee growth through collaboration is engagement across different teams and departments. Exposing employees to differing objectives, people types, and skillsets can lead to effective idea generation and employee growth. Pushing team members out of their comfort zones is often where the best ideas come from.

Related: How to Invest in Employee Development

4. Lead by example

Another collaboration killer is a leader who has little interaction with the team and shows little initiative in developing a collaborative atmosphere. It doesn’t matter how much you talk about the benefits of collaboration, if employees don’t see you as a collaborative leader, they won’t be motivated to collaborate either. It is of utmost importance to have good communication with your team and to spend time with them as a group and individually. The better you know your team, and the more open, encouraging, empathic, and helpful you are toward them, the more motivated they will be to share ideas with you and others on the team. 

Visibility is key. Have an open-door policy in your office. Let the team see the effort you’re putting in. Present opportunities to them and encourage collaboration from them. Be attentive and listen carefully to each request or idea they give. Be honest with their responses and you’ll earn their trust. When employees see you as a collaborative leader, they will feel inspired and will improve their productivity as a result. 

Related: How To Be a Leader in The Workplace

5. Communicate expectations clearly

If you are trying to create a collaborative workplace for your team, but you don’t clearly express expectations to them, you might be creating an atmosphere where employees are unsure of what you want. This leads to confusion and decreased productivity. By encouraging questions and thoughts, whether positive or negative, after presenting your plan, you can work past the confusion and make sure everyone is on board with what a collaborative workplace is and how they should interact in it. This will also give the team a chance to address negative thoughts openly, which can promote collaboration improvement among the team. 

6. Use technology

The workforce looks different today than it did years ago. No longer is everyone on the team in the same place at the same time every day. Your team might be fully remote and spread all over the country. Technology allows collaboration between your team regardless of where they are. The easier it is for team members to communicate, the more sharing of ideas you’ll see, and the more innovative and productive the team will be. Utilizing cloud-based software is quickly becoming the norm in most companies. This allows users to collaborate more and stay more engaged in the process. 

7. Offer rewards

Nothing motivates employees as much as the opportunity to receive a reward after achieving success. Rewards work at the individual and team levels. You might have a star who went above and beyond and deserves something extra, but the team that collaborates should also be rewarded together. A reward system facilitates and encourages future collaborations and helps employees see the value of working together. Rewards can come in the form of recognition, monetary rewards, a celebration, days off, or other perks.  

Related: Unique Employee Recognition Ideas

8. Encourage teambuilding

An effective way to enhance collaboration between the team is to give employees opportunities to interact outside of work. Everyone seems to have a busy life these days and arranging an after-work activity might not seem like the best approach. But it doesn’t have to take up a lot of time or be very involved. The key is to give your team a little time to get to know each other on a more casual level and develop friendships and deeper relationships. Employees who have fun together doing things unrelated to work tend to work together better when they’re at work. They will be more inclined to interact and exchange ideas. A more cohesive team, where team members feel comfortable around each other, will be more accepting and involved in a collaborative workplace. 

Related: Virtual Team Building Ideas

9. Treat mistakes as an opportunity to learn

Not every idea is a good one, and not every solution works, even in a collaborative environment. Mistakes and miscalculations will happen. How these mistakes are handled can determine how your team responds moving forward. Harsh criticism will not encourage your team to try harder next time. Calling out an individual for their role in a failed goal is not conducive to a collaborative workplace. That does not mean you should let mistakes or missing goals slide and let your team assume that is okay. Acknowledge that the team fell short, but it’s important to use these situations as opportunities for the team to learn what didn’t work and why. Collaborate with the team on how to improve going forward.

Avoid assigning blame to anyone. Instead, ask questions similar to the following:

• Is there something the team did (or did not do) that caused the mistake to occur?
• How can we regroup and move forward to reach our goal next time? Be specific.
• What can I do to help the team reach the goal next time?

Generally, when a failure occurs, it is not due to one mistake. There are a series of events that occur and failure is the result. Spending time trying to assign blame takes away from learning how to avoid the same pitfalls next time.

Always Encourage Collaboration

Collaborative workplaces set the stage for effective interaction between colleagues and increased idea-sharing. When ideas are acknowledged and accepted without judgment, employees are encouraged to collaborate, which leads to a higher level of participation, increased innovation, happier employees, and a more productive workplace. A collaborative environment that encourages regular feedback and maintains accessibility at the leadership level will make it easy for all employees to participate and share ideas. The collaboration steps listed above can help motivate your team to work together to achieve goals they couldn’t on their own. That positive, collaborative atmosphere translates into a successful, productive workplace.

Why is Employee Satisfaction so Important? 

Because if you don’t have satisfied employees, you likely won’t have increased revenue, greater profit margins, and your business can suffer. Finding good talent isn’t easy, so making sure that your employees are happy is the best way to retain them. A talented, unhappy employee will be looking for a position with your competition.

In business, the customer always comes first. If you don’t satisfy your customers, you won’t have any. This same principle applies to your organization, only your employees are the customers. You continuously strive to improve the customer experience, and the same should be true for the employee experience. The bottom line is that greater job satisfaction leads to greater employee engagement. 

An important distinction to make here is that employee satisfaction and employee engagement are not the same. A satisfied employee is not necessarily a high-performing one or one who is engaged with their job. Employee engagement goes beyond employee satisfaction and is what you’re ultimately striving for. Engaged employees might work extra hours on a project, help others outside of their scope of responsibility, and show dedication and enthusiasm in their work. Engaged employees help promote a strong company structure, increase loyalty to the company, and enhance productivity. 

4 Ways to Measure Employee Satisfaction 

Measuring employee satisfaction correctly entails gathering feedback regularly and responding to issues as they arise. Here are 4 ways that you can measure employee satisfaction. 

1. Conduct surveys

A tried and true method to track employee satisfaction is by using surveys. The standard has long been to send out the same formal, companywide annual survey to all employees, but this method is on the decline as newer and more effective ways to conduct surveys are on the rise. One such approach is the use of pulse surveys. Instead of sending out the same questions to everyone, pulse surveys target a specific group of people within the organization, as in your sales department or your operations team. 

Tailoring a list of 10 to 15 questions about how people in a specific department feel at work and what they’d like to see improve, offers you better and more useful feedback. As the name implies, pulse surveys occur more frequently than traditional yearly surveys, giving you more specific data in a more timely manner. This allows you to find possible solutions to pertinent issues that are important to your employees more often. 

Surveys are also a great way for every employee to feel like their voice is being heard, which is a critical component to employee satisfaction. Because surveys are generally anonymous, the results tend to be honest, which provides valuable insights to you. An employee is much more likely to tell the truth about the problems and concerns they have with the company if they know you won’t be able to match them with their responses.

Using multiple-choice questions makes your analysis quicker and easier, but adding some open-ended questions to your surveys allows employees to provide candid, anonymous feedback that can expose unfavorable trends you are not aware of.

2. Employee net promoter score

An Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) asks your employees three important questions:

• On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company as a place to work?
• What do you like about the company?
• What do you dislike about the company?

The eNPS was created by a researcher from Bain & Company as an alternative to the lengthy, traditional satisfaction surveys that were not easy to create or analyze. The eNPS is easy for employees to complete and easy for you to evaluate. The employees are broken down into three categories, promoters, passives, or detractors, based on the response to the first question. 

Promoters 

Promoters are those employees who respond to the first question with either 9 or 10, which is a good indication that an employee is satisfied. Your promoter employees are strong assets to your company and can give you valuable insights into what is going right within your organization with their responses to question 2. They can also be essential in recruiting new talent. Anonymous surveys indicate that those in leadership positions are more likely to be promoters than employees in other positions. Other promoters tend to be employees who have just started with the company or those who have been with the company for many years.

Passives

Passives respond with a score of 7 or 8, which may seem high, but is actually an indicator that the employee is neither happy nor unhappy with their job, but rather feels neutral. Passive employees don’t tend to have a strong opinion about your organization, either good or bad. These are the employees that you should target because you have the best chance of turning them into promoters.

Detractors

Detractors are the employees who give the first question a score of 6 or below, which, unfortunately, means that they are not satisfied with their jobs and could be at risk of leaving the company. If they do stay, that might be just as bad as they could be dragging down morale for everyone around them. But detractors are giving you useful information, so their input is as important as that of promoters and passives. This is where the third question on the eNPS form (what do you dislike about our organization?) becomes valuable. You learn why exactly the detractors don’t like the company, and they can give you some great ideas on how you can improve your organization. 

Once you have the completed surveys, you can calculate your eNPS by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters to get a score somewhere between 100 and -100. The passives don’t count for or against your final eNPS. 

As an example, if you have 100 employees and 40 are promoters, 30 are passives, and 30 are detractors, you would have an eNPS of 10 (40 promoters – 30 detractors = 10).  Any score above zero is considered positive, so 10 would be a good result. A score between 10 and 30 is considered great, and a score above 40 would be extremely good. 

The more often you ask employees these questions, the better reading you’ll have on the health of your organization. You’ll be able to track how your eNPS changes over time and gain insight on how to improve it. Because you’re only asking three questions, employee participation tends to be higher than with long surveys. That translates to better, more comprehensive feedback for you to evaluate and act on. However, you don’t want to send these out too often because employees will get fatigued answering the same questions over and over. Usually, twice a year or every quarter are good time frames to use.  

3. Rate of absenteeism

Excessive absenteeism in the workplace could indicate several issues within your organization, including poor working conditions, bad leadership, or a lack of work-life balance. It can also be a good indicator of employee dissatisfaction. Absenteeism has a ripple effect on the company as it puts a burden on other employees to get the work done, which causes more stress and job dissatisfaction. Absenteeism is a red flag that you need to address quickly. A good way to do this is by talking with those employees with high absentee rates and finding out directly from them what the reason is. You can also talk with supervisors, managers, and co-workers to get a better idea of the issue. 

4. Employee turnover rate

Job satisfaction is inversely related to employee turnover. Unhappy employees will tend to seek employment elsewhere. Employee turnover is one of the highest costs for an organization. It increases disruption in the workplace, reduces productivity, and negatively affects cohesion among team members. Conversely, the more satisfied an employee is, the less likely they are to leave the company. If you are seeing a high turnover rate in your organization, you must begin working toward fostering an environment where employees develop good relationships, feel challenged in their work, and feel like they matter. 

Related: Highly Effective Strategies for Employee Retention

Measure Your Company’s Employee Satisfaction For Happier Employees

Measuring employee satisfaction helps you see whether your workers are happy with their jobs or not. If they aren’t happy, it can give you insight as to why. By evaluating and implementing solutions to the results, you can help boost employee satisfaction and cultivate a positive work environment that promotes employee engagement. 

This will help your organization perform at a higher level, improve overall employee health and wellbeing, and help you retain top talent. Gaining an understanding of what your employees want from their workplace and what makes them perform at their best doesn’t happen automatically. It takes effort on your part, and by utilizing the right tools, you can create a company culture that fits your employees’ needs as well as helps your organization to become more successful in today’s competitive landscape.

Related: How to Assess and Improve Job Satisfaction

Those who are experiencing burnout often perform worse at work, get less done, and have negatively impacted views of the company they worked for. Companies that have employees facing burnout will see less productivity amongst their employees, which can harm your company’s profits. So, how do you tell if your employees are experiencing burnout? And more importantly, how can you prevent new and past hires from experiencing it? It may not be as difficult as many think.

The Top Symptoms of Employee Burnout

Employee burnout can often be attributed to a lack of support at a person’s job, high periods of stress or frustration, a toxic workplace, and tight deadlines. It can be described as a person feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted. Here are the warning signs to look out for with your employees:

1. Leaving work early/more absenteeism

Does it seem like your employees are constantly missing work? If you’ve noticed that one of your best employees is suddenly sick and missing work more often, chances are, they may be struggling with employee burnout or headed there quickly. When people feel emotionally and physically exhausted, they will miss more days at work. They may hope that a day off of work will leave them refreshed, but as more deadlines pile up, this usually has the opposite effect, and they end up leaving early and missing even more days than before.

2. Increased cynicism 

If you’re the boss, this one may be a bit harder to spot. Increased cynicism is often noted from coworkers when an employee is experiencing burnout. However, it may be possible to spot this with a simple conversation with the employee. If they seem to take your advice or feedback with a sarcastic attitude, chances are, they’re experiencing burnout, and you’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Checking in with their managers or other coworkers on their team can help you to see whether the employee is struggling more than they’re letting on.

3. Taking feedback personally

Feedback can always be difficult to process. Those who are experiencing burnout are much more likely to take the feedback personally and get offended, even if it’s over something minor. Sometimes, the employees will blow the feedback out of proportion, or seem like they go from zero to a hundred over something small. They may feel like they can’t do anything right, get offended, and take the feedback as a personal attack.

4. Inability to concentrate

When stress occurs, it can be hard to concentrate. Those who are experiencing burnout will find it incredibly hard to concentrate. They will jump from project to project without seeming like they get anything done, and you may find these employees “goofing off” more than normal on things like social media. As burnout continues to get worse, they lose their passion for their job, and the inability to concentrate grows until they miss deadlines and have a hard time getting things done.

5. Decreased productivity

As burnout gets worse, you’ll be able to easily spot a decrease in an employee’s productivity. They will miss their deadlines, fail to get things done, and the company will suffer. However, employee burnout doesn’t just affect the company, but it also affects the person’s life. They will also be less productive in their own lives, which carries over from the exhaustion they feel at work. As this cyclical process continues, it gets bad enough that the employee will detach themselves emotionally from the company, and at that point, they will often look for a new position to try and breathe some life back into themselves. But, in reality, the problem is the burnout in general, and this can be fixed.

How to Prevent Burnout of Your Employees

If you care about your business and your company, it’s important to do everything in your power to prevent burnout. Not only will it make it so that your employees are happier and healthier people, but it will also make your company more productive and, in turn, more profitable. Chances are, it’s not just one employee, but rather whole departments and the majority of your company feeling burnout. With the life stressors of financial woes and post-pandemic life, employee burnout is at an all-time high. Here are a few things you can do to prevent employee burnout:

Talk to your employees

Whether you’re a manager, in HR, or the CEO of your company, you never know what’s truly going on with your employees unless you talk to them. And while they may not openly admit, or even realize, that they are experiencing burnout, they can explain how they are feeling. Maybe the work environment isn’t a positive one. Or, maybe the deadlines are a bit too strict and they’re having difficulty hitting them. If this is true, having regular reviews with your employees can help. Talk to them, get to know them, and foster an environment where they will feel comfortable opening up about issues they may be experiencing during the workday.

Stop micromanaging

Micromanaging your employees may make it so that you feel more is getting done, but a lot of stress comes along with micromanaging employees. If you’re hiring someone, you should trust them to do their job. You shouldn’t be looking over their shoulder or questioning every single move that they make. Empower them by putting your trust in them to do what they were hired to do. 

Reward your employees

One of the largest reasons for employee burnout is that many employees simply don’t feel appreciated. They may think that no one notices the work that they do, which can lead to resentment and stress. Rewarding your employees may seem silly, or you may think that employees shouldn’t need to be rewarded for simply doing their job. However, rewarding your workforce is more about showing them that you appreciate the work that they’re doing, and that you see everything they do for the company. These rewards can be as simple as free lunch, company swag, or even just telling the team that they are doing a good job.

Related: Unique Employee Recognition Ideas

Make health a priority

Employee wellness systems don’t have to be over the top or insanely expensive. Sometimes, just ensuring that people are taking care of themselves is enough. If you don’t have a wellness program, it may be time to implement one. You can do simple things to promote good mental health, like making sure there is enough light in the room, encouraging outside breaks, and ensuring employees are using up their vacation days each year. Or, you can work to promote physical health with things like monthly fitness challenges or group exercise logs. Healthier employees are happier employees, and this can help with burnout.

Related: Ways to Improve Employee Mental Health

Create a happy work environment

There are so many aspects that go into a happy and healthy work environment. Without these things, people will experience burnout much quicker. The first thing is to ensure that you have enough people working. If you are short-staffed, the people who are working for you will be overwhelmed and exhausted at every turn. This will only make employee burnout worse. By hiring an adequate number of people, work can be distributed evenly, decreasing the stress put on each individual. 

The next thing to create a happy work environment is ensuring that everyone gets along. There will always be differing ideas and viewpoints, but if you have an employee who is constantly rude, dismissive, or can’t get along with others, it may be time to reevaluate who you have hired and get rid of toxic individuals. Finally, be sure that you give your employees adequate time. They should have plenty of time to get their work done, and if you’re giving too tight of deadlines, stress and anxiety will increase.

Related: How to Reduce Stress in the Workplace

Employee Burnout is Real and Increasing

With employee burnout increasing, you want to be sure that your company is ahead of the curve and works to prevent it from happening. As soon as you see the signs of burnout in your employees, it’s time to step in and make some changes. If not, your company will suffer in productivity, profitability, and experience higher levels of turnover. Work with your HR team and managers to implement some great prevention strategies for burnout.

If you’re not quite sure where to start with your HR department, or you need help hiring more qualified individuals to prevent workplace burnout, 4 Corner Resources is here to help. We’re a full-service staffing company who can act as an extension of your HR department and help you recruit top talent to your company.

Contact us today to see how we can help!

Resources and Sources

1. https://hrexecutive.com/burnout-is-continuing-to-rise-is-hr-doing-enough/#:~:text=A%20December%20study%20of%201%2C136,work%2C%20and%20reduced%20work%20performance.

For some organizations, it’s gone so well that they’ve ditched their physical offices entirely and moved to working from home for good. For others, though, the move has always been a temporary one, meant to be a stopgap measure until business could return to normal. 

Maybe your work isn’t suited to be done remotely, or perhaps your employees haven’t adapted well to being stationed at home. Maybe the rising vaccination rates make it safe to do business in person once again and you’re eager to get back to it. Whatever the case, you’re in good company if you’re preparing for a return to the office now or in the near future. 

Just as the switch to remote work came with some growing pains and required a new toolset, so will the transition when it happens in reverse. And, although you’ll expect your employees to adapt, you may need to make some corresponding shifts in your own expectations to ensure a smooth return. 

Here are some tips to help managers and employees as they come back into the office. 

Ensure a Smooth Return to the Office With These Insightful Strategies

Be empathetic

It’s been a challenging stretch for a lot of people, perhaps more so than at any other time in their lives. While some may welcome the sense of stability that comes with going back to the office, others may find it to be just another burden in a year that’s already been filled with so many.

Help ease their difficulties by leading with empathy. Respect that this is a difficult time for many people and when possible, provide support and flexibility. This might mean making allowances that wouldn’t have happened prior to the pandemic or changing some of your policies to adopt a more hybrid onsite remote approach. 

Phase it in

Employees upended their lives to work from home, and it may take some similar gymnastics to coordinate a return to the office. Many will need to find childcare, line up schedules with partners and other family members, adjust their schedules to account for commuting, and other logistics. 

If possible, it’s a great idea to phase employees back into working onsite over the course of three to six months. You might phase in one group at a time starting with the most critical staffers and work outward from there, or you might start with having them come in only a couple of days a week and work up to the full workweek. 

A phased approach not only gives workers a chance to rearrange their lives as needed but allows you to build a framework of expectations and actions that need to happen at each phase to make the transition successful.

Related: How To Manage A Hybrid Workforce

Prepare for pushback

The pandemic has sparked major questions about work as we know it, from where it happens to the hours it gets done to the boundaries between professional and home life. It’s only normal that after doing things differently for so long (and not having much of a say in the matter), some employees may feel like they shouldn’t have to come back in person.

Plan for how you’ll deal with pushback. Anticipate that many will have questions and special requests and prepare in advance for how you’ll respond to them. Will some staffers continue to be allowed to work from home? Will allowances be made for those with extenuating circumstances, like health concerns? By thinking these things through in advance and communicating with your employees about them, you’ll be more apt to curb any dissent in the ranks before it grows to be a problem. 

Reinforce your values

Now is a great time to do a little morale-boosting. Host a return orientation or other event that brings coworkers back together in a positive atmosphere, then use it to share messaging that reminds them why they wanted to work for you in the first place. 

Set clear expectations for where things stand today, where you’re headed and how the transition will take place, arming employees with as much information as possible. Check-in with your managers about the tools they need to make a smooth transition and support them as much as possible. 

Reexamine your policies

If you’re like most companies, you’ve probably asked a lot of your staff during the last year and a half. Are they asking you for things in return? If so, now might be a good time to deliver on those things, whether it’s more flexible work hours or new equipment/furniture to make their office space a little more comfortable. 

In addition, it’s a great time to re-examine the way you do things, assessing whether all of your policies suit the best interests of your workforce. Just because you’re back in your old space doesn’t mean you need to return to doing everything the same way you once did. Embrace the parts of remote work that worked well for your company. That might mean more emails and fewer in-person meetings, less micromanaging and more independence for team members, or flexible work-from-home time each month.

The goodwill you’ll build by making adjustments to serve your employees will go far in helping you get back to work quickly and smoothly.

Related: Strategies for Culture Change Management that Works

Keep them safe

While many aspects of our lives have achieved a return to normalcy, COVID-19 is still a risk and will likely continue to be for some time, especially as hotspots pop up seasonally and geographically. Give your employees confidence and keep them healthy by taking adequate safety measures as recommended by the experts. 

If your wellness program includes mental health resources, publicize those to employees or consider adding them temporarily during the transition period. Enlist your HR team to help with company-staff communications and to field questions and complaints as they come in. 

For more on ensuring a safe return to work, check out OSHA’s guidelines on mitigating COVID-19 in the workplace.

Related: Ways to Improve Employee Mental Health

Get Expert Help Building a Workforce For The Future

Whether you’re going returning to the office, transitioning to remote work for good, or implementing some hybrid of the two, one thing is for sure: work has undergone a monumental shift. Today’s best candidates are looking for employers who have embraced rather than resisted the changes. Which camp are you in?

To attract the employees who will help your organization succeed tomorrow, enlist the team of experts at 4 Corner Resources today. We’ll help you build a team of competent, culturally aligned workers that meet your technical needs. 

Contact us now to begin the conversation.