How many people wake up in the morning and look forward to coming to work? Do you? Do your employees?
Tag Archives: employees
The time around the holidays—and in the weeks that follow— financial stress often becomes a pressing weight in our employees’ lives. Perhaps it is due to the amount of money flowing in and out during the course of a short period of time in the form of bonuses, wages, gift buying, monthly bills and other year-end payments.
In a recent infographic by complianceandsafety.com, happy workers and sad workers are compared. One of the most enlightening statistics in the infographic is that 72% of employees say flexible work arrangements would cause them to choose one job over another [study: telework research network].
Each individual employee has their way of doing things—some of which not everyone in each generation will agree with. As an example, a tenured employee who is not familiar with using cloud-based applications may frown upon a right-out-of-college employee who happens to spend a large percentage of time using these types of tools. Conversely, a younger employee may be puzzled to find that seasoned employees aren’t leveraging technology in their day-to-day work to either create efficiencies with current processes or access a new opportunity/reach new markets.
Most managers would likely agree that it is easy to get carried away in their own day-to-day tasks. This can ultimately mean they neglect the employees who work hard for them.
Romance in the workplace has long been a challenge for employers. Personal and romantic relationships often develop between employees, at times impacting work relationships and performance. Employers can effectively manage potential issues by establishing and communicating expectations up front regarding professional workplace conduct.
Employers looking to add value for employees and attract highly coveted candidates should look to offer voluntary benefits programs. These include such insurance policies as accident, critical illness or life & disability. These types of policies have many benefits for both the employee and employer and could be key differentiators in attracting talent in an organization.
Some of the folks at Xenium, including employees in the HR, payroll, benefits, accounting and sales department, have come up with a fun and engaging solution to continuous self and group learning: the Xenium Book Club.
1. Have a vision for your company. Where do you see your company in a year? Five years? Ten years? Do your employees know and understand what this means for them?
2. Thank you can never be said enough. It’s the simplest of things and very easy to do. How often do you say thank you to the people who work with you? Have you put a thank you in their paychecks?
3. How do you define employee benefits? Are they a benefit to you or a burden? Consider the last time you asked your employees for their input on company benefits. Do they believe they are benefits or do they view them as something you are obligated to provide.
4. American business is about service. Have your employees ever been trained to respond to the demands of service-oriented customers? This issue will only continue to grow in importance. Employees who are trained to meet the demands of the service economy are happier and more profitable.
5. When was the last time you took a time out for yourself? Even the boss needs a break once in a while? If you have not had some down time in the last six months, time to consider a day or two off to re-charge. Leadership starts with you.