The 10 Best Job Perks That People Really Want
The infographic below lists 10 of the best workplace incentives you can offer your employees, and even names which companies are known for offering them. Perhaps it’s time to examine some other benefits that will help attract and retain top talent.
How to Use Wrike for Goal-Setting and Tracking
The end of the quarter (and another year) means it's that time again: time to set new goals. Not just annual business goals, but also quarterly goals, monthly goals, and especially personal new year resolutions. One part of your mission when setting goals for your company, departments, or teams should be to share those established goals with the rest of the company. It will let everyone know what direction they should be rowing. If you're already working in Wrike, you and your team can also use it to create visibility into established goals and track progress on the way to achieving them. Building Annual Plans in Wrike Annual planning is an essential part of a successful business. It provides direction for the entire organization, defines what teams will focus energy on, and synchronizes activities of different departments to maximize resources. But in order to do all that efficiently, the entire company needs visibility into the annual plans. You can build annual plans in Wrike following our suggestion, or using your own format. Our recommendation: Create a folder called "2016 Annual Plans" at the top level of your account and right-click the folder name to share it with the entire company. Inside that folder, create project folders or tasks for all of the different priorities and big initiatives of the year. You can assign responsible directors or managers to the work, so everyone knows who to talk to if they have questions about that objective. From there, you can drill down into immediate key actions by building out tasks, setting deadlines, and assigning the steps to the appropriate parties. Finally, use Custom Fields to make notes on budgeting — data in Custom Fields can be restricted to only show for certain user groups in your account, so your private information stays that way. If you don't have access to Custom Fields, just write information you'd like to share with the entire team in your task descriptions. Establishing Quarterly Plans in Wrike Since quarterly plans only cover 3 months instead of an entire year, it's easy to brainstorm new ideas right in Wrike. On the Wrike content marketing team, we create a project folder called something like "Q2 Ideas", and then individuals on our team can create a new task for every idea they have inside that folder. Inside their task descriptions, team members can add pertinent details if their idea requires a more detailed breakdown, or they've suggested a completely new undertaking and they've already thought out a majority of the work and substeps needed to make the idea a reality. This method of brainstorming and sharing also allows our team to see if someone else has had a similar idea, so we can combine efforts and dump our parallel brainstorms into one big task. After everyone has input their ideas, we have a meeting to vet those ideas for go-no go decisions. We project the "Q1 Ideas" folder onto the big screen in our meeting room, and then discuss all of the propositions as a group. We can assign task owners and schedule due dates for ideas we definitely want to proceed with; defer ideas we think are good for a future quarter; or cancel tasks that just aren't in line with our overall vision. Once we decide what ideas we're moving forward with, we reorganize those tasks into our main work folder structure, and build out complete project plans with subtasks for the big ideas. Tracking Progress Using OKRs If you're someone who loves quantifying goals and hitting numbers, consider implementing OKRs and using project tracking tools to monitor progress. "OKRs" stands for "Objectives and Key Results." It's a system for setting goals (Objectives) and the steps necessary to achieve those goals (Key Results), popularized by Google. It's something we do at Wrike. You can set up an OKR like this: O: Publish regularly on blog KR: Write at least 3 blog posts every week KR: Research 10 new post ideas at least once per week KR: Build a backlog of 10 posts to publish later when inspiration fails Notice how the Objective is broad, and the Key Results are more direct supporting steps toward reaching that goal. You can read all about OKRs in our post on using OKRs for quarterly planning. In the meantime, here are a few quick tips on OKR creation: Start every O and KR with a verb. This ensures they are actionable. Make sure every KR includes a number. This ensures it is a measurable action that you can finally mark as complete. Make sure your goals are slightly out of reach. They shouldn't be laughably hard to attain, but if you make them just a little more difficult than you typically would, it will inspire you to work harder to go the distance. We wrote an entire post detailing exactly how you can implement the OKR system at your company using Wrike. Take a look. Setting Personal Goals Using Wrike It can't always be about work, work, work! Every person should set some personal improvement goals to help maintain that work-life balance. When you decide on what yours will be, track them where you're already tracking the rest of your work — in Wrike! You can create a private folder at the top level of your Wrike account that no one else will be able to see. Turn each of your resolutions into a task, and if you know what it will take to turn those resolutions into a reality, break down those steps into subtasks. Create recurring tasks for things you know you'll need to do every week to reach your goal, assign them due dates for the end of each week, and mark them as complete as you make progress. Are you one of those people who never knows what to set for your New Year's Resolution? Here are some examples of what Wrikers are aiming to improve in 2016: Practice a new language at least 3x week using the Duolingo app Get better at doing Read 10 business-related improvement books Volunteer at the dog shelter at least 1x per month Keep one plant alive all year Reconnect with old friends Using Wrike for Goal-Setting Are you using Wrike to set and track your goals? Tell us your story and share how it has helped keep you on track in the comments below! If you have questions about best practices for goal-setting in Wrike, ask away in the comments and we'll get back to you with our advice.
How to Plan a Virtual Christmas Party for Remote Employees
As 2021 draws to a close, many employees are still working remotely across the world. With this in mind, businesses are looking at how they can involve everyone within their organizations in a fun and memorable virtual Christmas party. In this guide, we’ll provide practical insight into the planning and hosting of virtual Christmas parties. Keep reading to discover the tips, tricks, and tools you need to create a successful digital event your team will actually enjoy. How to get everyone involved in a virtual Christmas party Engaging an audience of remote workers seems challenging at first. They’re already used to virtual events but not necessarily the fun kind. In order to make your virtual Christmas party exciting, you’ll need to follow some best practices for planning virtual events. The three hallmarks of improving engagement at any virtual event are the inclusion of a physical component, an interactive process, and being able to see other attendees. A physical component of a virtual event can include something sent to an attendee’s address ahead of time that they can use on the day. For a virtual Christmas party, this may be a funny themed hat or a present. Most companies choose to do virtual gift cards as their Christmas party presents for employees. Instead, make the day more exciting by sending a physical gift to every attendee. Creating a gift box or basket that people can actually open will make your virtual Christmas party that much more memorable. An interactive process requires audience participation before, during, and after the event. For example, you can spark engagement from the moment you first invite guests by using a virtual registration process that gets them excited about the event. For large groups or events, registration should be done at least two weeks in advance. And just like at an in-person event, your virtual Christmas party team leads should interact with the confirmed attendees ahead of time through fun event reminders and announcements. Pro tip: Having a virtual event registration process helps differentiate your virtual Christmas party from other digital office gatherings. It shows that this is more than just a calendar invite for a training session or regular meeting. E-cards such as the festive holiday cocktail party ones from Paperless Post are great for this. Finally, host your virtual Christmas party on a video call platform and not just on a one-way livestream or audio-only app. Require cameras to be on throughout the event. Create opportunities for guests to use every feature of the event platform. For example, you can play part games and designate teams by having Team A use the raised hand emoji and Team B use the heart emoji on Zoom. You can also use breakout rooms to create smaller groups for team building activities and Christmas-themed challenges. Top tips for planning a virtual Christmas party Planning a virtual Christmas party can feel and look a lot like planning a virtual work meeting. Here are some ways to make these two events different yet well organized: Designate a charismatic host who can keep track of the event timeline and keep everyone engaged. Use a team collaboration software like Wrike to project manage your virtual Christmas party. Ask your team what they’d like to see happen at the virtual Christmas party so they can feel involved in the planning process too. Include team building activities and icebreaker games to kick off the social part of the evening. Double-check that your host WiFi is strong and guests can hear and see you clearly. Your party should be scheduled for a Friday night instead of a Saturday afternoon if you want to maximize attendance. If you decide to go all out, make sure to provide alcohol-free transportation or driver services. If you organize a virtual Christmas party during work hours, make certain that your team is prepared to handle the additional workload. Go all out with your background decorations to make the event feel truly special. This can be a physical background filled with a Christmas tree and gifts or a customized virtual background everyone can use that has a festive design. Virtual Christmas party ideas and games your team won't hate Host a sommelier-led wine or hot cocoa tasting complete with nuts, candies, and cheese. Participate in a remote escape room experience. The winning team gets a Secret Santa gift. Have a Christmas cookie decorating competition with management as the judges. This requires some prep ahead of time but will be a visual feast for all attendees. Dress to a theme and host a contest for the best ugly sweaters, Santas, and other Christmas character outfits. Bring in classic board games such as bingo, charades, and virtual Apples to Apples. Look for versions with a holiday or Christmas twist. Invite guest performers to do stand-up comedy, play live music, or even do magic while dressed as Santa. If children are in attendance, screen a Christmas movie like “A Muppet Christmas Carol”. If it’s adults only, watch something like “Die Hard”. Host a creative workshop such as cocktail making, scarf knitting, or ornament crafting. Invite a local school, church, or community group to sing Christmas carols during the event. Start a Christmas-themed trivia game for prizes. How do you make a virtual Christmas party inclusive? Although there are various holiday celebrations and festivities that happen throughout the year, they seldom get the same attention that they deserve. An inclusive approach encourages employees to recognize that they come from a variety of faiths, traditions, and cultures. To make your virtual Christmas party more inclusive, leaders should make their employees feel valued by turning it into a virtual office holiday party instead. Or, if hosting a true Christmas celebration is important to the majority of your team, make sure you’re upfront about it. Sometimes an employer will announce a regular holiday event that ends up feeling, looking, and sounding a lot like a Christmas party. But according to the experts at the Society for Human Resource Management, it’s much better to be upfront about which holiday or holidays will be represented at your party than mislabeling it for the sake of inclusion. If you do host a virtual Christmas party, make sure to also acknowledge and give the appropriate time off for other winter holiday celebrations for employees who celebrate those instead. How to plan a virtual Christmas party with Wrike Wrike is an online task management system that manages to-do lists and multi-department projects, including events like virtual Christmas parties. Its advanced features allow it to efficiently organize groups of people. To start, it's important that the virtual Christmas party planning team has a centralized folder for each major portion of the event running at the same time. This way, they can easily identify which parts of the plan are complete and which ones are still in progress. Next, each team has its own subfolders, which can be organized into areas of responsibility and major initiatives. This system also keeps all of the important details organized, allowing each team to set its own deadlines and work seamlessly with the other event crew. For virtual Christmas parties, this means keeping track of everything from mailing invitations and gifts to arranging live performers. After, Wrike users can add a registration folder to their virtual Christmas party project. The registration folder contains all the necessary information related to attendee registration. From there, tasks can be broken down into specific sub-tasks with more detail. For example, if your task is to host a cookie baking contest, your sub-task list may include the item “draft contest rules by December 15”. In addition to adding dates to tasks and sub-tasks, members of the event management team can add custom tags to each item. This will make tasks easier to find, sort, and assign to the appropriate team members. Each team can customize their tag options in Wrike to fit their own guidelines for breaking down tasks into action items. For example, teams can designate certain tasks as “Administrative” to automatically sort logistics-based tasks into one skimmable list. Once you've created a list of tasks, you can start scheduling them in Wrike. Doing so in the timeline view will help organize them nicely and ensure that your announcements, invitations, RSVPs, and party shopping all get done on time. There are lots of ways to view tasks once you have them created and assigned. Drag-and-drop tasks can be organized in a timeline view. You can also group them into predefined hierarchies. And if one task is dependent on another (such as waiting for RSVPs to come in before putting together the gift baskets), Wrike allows users to connect tasks and send automated notifications and reminders to the appropriate people when it’s time to move on to the next steps. Having task dependencies makes it easier to identify which tasks are dependent on which part of your virtual Christmas party plan. Also, it saves you time when you need to update the status of a specific task since Wrike will trigger these reminders for you. And after your virtual Christmas party is over, you can simply just drag and drop the entire folder into a "Past Events" folder for next year. Create a templated version of your planning process to streamline future event planning and organizing. Or simply keep a record of the fun everyone had and how you brought it to life. No matter how you use the information, it’s handy to have on file within your project management system for future reference. Ready to get your virtual Christmas party organized and on track to be a big hit? Get started today with Wrike’s two-week free trial to take advantage of our detailed task management capabilities.
Employee Engagement Survey: The Productivity Gap
Wrike did an online survey of 5,000+ adults in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia, who work full time for an organization with 500+ employees. Discover what drives employee engagement so you can build a strategy that boosts productivity and grows your business.
A Definitive Guide to Managing Different Generations in The Workplace
Having different generations in the workplace is common these days. In most cases, team members of varying ages work together on the same project or task. Others may even manage multiple generations of workers at the same time. This article aims to help people who work with and manage different generations in the workplace by developing a fair strategy that takes their unique qualities into account. We’ll also explain how to avoid making mistakes and dealing with multi-generational issues that may be new to you so that your entire team can feel comfortable at work. How generational diversity looks in the workplace The generational gap occurs when people are born at different times. It can affect how people behave and think at work. For example, members of the silent generation are typically portrayed as being very conservative, while baby boomers are likely to have more liberal fiscal tendencies. Although everyone is an individual with a unique personality type regardless of age, you may see common traits associated with each generation play out right in front of you. There is a lot of common ground between different generations in the workplace. Most of us like to feel valued at work. We also enjoy feeling as if we're making a difference and doing something meaningful for ourselves and others. And yet, teams with generation gaps can face challenges that relate to their ages while collaborating. Why? Having different generations in the workplace means that company culture and communication is not one size fits all across the board. Don’t force people to fit in the same work environment. Instead, set up guidelines that will allow everyone to feel comfortable. Another solution is to consider what values and habits each generation has to offer in a team setting. That’s not to be confused with stereotyping. Putting each generation into a box often encourages counterproductive assumptions. While it's true that working with different age groups can be challenging, it can also teach employees about differences in their abilities and attitudes. Here are the generations you may see in the workplace today and what defines them: Generation Z Gen Z is focused on core values of being smart, funny, and witty. They may also consider diversity to be an important consideration for hiring, especially at the management level. Gen Zers want to work with like-minded individuals who share similar goals and values. This generation's managers should help them develop and grow by providing them with the right support and resources. Millennials Performance is very important to millennials. They are more concerned with the quality of their work than the number of hours they put in. To ensure that they are being treated fairly, managers should communicate honestly with their employees. The idea of an “always-on” work culture is not acceptable to most. Generation X Gen Xers are known to be individualistic, having been former latchkey kids. They may also prefer to manage their work and physical and psychological space in a more flexible manner. As a result, they often prefer to work with less supervision and are more comfortable communicating with others through various forms of media such as email and Facebook. Flexibility and a solid work/life balance are non-negotiable for this generation. Baby boomers Baby boomers are known for their work ethic and goal-oriented processes. They value face-to-face interaction and traditional recruitment methods. Structure, reliability, and flexible work policies are all ideal for this group. Acknowledgment for their skills and hard work will go a long way with this generation, although most employees would likely be grateful for that too. While we’ve mentioned some tips for each already, it's important to listen to the different work styles of multi-generational employees and communicate with them through various channels regardless of their age. Even the smallest details can make a significant impact on their work experience. Take onboarding for example. While some generations may prefer to receive information via email, others may ask to see printed copies of pamphlets and manuals. How do you manage a generation gap in the workplace? There are many differences between generations. While many people can agree that working together is beneficial, others believe it can be problematic. Managers must ask themselves: with the rise of multi-generational work environments, how do we work together seamlessly? Regardless of our age or experience, everyone wants respect. In order to succeed, older generations need to respect their younger colleagues and vice versa. While it may seem like a challenge at first, managing different generations in the workplace has its benefits. Generational diversity can help people develop new ideas and improve their work. It can also make managing other types of diversity and inclusion an action step rather than an idea. As you begin to develop your strategy, it’s wise to work with the group on issues that affect everyone. For example, creating stress-relieving fundamentals can help businesses retain employees and attract new ones companywide regardless of age. What are the challenges of working with different generations? Intergenerational conflict has been a growing issue over recent years. Concerns over climate change and political unrest have, in some cases, made conversations between different age groups a bit standoffish at best and downright hostile at worst. When there are many different generations in the workplace, there is a real risk of conflict and misunderstanding. Make sure you have a clear communication plan with everyone’s preferences laid out ahead of time. You’ll also need a documented and fair system for how you’ll address missteps between team members. Another one of the challenges of working with different generations is compensation. Different phases of an employee's life may affect their compensation and benefits package. Younger employees may also be focused on training opportunities or flexible work days since their entry-level wages are assumed to be low. On the flip side, older generations may expect and take pride in handling more complex or senior-level tasks. This is because their compensation packages tend to be higher and would match the workload. Understanding how compensation levels also affect how different generations think and feel about each other in the workplace will help managers better understand their teams. How should you handle generational issues in the workplace? If you’re of a younger generation and you are placed in a management position, there’s a chance that you’ll be overseeing older, more experienced (and sometimes more qualified) colleagues. To navigate this, you’ll need to establish trust in yourself and in others. This is especially true for anyone working under you who already has experience in leadership. If you’re of an older generation and you are placed in a management position, understand that there may be younger employees who have a different way of problem-solving or communicating than you do. Speaking of communication, how team members communicate is different for different generations. For instance, younger team members tend to use more slang and abbreviations in their messages. Older team members are more likely to use emojis in their communications. These seem innocent at first but can create rifts between members if not acknowledged upfront. For example, an older team member sending a thumbs-up emoji may seem like a friendly confirmation that they’ve received a message. But to a younger team member, it may come off as condescending or even angry. Getting everyone on the same page about communication style will go a long way towards resolving and even preventing issues like this. The same applies to your communication with the rest of the team. Sticking rigidly to your own preferred means and style of communication can alienate others, even as a team leader. Try to modify your message to suit the needs of whichever generation you’re speaking to in that moment. But no matter how much you prepare, you may find that you make a mistake here and there. When that happens, simply remember to be understanding and graceful with how you handle the situation. How to create a strategy for motivating different generations in the workplace 1. Do your research Understanding what makes other generations tick can help avoid division and conflict. There are many different ways to work and each generation has its own needs and wants. For example, many Generation Xers are known for being devoted to helping older adults and their children. So incentives revolving around health insurance benefits or anything else that directly supports the goals they have for their loved ones is a major plus. On the other hand, members of Generation Y enjoy being sociable outside of work and believe it is important for their careers. Opportunities for networking are more often than not a success with this group. 2. Consider the viewpoints of each team member Despite best intentions, there are many ways that ageism and cognitive bias toward different generations can show up in the workplace, such as stereotyping co-workers based on how they dress or their social media usage. If you notice or hear about intergenerational stereotyping among your colleagues, don’t be afraid to start a dialogue about it. Emphasize the idea that, instead of assuming that everyone is the same, employees should try accepting others based on their merits and contribution to shared projects. 3. Strategically place different generations on projects together so that their work complements one another For example, baby boomers can pass on their knowledge and experiences to Generation Y with digital tools and systems that Generation Z sets up for them. Remember that successful multi-generational teams are built on the strength of their individual performers. One way you can manage this step is by using a project management tool such as Wrike. In Wrike, users can signify which employees possess what skills and assign them to projects accordingly. This can also be used to view individual employee workloads across all active projects. 4. Never assume that an employee will have certain skills or abilities just because of their age This assumption most often shows up when technology is involved. Give everyone the opportunity to demonstrate what they are capable of and go from there. 5. Go out of your way to help employees bond with teammates of different generations Monthly mentoring sessions are a great example of this. This will encourage employees to share knowledge and be more open to learning from one another. By the way, mentoring doesn’t necessarily have to be one older person coaching a younger person. You can throw out conventions and offer mentorships led by the younger generations in the office too. If mentoring doesn’t apply to your field, try building up a social calendar. Plan team-building activities and happy hours so people can get to know each other. Team members will get the opportunity to appreciate each other more outside of email and Slack. Finally, find the similarities and preferences the different generations do share and use them to form the basis of your managerial choices. For example, if both your millennial and your Generation X employees prefer one-on-one performance feedback, adding that to your strategy will help. In conclusion At the end of the day, the key to understanding and respecting other generations is to accept that they are different from you. It’s always important to acknowledge individual strengths, weaknesses, and skills, regardless of how old a team member is. With the right strategy, you can reap the benefits of a multi-generational workforce and build a stronger foundation for long-term success.
The Past, Present, & Future of Performance Reviews (Infographic)
Performance reviews: dreaded morale-crusher or welcome opportunity for recognition (and a possible raise)? Whichever side you come down on, you can probably agree that there's room for improvement when it comes to employee evaluations. How did this standard practice become so common? Do they really work? The beginnings of performance reviews stretch all the way back to the Industrial Revolution of the 1700s. The 1920s saw a huge shift in employee treatment with the birth of Human Resources, pensions, and minimum wage. Between 1992 and 1997, employee satisfaction with the review process plummeted from 20% to 5%. [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="via @Wrike"]4 out of 5 workers feel performance reviews don’t accurately reflect the work they’ve done[/inlinetweet]. Take a look at the full infographic below to learn exactly how performance reviews came to be common practice, and how technology will make them more social in the coming years. Source: Walton Illustration Ace Your Next Performance Review Use our collection of productivity tips to stand out as a top performer on your team and wow your boss.
3 Techniques for Giving Feedback to Your Manager That Actually Work (Plus Sample 1:1 Agenda)
As an employee, giving feedback to your manager can be daunting. In this article, we offer three tips for how to give upward feedback that will be positive and productive, as well as a free sample 1:1 agenda to improve the quality of your feedback sessions.
How to Manage and Support Colleagues Through Bereavement at Work
It’s the situation that nobody ever wants to be in, but take a minute and imagine yourself there: You’ve just lost a loved one. You’re suddenly burdened with shock and grief. You’re overwhelmed by the logistics of honoring final wishes, filling out paperwork, and planning arrangements. In between it all, you manage to find a minute to let your employer know that you’ll be out of office for a bit. Like anyone would, you hope that the message is met with nothing but unwavering support and encouragement. Don’t worry about anything work-related – we have it all covered. After all, the last thing you want is for your phone to keep buzzing, your inbox to fill up with requests and meeting invites, and to feel anxious about the security of your position and your income. Here’s the truth: As a manager or an employer, you’re likely to encounter a grieving employee at some point. It’s a sad reality, but it is crucial to be prepared to support them through the loss of a loved one and guide them through bereavement at work (without adding any stress to their already-full plates). What is bereavement leave? Bereavement leave is a specific type of leave that employees can take following the death of a loved one. Employees might use bereavement leave for various reasons, including making funeral arrangements, attending a funeral, taking care of family members, and working through the grieving process. Many large companies and organizations document official bereavement leave policies outlining the support available to a bereaved employee. A bereavement leave policy outlines and establishes guidelines for providing paid time off to employees for absences related to the death of a loved one. Policies and procedures vary across organizations, but many employers generally offer this benefit to their employees to some degree. Some smaller companies may choose to work with employees on a case-by-case basis and address these situations as they arise in place of a more formal policy. No matter your organization’s size or what your bereavement leave looks like, grief can be challenging to navigate. Conversations around death and loss can be tough to have with your employees, but supporting your employees through these situations is non-negotiable. In this guide, we’ve rounded up some helpful ways to discuss bereavement leave, how to support a grieving employee, and why communication should always remain front and center when times get tough. What should you do when an employee tells you about a death? An employee’s manager and the HR team are key resources when an employee experiences the loss of a loved one. After an employee loses someone close to them, they are likely to reach out to their manager, the HR team, or both to make them aware of what they’re dealing with. Whether you’re the employee’s manager or a member of HR, the first thing you should do when an employee notifies you of the death of a loved one is offer your genuine support and sympathy. Don’t jump straight into the details of how that employee’s workload will get covered or time off logistics. Instead, focus on letting the employee know that you’re thinking about them and that work should be the last thing on their minds right now (much like what happened in this viral LinkedIn post). Once you’ve responded with sympathy, you should then share what bereavement leave options are available. Managers should loop in the appropriate HR team members to explain and discuss the bereavement leave policy and other need-to-know information for taking that important time off. How do you support a colleague dealing with grief at work? Supporting a grieving employee can be difficult. Many of us do our best to leave personal matters at the door at work, but grief is different and usually strikes beyond our control. Acknowledge that grief is a powerful emotion and equip yourself with the skills and actions necessary to support a grieving colleague as best you can. Here are a few ways you can show your support. Understand your company bereavement leave entitlement You need to understand your company’s bereavement leave entitlement to communicate it to your colleagues. Many companies offer bereavement leave as a benefit to employees, but the conditions and guidelines around the leave may vary. As with other company policies, your bereavement leave entitlement should be stated clearly in your employee handbook for you and your employees to reference. Your company bereavement leave entitlement should cover the following: Who qualifies for bereavement leave? Is this benefit offered to all employees? What qualifies for bereavement leave? What types of family members are covered under the policy? For example, do you only provide bereavement leave for the loss of an immediate family member? How many days off are granted under the bereavement leave policy? Is the bereavement time off paid or unpaid? How do employees request bereavement leave? Is there any documentation needed for recordkeeping? Know what to say to a coworker when someone dies If you’ve ever struggled to come up with the right words to say to someone who is grieving, you aren’t alone. Knowing what to say to a coworker when someone they love passes can be challenging for you and your grieving colleague. Keep it simple and show your support. If you’re unsure how to get the wording just right, try one of these simple but sympathetic phrases: “I’m sorry for your loss.” “I’m thinking of you.” “How can I support you through this?” Prioritize sympathy (and avoid relating to emotions) The death of a loved one is one of the top five most stressful life events, and your employee will need your support throughout the grieving process. It’s essential to show up with a level of sympathy for your coworker and be empathetic, especially when they talk to you about how they are feeling after the loss. Express your condolences when the time is right, and try to avoid offering advice unless asked for it. When expressing your condolences, don’t compare your colleague’s loss to one of your own. While statements like “I know how you feel” might seem supportive, a grieving person may not find it helpful or supportive. Instead, when in doubt, be a solid active listener and offer support through empathy. Openly discuss time off work for a death One of the best ways to show your support for a bereaved colleague is to communicate openly with them about taking time off for the death of a loved one. Through these conversations, you can identify how much time an employee might need off and if your company’s bereavement leave entitlement will cover that. Some employees may choose to disclose the soon-to-be passing of a loved one before it happens if it’s expected. In any case, having open, continued conversations around taking time off – whether under a bereavement leave policy or through unpaid leave – can help your employees feel supported and take a weight off their shoulders as they handle personal matters in the aftermath of the loss. Provide ongoing bereavement support Grief and bereavement are heavy, and for an employee working through a recent loss, grief is an ongoing process. No two people grieve the same way or at the same rate, so it’s essential to provide ongoing bereavement support to your employees to help them navigate the days ahead. Some larger organizations offer an employee assistance program (EAP) as part of their benefits plan. EAPs generally offer confidential services and assessments, short-term counseling, and other mental health services to employees. These types of programs are provided by employers at no cost to employees and can be a great resource for delivering ongoing bereavement support. Know if your organization offers an EAP as part of its benefits so you can speak to this as a potential option of continuing grief support. If your company doesn’t offer an EAP, you can talk to your employee about what they need from you as part of the bereavement process. Offer resources where possible to help take the burden of research off them. Work together to have a flexible working environment Sometimes, an employee may need more time off than what’s covered by your bereavement leave policy. You can talk through various other time off options, including unpaid leave and the use of PTO in some cases. However, what happens once an employee is ready to return to work and may need some accommodations to ease the transition? You can work with your employees and put their stress at ease by offering a flexible working environment. Consider allowing your employee to work part-time, adjust their hours, or work remotely for an extended period if they usually work in the office. In many cases, most office jobs don’t require work to be done within a specific time frame except for scheduled meetings, which means you might have some wiggle room to offer to your employee. You can provide flexibility in various ways, so it’s important to talk to your employee about their specific needs. With a flexible schedule, your employee can continue to manage personal responsibilities while transitioning back to work without added stress. Why is it beneficial to work with a colleague through their bereavement? No matter how long an employee has been with your company, you’ve likely invested a significant amount of time and money recruiting, hiring, training, and onboarding them. A grieving colleague may even be one of the best performers within your organization. There’s a large cost involved when it comes to losing your best talent, or any talent within your company for that matter. Not to mention that it wouldn’t make you or your company feel good to lose an employee during their loss and time of grief. It’s beneficial to work with a colleague through their bereavement so you can take turnover costs out of the picture and not cause any more stress for the bereaved. Beyond having to pay to replace a grieving employee, creating a supportive environment will increase feelings of trust and can reinforce and improve your company culture. You can build trust with your bereaved employee by hearing their concerns, working with their schedule, and being there for them as they navigate life after loss. At the same time, when other employees see how you take care of those walking through personal loss, you’re revealing a deep layer of your company culture and boosting morale. When you display a level of compassion for a grieving colleague, you send the message that you care about the well-being and mental health of your employees. How to organize bereavement leave policies with Wrike Wrike is a project management and communications tool that you can use to organize your bereavement leave policies. Using Wrike to help manage bereavement leave, you can: Keep communication at the forefront by centralizing all conversations, files, approvals, and more Use templates, like the Actionable Meeting Notes Template, to help your employees smoothly transition back to work when they’re ready Quickly and easily redistribute tasks to help coordinate coverage while an employee is out on bereavement leave Are you ready to simplify your bereavement leave practices and support your employees in the best way possible? Get started with a free trial of Wrike today.
What is Employee Wellbeing and Why Does it Matter?
Employee wellbeing is a critical component of a healthy working environment and organization. Companies that promote wellbeing make it easier for employees to manage stress levels while also maintaining a positive and productive environment. Wellbeing can refer to mental and physical health, as well as more complex things such as satisfaction and engagement levels. In this article, we’ll explain what employee wellbeing is, why it matters, and how to create the best employee wellbeing program in a workplace using a project management solution. What is employee wellbeing? Employee wellbeing is defined as the overall mental, physical, emotional, and economic health of your employees. It’s influenced by various factors such as their relationships with co-workers, the decisions they make, and the tools and resources they have access to. Hours, pay, and workplace safety also have a significant impact on employee wellbeing. While it will vary from person to person, employee wellbeing should average out to a level that allows for a productive and healthy workplace. Outside factors contribute to employee wellbeing too. Stress around issues such as housing, health, and family all play a role in performance at work. However, employers can acknowledge they have no control over what takes place after hours while still taking responsibility for what they can do for their employees. According to a recent employee wellbeing study by Alight, less than half of U.S. employees have a positive perception of their overall wellbeing. Overall, there has been a major decline in employee wellbeing from early 2020 to mid-2021, even as employees return to work at the office again. Why does wellbeing at work matter? It is the employers' duty to provide their workers with the necessary support and care for their physical and mental health. Despite this, many organizations still don't have a dedicated wellbeing strategy. A wellbeing strategy can help employees feel valued and supported at work. It can also improve employee engagement and motivate teams companywide to reach their goals. One recent historical example of why it’s important to improve employee wellbeing comes from the United States film and entertainment industry. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents a wide range of technicians responsible for film and television production behind the scenes, recently considered a strike to improve employee wellbeing. Issues such as inhumane hours, inadequate rest, and inadequate pay are affecting all areas of employee health. In fact, many are now coming forward to explain how a lack of care and action towards improved employee wellbeing is affecting them on a personal level. Clearly, employee wellbeing is a fundamental building block of all organizations. Even if your company is smaller or in a different field, you may still find that there are plenty of meaningful ways to improve the quality of life for everyone involved. Being proactive about employee wellbeing now can improve or even save lives in the future. The advantages of good employee health and wellbeing When employees feel well, they tend to perform better. This increases productivity and helps employees develop better habits. Studies show that workers are 13% more productive when happy. Habits such as healthy and consistent work/life balance policies from management are a good example of how employers can help increase joy. These habits also ensure business continuity, even during busy seasons. Good employee health and wellbeing also leads to higher employee morale. When employees have their needs met, they feel valued and competent as a result. As one corporate wellness program points out, “it’s also about preventing lost time due to absenteeism, stress, and illness. These issues cost many companies far more money than traditional healthcare costs”. Although great employee morale is, in itself, the biggest benefit for companies, preventing foreseeable problems like these is also important. If you’re recruiting or plan to recruit in the next year, creating a plan to improve employee wellbeing can help you attract and retain skilled individuals. For example, 38% of Gen Z job seekers consider a healthy working environment to be their number one factor in choosing a company to work for. Benefits such as increased sick days and mental health services go a long way toward enticing top talent from this generation to apply. Even if you’re not hiring now, an employee wellbeing program can also help you avoid losing talented candidates now. Many companies have learned firsthand that treating employees well is the key to creating a great customer experience. Simply having a happy and satisfied staff has been shown to improve the way clients feel too. As HR Zone points out, this is especially important in the wake of the pandemic, as many customer-facing employees have dealt with extreme emotions and demands from people experiencing prolonged stress from the pandemic. That, combined with safety measures making it difficult to engage in activities most people use to destress, makes it even more important for employers to take responsibility in this area. The challenges of wellness initiatives in the workplace One of the biggest challenges of wellness initiatives in the workplace is setting and measuring goals. Getting a clear idea of what your current employee wellbeing looks like can be tricky. Not only is it subjective, but some employees may not feel comfortable responding truthfully in case their complaints come back to haunt them. For that reason, even anonymous surveys may not give the whole picture. Many traditional incentive programs rely on metrics such as blood pressure and body mass index, but these are often inaccurate too. As a result, many companies are now asking their workers to provide their health information in exchange for insurance plans that are higher-cost. This practice could put older workers and part-time employees at financial risk if they are unable to make up the difference in the cost at their current wage. Another issue is execution. Some companies may not be able to provide the programs that they promised to offer. Or if they do take action, the resources and policies they endorse may not be widely used. Having a constant eye on employee reactions to the program and obtaining feedback can help solve this problem. How to create an effective employee wellbeing program with Wrike Truthfully, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to designing an employee wellbeing strategy. That’s because it should be based on the unique needs and characteristics of your organization. However, if you create a more robust framework to promote mental health, you’ll not only improve the culture surrounding employee wellbeing, but you’ll also improve the lives of everyone involved. That’s where an employee wellbeing program comes in. An effective employee wellbeing program begins with strong communication. To have strong communication, you’ll need to introduce formal project management software for implementing your program. Doing so will show senior leaders and employees that everyone understands the seriousness of workplace health and wellbeing. It’s also a great way to test out, measure, and get feedback on initiatives. Next, you’ll need a project management solution to bring employee wellbeing from theoretical to practical. Even the best intentions fall short when action steps aren’t assigned and carried out. Use Wrike to create a project timeline or to separate employee wellbeing initiatives into quarterly goals. Then, add project phases for program implementation. After, you can begin adding specific tasks such as announcing the program, creating documents explaining the benefits, and facilitating feedback from current employees. Include individual deadlines for each task and assign them to specific managers to ensure that someone is accountable. Wrike can also help you manage and organize goal-related data. Ask for employee feedback and reports from managers directly on the platform. Use @mentions to grab the attention of individuals who need to turn in related paperwork and let them know what’s missing. Once those are collected, you can also securely store documents and manage permission settings within the platform. If your employee wellbeing program is already underway, Wrike can help you manage common health issues employees face at one point or another. For example, if you're noticing signs of employee burnout, Wrike's Workload Charts will help management see and evaluate individual tasks across all projects on one screen to avoid the detrimental effects of assignment overload. Ready to improve employee health and wellbeing? Sign up for a free trial and get started today.
What is HR Analytics? A Guide
You’re asked to identify and deploy data-driven HR practices, but you aren’t exactly sure where to start. You might have some HR data stored in spreadsheets, filing cabinets, and various systems but aren’t sure what to do with it or how to make the data-driven decisions you’ve been asked to make. How can you use the data you have to help your leaders transform the organization? The answer is through HR analytics. What is HR analytics, and how does it help you make the most of data? Keep reading to find out. What is HR analytics? HR analytics, sometimes referred to as people analytics, talent analytics, or workforce analytics, collects, analyzes, and uses employee data to inform and transform HR decisions. HR analytics allows an organization to make data-driven decisions based on various types of HR data collected. Some examples of HR data that the HR team might gather as part of their analytics include headcount, compensation, work location, onboarding details, turnover rates, employee engagement, learning and development opportunities, and more. In the same way that marketers gather data about their target customers to plan campaigns and marketing efforts, HR collects data about their employees or candidates. HR teams can use HR data analytics to better understand an organization’s workforce and better plan for the business’s future success. Why use data in HR? Data might not seem like part of the puzzle when it comes to HR, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When gathered and used in a meaningful way, HR departments have an opportunity to reap a variety of benefits from HR data. Here are some of the advantages of gathering and using HR data: You can unlock powerful insights about the employee journey. HR data can provide solid insights about your company. You can gather data on the experience as a candidate pre-hire, how candidates move through recruitment and hiring stages to become employees, and how employees experience and perceive the company culture over time. Data in these areas helps identify areas of opportunity based upon actual feedback (as opposed to guesses or assumptions) for more significant change. You can better forecast resource needs. HR teams and employers can use HR data to predict and forecast hiring and resourcing needs. Managing recruiting and hiring can also reduce employee burnout from heavy workloads, leading to higher retention rates. It’s a win-win for everybody when you use data to grasp who you need to hire and when to do so to maintain steady streams of productivity. You can make HR processes more efficient and effective. Gathering data on HR processes can help you spot ways to make things more efficient that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. These improvements will not only benefit future employees who walk through these processes, but HR will also save time and energy spent on these projects. Challenges of HR analytics Gathering data when implementing HR analytics comes with its own unique set of obstacles, as evidenced by some of the most common challenges HR professionals experience when starting to collect HR data: Data can come from many different (and potentially inconsistent) sources. No matter what specific types of analytics you focus on, you’ll likely need to pull data from various departments and tools within your organization. For example, you may need to gather compensation and payroll data from finance. When collecting data sets from different departments, it can be tricky to consolidate and unify them in one centralized place. Some data sets may not align with others depending on each department’s process for gathering and maintaining their own information. Privacy and compliance can lead to murky waters. HR professionals aren’t strangers to working with sensitive information, but abiding by privacy and compliance laws can get complicated if you have to bring in other departments (like IT, for example) for technological assistance when working with sensitive data. Not only that, but HR always has to pay attention to protected characteristics and types of data from candidates or employees that can’t be stored or used. HR professionals may not have a data analytics background or the skills needed to run with the HR analytics strategy. Generally speaking, analytical and quantitative classes aren’t a part of formal HR education programs. HR professionals dabble in the “human” side of things, not the numbers, right? The problem is that HR analytics expands beyond high-level data sets, creating a steep learning curve for those who aren’t data proficient. Some argue that HR analytics takes the “human” out of human resources. HR analytics and gathering data can allow you and your teams to make better informed and data-driven decisions, but don’t forget that HR is ultimately about human beings. It’s important to understand that data can work alongside the human elements that make HR beneficial to an organization. Examples of HR analytics in action The use of HR analytics has grown in recent years, and companies across the globe are now using HR analytics to achieve big goals. If you’re unsure how HR data and analytics can help your organization, read through these real-life examples of HR analytics in action. Google People analytics has a significant impact on major corporations like Google. Google began to think seriously about using HR analytics in 2006 to support its People Operations organization. In a project known as Project Oxygen, Google set out to better understand and define the role of managers within their organization. Using observations and data from performance reviews, productivity metrics, and double-blind interviews, Google identified eight behaviors exhibited by the company’s best managers. European telecom company McKinsey & Company helped a major telecom company develop a talent and leadership strategy to drive their recruiting efforts. After identifying key findings such as a shortage of leaders and doubts about the HR team’s credibility, McKinsey & Company helped the organization lay out a strategy based on the data findings. Ultimately, recruiting time for the telecom company was cut in half. Once the three-year plan concluded, the company’s talent pipeline was strong enough to fuel company growth for the next five years. How to implement HR analytics Are you ready to implement an HR analytics strategy at your organization? There are a few tips to keep in mind as you get started. 1. Identify a business problem that needs to be solved What are you trying to solve for? Perhaps your organization wants to boost its retention numbers or reduce onboarding time for new hires. Choose one business problem to start with and focus on only one at a time. If it makes sense for you and your team, you can create a complete list of business problems to solve and prioritize them for future reference. 2. Identify relevant data you’ll need to get started and where you can locate it You’re going to need a centralized hub to unify and store all of your data. Start by identifying what data you need, where it’s being collected throughout the company, and how to gather and consolidate it. This step will likely take you some time, but it’s sure to pay off in the end. 3. Find a mix of analytical tools that work best for you and your team HR professionals aren’t necessarily trained in analytics, and that’s okay. You’ll need to develop your team’s analytical capabilities through training and development, and then you should choose tools that make sense for your team to use. Keep in mind that you don’t have to select the fanciest, most complicated analytical tools to help you achieve your desired results. 4. Analyze and transform your data Conduct data analysis and be prepared for insights that will help transform the data and your organization. This is where various methodologies, data models, and hypotheses come into play. With these key findings and insights, you should determine recommendations to help your business improve and solve the business problem you identified at the start of the process. Communicate your recommendations clearly to the key stakeholders and decision-makers. 5. Implement data-driven changes and evaluate their success Once you’ve communicated your data-driven recommendations to the organization’s key stakeholders, you’ll need to identify what changes are agreed upon and implement them. Test your hypotheses, start preparing your organization for changes, and then put a plan in place to monitor the success of those shifts. How to use Wrike as your HR analytics software You’ll need a tool to help you organize and analyze your HR data, and Wrike is a great option to use as your HR analytics software. Here are just a few of the features that make Wrike the perfect software option for you and your team: Secure collaboration so you can maintain and store sensitive data with ease Streamlined HR process capabilities and functionality HR templates, like the Employee Onboarding and Offboarding Template Wrike Analyze for powerful, diverse analytics dashboards and enhanced reporting Are you ready to put your HR data to work? Sign up for a free trial of Wrike today.
Hiring? You Need This Ultimate Employee Onboarding Template
Overwhelmed new hires? Strained managers? Inundated HR team members? Bringing in new hires doesn’t have to be a headache. Our ultimate employee onboarding template has everything you need to smoothly transition new hires into your organization.
How Employee Motivation Differs Between Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials & Gen Zers
There are tons of employee motivation theories out there, which makes it tough to know how to get the behavior and engagement you want at your organization. Here are some ideas, examples, and ways both managers and individuals can pinpoint employee motivation.
How to Devise a Creative Recruitment Strategy
Creative recruitment is a fresh approach to finding talent that's changing the way we think about hiring. Creative recruitment strategies are beneficial for brands that want to appeal to better candidates and share their company culture. It’s also a great way to stand out, which is especially important considering the latest reporting from The Society for Human Resource Management, which states there are millions of open job postings and not enough interest to fill them. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to use creative recruitment strategies to attract a large pool of well-qualified candidates for any position. What is creative recruitment? Creative recruitment is a way of finding, attracting, and hiring new job candidates through unconventional means. The old model consists of writing a job description, posting it online, and interviewing the best candidates who submit. While job boards can certainly be a strong component of creative recruitment strategies, this method goes beyond that. By infusing some unexpected communication methods with elements that represent the uniqueness of your team and brand, you can quickly outshine your competitors in the eyes of top talent. The duties of a creative recruiter vary depending on your industry. Some responsibilities may include sourcing candidates for a single employer, managing candidate searches, and hiring marketing assistance. Depending on which tools you plan to utilize, there may also be some artistic aspects such as filmmaking or video game design involved. Regardless of what tasks you do, effective project management is a large component of creative recruitment. While many of us may not be used to working with formal projects, there are many activities that HR professionals can do that are considered projects. Creative recruitment is one of them. HR employees are also becoming more involved in developing strategic projects that impact the way they and the rest of the team work together. Organizing all of your processes in one place so that everyone on your team knows who is responsible for what makes it easier to manage the more complex process of creative recruitment. This is especially important if you have more than one campaign going at a time. Creative recruitment involves tailoring the campaign to the position and the personality of the team the candidate will be working with. Project management is essential for creating, tracking, and completing all of those moving parts. Why is creativity important in a recruitment process Creativity is important in the recruitment process because it helps employers reach employees even during difficult times. It’s also helpful for finding individuals who fit in well with your company culture, offer a competitive advantage over other candidates, and who have highly specialized skills. For example, the United States is experiencing a labor shortage in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. There are reports of bidding wars for entry-level positions and proposals to fill the gaps with prison labor for outrageously low and unjust wages. With the help of recruiters, employers can keep their standard processes and find workers to pay fairly. Even after this cloud has passed, recruiters will be there to navigate challenging social and economic issues through creative solutions. Examples of creative recruiting strategies Creative project management and recruitment can be done with any budget, time, or personnel limitations, Regardless of what resources you have access to. Use some of these great real-world examples as a jumping-off point for creating your own creative ways to recruit employees. 1. Share employee testimonials John Deere displays a variety of employee stories on their website (like this one about two John Deere retirees), including those of service technicians. They also have a video that shows how they support military veterans. These employee testimonials show how military veterans have been supported and nurtured by the organization that they work for. They also share how they were able to get the support they needed at John Deere, despite coming from different backgrounds. 2. Advertise in the newspaper This can mean anything from a traditional ad to an out-of-the-box one. During World War II, codebreaking institute Bletchley Park conducted a recruiting campaign where they put a Turing test crossword puzzle in the Telegraph. Because they had to keep their process a secret for national security purposes, they also put out a call asking for individuals to solve the puzzle in 12 minutes or less. If readers were able to complete the puzzle in that time frame, they were then instructed to mail it to a secret Bletchley mailbox. Candidates were then chosen from this pool of submissions and confidentially invited for an interview. 3. Create a notification list Instead of waiting for a role to open up, allow fans of your company to sign up for a newsletter that notifies them when a new job is added. Zappos attracts candidates by allowing them to sign up as a 'Zappos Insider.’ This is a great way to get in touch with the company and learn about open roles and company culture all in one place. 4. Connect on Reddit In 2013, Google used Reddit to discuss the company's employment policies. The I Am A Google employee AMAA thread attracted over 1,300 responses and had a 90% upvote. Reddit’s Ask Me Anything format is a great way for companies to connect with thousands of candidates in a simple, scalable manner. 5. Host virtual career days Amazon's virtual career day in 2020 was a way for the company to show off the thousands of open positions across the country. Their digital event brought together over 1,000 recruiters for 20,000 1:1 coaching sessions and 33,000 job opportunities. The event featured workshops for various industries, including sales, marketing, and technology. Another benefit of virtual recruiting is that it allows the participants to access the event's content in an on-demand format afterward. Creative recruitment ideas to attract top talent 1. Incorporate video Video is becoming one of the most important mediums we have for building business relationships. For example, Zoom saw over 350 million daily meeting participants by the end of 2020. Even social media giant Instagram is switching from photo-sharing to video-sharing. Here are some ways to use video in your creative recruitment strategies: Ask candidates to include an unedited 10 to 30-second introduction video instead of a cover letter. Invite Tik-Tok users to share their pitches and choose from the ones that have the most likes. Feature accomplished team members giving Ted Talk-like speeches. Use Virtual Reality 360 video to give tours of physical office spaces. 2. Choose unconventional platforms Many recruitment teams will post their job ads on places like Monster.com and Facebook. But have you considered digging deeper into other popular internet hangouts that don’t normally see these types of posts? You can create a positional Q&A podcast on Anchor, start a branded recruitment room on Clubhouse for group interviews, or even use paid advertising on local dating sites such as Hinge or Bumble to find the perfect match (all puns intended). 3. Play video games The US Army uses existing video games to recruit new soldiers. But your team can create their own with the help of an independent studio or by DIYing one with a drag-and-drop video game tool like BuildBox. Focus on making the game fun to play, representative of your workplace culture, and a soft test of key job skills. 4. Offer free coaching Candidates are looking for more than just a job. They are interested in crafting a lifelong career. By offering free coaching, you are showing candidates that you mean it when you say your advertised opportunities will help them grow. There are multiple angles you can take with free coaching. For example, the HR team can host a resume review workshop and give live feedback to candidates then encourage them to apply afterward. 5. Host virtual events Yes, virtual recruitment fairs are already gaining popularity. But the creative approach would be to engage your candidates with something unexpected. For example, If you have anyone on the extended team interested in mentorship, set up a virtual speed dating scenario. Candidates can ask one or two questions in ten-minute increments with a few different experts at your company. 6. Share incredible content As part of a long-term strategy, you can develop informative content (think blogging, podcasts, eBooks, etc.) around becoming a great applicant for roles in your industry niche. Many companies publish their open-source information for anyone to use and mimic in their own organizations. Doing so fosters a sense of community and goodwill towards their brand, which is especially appealing to future employees. How to create creative recruitment strategies with Wrike Getting the right talent is the first step in any project management process. Without the right tools and expertise to manage it all, the entire hiring process can be challenging. Project tools and processes can help your team organize and track their key activities. They can also be easily accessed by the whole team so collaboration is streamlined. Wrike is an app that can help you manage the entire recruiting process from start to finish. It can also allow you to communicate all your creative recruitment projects with other employees in one platform. Here’s how: Track performance This tool can help you keep track of how your team is performing and provide insight into the team's goals and priorities. Confirm scheduling This feature allows you to identify and resolve potential conflicts between your teams’ commitments. Improve efficiency Use tools to track and manage time and tasks to get a better understanding of how productive your team is. It can also help you predict how long it will take to complete certain tasks. Automate tasksWrike simplifies the repetitive tasks of hiring and onboarding. It lets you create workflows for each step of the process, so you can focus on recruiting top talent instead of creating thousands of documents and emails. Most companies that track time manually don't receive hours logged until after the fact. This means that employees may not be able to remember their time and could end up with inaccurate records. You can also automate reminders for new hire training. By reducing the complexity of your HR processes, you can free up time for your employees and HR specialists. This gives everyone the opportunity to focus on other specialized skills while staying on top of administrative tasks. Conclusion As the world of recruitment continues to evolve, building a fresher candidate experience will become more challenging. It's important that you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and lean into what makes your brand unique in order to remain competitive in the market. That is exactly why relying on creative recruitment strategies works so well. Start your two-week free trial with Wrike today and begin your journey to revamping a more interesting and productive recruitment process.
3 Strategies for Bringing a Distributed Team Member On Board
On our first day at a new job, we observe everything that is happening in the office and start to understand what is okay and what it is not allowed. We start building a mental map of what things are like in the office so that we can adapt faster. We notice if the receptionist is smiling or appears cranky, we look inside the meeting rooms and see if people are engaged and speaking or if they have their heads down, we look at people working at their desks and observe whether they have their feet propped up on the table or are focused on work, and we start to get to know them by what they have on their walls, desks, etc. But what happens when we join a distributed team? Nothing is visible to us, so we cannot build the mental map that typically helps us adapt to a new place and that gives us confidence to feel strong in a new environment. How can companies with distributed team members help them adapt to the virtual environment? 1. Use video ALWAYS! Start with the obvious: If your company has a physical location, substitute walking through the corridors and peeking through the glass doors of meeting rooms with a virtual tour of the office. If all of your team is remote, do all meetings with video. It is quite common for employees to object to the use of video. But when bringing a new member on board, make sure he/she uses video from the very first day. Video will help both of you in many ways: Better communication: 80% of the messages we receive come from body language. Building trust: We only trust people that we know, so video helps us gain more information about a person. Have a quick introductory meeting with the entire team, and while the new person receives training, have 1:1 meetings with the other team members. Get your message through: Intercall conducted a study showing that 65% of us do other work during conference calls without video, 55% eat or prepare food, and 47% go to the restroom! If you want people to actually pay full attention, use video. Break the geographical distance. If your team is multicultural, you are probably dealing with a variety of accents; body language will help you understand better what the others are saying. 2. Put everything in writing Document everything you say. Our attention spans are short even when we have somebody in front of us, so imagine what it is like when the other person is in a different country, being viewed through a little screen! Do not expect new team members to remember everything you say. Training somebody from a distance is not the same as training somebody in an office; you need to communicate better and more often. Provide common ground rules Your job is to guide the newcomer; the purpose is not to give him/her rules that shouldn’t be broken, but to show the person how you work, what is expected of him/her, what to expect from you and your company, and how you are currently playing. If there are rules are there to be broken in your company, say so, and at least show them how you work at the moment. During the first days, your job is to provide a solid ground where he/she can understand the new environment. Prepare a handbook with graphic documentation Avoid, at all costs, handbooks with a lot of text. Have your design team work on the handbook to make it attractive, easy to remember, and navigate. Keep visual records of meetings During meetings, use online whiteboards, and if trainings are complicated, record the trainings and have them available for people to check at any point in time. 3. Repetition is key You will need to repeat concepts and ideas more than usual because those ideas are not being reinforced in the same way that they would be if he/she was in the same office as the rest of the team. Repeat, but be creative when you do so: Create exercises for the new person to solve so you have a good excuse to repeat some ideas that were not clear. Give him/her small challenges one at a time. During your trainings, always summarize the most important points seen in the previous training. During every meeting, find a different example that explains the purpose of his/her job and why it is important. If those examples have to do with real customers or real team members, that’s even better! Daily mentoring Distance and a lack of bonding make distributed teams rust and break. If you create strong ties between team members from the very beginning, you will have done a lot. If your work methodology doesn’t include daily meetings, make sure that during the first 2 weeks the new team member meets with somebody at least once per day. The meetings should always include the following parts: Fun virtual icebreakers Questions about previous meetings and feedback about past challenges A main topic A new challenge proposal A fun, short activity to end on a high note Using solo mentors can be a good way to organize the transition of a new team member, but it can also create some unhealthy dependencies; remember that you can also have meetings that include different people so that the new team member sees all the colors of your team! Author Bio Anna Danes is the CEO of Managing Virtual Teams, where she consults for companies with global teams. Having worked and studied in different European countries, Asia, and the US, she provides a multicultural take on business. Follow her on Twitter: @virtualteams Download our free eBook If you want more advice on how to efficiently and successfully manage your remote team, download our free eBook: The Art of Staying Productive Across Distance
How Will Recruitment Be Different in a Post-Pandemic Office?
Over the last 18 months, industries and teams around the globe have had the challenge of adapting to a newly distanced workforce. Every process has been subject to unprecedented changes and alterations, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the world’s businesses. Now, as organizations begin to move back towards a hybrid or office-based workforce, teams are faced with the challenge of adapting a ‘new normal’ — using what they have learned during the pandemic to make offices a safer, more productive environment for employees. Hiring and onboarding have been some of the hardest challenges when it comes to COVID-19’s impact on the global workforce. Millions of employees faced job losses and temporary layoffs, and many were forced to pivot their careers in a totally new direction. At the same time, HR teams were re-focusing their energy on remote hiring — finding interviewing, and onboarding candidates virtually Many of those who started new jobs in 2020 have still never met their colleagues in person. Now, HR teams are preparing a return to an in-person framework for recruiting and onboarding new employees. What changes should HR professionals prepare for in returning to the office? How should they approach in-person onboarding as the pandemic continues? What are the priorities that HR teams can target to improve employee experience? How has hiring and onboarding changed since the pandemic? In April 2020, the U.S. unemployment rate reached its peak of the pandemic, at a huge 14.7%, with 20.5 million people out of work. The sudden flood of newly unemployed and furloughed people into the candidate pool meant that many had to upskill or even make a career pivot to remain afloat. According to a survey of 4,000 workers by Aviva earlier this year, 60% of UK workers intend to make changes to their career as a result of the pandemic, including finding a completely different vocation (9%) or taking on a role that helps others (8%). While the prospect of unemployment can be a great motivator, it’s not the only reason that workers worldwide are considering a career change. According to Prudential Financial’s Pulse of the American Worker survey, of the 26% of workers surveyed who plan to switch jobs post-COVID, 80% are doing so because they’re concerned about career advancement. It’s up to HR and hiring managers to bridge the gap between disengaged candidates and their new career goals. Such disruption in the hiring industry can be seen as a hindrance, but it’s also a huge opportunity for innovation and growth. So how can you harness that opportunity and prepare for the return to the office? What will change when we return to the office? So, what will the post-pandemic office look like for new hires? There are a number of factors to consider when it comes to migrating back to an office environment — including social distancing measures, cleanliness and hygiene standards, and the possibility of a hybrid model for employees. The post-COVID workspace will be much more flexible, with the focus shifting from nurturing a strictly in-office culture to an emphasis on work/life balance and being adaptable to employee’s lifestyles. Managers should be aware of what they need to do to ensure a safe and supportive workspace for their team members, with hiring teams especially responsible for new hires’ first impressions of the office. Onboarding will also take on a different look for the post-COVID workforce. While hiring teams have spent the last 18 months adapting to remote interviews, digital contracts, and Zoom ice-breakers, now is the time to take what you’ve learned during the pandemic, and put it to use for a new generation of workers. How to implement in-person hiring So, what are some best practices to consider when it comes to in-person hiring? From sourcing to signing contracts, here are some of our top tips: Look past location for sourcing new talent: Hopeful candidates have been upskilling and honing their interview techniques for 18 months now, so your hiring team should have no issue finding fantastic talent for open positions. However, make sure not to fall into old habits and only stick to tried-and-tested parameters for potential hires. Look past location (remote working has been proven to work well for many industries), previous experience (many have pivoted to new career paths), and backgrounds to dig deeper into what makes a truly great candidate. How do you want your post-COVID workforce to look? If diverse, multi-skilled, practical, and problem-solving are your answers (hint: they should be), you may have to cast a wider net to find the perfect fit. Consider your candidate’s circumstances when reaching out for next steps: You’ve found a fantastic candidate and you want them to come in for an interview. But remember, we are in the ‘new normal,’ and it’s essential to be considerate of your candidate’s unique circumstances when inviting them into your office. Are they able to travel? Is the office accessible to them? Can they comfortably comply with COVID measures in the office? It’s important to hash these issues out early, as these factors will become important in the next stages. Implement a strict process for in-person interviews: When bringing multiple candidates in to interview, it’s imperative to keep your office as safe as possible while the pandemic is ongoing. Social distancing measures, proper cleaning and hygiene protocols, and contact tracing processes must be in place before interviews can take place. Ask for candidate’s feedback and be sure to take any criticisms they have on board going forward. Don’t relax your standards once hiring ends: When your candidate has signed their contract, this doesn’t mean that your COVID policy can be forgotten. A positive onboarding experience is essential to a new hire staying in your company for the long haul. Ask about the working model that is best for them, and what would make them more comfortable in your workspace. Habits to keep from remote hiring and onboarding While you may be looking forward to getting back to meeting candidates in-person, keep in mind the habits and lessons from remote hiring and onboarding that you’ve learned so far. Flexibility is key We’ve learned throughout the pandemic that innovation can be found anywhere where flexibility is prioritized. When you allow your candidates to be creative with their applications, their interviews, and their ways of working, you open your organization up to be the best it can be. Life/work balance — not the other way around The pandemic has forced organizations worldwide to reckon with the pressure they put on employees. Late nights spent at the office does not necessarily mean that your employee is being more productive or doing their best work. It’s important to prioritize a life/work balance for your new hires moving forward. What does that look like for them, and how can you facilitate that to encourage their best work? Great communication makes for great hires Working remotely has lead to teams everywhere reconsidering their communication levels. How we check in, how often, and in what way really matters in allowing your employees to feel secure and supported in their work. Remember this throughout the onboarding process for new hires — allow them to flourish, while remaining on-hand for anything they need. How Wrike can help your hiring process post-pandemic Need some extra support to navigate the changing hiring landscape? Wrike’s work management platform gives hiring managers complete transparency and control over their onboarding processes. Keep track of all job listings and potential hires with an organization-wide view of projects, all in one place Stay connected and give feedback in real-time to your hiring teams with Wrike’s collaboration tools Remote work templates allow your teams to jump right in and streamline their processes from the very beginning Give it a try with a two-week free trial.
What Is Peer Recognition & Why is it Important?
At work, money doesn’t buy us happiness. Statistics show there is only a loose connection between the money we earn and job satisfaction. But it is possible to boost job satisfaction through one powerful variable: peer recognition. In fact, peer recognition is so powerful that it can deliver half the engagement of a salary increase at just 5% of the cost. Clearly, peer recognition resonates with us on a deeply emotional level. But why does it create such high job satisfaction, and how can you make it work at your company? What is peer recognition? Let’s start with what peer recognition isn’t. Peer recognition isn’t employer recognition. Employer recognition programs are rampant. As far back as 2012, some 75% of companies already had a program for recognition in place. Peer recognition is different. Peer recognition is the validation and encouragement you receive from other people, especially those you perceive to be credible, such as colleagues. And it’s this distinction that leads to feelings of acceptance and significance. Why is peer-to-peer recognition important in the workplace? Peer-to-peer recognition satisfies a different need than salary. A salary is important for practical purposes: feeding a family, maintaining a home, or saving for retirement. Recognition, on the other hand, hits employees’ emotional needs: the feeling that comes with having a positive impact on the world. Congratulations from the company is a nice benefit. But peer-to-peer recognition tends to have more credibility because it comes from colleagues and friends who understand our situations. Consider the benefits that come with peer-to-peer recognition: Employee engagement: Any form of recognition can help with employee engagement, even if it comes from management. A compliment on recently completed work not only reinforces good habits, but it lets employees know that their work was noticed — and therefore brings social context to that work’s meaning. Concrete productivity results: According to one study, peer-to-peer recognition programs are over 33% more likely to create better financial results for the companies that create them. Employee retention: Peer-to-peer recognition does more than provide emotional validation. It provides emotional depth, especially in deepening the relationships at your company. This leads to longer employee retention and better job performance, keeping employee morale high. In other words, peer recognition for one employee can improve morale for all employees. How to create a peer-to-peer recognition program While employee recognition programs are common at over 75% of organizations, only about 41% have peer-to-peer recognition programs. Why the disconnect? Many companies don’t know how to make recognition feel more organic at the employee level. It’s easier to initiate an employer-led recognition program and call it a day. But what if you do want to go an extra step and include employees in the selection process of these recognition programs? Set your goals and track your results: What is peer recognition without a goal to start with? You need to begin with clear, definable objectives if the program is going to be a success. Try working from an objectives and key results (OKR) template to bring clarity to your planning in the early stages. Involve your employees: You can’t do this in a vacuum. You’ll need a communication plan. But the more you do, the less it becomes a peer-to-peer recognition program. Involve employees at every step. If you’re creating an award, for example, let employees handle the nomination and the voting. Avoid ritualization: An “employee of the month” program is great, especially if you have employees who regularly vote on it. But if participation is low, chances are that the peers at your company won’t value the award as highly as you’d like. Make sure that every peer recognition you hand out is the result of honest feelings on behalf of employees. Announce the program and get out of the way: Whatever style you choose — such as an anonymous award nomination process — make sure that people know about it. Then, get out of the way. Let employees take ownership of the rest of the process through nominating and voting. The more you try to steer employees one way or the other, the less it will feel like peer-to-peer recognition. Peer-to-peer recognition examples and ideas Let’s get concrete about the ways you can thank your team with a few peer-to-peer recognition ideas: JetBlue’s internal award nominations JetBlue created a program in which employees could nominate a co-worker for their day-to-day contributions. Any example of extra effort was welcome. Once JetBlue selected a winner, the company would then share the news via its internal newsfeed and provide the winning employee with award points they could use toward prizes like dinners and travel benefits. The program succeeds because it’s organically peer-to-peer. Colleagues do the nomination. Colleagues get the rewards. And colleagues read about what the winner did to earn it, reinforcing the idea that extra work at JetBlue does not go unnoticed — either by management or peers. JetBlue recorded 14% increased engagement as a result of its recognition practices. A dedicated Slack channel for peer-to-peer recognition Heather Reid, a resource manager, recalled one company she worked at that used an open Slack channel expressly for the purpose of peer-to-peer recognition. Whenever an employee wanted to compliment another, they simply turned to the Slack channel for it. Reports Reid: “It worked like magic for us and encouraged a supportive, appreciative, and closely knit group.” It’s a testament to the power of peer recognition that there were no financial incentives here and no prizes. There was simply a centralized location for employees to compliment each other. Sometimes, that’s enough. How to encourage peer recognition The easiest way to encourage peer recognition is to create an award program where employees submit the nominations. But as Heather Reid’s example demonstrates, it can be simpler than that. You might start small and create a forum where workers can praise each other. Failing that, consider moving on to incentives. You can still create peer recognition meaning with programs that involve prizes from leadership or even corporate points, as shown by JetBlue. The important thing is that the process of highlighting and selecting the right employee to award should be left to their peers. It creates a different dynamic at work when you feel welcomed, appreciated, and recognized. And although effective leadership can accomplish a lot, there’s nothing that can quite replace the feeling of being honored by your peers. Employees can’t recognize each other if they don’t know what other people are working on. Boost transparency and get started with Wrike today.
HR Tip: How to use Wrike for Applicant Tracking and Recruitment Process
The first step to any successful project management is acquiring the right talent. No matter if your organization has one hard-working recruiter or an impressive HR team, the applicant-tracking process can be time-consuming and demanding at times. Among other things, it requires prompt access to recruitment data and the ability to always keep track of the applicants' statuses, engage the team in the process, and more. Fortunately, with Wrike, you can not only overcome the mentioned challenges, but also easily track the applicants and manage your projects within one single app. And, while Wrike helps you to streamline the whole recruitment process, you can focus on your main goal – acquiring the best talent possible! In a new tutorial video, we featured some simple ways to optimize your applicant-tracking process with Wrike, so you'll be able to: Stay on track with the applicant's status and progress. Manage the applicant flow for the concrete position. Use custom statuses and tags to find a sought-after applicant in a few clicks. Analyze your recruitment channels to spot the most effective ones. Keep all your recruitment data and action items in one system with no need to switch between apps. and more! Don't miss a chance to take a glance at the second part of our new tutorial video with our Top 5 productivity tips, as they will not only save you time, but also make the recruitment process smooth and simple!
Stop Customer Churn in Its Tracks! Tips to Improve Retention and Revenue From the Inside Out
The customer churn rate is huge after a single negative experience with a company — more than half of customers won’t return. Reasons for customer churn vary, but the problem stays the same: Companies must determine why customers are leaving, as well as ways to reduce customer churn. Check out this webinar for more information.