Archive for category Employees
Are You Promoting Your Employees for All the Wrong Reasons? The 411 on Employee Promotions
Supporting and encouraging career development of your staff undoubtedly goes a long way towards increasing employee satisfaction and engagement. And in most cases, it can certainly make you look good!
But is your decision to move forward with employee promotions flawed? Here are some reasons why you don’t want to promote you employees:
As a knee jerk reaction to your employee announcing that they just got another job offer:
Think long and hard about throwing more money or a new title at employees who may be on their way out the door. You certainly want to keep your best employees, but think about it… Offering a staff member more money or a new title after they’ve told you that they have another job offer not only looks desperate; it reflects poorly on your ability to be proactive about growing and developing staff who are working hard, (with no plans on leaving anytime soon). This isn’t lost on your employees who will feel like the only way to develop in one’s career or to get a raise is to say that you have another job offer. It can feel like subtle blackmail.
Because your employee wants to make more money:
Yes, there are managers who will inflate an employees’ job description just to guarantee that the employee will receive a bump in salary to reflect the “new” responsibilities. This tactic can backfire big time and affect the morale of your other staff when they learn that their colleague got an increase and is essentially doing the same job. (Many employees do compare salaries and job duties as much as we’d like to think that this information is kept confidential).
Your employee has been in the same position since forever.
This on the surface actually seems to be a very good reason to give someone a promotion, but more thought needs to go into moving forward.
Working in the same position when the tasks and responsibilities of the job have not changed over time is not a valid reason to promote your employee. Read the rest of this entry »
Transitioning New Employees Into the Workplace
Hiring new employees is a very different experience for different companies. In some cases, there are challenges because of diversity issues and cases in which there are concerns about whether or not the fit will be right – especially when the company is hiring someone younger to lead a department rather than looking to those employees who have been with the business. In other cases, however, it is remarkably easy to transition new employees into the workplace, and often this is the direct result of having employee mentoring programs put into place.
Employee mentoring programs simplify the process of transitioning new employees into the workplace on a number of levels.
First, employee mentoring programs help to ensure that when new employees are brought into the workplace they aren’t just going to be given a desk and a stack of tasks to complete – left on their own to figure out the best possible approach to doing the work and not being sure of whom to go to when they have questions. Instead, with employee mentoring programs in place, new hires are connected with an employee who is already on the team, has experience doing the work and who will be there to provide guidance about the tasks at hand, company policies and the best ways to get things done.
Similarly, employee mentoring programs are effective for transitioning new employees into the workplace because the programs foster both relationships and confidence. Employee mentoring programs help a new hire to get to know his or her new coworkers and to establish connections. Those connections along with the support that shows that they are picking up on the requirements of the job and the knowledge that – as additional employees are brought on they will rise to the position of mentor – their contributions will be recognized and rewarded.
Because these new employees will know that their efforts will be rewarded as they learn the job, they will develop a sense of job security as well. The more that their efforts are recognized and the more comfortable that they are with getting the job done, the more that these staff members will be able to contribute. As they are able to work their way up within the company, they will further develop loyalty to the business – and they will be able to continue to take advantage of employee mentoring programs so that they will learn each job responsibility just as easily as they initially did. Read the rest of this entry »
Five Tips for Managing Employees Who Are Caregivers
Caregiving is a reality in many workers’ lives today. Recent studies indicate approximately 15% of today’s workers and 21.2% of the total adult population are unpaid caregivers for an adult loved one. In addition, another 5.6% are “sandwiched”, i.e. caring for both an adult and child as an unpaid caregiver. Caregiving can insidiously take its toll on work performance. Caregiver fatigue or burnout may begin to manifest itself in a slow continuum of actions and behaviors. Under some conditions, caregivers may exhibit signs of urgency to leave work exactly on time or early, begin to exhibit periodic tardiness, reduce attention span during meetings or begin to limit or remove themselves from group or team activities. There may be outward physical signs of sadness or grief. Managers or supervisors may also witness a decline in the employee’s work engagement and organizational commitment.
A caregiving employee who is becoming disengaged from juggling work/life commitments may also negatively impact team performance if not managed in a proactive manner by the manager or supervisor. What can you do as a manager to support your employee who is a caregiver for a loved one? What can you do to maintain your employee’s engagement with their job and increase organizational commitment?
Before jumping to conclusions, take time with your employee to talk and listen. Open your heart and suspend judgment. Be aware of your own possible biases before you begin the conversation. Many employees are afraid to share personal caregiving information with managers for fear of discrimination. Let the employee know you are concerned, what you have observed and ask what you can do to help. Relate your organization’s commitment to a professional work environment that recognizes and appreciates the contributions of all staff members and demonstrates respect for employees’ personal life obligations.
Each individual who is caregiving has different approaches to managing his/her situation. If you have several employees who are caregivers, take into consideration any personality differences or communication styles that may impact your approach to the discussion. Do take into consideration that under stress, these styles and preferences may change. Read the rest of this entry »