Despite the headlines about tech layoffs, the war for top talent is more competitive than we’ve experienced in decades. Job seekers have more power over when, where and how they work – including how they engage with prospective employers during the recruitment and hiring process. 

Companies are competing furiously for talent, and while some companies have adapted to this highly competitive landscape, others are falling behind in terms of competitive offerings and a new level of authenticity needed to attract the best talent. But, one thing remains blatantly clear: a strong employer brand is a deciding factor for prospective employees.

Now more than ever, companies need a well-defined employee value proposition (EVP) to showcase they’re a values-driven organization focused on more than just profits. Coupled with a strong engagement strategy to target this message to prospective employees and a commitment to a positive and smooth candidate experience, EVPs will be a key ingredient to winning the ongoing talent wars.

What is an EVP and Why is it Important?

Defining and building an employer brand is not a task that should be taken lightly – it’s a meaningful way to showcase what your brand stands for, and can impact many facets of the business. While it’s often mistaken for sentiment about company culture and employee engagement, it is far more about what the employer offers to its employees; much like a product value proposition is to the consumers who purchase said products.  

The EVP is how businesses market their value to new talent and retain current employees. It’s the benefit employers offer to employees about why they should come work for their company. Think about the standard interview question “Why should we hire you?” and turn it around: “Why should you choose us as your employer?”

Your EVP sends a consistent message to customers, partners, the community, etc., about who you are as a company and what you represent. Strong employer branding exercises will consider a combination of company identity, mission, values and workplace culture. However, a succinct, impactful EVP will be the differentiating factor to elevate the brand above countless other companies vying for the candidate’s attention. 

If you don’t have an explicit and authentic EVP you’re communicating strategically to prospective employees, you could be missing out on the right talent to drive your business. Surprisingly, even though most people recognize EVPs as critical to a healthy talent acquisition strategy, 41.4% of companies still don’t have one established. So, the problem is not necessarily that companies don’t realize the importance of EVPs. The disparity lies between knowing it’s important and actually investing in creating one, which leads us to believe establishing and implementing an EVP is the main barrier. For the organizations that may have an EVP, they are often slung together in a few slides and don’t have the foundational research needed to be in tune with reality.  

How to Create an EVP

First, an EVP is part of a much larger discussion around employer branding. It’s not just what you can offer to employees, it’s what your company stands for. Here are just a few steps you can take to establish and implement your own EVP: 

Introspection:

Ask yourself what your company has to offer an employee. Why would they want to work for you versus another company with similar pay and benefits? What can you do for them in the long run? If this proves to be challenging to answer, consider asking existing employees via surveys, focus groups and interviews what they find most valuable and rewarding about working for the company. This is also a great time to reflect on areas of company culture that can be improved upon to attract more talent in the future, while creating a better overall experience for existing employees in the process.

Boil it Down:

Boil the answers down into a few simple sentences or a short paragraph, explaining what you offer employees. It’s easy to just mention good company culture and competitive pay, but it’s more constructive to make it unique to your specific company. Does your company offer flexible work hours (appealing to parents) or unlimited PTO (appealing to millennials)? Is the company involved in any community or charitable organizations? How can you demonstrate the company is a people-first organization with a focus on employee well-being and development?

Establish and Market:

Once the EVP is finalized, establish it within your company first, leading by example and ensuring it’s aligned with current organizational goals and culture. Next, develop assets to market it externally as a part of your employer branding and awareness efforts, careful to strategically target key types of job seekers who can become the future employees you want. It is important to target candidates both on and off the job boards so you are not only targeting active job seekers but also trying to reach them during their daily lives. To stand out, it is important to be proactive about bringing your message to them versus completely relying on the job boards to deliver the best hires. Evaluate the results regularly and tweak as necessary to make sure it’s authentic and resonating with internal audiences and external candidates. To answer ‘why should someone want to work here,’ an EVP is not something that should remain static. Just as the dynamics of the job market continuously change, companies should be aware of the evolving work environment, their employee sentiment, and tweaks to their values as time progresses and cultures and priorities evolve. 

When you break it down, EVPs aren’t as daunting of a task as they might seem, and can make all the difference in your hiring practices. 

The job seekers of today have different priorities and it is still critical to understand this is an employee-dominated market.  It’s not enough to just skate by, you need to stand out. Today, millennials have changed the workplace and Gen Z candidates are rapidly entering the workforce  looking for more than just a paycheck and simple benefits. They want to work for a company that has a mission and purpose, but also puts them first. Strong, authentic EVPs build trust, transparency and excitement about an employer brand – and in the end, will encourage the strongest candidates to apply regardless of the type of workers you need to power your business.

The post Without a Strong Employee Value Proposition, You Can Kiss Top Talent Goodbye appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

The London-based advisory services firm warned against the results of business leaders who don’t put in more effort to understand the needs of their workers and demonstrate that they truly care about their holistic wellbeing, said the report, titled “The C-suite’s role in well-being.” It also examines why the overall poor state of both workers’ and executives’ health is making retention more difficult.

Workers and Executives Are Struggling

According to the report, employees and executive-level business leaders are struggling to prioritize their. their well-being—and for most people, work is to blame for their inability to find an equilibrium in their work-life balance. In fact, 57% of workers and almost 70% of executives say they are “seriously considering” quitting their jobs for another one that better supports the idea of well-being.

“Significantly, 63% of employees and 73% of the C-suite report that their job doesn’t allow them to take time off from work and disconnect,” Deloitte said. “Results also show that for 68% of employees and 81% of the C-suite, improving their well-being is more important to them than advancing their career right now.”

Ironically, despite admitting their  wellbeing struggles, executives are significantly overestimating how well their employees feel, the report said.

Shadow of the Pandemic

Deloitte said, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on everyone’s health. Yet, most executives have not realized how much their employees are struggling.

The report points out that around one in three workers and executives “always” or “often” feel exhausted, stressed, overwhelmed, lonely or depressed. “Despite this, only around half of employees and two-thirds of the C-suite report that they use all their vacation time, take breaks during the day, get enough sleep and have enough time for friends and family,” the study observed.

Health-Savvy Business Leaders

The report also said only 31% of employees feel that their leaders are “health-savvy.” While 95% of executives agree that they should be responsible for the wellbeing of their workforce, 68% admit they’re not doing enough.

To reverse the possible consequences of ignoring employees’ wellbeing, the report argues that C-suite leaders must “take greater ownership and action,” around healthcare matters. “Despite work often working against wellbeing, leaders who are health-savvy have the ability to reimagine wellbeing for themselves and their workforce — but they need to do more,” the report said.

Jen Fisher, Deloitte’s U.S. chief wellbeing officer, said business leaders becoming health-savvy will not only benefit their wellbeing and that of their employees, but also contribute to “the long-term success of their organizations.

“It’s time for the C-suite to become more health-savvy by embracing the expanding focus on well-being in their role,” she said.

The post C-Suite’s Disconnect from Workers’ Wellbeing Pressures Retention appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

When we walk (or Zoom) into work, we don’t leave our identities at the door. It’s impossible. Our aspects of self follow us—our race, gender, religion, sexual orientation. What’s more, these characteristics intersect, meaning that we need to broaden our ideas around what it means to be equitable and inclusive through affinity groups.

Many professionals believe their company culture requires them to mute their personal voices during work hours. Well, it’s time to for us all to start talking and listening so we can understand our complex identities —or intersectionality—and forge connections to build the strongest possible teams.

What Is Intersectionality?

All people are multidimensional, it’s part of the complexity of being human.  However, for some people overlapping aspects of their identity can leave them at risk for heightened discrimination. For example, a member of the LGBTQ community who is also a person of color may experience increased, or different kinds of prejudice compared to a white person who is gay, or a person of color who is heterosexual. Intersectionality refers to the interplay of these overlapping identity aspects, and its significance in the world and in the workplace.

While intersectionality has roots in social justice, the concept also comes into play in corporate culture. HR professionals and managers must vigilantly ensure that all employees, including those from one or more underrepresented groups, have fair access to opportunities and resources.  That’s where affinity groups have a part to play.

How Do Affinity Groups Promote Understanding?

Affinity groups bring together co-workers with shared experiences. They can represent underrepresented backgrounds like military families or widely shared issues like mental wellness, giving them a potent role in the workplace.

Many employees choose to participate in more than one affinity group when they are available and groups are wise to collaborate on the many joint issues that touch our work and home lives.

Every day, through the collaborative work of affinity groups, companies can foster inclusion while transforming company and community culture for good.

5 Ways to Leverage Affinity Groups to Grow Understanding of Intersectionality

As a DEI executive, I’ve seen the power of connecting people who represent a variety of identities and perspectives. One of the best tools we’ve used to hit our DEI goals and accelerate an understanding of intersectionality is through affinity groups. Here are five ways to leverage them:

1. Define “affinity” broadly.

Race and gender aren’t the only foundations on which to build affinity groups. My company has affinity groups for women and people of color, but also for veterans, members of the LGBTQ community and their allies and those with diverse abilities.

In addition, we have an intergenerational affinity group for colleagues across five generations who want to develop ideas together. By educating the organization with a broader definition of “affinity,” HR sets the stage for employees to grasp the basics of intersectionality and begin to understand what it means, both the struggles and perspectives of others.

2. Invite employees who belong to two or more underrepresented groups to speak with affinity groups about their unique experiences.

Their insights and stories can be highly valuable when working to drive systemic change.. Empathy can help us build allyship and work together to drive systemic-level change. While everyone’s lived experiences are different, sharing perspectives builds common ground and a deeper understanding of who we are and inevitably, how we are all connected. This provides a sense of belonging, one study showing bottom-line benefits driven by higher performance and reduced turnover.

3. Encourage all employees to join multiple groups (and reward them for it).

A good general rule is to ask employees to consider joining three affinity groups: one with which they personally identify, one where they want to be an ally and one that they’re simply curious about.

4. Reward employees for their active participation in affinity groups with perks such as recognition, company swag or special external opportunities to represent the organization.

By joining these groups, they are likely to have conversations they never would have had otherwise and they begin to appreciate the dynamics of intersectionality.

5. Urge corporate leadership to join affinity groups.

Embed top leadership in affinity groups as sponsors to model an understanding of intersectionality at the top. Make them champions of diverse interests and connect their effective participation to bonuses and other incentives. Bringing leadership into affinity groups demonstrates a company’s commitment to resolving the issues they raise and to DEI values in general.

Two creative approaches:

• Executives embedded in the groups can share concerns with their business leaders
• The company CEO can conduct a listening tour, visiting each affinity group to hear feedback directly

Either way, leadership should act on recommendations from these groups by adjusting company policies, expanding benefits or taking other steps to thoughtfully address requests. When voices from the top grasp the experiences of intersectionality, the whole company culture begins to shift and grow.

Turn to affinity groups as business resources. Groups can identify and explore key intersectional markets and develop and test new product ideas. Affinity groups aid job recruitment; they contribute to research and development and they engage the surrounding community via volunteer events, fundraising or identifying philanthropic causes.

When our workplaces are competent in understanding the complexity of identity—when we support employees and honor those who embrace all aspects of their own backgrounds—we create a stronger, thriving environment.

Affinity groups are an enabler. They forge vital connections among employees through ongoing interaction. When co-workers know each other’s stories, as they do in these small but mighty spaces, they can support each other’s issues and work together better—and that’s good not only for business but for humanity.

The post Understanding Intersectionality Through the Community of Affinity Groups appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

If you attended the 2021 HR Technology Conference, you already know that this cringe-worthy turn of phrase would make for a dangerous drinking game, based on the number of times it was repeated throughout the week.

The problem with the Great Resignation is that it goes deeper than the blatant abuse of branding. It’s distracting from a much larger issue – there’s a labor uprising taking place. Now, usually, when we think about uprisings, our minds wander to images of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, newsies singing about “papes” or soot-covered workers striking in the streets. 

In the words of Gil Scott Heron, the revolution will not be televised. What’s happening with today’s workforce is less overt but just as real, and here’s why: The pandemic forced the collective realization that we can’t continue to work under the conditions we’ve created. Read that again.

We created these conditions – conditions that left workers with few choices and even less autonomy. Employers expected engagement with minimal benefit to employees beyond basic survival. The global health crisis only exacerbated an already dire situation – to the extent that some workers had to choose between their health and safety and paying bills. It’s a modern-day struggle akin to the battle between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. 

So why are we overlooking what’s really going on? For one thing, we keep hearing from the wrong voices. Much of the Great Resignation storyline quotes the C-Suite, rather than workers, organizers, recruiters or HR professionals.

Case in point: A recent spate of articles that featured insights from Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. The coverage pointed to a speech Houston gave about the end of the 40-hour workweek, where he said, “The workplace will now be wherever work happens, and the workweek will be whenever work happens best for each person.” 

There’s a lot of context missing here, with Houston’s comments geared toward knowledge workers, the folks who can work from anywhere, anytime and don’t apply to trade or service industry jobs. But worse, these comments intentionally exclude the majority of the workforce impacted by the so-called Great Resignation, and that’s a problem. No wonder there’s a revolt in progress – subtle as it may be. 

A recent Vox piece attempted to reframe the resignation narrative, citing Tim Brackney’s opinion that we’re experiencing a “great mismatch” in terms of desires, experience and skills. Brackney is president and COO of a management consulting firm, and while his take gets us a little closer to what’s going on, it’s not quite right. If Houston was too narrow, Brackney is too broad. At the conference, Marcus Buckingham presented the “Great HR Reset and Reinvention,” while Ben Eubanks called it the “Great Reprioritzation.” 

The reality of this moment is somewhere between these expressions, representative of the need to disconnect work from life. Does that make this the “great disconnect?” No. The disconnect has existed for decades, the struggle to separate our work from our worth is nothing new – the pandemic is simply the agitator. 

So, while women are giving up their careers, men are opting out of college and people everywhere are checked out or burned out, all the C-Suite can talk about is how people resigning affects their organizations. Further complicating matters is what candidates know and understand about the use of technology in the workplace, particularly in hiring.

Headlines like “Automated-hiring systems are excluding many people from job discussions at a time when additional employees are desperately needed” are contributing to the idea that it’s us vs. them, employer vs. employee, recruiter vs. job seeker. Some within talent acquisition are rallying against this – likely why we heard little about AI at this year’s conference. There’s a need to connect and protect, and that requires more humanity. 

How the world worked before 2020 is no longer relevant, and most employers are struggling to come to terms with that. At the core of what’s going on, the problems remain the same. It’s that disconnect that’s growing faster. In practice, the technologies we use for recruiting, retention, culture, engagement, experience and so on are all good and well if people’s needs get met. If we fail to establish a solid base, the entire structure will fall, and fixating on the Great Whatever feels like one more wave that will wipe us out. 

The post The Great Big Distracting Wave appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Departments responsible for employee engagement and retention are managing an especially difficult environment, in which more than half of their employees have openly disengaged. 

This would put a crimp in anyone’s trip to the metaphorical blackjack table this week. In reality, the Great Resignation presents a serious existential challenge to HR.

In contrast, HRTech offers an excellent opportunity for Human Resources to reset the agenda for the remainder of this year and into 2022. Perhaps our radically shifting workforce is simply a result of the prominent challenges facing HR departments. COVID threw us all for a loop, and most of HR has been at the center of trying to keep businesses functioning.

This all begs the question: Can more holistic benefits stem the tide of employee disengagement and stop the Great Resignation?

Putting It in Perspective

It’s helpful here to paraphrase NBA coach and general manager Pat Riley, who won championships with the LA Lakers and Miami Heat, and overachieved with the New York Knicks. He was referencing the importance of preparation. For our purposes, let’s say that “innovating around benefits may not keep your employees during this period, but without them, you don’t stand a chance.”

Riley, even when paraphrased, is spot on. This vast stagnation will only perpetuate the Great Resignation. But first, let’s take an honest look at how we got here, because it provides some clues to the future.

At this time in 2019, COVID wasn’t even a rumor. The Conference Board reported that job satisfaction was at its highest level in two decades — 54%. However, the reasons people liked their jobs were fascinating: 60% said it was because of the commute, and 60% said it was because of the people.

Just six months later, one of those would be erased, and the other would be relegated to computer screens. 

Here’s What Happened

In 2020, job satisfaction went up to 56.9%, because in the presence of crisis and the absence of people, benefits became the most important job reward. They enhanced the lifeline between employee and employer. In some ways, they became the salvation between a team member and mental, physical and financial health.

Now the world finds itself in the precarious position of psychologically moving past the pandemic, even though it is still lurking in some regions and is still as lethal as ever in others. The areas that have moved on are the business centers: major cities — outside of the American South — that perpetuated high vaccination rates and low infection rates. It’s no surprise that resignation rates are high there, as well.

So back to the question at hand: Can benefits stop the Great Resignation? We believe they can. With that said, we can’t continue to push the same old benefits packages.

The Great Resignation has been arguably caused by the most sweeping societal and business disruption since World War II. HR must respond in kind. Your employees’ work lives and personal lives have been changed dramatically.

We gather that the following three actions will provide a good platform to produce the bold actions necessary to make benefits a more positive retention factor.

Quantify The Potential Problem

Take a data-driven approach to the problem. The national job departure average is 55%. That doesn’t mean your employees are looking to walk out the door, but you should act as if they are. Be honest. Act like you have a retention crisis and identify at-risk employees. Are they taking a lot of personal days? More active on LinkedIn? These behaviors would indicate a level of dissatisfaction with their current job. Maybe HR could form a cohort to study and match with benefit package upgrades, such as spot bonuses.

Also, understand that the past year has accelerated some logical trends. According to the Harvard Business Review, resignations have been driven by employees who are in the middle of their careers. That could possibly be because they’re easier to train in a remote environment, whereas new hires need to hit the ground running. HBR also found that withdrawals are higher in the tech and healthcare fields, where burnout has been the most intense over the past 18 months.

Expand and Customize

A lot of benefits packages give lip service to “the whole you” or “a holistic approach to benefits.” It’s time to walk the walk.

The pandemic has shown intimate detail about every employee and their needs, as well as their family when relevant. Post-pandemic benefits plans should capitalize on this. Remember: “Disruption” is the operative word.

If data shows that 36% of your workforce has accessed mental health benefits during the pandemic, consult with professionals as to how those benefits should be upgraded for those who are continuing with counseling.

Likewise, earned wage benefits are more critical for employees at the lower end of the salary spectrum or for those with larger households. Provide dashboards to help them do the math and build financial management plans. 

Get Your Team Together

Post-pandemic perks are not an HR problem — they are a cross-departmental opportunity. HR and Payroll can provide spot bonus programs, automatic savings programs, earned wage access, on-demand pay and other features that turn payroll into an experience over a transaction.

HR and the C-suite can transform the old school town hall into a more interactive practice with an open discussion about benefits. Say the quiet parts aloud. How can we help you recover from the past 18 months? What’s important about your work experience now that wasn’t important two years ago?

Bottom line: Get on the case. The Great Resignation will most likely level off — but don’t miss the opportunity to align benefits with the new reality of the post-pandemic workforce. 

The post Aligning Benefits to a Post-Pandemic Reality appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Green lights like those found in Slack, Microsoft Teams and Skype have become a staple in the world of remote productivity, but it’s at best a superficial measure of productivity and, at worst, a major distraction.

Employees can’t focus on their actual work if they are constantly worried about their green light. Many managers are worried about the productivity of their remote workers and want a good way to measure it, but it’s much more complicated than simply checking to see if someone’s green light is on.

Problems With the Green Light Method

As the green light has become a measure for employee productivity, there have been tons of articles about how to keep the green light on and memes about how distracting the platform can be. Some people are even building or employing applications or other creative solutions to move their mouses every so often to make themselves look productive.

But it’s important to remember that an employee’s green light will always be on if they’re just chatting on Slack all day. Clearly, that’s not productive behavior. If you’re measuring by their green light, though, they may seem like your most prolific employee.

On the other hand, very productive employees may not always be “on.” They may be in other applications that cause them to appear “away” on Slack or Teams, even though they’re really hard at work.

How To Make Slack and Similar Apps Less Distracting

Luckily, it is possible to limit some of the distractions that Slack and similar apps can cause. One option is to mute channels, especially any that are just for fun, so you won’t get distracted by the notifications. This allows you to keep notifications on for important updates, but new memes won’t interrupt your flow. If you need to, you can also turn off all of your notifications.

Another option is to use status updates to let coworkers know when you’re unavailable. Some people use them to denote deep work, so their colleagues won’t send them messages unless it’s an emergency. Others use them to let their team know they’re away from their desk, so they’ll understand why they’re not getting a response right away.

Building Good Communication in the Workplace

Productivity goes far beyond whether or not someone is available on Slack or Teams, though. It also comes down to good communication.

As a manager, you have to set clear expectations early and stick to them. Put them in writing or even add them to a policy guide, but make sure all of your direct reports know what’s expected of them from day one.

It’s also important that companies use the right channels for different messages. If a message isn’t urgent, email is a great option, so employees can get to it when they have time. And for complicated topics, you should probably hop on a call or schedule a meeting.

For instant messaging platforms, don’t tag someone in a channel unless it’s urgent.

Setting Healthy Boundaries at Work

As a manager, you need to lead by example and set healthy boundaries at work, so your employees know that they’re well within their rights to do the same. Instant messages don’t necessarily require instant responses. Non-urgent requests can be ignored when you’re focused on something more important.

A boundary like this can help you be more productive and feel less frustrated during work. Additionally, remote work requires some level of trust. Don’t micromanage your team or bother them about it if their green light does go out.

Trust is an important part of making employees feel valued. If they’re tediously being controlled, your employees are going to feel tense and underappreciated.

Distinguishing Between Productive and Busy

Busy and productive don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand. If a chronically busy employee isn’t consistently getting their work done on time, then they aren’t being productive, regardless of whether their green light is on or not. Similarly, an employee who regularly provides quality, punctual work is a productive member of your team. It shouldn’t matter if their green light is always on.

The post Is Slack’s Green Light Causing Anxiety for Your Team? appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

When you work in human resources (HR), you wear a lot of hats. You’re both entrepreneur and coach, teacher and cheerleader, psychologist and fortune-teller. You have to select the right employees, and you have to formulate strategies that will promote not only their success but the success of the organization as a whole. 

Now, more than ever, that includes cultivating a workplace environment that prioritizes employees’ mental health. However, that’s not always an easy proposition, especially if company leaders don’t necessarily recognize the link between workers’ mental wellbeing and the business’s bottom line. 

But the fact remains that supporting employees’ mental health makes good business sense because when employees are happier and healthier, they’re also more motivated, more productive and more engaged.

Why Engagement Matters

If you’re running a business or leading a team, you might not be too concerned about the issue of employee engagement, as long as the team or the company is meeting its metrics. Unfortunately, that’s a thought trap that’s easy to fall into, especially for senior leadership, who may spend most of their workday pouring over financial data instead of interacting with junior staff “on the ground.” 

But HR pros know that engagement is far more than a “fluff” issue, a tertiary concern compared with the real meat of keeping a business afloat and thriving. 

The reality, though, is that engagement impacts almost every aspect of organizational performance, from increasing profitability to reducing turnover. More engaged employees are not only more motivated and higher performing, but they also have been shown to boost the motivation, loyalty, and performance of those around them.

Employee Engagement and Wellness

Given the traits of the highly engaged employee that we’ve already identified above, it’s perhaps not surprising to note that engagement and employee wellness are strongly linked. This is particularly true when it comes to employees’ mental health. 

And yet, studies show that mental health issues are one of the most significant challenges businesses face today. In fact, according to a recent McKinsey study, 96 percent of companies reported that they had begun to offer additional mental health resources in the wake of the turmoil engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these efforts, though, only one in six employees stated that they felt benefitted by those initiatives.

Making It Work

Even if studies such as that by McKinsey paint a somewhat bleak picture of the state of employee engagement and mental wellbeing today, there is hope. It begins with understanding employees’ needs today and meeting them where they are now.

For many employees, this means full- or part-time remote work. And while the virtual workplace may be a necessity for large segments of the workforce today, that does not mean that it’s always easy. In fact, remote work can take a significant toll on employees’ mental health and that, in turn, can have a highly detrimental impact on engagement as well. 

Remote work, by its very nature, can be severely isolating, which can instigate or exacerbate employees’ sense of loneliness, depression and anxiety. 

That’s why nurturing employees’ mental health means taking special care of your company’s remote workers. Just because your team may be working remotely some or all of the time, for instance, doesn’t mean you have to give up the social aspects of the workplace. It’s imperative, for instance, to build in routine one-on-one interactions into the remote workday, as well as regular team meetings through video conference. 

Stay Connected

Similarly, a great instant messaging tool that includes forums not just for work-related conversation but also for private and team chats can help your employees feel less disconnected and far more supported. 

Better still, your virtual workplace can be an incredible platform for celebrating holidays, rewarding employee performance, and in general fostering that sense of belonging that remote workers need. In an environment in which loneliness, depression, isolation and anxiety are a significant risk, cultivating such continuous connection with and among your team members can be the protective firewall your employees need. 

You can support your employees’ mental wellbeing and engagement by seizing every opportunity to allow your team to celebrate special occasions “together,” from virtual holiday parties to online company game nights, to monthly employee appreciation events, complete with awards, both large and small.

Recruiting for Wellness

Supporting employee wellbeing and driving engagement isn’t just about managing established employees effectively, it’s also about building wellness into your recruiting practices. For example, you can harness the power of social media to begin cultivating harmonious and healthful relationships with promising candidates and new hires alike. In the process, you can both promote your company’s wellness benefits, from discounted gym memberships to access to mental health services.

And the more you build employee quality of life and well-being into your company brand, the more likely you are to attract premium candidates. After all, talent will go where they feel most cared for, not simply as a productive employee, but as a valued and valuable human being. 

The Takeaway

Nurturing your employees’ mental health isn’t just the compassionate thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do. Employees who are healthy and happy in both mind and body are also more engaged, resulting in greater productivity, higher performance and less turnover.

Supporting your employees’ mental health isn’t a one-and-done process, however. It begins at the recruiting phase and continues through the employee’s entire tenure, extending into the physical and virtual office space alike.

The post Nurturing Your Employees Mental Health Leads to Increased Engagement appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

From there, we can help you uncover why you’re feeling the way you are and of course, what to do about it.

Are you dreading the commute? Are you anxious about being in the office all day?

What it could mean:

For many of us, remote work has become something we have come to love and thrive in.

It is possible this new way of living is just up your alley, and that’s okay!

What to do about it:

Consider if you’d be happy doing a hybrid of in-person and remote work (and what balance you’re okay with), or if you’d prefer to work fully remotely. (which is okay!)

Then, explore whether it is feasible to bring this up to your manager. The time is NOW to voice opinions and concerns about this to see what is feasible as things are changing.

It is possible your company has already put up a new rigid policy and/or won’t budge on your preferences, in which case, you want to consider how strong this feeling and desire is for remote work, and consider finding a purely remote role.

Are you dreading seeing your colleagues? Are you dreading revisiting the company culture?

What it could mean:

The environment and culture of a team or company are an underrated element in our overall job fulfillment.

Aligning with the values and personality of the company and those around you can make or break how you feel day-to-day.

What to do about it:

Decide if your team is the killer here, or if it is the company at large. If it’s just the team or manager, is there another team/manager with a better culture you would be happy joining?

Unfortunately, culture is a really difficult thing to change. So if you’re not vibing or thriving in your company’s environment, it may be time to explore finding a new company and culture fit where you can be yourself.

Are you dreading the work you need to be doing? Are you feeling generally unfulfilled?

What it could mean:

Consider three separate parts to any work experience: role, industry, and environment.

Ask yourself: is it the day-to-day responsibilities that I’m not aligned with and/or is it the company mission that doesn’t intrigue me?

You want to find a role where you align with the style of the work, feel challenged, and care about the work’s impact. With the company, you want to believe in the mission, purpose, and output of what that company does, who it helps, and why.

Either the role, industry, and/or environment, could be levers for you to uncover which area needs room for improvement.

What to do about it:

If you need some clarity on the best fit role or industry for you, pursue career exploration. Career exploration is a process that is distinct from and a precursor to the job search, including a series of steps of practical learning and self-reflection in order to compare, contrast, and clarify which career path you are confident in pursuing (role, industry, and environment).

Then, you can determine if you can make a move internally or if you want to job search to find a new role elsewhere. Give yourself the opportunity to uncover what path is a great fit for you, and find support to ease the search.  

Recognize that it is feasible to find a path that aligns and challenges you. 30% of U.S. employees are engaged at work, so let’s look to them to figure out how they found and pursued a path that aligned so well with them.

Listen to yourself.

The important thing to realize is to always listen to yourself. If you’re having any feelings, understand where they are really coming from, how strong that feeling is, and if it’s having an effect on you, explore potential solutions. You deserve nothing less.

Often, in careers, we brush aside our feelings or delay acting on them, only to realize weeks, months, or years later that we’re miserable.

Remember that you can explore support from peers, mentors, or coaches to at least sort through how you feel and consider ideas or next steps you’d feel confident and comfortable with, before taking any action.

The post Anxious about going into the office? Here’s what it could mean… appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

“Two or three months’ vacation after the hard and nervous strain to which one is subjected…are necessary in order to enable one to continue his work…with energy and effectiveness.”  -President William Taft, 1910.

Apparently, Americans weren’t keen on the idea of a nice, long vacation and no law was passed. Other industrialized countries took notice of this “memo” and instituted guaranteed paid vacation time, such as Sweden and Germany, mandating seven weeks of paid vacation per year.

Now, 111 years later, we still have no guaranteed paid vacation days. Nor any federally mandated paid parental or sick leave.

That’s abysmal compared to all other developed countries.

That’s why the data science team at Resume-Now asked 950+ Americans about how much leave they took and if they were aware of the paid leave available in other countries.

Here’s a quick overview of the disturbing findings from the study:

• 27% of working mothers had only 5-6 weeks maternity leave
• 59% of women avoided calling in sick when having pregnancy symptoms
• 26% of employees had just 2-5 days of paid sick leave
• 18% of survey-takers had 6-9 days of vacation
• 61% of respondents didn’t know the average parental leave in Europe is 26 weeks

Vacation Leaves Something to be Desired

Sunbathing with family, taking a solo museum tour, or hiking with a buddy in the woods…no matter what’s your pleasure, we all need a respite from the grind.

But, are we getting enough time for these pleasurable activities?

It’s typical to get more than 20 days of vacation in Europe.

The average number of paid vacation days for those working in the private sector for at least a year is 10 days, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We wanted to find out if our respondents had the same.

And, it turns out, our sampling reflected those stats. A whopping 45% had between 10-15 days of vacation. Shockingly, 15% had just 1-5 days. This shows that we’re seriously overworked.

Time to relax for fun is one thing, but time to relax in order to recuperate is quite another. We wanted to find out if our survey takers had enough time to tend to themselves when feeling under the weather.

A Lack-of-Vacation Loophole

Those who are vacation-deprived have a clever solution: calling in sick when feeling peachy.

If you have enough paid sick leave in the bank, it stands to reason that employees who are running out of vacation days milk their sick leave. Those in the study reflected this stealthy solution.

An impressive 41% reported falsely calling in sick between 1-5 times per year. And who can blame them?

When it comes to vacation leave, the United States falls far behind many other developed nations, and a work-life balance really doesn’t exist.

Wellness is not a top priority, which is also reflected in the shortfall of sick leave time.

Sickening Amount of Sick Leave

It’s an unfortunate fact that at least 20 million Americans go to work sick because they do not have any paid sick leave. This approach is not popular in other parts of the world. At least 145 countries provide paid sick days for short- or long-term illnesses, with 127 providing a week or more annually.

In the United States, on the other hand, there are currently no federal legal requirements that require employers to provide paid sick leave for their staff.

In the study, it was clear that the respondents were severely lacking in sick time.

A sickening reality: 26% had only 2-5 days of paid sick leave available. A quarter had just 6-10 days. And, sadly, 2 out of 10 had no paid sick leave at all. 

It stands to reason that many American workers are going to work sick to avoid losing pay.  Not a good look during a pandemic.

They’re faced with the unfortunate choice of working sick or not getting paid, with 33% of them agreeing that the amount of sick time they had was adequate.

It’s obvious that we’re not getting enough time to recuperate when feeling under the weather.

No Paid Maternity Leave

It’s frankly an embarrassment. Other industrialized countries often have up to a year of paid maternity leave. The United States has none.

Although the Family Medical Leave Act ensures that employers with 50 or more workers must allow parents 12 weeks of job-protected leave per year to care for a newborn, that leave is unpaid. And many moms have to take off sick and vacation days to take advantage of this.

Only 56 percent of employees are eligible for FMLA based on an FMLA survey. Too many moms—and dads—do not have enough time to bond and care for their little bundles of joy.

The results from the Resume-Now survey confirmed the disturbing truth: Moms and dads had very limited time to spend with their newborn.

Nearly 3 out of 10 dads were only able to take 2 weeks or less of leave.  

Of the moms, 27% took 5-6 weeks off. A shocking 20% took only 3-4 weeks. It shouldn’t be possible that a mom was not able to take any time off after giving birth, but 3% of moms reported taking no maternity leave.

The amount of time off these parents were able to take is minuscule as compared with most developed nations.

A devastating reality is that many moms simply didn’t have enough sick and/or vacation time left to take as much time as they needed. A full 32% of moms said they couldn’t take that time because they had no time left and needed the money.

And 19% were afraid of losing their job. As one mom said,

“I was supposed to be grateful that my company wouldn’t fire me for taking 12 weeks of unpaid leave. It’s a joke.”

Ignorance is Not Bliss

The satisfaction levels of survey-takers were baffling. Americans seem to be satisfied with the amount of sick leave, vacation, and parental leave they have. Nearly 7 out of 10 said their vacation days were adequate, 33% were satisfied with their sick leave, and 42% felt their parental leave time was enough.

And perhaps it comes back to that not-getting-the-memo idea.  

Perhaps if U.S. workers were made more aware of the leave available in other industrialized countries, they’d be a little less…satisfied.

In response to several “Did you know?” questions, most respondents were unaware of the policies of other developed nations.

“Did you know that the average amount of parental leave in Europe is twenty-six weeks?” 

61% said no.

“Did you know that there is no federal minimum for paid vacation or paid public holidays in the U.S.?” 

47% said no.

“Did you know that most countries in Europe give their employees 20 or more paid vacation days?” 

54% said no.

“Did you know that the U.S., Suriname, Papua New Guinea, and a handful of island nations in the Pacific Ocean are the only countries that don’t require employers to provide paid time off for new mothers?” 

63% said no.

It’s not that all Americans feel that the situation is fine and dandy. There were voices among respondents saying that the situation regarding vacation, maternity leave and sick leave should improve and be brought into line with European standards:

“I think that America is a live-to-work and not a work-to-live society and this is reflected in the low number of paid days off most workers receive.”

“I think the US should offer time equivalent to European nations.”

Work to Live or Live to Work?

Although we are a world leader in many areas, America lags well behind other countries when it comes to paid leave.

Not only is there a lack of paid leave, but Americans are kept in the dark about how common it is to have plentiful leave in other countries.

Maybe it’s high time for the United States to also become a leader in terms of social satisfaction and innovation in the field of work-life balance and institute paid leave policies that support the hardworking people who make this a great country?  

So far, these only seem to be illusory dreams—dreams of a President over 100 years ago that failed to take hold.

The post Americans Left Out with Lack of Leave appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Six months ago, more than 45% of employees – essential and remote workers – reported suffering from burnout.

Why could churn be higher this year? As the U.S. slowly emerges from the pandemic, people feel their lives are becoming more predictable and under control again, creating the mental bandwidth to consider a job change.

There’s also more freedom. Geographic location is no longer a driving factor during a job search, thanks to the virtual work trend that is here to stay in many industries. Talent pools have truly become nationwide, if not global.

It’s vital for organizations to consider that while everybody is in this same storm, we are not all in the same boat.

To reduce burnout for high-performing employees and get acceptance on job offers, organizations need to find new ways to relate to employees and candidates that demonstrate genuine empathy.

Recharge to renew motivation

Supporting employees in overcoming burnout is important for everyone in the organization. Try these strategies to help reduce stress and elevate outlook in your workforce:

Help employees stay challenged intellectually. For some, taking on new responsibilities and having the opportunity to learn will recharge them and keep them motivated. Find ways to focus less on the minutiae of a job description and more on enabling employees to use their skills and passion to help move your organization forward.

At Modern Hire, we encourage our team members to consider internal mobility options to shift into other areas of the company that interest them or take on projects that get them excited. Taking on different job responsibilities, even on a short-term project basis, can break up the routine.

It also contributes to professional development.

Encourage employees to disconnect and recharge. Because people were unable to travel for vacations last year, many opted to not take time off. Even if not traveling, PTO is essential to unplug from work, recharge, and avoid burnout. At Modern Hire, for instance, we regularly encourage our employees to take time away from work and truly disconnect.

Organizations must foster a culture that respects and values time away from work, so employees get that mental break.

Support work/life flexibility. One of our company values – Invest in People – centers on providing employees with the flexibility to focus on what is important when it is most important. Sometimes the most important thing is finishing a big work project with a looming deadline.

Other times, the most important thing is cheering on your kid at their soccer game, taking care of your ailing parent, or dealing with any of life’s other demands. Trust your people.

Give them the flexibility they need to attend to all the things – work and personal – that are important to them.

Consider office reopening plans from your employees’ view. It’s not easy to maintain your culture when everyone is virtual, but you’ll do damage if you require people to come back when they say they aren’t ready. Many people don’t want to give up the flexibility they’ve built into their lives.

Some organizations are asking for volunteers to begin the return to work; others are giving hybrid work schedules a test.  

Make it easy for candidates to accept your offer

As organizations rebuild for the future, they need to translate their concern for employees into the hiring experience for candidates.

Here are a few hiring strategies that will show candidates you care about eliminating burnout and ensure you’re extending offers to the right candidates:

Be clear on your reopening plan. Solid communication on this will highlight your attention to employee burnout. It also helps ensure candidates who are hired during an all-virtual mode aren’t caught off guard by a mandatory return to the workplace. Your entire interview team should be consistent with this message.

Understand why candidates are looking. Are they running away from the same factors that will cause job fatigue with your organization? Are they settling for you because they just need to leave a current employer? You want to make sure they are joining your team for the right reasons.

Offer candidate-centered hiring experiences. Give candidates a window into your organization and treat them fairly, with dignity and respect, in your hiring process.

A science-based virtual hiring platform can provide the tools your team needs to create the right job-relevant experience by:

• Streamlining and building on the candidate’s journey, so they are not asked the same questions in every step and have more opportunities to use their own words rather than answer multiple-choice questions.
• Enabling efficient and easy hiring team collaboration, so interviewers are well-prepared not only about the role but about each candidate’s background.  
• Inviting candidates into your process with an honest look at the role and your organization during pre-hire assessments, so they can make informed decisions about their fit if you decide to extend an offer based on the assessment data.

This pandemic forever changed how people and organizations think about where, how, and when work is done.

Successful companies won’t try to turn back the clock, especially when there are new opportunities for organizational and personal growth, and different challenges to solve with employee burnout.

They will continue to evolve their culture, their messaging, and hiring processes. Employer-employee relationships of the future will be more human-centric than ever.  

The post How To Overcome Burnout In The Hiring Process appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

And while some of us sometimes miss catered lunches, friendly water-cooler moments, and free cappuccino in the shared kitchen, it’ll likely take a while before employers across the nation find a way to reopen their office spaces safely.

That’s why a data science team at LiveCareer decided to take the pulse of 1,000+ employees’ experiences with remote work, zeroing in on the professional and personal benefits WFH provides.

Below is a quick rundown of the study’s key findings:

• Most employees save between 30 minutes and 2 hours each day by not commuting to the office. That’s 7.6 to 30 days a year!
• The average employee saves around $4,000 yearly by working from home.
• A full 74 percent of remote workers started a side hustle with the time they saved.
• Nearly half of Americans have traveled to a different city or country to earn a living in a remote capacity.

Remote Work: Money and Time Savings

It’s no secret that remote work offers lots of benefits ranging from improved work-life balance to increased productivity.

On top of that, WFH helps save time and money. With so much extra time saved, how do employees use it? It depends. The vast majority of working professionals choose to spend more time with family and friends and get more sleep.

Others prefer to undertake more recreational activities such as hiking or camping, pick up new skills and competencies or generally work on self-improvement, getting training/education.

How do employees use the extra money?

Most working professionals report they use the extra money to build or beef up an emergency fund or nest egg or contribute to retirement and/or pension savings to ensure a smooth transition further down the road.

Other working professions claim they’ll use the extra cash to save for big purchases such as a home, new car, grad school, or vacation once it’s safe to travel. The remaining workers reported they’d invest the money in personal or professional development.

Telecommuting vs. Traveling and Work Satisfaction

When the COVID-19 pandemic started to wreak havoc on a global scale, few of us managed to deal effectively with stress, juggle family responsibilities, and deliver on our combined team goals.

But—

With time, we’ve acclimated, and some of us even entertained the idea of traveling while working remotely. And many turned that secret dream into reality, according to the study’s findings, with over half of remote employees spending at least a week working from the road.

As a result, many remote workers now also report higher job satisfaction. In fact, 37 percent of employees rate the state of their professional life as somewhat better, followed up by 15 percent who go as far as saying they feel significantly more satisfied with their jobs.

The Effect of Telecommuting on Employees’ Overall Wellbeing

Lastly, researchers at LiveCareer wanted to explore the effects of remote work on employees, gauging their overall physical and mental health, well-being, and how telecommuting affects different aspects of their lives.

Based on the obtained results, the vast majority of workers in the US exercise more since they have started to work remotely. Perhaps that’s because many of us live in houses as opposed to apartments where we can afford to have a dedicated gym room.

On top of that, most US employees claim their financial situation is now somewhat better or significantly better. That makes sense given how much more remote workers save per month.

As for employees’ family life, remote work too had a largely positive effect, with more than 63 percent of respondents reporting their family life has improved. One explanation for it could be that when the pandemic erupted, many families were hemmed in at home where they could spend much more time with their loved ones, talk things through, and generally iron issues out.

Social-life-wise, 44 percent of employees managed to have a somewhat or significantly better social life despite the social distancing measures. Perhaps those Zoom interactions did pay off in the end.

Prolonged remote work positively impacted most American’s life goals and their crystallization. According to our respondents, their vision for life roadmap is now somewhat better or significantly better. One explanation for it could be that many of us engaged in self-discovery and self-reflection during the prolonged WFH.

As a result, we now have a much better sense of what we want to do in the future, both on a professional and personal level.

The post The Flip Side of Remote Work appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

According to CNBC, there were an estimated 35 million working mothers at the end of 2019. In 2020, 78.2% of families had at least one parent working. These statistics help to prove the point that parents are hard workers.

Some studies have even shown that parents are better workers. Yet, despite these statistics that point towards a growing workforce that is increasingly family-based, many employers still don’t seem to understand or believe parents can be good workers.

Some employers are even holding fast to stereotypes and stigmas. Some believe that parents are less productive at work because they’re distracted. Or, assume parents need more time off or have to leave unexpectedly for family emergencies.

Why do these biases still exist? Furthermore, how can employers move past them and create working environments for parents that help them to succeed instead of hindering their progress?

Why Parents are Productive

Letting go of the stigma that working parents are a hindrance is crucial for your business’s success. You could be missing out on some of the best possible employees for your company by not hiring people with children at home.

Multiple studies have showcased the value of working parents. Some of these studies show that parents are typically:

• More productive
• Great multi-taskers
• Empathetic
• Have better time management skills
• More likely to be in touch with the world and willing to research things

By supporting working parents, you’ll create a happier, less stressful work environment.

Your current employees won’t have to worry about what might happen to them if they decide to start a family. You’ll also retain better talent when your business builds a reputation for supporting all of your employees, no matter what their situations may be.

When you choose to let go of the stigma surrounding working parents, your business will benefit.

Letting Go of the Stigma

In most cases, the bias against parents is unintentional. You may not even realize that you’re letting your antiquated feelings steer your thought process. That’s why it’s so important to bring this stigma to light.

One study published in the Journal of Social Issues found that when people were told an employee was also a mother, they viewed her as less competent. Those in hiring positions had less interest in bringing her on or promoting her.

Another study from the American Sociological Review found that women can lose 7% of their earnings when they become mothers.

Some insist the discrepancies exist due to a decline in employee work ethic. They usually point towards a parent’s need to adjust their schedules when they become parents. They might need to cut back on their hours or ask for more flexibility when it comes to their job.

Although parents may do these things, it doesn’t invalidate their work ethic. Having children doesn’t lower anyone’s ability to do things the right way. It certainly doesn’t impact anyone’s competence.

Ultimately, it’s up to employers to fight back against these strange stigmas that suggest parenthood causes employees to somehow lose their skills. You can do that by supporting working parents, rather than buying into stereotypes.

How You Can Support Working Parents

One way to fight against these stereotypes is to offer appealing incentives to parents that can keep them on as loyal employees for years to come.

Oftentimes, the biggest incentive is offering support. Parents want equality along with every other employee, and that starts with supporting them and their needs. Talk to them. Have an open discussion about what they feel is important. It might include things like:

• Paid parental leave
• A family-friendly company culture
• A safe space for working parents

Those needs might look different for every parent, so creating a “parent policy” that includes flexibility. Oftentimes, this is a great place to start. Consider letting parents work remotely at least a few days a week. If they have the right equipment and home office essentials, they can be just as productive at home without having to leave their children.

It’s also important to understand the value of a working parent’s time. Everyone has a busy schedule, but parents have to deal with multiple schedules. Additionally, they can’t limit their children from doing things just because their working hours are rigid.

Make sure to hold meetings that have value, and don’t fall into the trap of putting a meeting together that could have been an email. Having brainstorming sessions, even via Zoom, is a great way to get everyone on the same page, be productive, and move forward with a new idea or project.

It allows everyone the opportunity to learn about their specific “jobs”, so they can then accomplish them independently.

Supporting parents at work is important for your business. Not only will it create more loyal employees, but you’ll build a positive and productive culture that will help to eliminate stigmas for years to come.

The post Working Parents Make Great Employees appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

But even though the introduction of vaccines is causing a renewed sense of hope and optimism, we’re not out of the woods yet – and parents will probably be the first to tell you that. Though the last year and then some have been trying for most folks, parents faced the unenviable task of balancing priorities without much in terms of support.

Organizations that previously provided perks like childcare and on-site fitness facilities shuttered. Daycares and schools bounced from remote to in-person and back again. Colleges required the careful orchestration of on-campus living, off-campus learning, and continual testing to try and keep students safe.

Caught somewhere in the middle of this were the parents, just trying to keep going.    

For some, the work-life integration act turned flaming tightrope walk proved to be too much. And in turn, a considerable number of parents, particularly women, left the workforce entirely.

However, this devastating loss shined a light on deep-seated issues affecting working parents – and what some companies have done to support these employees.

Parent-Friendly Programming

When COVID started spreading and lockdowns took effect worldwide, the CEO of MURAL, a digital workspace for visual collaboration, reached out to Head of Culture and Collaboration Laïla von Alvensleben and asked what the company could do for employees juggling work and homeschooling their children.

Recognizing the need to keep kids both entertained and educated, MURAL moved quickly to develop a homeschool program as an extracurricular activity. The program delivered weekly resources focused on specific themes to keep children engaged and offer parents some of the structure missing from their routines.

Partnering with bilingual content creators, MURAL stood up the program in one week, with options for children of different ages. von Alvensleben commented,

“The parents were really grateful. That’s the first word that comes to mind. And they were excited too. I think it helped parents feel a little less overwhelmed while they were juggling so many other things and so many changes.”

Communication Expectations

Doist, the company behind the productivity app, Todoist, and communication app, Twist, has been remote for over a decade, shared Brenna Loury, Head of Marketing. As such, she explained, Doist has perfected a set of tools and workflows that support remote work and built a culture based around asynchronous communication.

Loury said, “We’ve been operating under this type of methodology forever. That gives our team members, no matter their circumstances, the flexibility to never feel like they have to respond immediately. We’ve always had a company policy that you should respond within 24 hours, but even that’s pretty loose.”

She continued, “Building a team culture around asynchronous communication is really the best practice that companies should aim for. That way, you’re giving parents the opportunity to act like parents, allowing them to work odd hours and when they have a moment free. Then they’re not feeling this immense pressure to respond in real-time.”

Autonomy for All

Over the last year, we’ve heard endless talk about resilience, agility, flexibility, adaptability, and the like. But it isn’t easy to find the time to build these out when you’re one person just trying to get through the day. That’s why much of this conversation goes back to what employers can do for their workforce.

In the case of MURAL and Doist, both organizations empower parents through autonomy.

Beyond the homeschool offering, MURAL also created content about identifying the symptoms of burnout and introduced an Employee Assistance Program to connect employees with the support they need when they need it. von Alvensleben said, “We wanted to help managers understand how to identify burnout in a preventative way. We also opened this up to other employees just to help them understand their own wellbeing, both mental and physical.”

As a remote-first company, Doist spent much of the last year reinforcing its commitment to autonomy.

Loury noted, “I think it’s a huge mentality shift for a lot of people. But I think the sooner companies adopt this mentality, the faster the parents on their team will be able to work more efficiently. This isn’t just for parents but for the wellbeing and productivity of everybody on the team.”

She offered, “Instead of these crazy tactics of monitoring if people are at their desk or having people check-in at certain hours of the day, you should optimize their workflows to see, did this person commit to what they said they were going to commit to? Are they reaching their deadlines?

It’s pretty clear when that’s not happening and when that becomes a pattern of behavior. We’re talking about a lot of big mentality and cultural shifts. I recognize that that doesn’t necessarily happen overnight, but companies can take baby steps in this direction and ultimately convert their culture to a culture of trust.”

The post Work From Home and the Impact on Parenting appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

In the meantime, the cottage industry of corporate wellness started offering novel services like mindfulness meditation to a new generation of millennial startups.

As a $52.8 billion industry (with a CAGR of 7.0 percent from 2021 to 2028), one might say that corporate wellness companies were foresighted when the world came to a halt. Even though remote work and social distancing acted as catalysts for new technological and creative solutions, the industry’s innovative nature gave companies an edge.

Thus, in 2020 and 2021, we can see how the changes in consumer behavior and the new set of challenges and priorities inspired growth in this sector.

Virtual Corporate Wellness Solutions

The aftermath of COVID’s mental-health toll is still way away.

And the data pulled by the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom shows that we’re at the beginning of a mental health crisis. Because of the social restrictions, virtual solutions became the safest option.

However, it’s not only a question of safety but also one of well-being. And the data is showing us that these corporate programs are not only trends but a necessity. Thus, we saw the development of:  

• Pinterest & Brainstorm: The Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation launched the Compassionate Search Project.
• Fuseproject launched Dreem, an application that provides users with a drug-free, custom-tailored solution for better sleep.
• Sweat Force started offering virtual fitness as the central pillar of its corporate wellness program. Companies like Peloton, ClassPass, Wellbeats, BurnAlong, Movement Rx, and many others jumped on the bandwagon.

The expansion of virtual solutions exploded in the past year because wellness companies push the limits on immersive experiences. The key is a high level of customization for each employee or team. The goal is overall wellness.

Wellness as a Game Experience

Another avenue wellness companies are exploring is the concept of wellness as a game experience. Or, as SonicBoom put it, gamifying wellness.

The notion might not be as novel as tracking COVID-19, but the methods and the strategies are because they are driving engagement. Using any app that tracks wellness goals and asks users to fulfill specific objectives (game jargon: quests) is a form of gamification.

Users are “tricked” into incorporating healthy habits into their lifestyles through the power of fun and exciting activities. Moreover, they get brownie points and a rush of dopamine every time they fulfill an objective.

Video games (at least the good ones) use this basic model to attract players, and wellness companies borrow it to help users lead healthy lives.

Telemedicine

The rise of telemedicine in the past year has been unprecedented, with 9 million users receiving a telehealth service from mid-March through mid-June alone.

The reasons for this growth might be obvious: the pandemic, the social distancing rules, or the cost. However, flexibility and convenience might hold the keys to the castle. Not only for the users but for the providers.

Telemedicine services can be easily adapted into the workflow, and more importantly, the quality of the service remains high. Wellness companies that develop telemedicine platforms focus on seamless integration within the EHR system.

Hence, since the pandemic, the list of companies working in the telemedicine field got bigger – the expected CAGR is shocking 25.2 percent. The industry’s key players are Teladoc, MeMD, iCliniq, Amwell, MDlive, Doctor on Demand, and soon many others.

Tracking Covid-19

A textbook example of how a company can step up during a difficult time with an innovative solution is Fitbit.

In May 2020, Fitbit announced a COVID-19 study to build an algorithm that detects COVID-19 before symptoms start. According to its findings, and with more than 100,000 Fitbit users analyzed, the company can detect nearly 50 percent of the cases one day before the first symptoms.

The benefits of this research are obvious. Moreover, the company is also tracking changes in heart rate and breathing rate connected to COVID-19. All of the gathered data is publicly available.

Digital Wellness

Another valuable byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic is the recognition of digital wellness.

As people spend more and more time integrating technology into their lives, the effects of that integration are not always positive. Social media is more addictive than cigarettes, and the average U.S. adult will spend 44 years staring at screens.

Hence, the goal of digital wellness is to achieve balance with technology and social media. Moreover, apart from the wellness companies, even big corporations like Google started developing digital well-being toolkits.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the overall dependency on technology, and because of that, wellness companies started developing digital wellness programs that offer modern solutions to modern problems.

Wellness companies are in a unique position to drive innovation for the next decade because the market has rapidly shifted its focus on health and well-being. Moreover, with the development of blockchain technology and AI, the possibilities for new and extraordinary products and services are massive.

It’s going to be fascinating to see where the wellness industry will take us in the next few years.

The post How Wellness Companies are Driving Innovation in 2021 appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

For many organizations, the conduct of their employees is vitally important to mitigating risk to their business, leading to the use of workforce monitoring. Since the start of the pandemic, the demand for continuous workforce monitoring is on the rise. This may be, in part, due to the massive shift of work to a remote model, giving companies less visibility to the actions and conduct of their employees.

The country has also seen a huge increase in the need for gig employees – delivery drivers, warehouse workers, customer service call center operators. On top of that, the pandemic has created greater turnover, with businesses fluctuating between furloughs, layoffs, and rehires, triggering an increase in the need for ongoing screening and monitoring.

As we enter into a post-pandemic world it is vital for businesses to plan beyond their traditional pre-hire practices, including creating greater protection for their organizations, employees, and customers.

Workforce Monitoring Benefits to Business

There is no doubt pre-hire background checks are a critical piece of the hiring process. However, this initial screening only serves as a brief snapshot into a candidate’s conduct and can’t determine what may occur during the rest of that individual’s time as an employee. Workforce monitoring allows businesses to mitigate risk of workplace violence, fraud, theft, and liability.

Where permitted by law, it can provide immediate alerts of employee conduct, such as arrests, convictions, changes in motor vehicle records, accidents or misconduct, medical sanctions, license status, and more. This type of workforce monitoring is critical to protecting the safety and integrity of your employees and customers.

Consider the healthcare workers who interact regularly with patients, ride-share drivers who transport hundreds of people every day, financial institutions with access to clients’ sensitive financial information, and educators who work with children.

Your organization needs real-time knowledge if an employee has violated the conditions of their employment.

Workforce Monitoring Benefits to Employees

Not only does continuous workforce monitoring benefit the business and its reputation, but it is also beneficial for maintaining a safe environment for employees. It serves as an important step to ensure that crucial information, such as driving records and criminal activity, are monitored and reported regularly.

However, to loyal and trustworthy employees, it may not always feel that way. So how do you communicate monitoring protocols so employees feel comfortable, in turn, build trust and demystify preconceived perceptions?

Transparent communication is critical. Well-documented policies, so employees understand what you intend to implement and the reasons why.

Compliance is Key

In order to implement a successful workforce monitoring program, you want to make sure you comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and any other applicable local, state, or federal laws.

Please confer with legal counsel to assess your organization’s potential risk. In addition, when implementing any new employment screening policy, it is a best practice to review your current background check policy, consent forms, and processes, etc.

In the end, the benefits of continuous workforce monitoring can be substantial and go a long way to demonstrate your commitment to the safety and integrity of your workplace, customers, and communities.

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