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• What Employees Want: Praise and Recognition

  November 30, 2022

  Tags: Employee Experience, Praise, Recognition

  “What gets rec­og­nized gets rein­forced, and what gets rein­forced gets repeated.”

  -Unknown

  In today’s ultra-com­pet­i­tive work envi­ron­ment, the com­pa­nies with the win­ning edge are the ones that have the best-trained and well-skilled staff. How­ev­er, even the best employ­ees can­not per­form well (or may even jump ship) when they are not moti­vat­ed enough. Praise and recog­ni­tion pro­vide the kind of pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence that can increase employ­ees’ morale, moti­va­tion and engage­ment, and renew their com­mit­ment to their orga­ni­za­tion.  This is why employ­ee praise and recog­ni­tion in the work­place has to be an innate part of any company’s culture.

  What is Employee Recognition?

  Employ­ee recog­ni­tion is the acknowl­edg­ment of a company’s staff for exem­plary per­for­mance. It is the time­ly infor­mal or for­mal acknowl­edge­ment of a per­son­’s behav­ior, effort, or busi­ness result that sup­ports the orga­ni­za­tion’s goals and val­ues and exceeds nor­mal expectations.

  Why Employee Recognition Matters

  One of the biggest moti­va­tors for employ­ees is to be held in high esteem by their peers. The best way of earn­ing this respect is to be acknowl­edged for being good at what they do.

  An increas­ing num­ber of busi­ness­es are becom­ing pro­po­nents of mutu­al recog­ni­tion, claim­ing that ask­ing col­leagues to praise each oth­er helps to cre­ate a gen­uine atmos­phere of pos­i­tiv­i­ty and fuels a sense of belong­ing and pur­pose.  Employ­ees thrive off acknowl­edge­ment and praise. Espe­cial­ly in the age of hybrid and remote work, it is not uncom­mon to expe­ri­ence feel­ings of iso­la­tion, so know­ing that your co-work­ers appre­ci­ate you and val­ue your input can help to effec­tive­ly com­bat this.

  But don’t just take our word for it – there’s plen­ty of data to back up the val­ue of employ­ee recog­ni­tion programs.

  • 63% of employ­ees who are rec­og­nized are unlike­ly to look for a new job.
  • 82% of employ­ees con­sid­er recog­ni­tion an impor­tant part of their hap­pi­ness at work.
  • 40% of employed Amer­i­cans would put more ener­gy into their work if they were rec­og­nized more often.

  One of the ben­e­fits of recog­ni­tion and praise is that it helps cre­ate employ­ee engage­ment. Work­ers won’t be engaged if they feel like nobody cares. A man­ag­er who prais­es is one who’s pay­ing atten­tion to the work and the work­er. That per­son­al­ized atten­tion is cru­cial for the cre­ation of an emo­tion­al bond between employ­ees and the orga­ni­za­tion. And the strength of that bond, in turn, is behind high­er pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, low­er turnover, few­er mis­takes and acci­dents, and ulti­mate­ly, high­er profits.

  Anoth­er ben­e­fit of employ­ee recog­ni­tion and praise in the work­place is that it can be the foun­da­tion of cul­ti­vat­ing a cul­ture of self-improve­ment. One of the best meth­ods for staff recog­ni­tion is to pro­vide them with oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn and make them­selves bet­ter at what they do. To take it a step fur­ther, it is also ide­al to incen­tivize learn­ing – reward those who have tak­en the time to focus on self-improvement.

  There are count­less ways to put employ­ee recog­ni­tion in the work­place into action; how­ev­er, it all begins with com­pa­ny cul­ture. A win­ning employ­ee recog­ni­tion pro­gram starts with hav­ing a com­pa­ny cul­ture that advo­cates appre­ci­a­tion for top per­form­ers. This can be the foun­da­tion for sol­id staff engage­ment, con­tin­u­ous employ­ee devel­op­ment, and an inte­gral part of the company’s reten­tion strat­e­gy for the future.

• What You Need to Know About Diabetes

  November 21, 2022

  Tags: Diabetes, Gestational Diabetes, Type 1, Type 2

  Dia­betes is increas­ing at an alarm­ing rate in the Unit­ed States. Accord­ing to the CDC’s (Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol) Nation­al Dia­betes Sta­tis­tics Report for 2020 cas­es of dia­betes have risen to an esti­mat­ed 37 mil­lion (or 1 in 10 peo­ple in the U.S.).  Novem­ber is Nation­al Dia­betes Month and is a great time to bring atten­tion to this dis­ease and its impact on mil­lions of Americans.

  What is Diabetes?

  Dia­betes is a chron­ic health con­di­tion that affects how your body con­verts food to ener­gy. With dia­betes, the body either no longer makes insulin or the insulin that is made no longer works as well as it should.  Either way, high lev­els of glu­cose (a form of sug­ar) build up in the blood.  When this hap­pens, your body can respond in some seri­ous ways that include liv­er dam­age, stroke, heart dis­ease, vision loss, kid­ney dis­ease and dam­age to the feet or legs.

  Most Common Types of Diabetes

  • Type 1 – usu­al­ly diag­nosed in chil­dren and teens. Type 1 dia­bet­ics need to take insulin every day to survive.
  • Type 2 – devel­ops over many years and is usu­al­ly diag­nosed in adults (but is devel­op­ing more today in chil­dren and teens also). With Type 2 dia­betes, your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sug­ar at nor­mal levels.
  • Ges­ta­tion­al Dia­betes – devel­ops in preg­nant women who have nev­er had diabetes.

  7 Warning Signs of Diabetes

  1. Fre­quent Urination
  2. Increased Thirst or Dry Mouth
  3. Unex­pect­ed Weight Loss
  4. Per­sis­tent Hunger
  5. Foot Pain and Numbness
  6. Fatigue
  7. Blurred Vision

  Type 1 Diabetes

  Type 1 dia­betes, also known as juve­nile dia­betes, occurs when the body does not pro­duce insulin.  Insulin is a hor­mone respon­si­ble for break­ing down the sug­ar in the blood for use through­out the body.  Peo­ple liv­ing with type 1 dia­betes need to admin­is­ter insulin with injec­tions or an insulin pump.

  There is no cure for type 1 dia­betes.  Once a per­son receives their diag­no­sis, they will need to reg­u­lar­ly mon­i­tor their blood sug­ar lev­els, admin­is­ter insulin, and make some lifestyle changes to help man­age the condition.

  Type 2 Diabetes

  Type 2 dia­betes, the most com­mon type of dia­betes, occurs when your cells don’t respond nor­mal­ly to insulin, which is known as insulin resis­tance. You can devel­op type 2 dia­betes at any age but it occurs most often in mid­dle-aged and old­er peo­ple and tends to appear grad­u­al­ly. In most cas­es, med­ica­tion along with changes in exer­cise and diet can help man­age type 2 diabetes.

  Gestational Diabetes

  Ges­ta­tion­al dia­betes is a con­di­tion in which a hor­mone made by the pla­cen­ta pre­vents the body from using insulin effec­tive­ly.  Unlike type 1 dia­betes, ges­ta­tion­al dia­betes is not caused by a lack of insulin, but by oth­er hor­mones pro­duced dur­ing preg­nan­cy that can make insulin less effec­tive.  Ges­ta­tion­al dia­bet­ic symp­toms dis­ap­pear fol­low­ing deliv­ery but ges­ta­tion­al dia­betes increas­es your risk for type 2 dia­betes lat­er in life.

  Outlook

  There is good news for those liv­ing with dia­betes – and those at risk. Experts are learn­ing more all the time about lifestyle steps for dia­betes con­trol and pre­ven­tion.  New med­ica­tions and devices can also help you con­trol your blood sug­ar and pre­vent com­pli­ca­tions. For more infor­ma­tion on dia­betes and how to make good choic­es, vis­it the Amer­i­can Dia­betes Asso­ci­a­tion website.

• Emotional Compensation: An Employee Engagement and Retention Tool

  November 9, 2022

  Tags: Emotional Compensation, Retention

  First came the pan­dem­ic, which was fol­lowed by The Great Res­ig­na­tion and the labor short­age, and now qui­et quit­ting. Employ­ers are chal­lenged to attract and retain employ­ees among all these upheavals, keep them engaged, and main­tain a psy­cho­log­i­cal­ly safe work environment.

  High­er wages, hir­ing bonus­es, increased ben­e­fits pack­ages all sound like pos­si­ble solu­tions. If your cur­rent reten­tion strat­e­gy is not hav­ing the impact you want, it’s time to think beyond tra­di­tion­al finan­cial incen­tives. Con­sid­er explor­ing emo­tion­al com­pen­sa­tion, which Michael Lee Stal­lard, cofounder and pres­i­dent of E Pluribus Part­ners, a think tank and con­sul­tan­cy, believes will be increas­ing­ly impor­tant and val­ued by employees.

  Emo­tion­al com­pen­sa­tion is based on meet­ing sev­en uni­ver­sal human needs that allow peo­ple to thrive at work. They are respect, recog­ni­tion, mean­ing, belong­ing, auton­o­my, per­son­al growth, and progress. Stal­lard says that the result­ing sense of con­nec­tion from hav­ing these needs met engen­ders pos­i­tive emo­tions and makes us feel con­nect­ed to our work and our col­leagues. Devel­op­ing this con­nec­tion dra­mat­i­cal­ly increas­es an organization’s chance of retain­ing employees.

  Let’s look at each of these uni­ver­sal needs with a focus on what man­agers can do. Since they work close­ly with their team on a dai­ly basis, they are well posi­tioned to take action. There are so many things that lead­ers in orga­ni­za­tions can do to cre­ate a cul­ture of respect. It starts, of course, with liv­ing the val­ues. Beyond that:

  Show Interest

  Pre­cise­ly, show your cur­rent staff the kind of inter­est you took in them when you were recruit­ing them to join your orga­ni­za­tion regard­less of their tenure or how well you think you know them. Ask sin­cere, open-end­ed ques­tions and lis­ten care­ful­ly to their respons­es. You will prob­a­bly be amazed at what you learn.\

  Ask Their Opinion

  Since they are clos­est to the work, ask about pos­si­ble solu­tions to real prob­lems. Lis­ten to their answers and give feed­back. If you can’t adopt their idea, let them know the busi­ness rea­sons why. If you can use it, give them cred­it pub­licly and if pos­si­ble, reward them too. Being asked lets employ­ees know you val­ue their knowl­edge and intelligence.

  Recognition

  One of the sim­plest things a man­ag­er can do to express employ­ee appre­ci­a­tion and recog­ni­tion is to say thank you—and it costs noth­ing to do so. With all the hand wring­ing over employ­ees quit­ting their jobs, employ­ee recog­ni­tion should be para­mount on every manager’s task list.

  Let them know their work mat­ters. Let peo­ple know often how much val­ue they and their work bring to your orga­ni­za­tion. Let them know they make a dif­fer­ence. Send per­son­al, hand­writ­ten notes. You’d be sur­prised how pow­er­ful that can be. Silence, on the oth­er hand, can send a neg­a­tive message—that the work and the work­er has no value.

  Meaning

  We all want to do work that matters—that has a pur­pose. Every employ­ee wants to feel a con­nec­tion to their organization’s mis­sion and values.

  Explain where they fit. Let each employ­ee know how their work fits into the work of your depart­ment, and how the department’s work fits into the organization’s strate­gic goals, mis­sion, and val­ues. For exam­ple, describe to sup­port staff, like pro­cure­ment or account­ing, how their work sup­ports the sales and engi­neer­ing depart­ments, which bring in the organization’s revenue.

  Talk more about why you do cer­tain things in your depart­ment. It can make a big dif­fer­ence if peo­ple know not just that some tasks must be done but why those tasks are sig­nif­i­cant to the big picture.

  Belonging

  Make room for light-heart­ed fun in the work­place. When peo­ple are hav­ing fun, they are hap­pi­er, friend­lier and open, fos­ter­ing work­place friend­ships. Work­place friend­ships taps into the basic need for a sense of belong­ing and removes any feel­ing of being in com­pe­ti­tion with coworkers.

  Light-heart­ed fun has such a pos­i­tive impact on pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, engage­ment and reten­tion. It lets employ­ees know that they belong—belong to a team and an orga­ni­za­tion that val­ues their emo­tion­al well-being. It also unleash­es cre­ativ­i­ty, which can result in high­er productivity.

  Autonomy

  Auton­o­my and flex­i­bil­i­ty are crit­i­cal for retain­ing staff, espe­cial­ly now. In this world of vir­tu­al work, auton­o­my allows for a degree of con­trol over one’s work­ing con­di­tions and process­es. It includes the flex­i­bil­i­ty of where work and when is per­formed. Man­agers must exam­ine what work hours, sched­ul­ing, and pat­terns are best for indi­vid­u­als and their teams; how work is orga­nized and accom­plished; and how flex­i­bil­i­ty impacts pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and out­comes to meet the needs of all.

  Employ­ees must still be account­able to get the work accom­plished and be avail­able for meet­ings, calls, and oth­er col­lab­o­ra­tive efforts.

  Assum­ing you can offer your employ­ees more auton­o­my, lis­ten to them and under­stand their needs. One thing we learned dur­ing the pan­dem­ic: If employ­ees are treat­ed in a sup­port­ive and humane way, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty doesn’t suffer.

  Personal Growth

  Employ­ees want the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn and grow. It’s one rea­son cit­ed for them leav­ing their jobs. And it’s so much eas­i­er to recruit inter­nal­ly than exter­nal­ly, espe­cial­ly in tight labor markets.

  Create a Learning Culture

  Encour­age your employ­ees to be life­long learn­ers. It starts by mod­el­ing life­long learn­ing behav­iors, such as shar­ing pod­casts, TedTalks, and YouTube videos. Con­sid­er devel­op­ing a resource library includ­ing books, arti­cles, web­casts, pod­casts, and Mas­sive Open Online Cours­es (MOOCs). Encour­age employ­ees to con­tribute to this resource and to share the things they are learn­ing. It will keep them engaged and expand their pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al interests.

  Progress

  You’ve made growth oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able to your employ­ees, but how do you know if progress is being made? Fol­low up with an employ­ee once they’ve tak­en advan­tage of an oppor­tu­ni­ty. Ask them what they’ve learned, what needs clar­i­fi­ca­tion, if oth­ers might ben­e­fit, and how they might apply what they learned.

  Such ques­tions and feed­back pro­vide man­agers an oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­sid­er new assign­ments, projects, or tasks—perhaps a growth assignment—that could help pre­pare the employ­ee for future roles with the orga­ni­za­tion, a way for an employ­ee to progress.

  Of course, employ­ees must take respon­si­bil­i­ty for their growth and progress, but man­agers guide them through this jour­ney and help set real­is­tic career goals.

  Accord­ing to Gallup, employ­ee engage­ment has declined for the first time in more than a decade, from 36% engaged employ­ees in 2020 to 34% in 2021—and now 32% in 2022. What bet­ter time for orga­ni­za­tions to focus on how to cre­ate the con­nec­tions peo­ple want and orga­ni­za­tions need?

  By Cor­nelia Gam­lem and Bar­bara Mitchell

  Orig­i­nal­ly post­ed on HR Exchange Network

• What Is Human Resources in the Modern Workplace?

  November 7, 2022

  Tags: employee engagement, Employee Experience, HR

  Human Resources man­age­ment is always evolv­ing. Over the years, it has become a more promi­nent part of every busi­ness because it is prin­ci­pal­ly respon­si­ble for recruit­ing and retain­ing the tal­ent that allows the orga­ni­za­tion to achieve goals and flourish.

  No longer mere­ly an admin­is­tra­tive depart­ment, Human Resources pro­fes­sion­als align tal­ent man­age­ment and hir­ing deci­sions with busi­ness objec­tives. They are wel­come in the C‑suite, and their reach con­tin­ues to expand beyond over­see­ing hir­ing, ben­e­fits, and com­pa­ny regulations.

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• Workplace Wellbeing: 5 Recommendations from the U.S. Surgeon General

  November 1, 2022

  Tags: well-being, Workplace Wellness

  The U.S. Sur­geon Gen­er­al, Dr. Vivek Murthy, recent­ly released the Frame­work for Work­place Men­tal Health & Well­ness to set a new stan­dard for expec­ta­tions of employ­ers. In this new nor­mal, Human Resources lead­ers must take some respon­si­bil­i­ty for the well­be­ing of those who work in their organization.

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• Effective Leadership Begins with You!

  October 24, 2022

  Tags: Business Leaders, Leadership

  There may not be an “I” in team, but there is an “I” in disengaged.

  What does this have to do with lead­er­ship? Well, regard­less of what, why and where you lead, you — as the leader — are direct­ly respon­si­ble for the engage­ment of those who fol­low you.  It’s up to you to decide whether you are lead­ing pos­i­tive­ly or neg­a­tive­ly — and whether you choose to focus on engage­ment or mere­ly output.

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• How to Make the Most Out of Open Enrollment

  October 19, 2022

  Tags: benefits, healthcare, Open Enrollment

  Choos­ing the right ben­e­fits dur­ing open-enroll­ment sea­son is so impor­tant and can help save mon­ey. It can also give indi­vid­u­als and fam­i­lies broad­er sup­port with their health. Ben­e­fits like med­ical cov­er­age are par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant with high infla­tion hav­ing such a big impact on people’s budgets.

  A sur­vey by Unit­ed­Health­care found that near­ly 40% of employ­ees devote less than one hour to the open enroll­ment process.  It is cru­cial to care­ful­ly ana­lyze your ben­e­fits dur­ing open enroll­ment as any deci­sions you make will like­ly be locked for the year until the next open enroll­ment peri­od. Don’t rush into open enroll­ment with­out care­ful­ly con­sid­er­ing your options!

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• Why Data Privacy is Necessary in Today’s World

  October 11, 2022

  Tags: Data Privacy

  An unfathomable excess of online data is generated every day as the global economy churns; individuals take to social media; and modern life strives to keep pace with advancing technology.

  Secur­ing that data is rapid­ly becom­ing a neces­si­ty as com­pa­nies rec­og­nize it as an asset and real­ize the poten­tial val­ue in col­lect­ing, using, and shar­ing it.  

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• Leveling Up Your Open Enrollment Game: Tips for Success

  October 3, 2022

  Tags: healthcare, Open Enrollment

  For most employ­ers, employ­ee ben­e­fits rep­re­sent a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of their over­all bud­get and a crit­i­cal part of their employ­ee recruit­ment and reten­tion strat­e­gy. Ben­e­fits vary from employ­er to employ­er but can range from med­ical or den­tal insur­ance to flex­i­ble spend­ing accounts, life and dis­abil­i­ty insur­ance, and more. The annu­al process of renew­ing those ben­e­fits involves a great deal of work, most of which is unseen by employees.

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• Retirement Savings Tips: Stop Worrying and Start Saving

  September 26, 2022

  Tags: employee benefits, financial wellness, retirement

  Accord­ing to most retire­ment sav­ings sta­tis­tics, sav­ing for retire­ment is some­thing a lot of peo­ple put on the back­burn­er.  Until it is too late, that is.

  For some peo­ple, the rea­son is that they are sim­ply liv­ing pay­check to pay­check, so there isn’t much left to put aside. Oth­ers have some left­over mon­ey after cov­er­ing the month­ly expens­es but aren’t sure how much they need to put in their retire­ment fund.  Retire­ment is expen­sive and you need to know how much mon­ey you will need each year.

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