How can Human Resources Motivate Employees?

Posted on August 23, 2018 by - Uncategorized

For generations, HR Departments have debated the best way to motivate employees.  Here are some motivational tips from effective business people to help your Human Resources Department motivate your employees:

  1. Incentivize

Building an effective incentive structure gives your employees a motivated perspective towards completing daily tasks. TotalRewards has found that compensating the execution of specific objectives allows employees to become driven to do their job better. Finding what inspires employees to focus on their assignments will help motivate employees to accomplish their particular duties.

  1. Give Employees Your Trust

Let employees know you trust and rely on them, and they will perform at a higher level than you might suspect. A vote of certainty can go far. Tell them you believe they can do the ideal activity, and they will seldom disappoint you.

  1. Set Smaller Weekly Goals

Every good employee needs grand aspirations, however, setting up more attainable objectives in route to the final goal keeps individuals motivated. Breaking down a project into smaller, more digestible bites allows your employees to understand what they need to accomplish for each day, week, and month rather than a full year’s worth of work. At that point, compensate the group for achieving the objective with an evening off, a celebration, or something else that they enjoy. They will see that your goals are practical, and everybody profits by buckling down.

  1. Give Your Employees Purpose

Always be ready to inspire your workers by giving them a reason to succeed. When you achieve that, they comprehend the vision better and can feel more confident in being able to execute their goals. What’s more, by understanding their motivation and the reason for the business’ goals, a participant can see how they fit into the master plan.

  1. Transmit Positivity

Spread positivity among your entire staff to motivate them and build an enthusiastic culture.  A work environment that’s full of negativity can quickly create a toxic situation and lead to unmotivated employees and ultimately, your business’ demise. In a friendly work environment, employees feel comfortable and work more attentively and efficiently.

  1. Rouse Individuals Rather Than the Team

Adjusting motivated forces is an excellent approach to guaranteeing everybody in a group is moving in the direction of a shared objective. When every individual feels confident and inspired to work, collectively they are unstoppable. This method enables you to encourage the group to achieve astounding things.

Making the Most of Annual Performance Reviews

Posted on August 21, 2018 by - Uncategorized

Some managers view performance reviews as a dreadfully time-consuming policy enforced by HR, while others value it as a time for their employees to give transparent feedback.  Like them or not, performance reviews are a vital part of an employee’s progression in your company.  Here are some tips to help you make the most of your annual performance reviews:

  1. Come in prepared.

Lacking preparation is a sure way to fail a performance review.  Your employees will pick up on the fact that you’re winging it, and they likely won’t value your feedback as genuine or thought-out.  Instead, establish an agenda beforehand and personalize each appraisal with the employee’s personality and their relationship with you. Also, consider the rebuttals that you’ll likely hear from them and devise how you’ll phrase the response.

  1. Choose the right environment.

Schedule your performance reviews in a location that is private and allows for confidential and discrete discussion.  Be aware of your proximity to the employee as well, as it’s better to sit adjacent to them at a small table than it would be to talk across a long conference room table.  This will help to improve the flow of conversation and make it more personable.

  1. Begin with the agenda.

Start off the discussion by laying out exactly how the appraisal is structured.  This will help the employee know what to expect from the review, so they won’t be caught off-guard by any conversation topics.

  1. Be genuine.

Your employees know you; your personality, the way you present yourself in certain situations, and the little idiosyncrasies that shape you as a person. So be yourself- they’ll respect that.  This will help you be positive without seeming artificial, while also being disciplinary without seeming defensive.  Most of all, active listening is vital in these situations, so you can be constructive with your feedback.

  1. Focus on goal setting.

Many managers want to focus on an employee’s past performance so extensively that they’ll forget the main purpose of the appraisal – to always be improving and growing within their career.  Set out to establish goals for your employees that are reasonable and relevant and will help them reach the next position in their job.

  1. Encourage open discussion.

If you do all the talking, the appraisal becomes more of a lecture than an honest discussion.  Don’t let your employees leave the meeting feeling like they were treated unjustly and weren’t given the time to speak their minds.  Employees need to be motivated to make an impact in your company, but they won’t reach that level unless their voices are heard.  Ask them open-ended questions like, “what do you want to achieve for the company this year?” and be cognizant of any vague feedback you receive.

  1. Balance praise and criticism.

This is a time to recognize your employee for their outstanding performance while also pointing out where they need improvement.  However, a steady balance is needed so the employee walks away feeling valued.  The last thing you want is to lose a top employee to competition because you focused on too many of their negatives. By the same token, don’t let a subpar employee feel like they’re doing everything perfectly, because then they won’t have an incentive to change their detrimental behaviors.

  1. End on the same page.

Always try to end a performance review with the feeling that you have a complete understanding of an employee’s achievements and failures, their future goals, and how they plan to get there.  Similarly, your employee needs to feel a sense of understanding exactly how they can reach the goals in your feedback.  So, ask the question, “What can I do to help you as a manager?” This way you’ll make sure that nothing is left on the table.

How to Improve Employee Benefits and Compensation Packages

Posted on August 16, 2018 by - Uncategorized

As a business owner, you’re aware of the costs associated with employee benefits and compensation packages. The amount of time and money it takes to offer these perks to employees can seem overwhelming, but there are simple ways for you to lessen the burden and improve your employees’ satisfaction and recruiting efforts. This process begins with analyzing your current offerings and employee needs and continues with establishing a program that is comprehensive, modern, and accessible to employees.

Encompass All Needs

Health insurance and paid time off are benefits expected by most full-time employees and it is important to ensure they are customized to meet your business’ needs. There are a variety of health insurance plans to offer, including Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), Point-of-Service Plans, and more. Providing vision and dental insurance is another way to benefit your employees. Some employers even offer flexible spending accounts (FSAs) that allow employees to choose where their expenses are used, including at general practitioners, optometrists, dentists, and specialists.

To combat the spread of illness due to employees attending work while sick, employers can allow paid sick leave for a certain number of days. Traditionally, each employee gets two weeks to begin with and additional days as they gain tenure at the company. To combat the fear that this option will cause a loss in productivity and collaboration, establish a tracking system that allows for communication and the monitoring of employee’s projects and a secure cloud platform that allows access on the go.

Offer Outside the Box Perks

In addition to traditional benefits, there are many steps you can take to add value to your workplace. One of the most cost-effective ways to boost morale and loyalty is to recognize employees for their hard work during company meetings and via company-wide emails or announcements. Other options include investing in organizations that your employees can join for networking or to learn from. This is a popular option because it allows your employees to learn and network while promoting a strong brand in your community. Additionally, many companies are beginning to offer corporate wellness programs. Providing an in-house facility or discounted memberships will boost your retention and recruitment and many healthcare providers offer discounts to employees who exercise regularly, as it reduces the number of illnesses.

Provide Transparency

One of the most important steps you can take to modernize your benefits and compensation packages is to invest in cloud-based software that will store, manage, and distribute this data. This kind of software eliminates the confusing and unorganized paperwork that bogs down both HR employees and team members while keeping a record of and easily distributing notifications of each addition, elimination, or change.

It is important to take your time when developing this offering, as it is uncustomary to rescind these offerings and inconvenient to change them frequently. Establishing this type of employee benefit and compensation package will create more loyal employees and establish trust with potential team members, benefiting your recruitment and retention along the way.