How to Tell an Employee That They’re Not Ready for a Promotion
As a business owner or supervisor, you have hard decisions to make, especially during these pandemic days: How do you adjust your budget? Do you have to make reductions in force? Do you spend more or less on marketing? Are you keeping your employees engaged? Are you meeting your industry’s compliance standards? Another tough one […]
4 Ways to Provide More Flexibility to Working Parents
This tweet says it all: Right now is quite possibly the most difficult phase of the pandemic for working parents. If you’re “lucky”, your school has a hybrid system of some days in school, and some days with remote learning. If you’re unlucky, your children are remote-learning full-time, and with COVID cases surging again in […]
How to Teach Professionalism in the Workplace
“You do You” is an expression of empowerment that encourages people to be their authentic selves. This helps people with their identity and to be comfortable in their own skin. Living by this is important, but it does not preclude employees from being professional and representing their employers. There’s another expression: “Lead by Example” that […]
4 Virtual Activities that Can Boost Employee Morale Now
Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay We talk about employee engagement here frequently because, fundamentally, if your people aren’t engaged, your business will suffer. Engagement runs the gamut from employees having purposeful work to do, receiving flexibility, and feeling valued to having fun. I’m not talking about simply giving your staff the opportunity to blow off […]
Employees Are Doing Just Fine Spending Less Time in the Office
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay In a previous blog post, we discussed the negative effects of presenteeism in the workplace, which bears repeating. To recap, presenteeism occurs when employees are physically present at work but not functioning at their full potential because of an illness or other medical condition. This is a bad practice […]
How to Make Layoffs with Dignity
The most challenging part of running a business is having to make tough decisions. That’s being put to the test like never before during the pandemic era. Among those difficult decisions is having to let people go from the organization. Whatever the reason–performance, conduct, budget–it’s going to hurt. The surge in unemployment and the financial […]
How to Welcome New Employees
Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay The candidate search is over, the interviewing process complete, references checked, and the right person hired. Job well done. There’s nothing more to see here. Not so fast. An accepted job offer may signal the end of one process for your business, but it starts another one of great […]
5 Ways to Reward Good Work
Business owners and managers expect their staff to do their jobs well, and that’s not a lofty expectation. You hire candidates who are the right fit because of the difference they can make. Employees who make your company a better place, whether it’s through direct bottom line impact, creating operational efficiencies, or advancing your core […]
How Have You Handled the Pandemic? Survey Your Employees
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay Since coronavirus struck, we’ve been writing posts about the importance of clear communication and expectation-setting with employees. Those business owners who pivoted operationally and accommodated the needs of their employees would fare best, we said. Now that we’re more than four months into the pandemic, it’s time to ask […]
Self-Care Makes You a Better Leader
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay We hear it all the time: if you take care of yourself, you will be a better parent, partner, teacher, coach, etc. because you then have more capacity to care for others. Take flying for example. Adults are instructed to affix their oxygen masks first before assisting children because […]