Tag: employee engagement

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Building a safety policy was vital to Shawmut Design and Construction’s health

Shawmut Vitals, mobile technology, HR technology, safety, COVID-19 construction

Like many companies Shawmut Design and Construction faced the dilemma of protecting the health and well-being of its employees as the COVID-19 pandemic tore through the U.S. workforce.

While the safety of its 900 employees was Shawmut’s top priority, no one-size-fits-all solution was evident. Shawmut’s staff includes in-office employees as well as workers in the field at sites across the country.

With a diverse portfolio of jobs including cultural and historic buildings, academic institutions, commercial properties, luxury homes and Major League Baseball stadiums, Shawmut’s executive team had to act quickly and decisively to assure that their workers could function safely while still productively maintaining their commitments to hundreds of clients.

Shawmut, COVID-19, pandemic
Les Hiscoe, CEO, Shawmut Design and Construction

“We experienced added complexities on many projects that continued to work right through and were not impacted by shutdowns,” said Les Hiscoe, Shawmut’s CEO since 2015. “We had to make real-time adjustments on the fly to keep our people safe first and foremost and to make sure we continued to deliver for our clients.”

Also read: Whether you have a staff of 10 or 10,000, scheduling is easier with Workforce.com software

One of Shawmut’s core values even before the pandemic struck was “find a better way.” Company leaders realized early on during the pandemic that making decisions on the fly was not sustainable and determined the “better way” was developing solutions internally.

Initially partnering with trade unions, industry peer groups and other construction companies, Shawmut developed its COVID-19 safety plan to minimize coronavirus exposure and risk across all job sites. The company soon rolled out safety protocols as well as a COVID-19 risk assessment and response plan to project sites across the country, Hiscoe said.

Shawmut’s leadership looked inward to develop a technology-driven solution that addresses worker safety as well as on-site productivity. Built in-house, Shawmut’s IT, safety and marketing teams developed Shawmut Vitals, a custom technology platform designed to track COVID-19 symptoms and manage contact tracing to minimize and control infectious disease spread.

Implementing a vital technology solution

Shawmut staff quickly took the platform to market, transforming the idea from concept to rollout in under two weeks, Hiscoe said.

“The platform allows employees and subcontractors to self-certify daily health screenings by scanning a job-specific QR code that pulls up a health survey to fill out,” Hiscoe said. “If an individual is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or has been exposed to someone who is either infected or at risk, the individual is flagged for further care and action.”

The platform reduces friction points as people enter a site. Shawmut Vitals also frees a site superintendent’s time since the data is integrated into Shawmut’s systems, resulting in thorough recordkeeping and generating reports that previously had been done by hand.

Virtual communication in the office and on site

Frequent communication played a huge role in Shawmut’s safety response and employee engagement when offices began reopening, Hiscoe said.

“We held daily executive team huddles that begin with conversations around the best ways to keep our people safe, sharing successes and lessons learned across our job sites and regions,” Hiscoe said. “This also includes connecting with our Virtual Crisis Command Center, a COVID-19 crisis team that is constantly monitoring developments and helping to guide actions. We can provide constant guidance to our on-site client and office teams and ensure we are following all federal, state and CDC recommendations.”

Shawmut’s Future of Work Task Force also evolved out of their meetings.

Created to implement the best processes, systems and technology as employees began returning to the organization’s 10 offices, the task force is made up of cross-region, cross-department staff members.

The team meets virtually every week to develop thorough office-specific plans that adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and local government guidelines to keep everyone as safe as possible. Each office has a core team that examines the specific needs of that space and workforce to ensure every detail is taken into consideration, enabling staff to work safely and efficiently.

Hiscoe added that before entering the office, employees complete a health screening using Shawmut Vitals. This not only prevents those exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms or may have been exposed from coming into the office but also helps with contact tracing. Offices are also clearly marked with signs including traffic flow, conference room capacity limits and common-area closures.

Those who are not ready to come back to the office utilize Shawmut Flex, Hiscoe said, a flexible work program allowing teams to work remotely.

“Having flex options is rare in the construction industry so Shawmut was uniquely positioned to be able to transition to work from home arrangements,” he said.

Following the rules

The pandemic has had a significant effect on how Shawmut employees work together on their job sites, Hiscoe said. They identified several new requirements: 

  • Self-awareness

“We encourage any individual who is feeling sick or who is presenting any symptoms of a cold, flu, or COVID-19 to stay home and/or seek medical attention. We enforce a 100 percent zero-tolerance policy that does not allow for anyone showing symptoms to be on the job site.”

  • Hygiene

All projects provide access to hand washing stations, which are spread at least 6 feet apart to maintain social distancing. Hand washing stations have corresponding signs with proper hand washing and hygiene techniques.

  • Personal protective equipment

All standard requirements apply. When two workers are operating near each other, face shields, safety glasses, hard hats and face masks are mandatory. PPE is disinfected before brought in personal vehicles or to homes.

  • Site safety requirements

A COVID-19 officer is on site 100 percent of the time to enforce all site safety rules, including the twice-daily cleaning of high-contact and common areas, pre-task planning meeting, health screenings, limiting of only essential personnel on the site and frequently cleaning high-traffic areas, equipment, and tools and devices. 

  • Communication

The team hosts toolbox talks related to COVID-19, distributes regularly written communications on best practices to job-site teams and reinforces all messages with signs in English and Spanish.

  • Emergency procedures

In the event of possible COVID-19 exposure, Shawmut teams will strictly follow CDC regulations.

Hiscoe added there is no wiggle room with Shawmut’s procedures either in office or on a job site. “Alongside my executive leadership team and virtual crisis team, we’ve made our enhanced safety protocols mandatory for both our staff on site and in our offices,” he said. “We’ve shared our enhanced protocols virtually with our partners and any guests who may need to access our offices making them fully aware of our mandatory procedures.”

Keeping in contact with all employees

Hiscoe said the pandemic has severely disrupted his own schedule and halted all travel for him.

“As a quintessential extrovert, this has been a challenge in an age of social distancing, both professionally and personally. As a leader, I pride myself in making connections with our people, projects and partners.”

Hiscoe’s limited travel schedule established unforeseen ways to manage his stress.

“I made sure to regularly work out, which helped immensely. And during quarantine, I have really enjoyed being home with my family and having dinners together.”

Knowing who is where and when is crucial to their safety and well-being. With staff working in an office, remotely or in the field, automate how your employees clock in and out with Workforce.com’s GPS-enabled time clock app that works everywhere in the world.

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Make managers more successful with the tools to retain and engage their employees

shift scheduling for hourly restaurant workers, shift swap

Many managers cannot pinpoint their employee headcount at any given moment.

On top of that, data published in global leadership consultancy DDI’s 2019 Frontline Leader Project establishes that 57 percent of employees quit because of their boss. DDI’s study also reports that 14 percent have left multiple jobs because of their managers and an additional 32 percent have seriously considered leaving because of their manager. 

Many managers are ill equipped and poorly trained to efficiently run a workforce. Whether it’s tallying employee headcount or engaging workers, employers can arm managers with the tools to ensure they become valued top-line supervisors prepared to retain and sustain their employees.

Start with scheduling software

One of the most confounding aspects of a manager’s responsibilities is properly scheduling staff. Tracking employee rosters, hours worked and remaining PTO on paper or on outdated spreadsheets is fraught with opportunities for mistakes.

According to a 2017 survey, 38 percent of employees who track time said they still use manual processes like paper time cards and traditional punch clocks. By eliminating tedious and time-consuming paper-based systems, managers can easily and accurately schedule the right person in the right place at the right time. 

Employee scheduling software allows managers to see the big picture and make more accurate, data-driven decisions in just a few clicks. Following are five ways that workforce management software eases scheduling headaches.

  1. Implement scheduling technology

Efficiency is the key to workforce scheduling software. Determining staffing levels is a constant challenge and can be the most perplexing aspect of staff scheduling. Labor analytics fueled by a comprehensive software solution can forecast resource needs and gaps. It also integrates both timekeeping and attendance functions. Employee profiles — who is available when, or who is on paid time off — are available with a few clicks.

  1. Know organizational needs to create a smart schedule

Don’t let your schedule dictate you. Be the boss — literally and figuratively — with software that puts you in charge of the process. Eliminate the gut instinct and implement a software solution to accurately assess customer needs and employee resources. Effective, analytical employee scheduling lowers the company’s labor costs and maximizes customer satisfaction by matching resources to demand.

  1. Make changes on the fly? Go for it!

There are plenty of times when the unexpected occurs. From freak snowstorms that impede travel to a flu bug sweeping across the workplace, scheduling adjustments have to occur quickly and effectively in times of an emergency. 

Scheduling software allows for quick communication with workers. Incorporating a scheduling tool with mobile technology including a communications app builds 24/7 schedule access and puts real-time communication at a manager’s fingertips.

  1. Shuffle the deck: Matching A + B + C players shouldn’t be a game of chance

Good managers know how to mesh the strengths and weaknesses of their employees. 

Pairing varying talent levels can be a game of chance unless there is data behind the decision. Scheduling software removes the guesswork and incorporates analytics-based information into the decision making process.

  1. Measure, assess and fine tune

OK, so a schedule is a tool and not an employee. Still, like all staff members, scheduling should undergo regular performance reviews and frequent analysis. 

Incorporate employee feedback and business performance indicators into the assessment. Robust scheduling software will collect crucial data to assess and reveal insights. By understanding and evaluating the data, managers can better optimize their scheduling process.

Like a carpenter has a hammer and a plumber relies on a wrench, supervisors need the proper online tools to effectively manage their employees. Workforce.com’s scheduling software helps managers control costs, enhance communication, build engagement and focus on the bigger picture of the business. Shifts can be scheduled a month in advance. Give your managers every opportunity to succeed beginning with scheduling software by Workforce.com.

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Ethics and the future of workforce management

ethics

As the future of work rapidly evolves and organizations integrate people, technology, alternative workforces and new ways of working, leaders are wrestling with an increasing range of ethical challenges.

These challenges are especially pronounced at the intersection between humans and technology, where new questions top the ethics agenda about the impact of emerging technologies on workers and society. How organizations combine people and machines, govern new human-machine work combinations and operationalize the working relationship between humans, teams and machines will be at the center of how ethical concerns can be managed for the broadest range of benefits. Organizations that tackle these issues head-on – changing their perspective to consider not only “could we” but also “how should we” – will be well positioned to make the bold choices that help to build trust among all stakeholders.

Ethical concerns are front and center for today’s organization as the nature of work, the workforce and the workplace rapidly evolve. In Deloitte’s 2020 Global Human Capital Trends report, 85 percent of survey respondents believe that the future of work raises ethical challenges but only 27 percent have clear policies and leaders in place to manage them.

And managing ethics related to the future of work is growing in importance: More than half of the respondents said that it was either the top, or one of the top issues facing organizations today, and 66 percent said it would be in three years.

According to our report, four factors rose to the top of the ethics concerns: legal and regulatory requirements, rapid adoption of AI in the workplace, changes in workforce composition and pressure from external stakeholders.

The leading driver that respondents identified was legal and regulatory requirements. Given that there is often a lag in laws and regulations relating to both technology and workforce issues, this perception is surprising. However, outside of a few moves including fair workweek rules for hourly workers, policy changes have been slow in coming.

The pressure on ethics created by the rapid adoption of AI in the workplace, however, is much more understandable. AI and other technologies make ethics in the future of work, specifically more relevant because the proliferation of technology is driving a redefinition of work. Perhaps the issue that has attracted the most attention is the question of how technology affects the role of humans in work.

While our survey found that only a small percentage of respondents are using robots and AI to replace workers, headlines of the forthcoming “robot apocalypse” continue to capture global attention and raise concern. Organizations that are implementing technologies that drive efficiencies can expect to make decisions whether and how to redeploy people to add strategic value elsewhere, and what, if they decide to eliminate jobs, they will do to support the workers thus displaced. AI will also be a part of scheduling work across a blended workforce of machine and human workers.

As technology becomes more embedded into work, its design and use needs to be assessed for fairness and equity. Organizations should consider questions such as whether their applications of technology decrease or increase discriminatory bias; what procedures they have to protect the privacy of worker data; whether technology-made decisions are transparent and explainable; and what policies they have in place to hold humans responsible for those decisions’ outputs.[1]

Our research found that the third driver of ethics’ importance in the future of work is changing workforce composition, which raises issues about the evolving social contract between the individual and the organization and the organizations and society — the growth of the alternative workforce is one major phenomenon contributing to these concerns.

The number of self-employed workers in the United States is projected to hit 42 million in 2020. “Invisible labor forces” are being exposed in the recent research by Mary Gray and Siddarth Suri’s “Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass,” which talks about the unsavory working conditions of many workers performing the high-tech piecework (labeling data, captioning images and flagging inappropriate content) that powers automation and AI.

The fast growth of this workforce segment is calling to attention related ethical concerns, including alternative workers’ access to fair pay, health care and other potential benefits.

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7 steps for introducing new tech solutions to reluctant employees

SMB hr tech

Getting employees enthusiastic about new technology can be simple if everyone is eager to learn how to use new tools. However, some people may be reluctant to use new tech tools, especially if those tools would significantly change how they work. Whether you’re switching to a new platform or implementing tech that automates manual processes, there will always be someone who is hesitant and has doubts or anxieties about new tech. 

You’ve spent weeks researching new tech solutions to implement in the office. You’ve done the calculations on ROI and how much it could help boost productivity. However, no matter how efficient a new technology solution is, it will not be as effective if the key users are not 100 percent on board.

Also read: How technology can help your employee engagement strategy

Here are some important steps to keep in mind when trying to win them over. And it begins long before you actually introduce new solutions.

Keep them in the conversation

As the shot caller of this particular decision, the final say on implementing this new tool is yours and yours alone. But it’s still important to broadcast the changes to all those affected by your plans. Clearly declare why you think change is necessary, why the current status quo isn’t working or how it could greatly be improved. Then gather feedback.

As you research and narrow down your choices for a solution, keep these employees part of the conversation and keep them informed about your thought process. Let them know the benefits and disadvantages you believe are most important for the company’s needs.

 Not only will this help inform what kind of solution would work best for your team, but it will help you identify early on who may be hesitant about replacing old processes for new ones.

Find your advocates

Just as announcing your plans early on can help identify employees with doubts, you’ll also find those who are enthusiastic about change and will make great advocates of the tech. 

Identify these individuals and recruit them as your advocates who will champion the changes and be leaders. Have them be among the first to train with the solution. These advocates will boost morale among others about the software and also help train everyone else on how to use it.

Communicate the value

Be sure you’re expressly clear with employees about the value a new tech solution will bring, not just to the company, but to them as employees. Long-time employees can feel anxious about how their roles will change when new tech solutions are introduced, so it’s important to convey how much of a positive impact this can have on their career growth.

For example, if it’s a tool that’s meant to save time on certain processes, reassure them that they can now spend their time on more productive tasks for the company.

SMB hr techCreate a roadmap

Big changes don’t happen overnight, nor should they. When you’re ready to roll out your new solution, you need to come up with a solid plan to transition from your old process to the new one. Create a clear timetable with dates and stages of implementation. Then stick to it. If plans change, be transparent and keep your team informed.

 Stages can include an exploratory period, the first round of training, a pilot period with a handful of users starting to use the solution, a second round of training with everyone involved and a hard deadline when the solution is completely implemented.

Give them time

There are growing pains that come with all changes. Give some time to employees who at first struggle with new tech. This is where your advocates come in, who can lead the charge and help out their coworkers who have a tougher time adapting to the change. As long as people are willing to learn, it’s worth it to invest in additional training and compromise with them. They may prefer to get their work done the traditional way while they’re still learning the new way.

Incentivize change

Sometimes it’s necessary to sweeten the deal. Incentivize employees to take part in the process of implementing a new solution. This can easily be done by providing lunch with training sessions or implementing a reward program for users of the solution.

Continue listening and changing

After a successful implementation, you still have a long road of adapting your office’s workflow to one that seamlessly integrates your new solution into your everyday processes. As employees get used to the new way of doing things, continue taking in their feedback. Accept new ideas about how the solution can be used in different ways that both improve efficiency and accommodate employees who are used to doing things in certain ways.  

Summary

Changing, adapting, and implementing new tools to grow your company is the reality of business. There are some people that are more reluctant to change, but it’s important to provide a means to take those baby steps toward new ideas so they can continue helping the business become more successful. Throughout all the mentioned steps above, communication is key and will lead to a much smoother transition than an unexpected, abrupt shift in how people do their jobs.

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Employee performance shines bright with valuable, continuous shift feedback

employee performance; shift feedback

With the number of engaged employees consistently hovering at a disappointing 33 percent, it’s little wonder that retaining good workers is an elusive endeavor.

Disengaged employees can break down an organization. Minimal effort and a lack of productivity shouldn’t be the standard expectation, and building a quality workforce takes teamwork and constant inspection and fine-tuning of the processes. There are better ways than “hire and pray they work out” to develop, engage and evaluate a workforce.

Rate your employees’ performance

For managers there is no greater feeling of satisfaction than watching an employee grow into their role. Some employees thrive immediately, and others take time to bloom and flourish. Building a strong team takes a keen eye for talent, but assessing and developing effective talent also requires time and patience.

One solution is utilizing software that allows managers to evaluate employees through continuous, ongoing shift ratings and feedback. Much like tracking an actor from cameo appearance to leading role, the five-star rating system follows an employee’s pathway for success from an ordinary start to a meteoric rise in achievement.

‘A’ ratings — assessment and accountability

How do you hold your team accountable while also inspiring them to grow?

Managers can take the input and build skill profiles for their front-line employees with a shift rating and feedback solution. Qualitatively assessing an employee’s performance may at first seem arbitrary, but as the assessment continues over the course of that person’s tenure with the organization, the solution reveals ongoing performance over time.

Using a five-star rating system, managers can record employee performance immediately after their shift ends.

Assessments aid scheduling

Too often managers are forced to guess which employees mesh best. This should not turn into a game of Whack-a-Mole hoping to guess which person to pair with your cadre of five-star employees. There are likely a handful of two-star employees, while the bulk of the workforce ranks among three- and four-star staffers and it is imperative that managers consistently find the proper Triple-S balance: seniority, salary and skill.

A shift feedback and rating tool provides the perspective and guidance managers need to blend top talent with those who are competent in their work as well as those who require more training. While having a lineup of all five-star talent is a manager’s dream, conversely, scheduling an entire shift of two-star talent has the potential for disaster.

Incorporating a shift rating and feedback app into a manager’s arsenal provides that quick-glance guidepost to maximize the available talent at any given time.

employee performance; shift feedback

Don’t hesitate — rate!

Like a forgotten item on a grocery list left on the counter, it’s easy to forget the nuances of an employee’s performance in the days following their shift. Implementing a shift rating app leaves nothing to memory.

Wait two weeks or even two days and recollection of that employee’s performance is as hazy as the IPA they were serving that day. Rate the employee’s performance from one to five stars immediately after the shift ends and there is no room for doubt.

Managers then gain the confidence that their assessment maintains pinpoint accuracy and removes the guesswork from scheduling future shifts. The ratings also can be averaged per team to determine where staff performs best.

You’ll be a star when scheduling your employees with the confidence you need through a continuous system of rating their performance based on one to five stars. Get the Workforce.com shift rating and feedback app and let your stars shine through.

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Employee growth and team building is no mystery for escape room company

Puzzle Break, escape room, engagement, team building

Escape rooms have grown in popularity as a way for friends and families to collectively crack the code to diffuse an imaginary time bomb or uncover clues to propel their mythical team of adventurers past an evil witch and return home.

Not surprisingly, these live-action games that allow teams to cooperatively explore a physical space and solve mental and physical puzzles to accomplish a goal as time ticks away also have become a popular corporate team-building tool.

team building, employee engagement
Nate Martin

But team building has been a challenge for organizations in recent months. As more employees work remotely and opportunities for workers to congregate in one place for any length of time is often discouraged, dodging mythical trolls and creating a team of elite hackers to foil a mad scientist’s plot to take over the world has not exactly been top of mind for most organizations.

With a recent report by HR consultancy Gartner stating that 74 percent of CFOs intend to shift some employees to remote work permanently, collaboration among workers could continue to deteriorate. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, 19 percent of remote workers say they struggle with loneliness, and 17 percent add that a lack of communication and collaboration also is an issue for them.

Zoom fatigue

While Zoom happy hours and virtual lunch chats bring colleagues together for a more personal experience, they don’t necessarily build and sustain organizational teamwork. Videoconference fatigue, or “Zoom fatigue,” is further exhausting employees, according to experts. 

So, enter the virtual escape room, which can provide companies in need of activities fostering communication, collaboration and fun in a game-like environment minus the fatigue associated with a workday videoconference.

CASE STUDY: How LAZ Parking discovered the secret sauce of employee engagement

Seattle-based escape-room company Puzzle Break in March pivoted to a virtual version for remote teams to play online after shutting down all its physical escape room facilities. As of early July, company officials said that more than 400 escape experience groups have included over 3,300 players — many with more than 20 in a group. Participants including companies like Microsoft, Starbucks and Deloitte are using the escape rooms as a remote team-building tool, they add.

But as Puzzle Break helped to facilitate the virtual employee engagement efforts of its clients, it also faced challenges of its own. According to Puzzle Break founder Nate Martin, demand for virtual escape rooms outpaced his staff’s ability to keep up. Unlike many companies that laid off or furloughed their hourly employees, Puzzle Break began searching for talent.

Also read: Boost your managers’ effectiveness with an essential mobile clock-in tool

“We’ve gone to great lengths to bring on and retain long-term employees with pay and benefits well above industry standard,” said Martin, whose staffing has climbed up to 40 employees. “When COVID hit and we pivoted to virtual team building, we became slammed with demand from a newly global customer base. In order to keep up with demand, we’ve been hiring hourly folks as fast as we can to curate Puzzle Break experiences for time zones across the planet.”

Scaling up onboarding

With the new demand for virtual team building, Martin said it is extremely difficult to find time at the company level to get everyone together since all his employees are remote for the time being.

“Fortunately, we have a baked-in solution,” he said. “All our new hires go through multiple Puzzle Break virtual team-building experiences together in a cohort as part of their onboarding. We have deliberately engineered our employee training to be hands-on team building.”

For Puzzle Break, which has physical locations in Seattle, New York and the Boston area, growth is a relief in this era of cutting staff. But it does test the organization’s people practices, Martin said.

“We’ve reached a point where I haven’t met over half our workforce,” Martin said. “It’s great to grow, but it is bringing all sorts of new and exciting challenges.”

Organizations face numerous challenges while onboarding and scheduling employees in an uncertain economic environment. See the big picture and make more accurate, data-driven staffing and scheduling decisions in just a few clicks with our comprehensive scheduling software. Check it out and our Workforce Success team will provide a personal, online walk through of our scheduling platform.

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Human capital management: Enriching your human resources

human resource management

Human resource management is an ever-evolving discipline in business management. 

Dating back to the early 1900s, experts recognized that managing a workforce goes beyond carrying out transactional tasks and ensuring that there are hands on deck to get the job done. Gradually, more attention is given to understanding employee well-being and its importance in delivering quality work. 

One expert who delved into the study of the workforce was James R. Angell, president of Yale University and the Carnegie Corp. He started a joint initiative between the Engineering Foundation and National Research Council to propel a research movement that looks into the science behind workforce management through unifying modern engineering, labor management, and educational bodies. It has given birth to Workforce.com today and for 98 years, this initiative has delved deep into the issues within the workforce and understand best practices in human resource management. 

As market trends change and employee behavior and preferences shift, an organization’s human resources management practices should also pivot to meet these developments. Today, it is all about engaging the workforce to push the business forward and is a key component of business success. 

Human Capital: Investing in your organization’s best asset

Human resource management, as its name suggests, is an area of business management that ensures a holistic experience for the organization’s most important resource — its people. It’s involved with the following:

  • Recruitment: Recruitment is the core foundation of building an organization’s human capital. It is involved in identifying the needs of the company and the particular roles that can fill those gaps. Attracting, screening, and onboarding candidates are all part of the recruitment process. The goal of the recruitment process is to successfully find candidates whose skills, values and motivations are aligned with the organization’s goals and culture. 
  • Compensation and benefits: Compensation and benefits refer to what the company gives its employees in exchange for their work or service, and they include monetary and non-monetary components. A company’s compensation and benefits package includes an employee’s salary and government-mandated benefits. Other perks and incentives can be part of the deal such as insurance coverage, gym membership, housing allowance, company-sponsored trips and events. 
  • Labor law compliance: Running an organization is governed by employment laws. Human resource management is involved in creating company policies that comply with labor regulations. Labor law regulations vary per region and they can change from time to time. That being said, a crucial part of human resource management is staying at pace with these changes and ensuring that company policies remain compliant. 
  • Training and development: Training and development are focused on nurturing the potential of employees. Training refers to programs that are geared toward improving skills or learning new technical knowledge needed to perform tasks. Meanwhile, development is focused more on programs that enrich an employee’s overall growth concerning soft skills, leadership, communication, and adapting to certain situations. 
  • Retention and engagement: Human resource management is also involved in creating strategies to keep employee turnover to a minimum. Retention and engagement programs are proactive steps to ensure that employees are motivated to perform their best not just for a paycheck but because they have a clear alignment of values with the organization. All of these parts should move cohesively to ensure the best experience possible for staff at every stage of the employee lifecycle. 

Overcoming human resource management problems

Human resource management involves a lot of moving parts and these can come with their own sets of challenges. Here are common challenges in human resource management and ways to solve them. 

Difficulty in attracting the right talent.

Delays in hiring can be costly, but an unfit hire can also be detrimental to an organization. So how do you know a candidate is fit for the role? While skills and experience are important in assessing whether an applicant is qualified or not, it’s also essential to look into whether they can fit into your company culture. 

How to solve: 

It’s all about clarity and a good candidate experience. Create your job ad in such a way that it highlights what you’re looking for and what’s in it for a qualified candidate when they get in. Provide information about the working style and culture that you have in your company. This will attract people who both have the required skills and similar values as you. At the same time, this can also filter out candidates who have a different working style and culture preference. Another common challenge is convincing candidates who are highly skilled and qualified yet passive. These candidates are most likely in touch with a lot of recruiters and are considering more than one job offer. How do you stand out? Look into what motivates this type of worker. Investigate what that person is looking for in an employer and see if that aligns with your goals, culture and compensation package. Customize your messaging accordingly. 

Boosting your brand as an employer can also help increase your chances of attracting the right talent. According to research from Glassdoor, organizations that invest in employer branding are three times more likely to make a quality hire. 

Poor candidate experience can also be the thing between you and a quality hire. Communication is at the core of solving this. Make sure that all details and instructions are clear at every stage of the process. Timely feedback and response are also crucial. Take a look at your current process and see how it’s affecting candidate experience and employer brand. Glassdoor found that organizations that create a strong experience for candidates improve their quality of hires by 70 percent.

Dealing with too much paperwork.

Human resource management deals with a lot of information — from employee details, company policies and other essential business documents. And too much paperwork can be a burden, especially when done manually. It can take time away from more valuable tasks like strategizing and optimizing programs and processes. 

How to solve:

There are digital solutions that can remove the tedious task of processing paperwork. For instance, digital employee onboarding solutions help eliminate the long forms that new hires need to fill. They enable new staff to log in their information and upload important documents online. This ensures better accuracy of information, improves the employee onboarding experience, and allows for a better way for a new hire to spend his first day at work. 

Understanding and applying labor laws.

Staying compliant with labor laws is a must. However, understanding regulations, applying them in policies, and staying at pace with labor law changes can be very challenging. 

How to solve:

Implement a compliance strategy to avoid any potential financial and reputational repercussions of failing to comply. A compliance strategy is a set of programs and processes that’s geared towards ensuring regular updates and audits of policies and communicating any changes with staff promptly. Given the ever-evolving nature of regulations, it’s best to build a strategy and assign a working group to focus on compliance. Technology is also helpful in staying at pace with changes. For instance, some solutions automate labor law updates and ensure that these are reflected in the payroll computation. 

Retaining employees.

Attracting the right talent is just half of the battle. The other half is retaining them and keeping them satisfied with their role, especially those that are performing above and beyond. 

How to solve:

It’s all about consistent growth and learning. Employees are more likely to stay the course when they are given opportunities to grow and are recognized as a vital part of the organization’s success. 

Training and development programs are essential to retaining employees. But creating these programs is not a one-time thing. That’s why it’s important to have regular alignments with your staff. Regular check-ins can help you get a pulse on their current sentiment about working in the organization, satisfaction with their roles, and the challenges or gaps they’re facing. From there, you can customize programs or identify next steps that can help them stay engaged. 

It also pays to have a competitive compensation and benefits package. One of the things to keep employees happy and make them know that they are valued is by providing not just what they need to get their job done, but also offering other incentives that will motivate them to perform better and stay aligned with the values of the organization. 

Engaging talent at every stage of the employee lifecycle.

Human resource management plays an important part in engaging employees, and it is a continuous process throughout every stage of the employee lifecycle, from onboarding up until the time an employee leaves an organization. All of these stages affect culture, staff morale, and the success of the company.

An organization is only as good as its employees. It’s imperative to nurture and cultivate staff no matter where they are in their tenure with the organization. Doing this takes time. That’s why it’s important for human resources to have the right technology in place so that they can reduce time on administrative tasks and focus more of their energy on engaging employees.

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Defining workforce management: Leading teams for success

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In 1922, James R. Angell, president of Yale University and the Carnegie Corp., led a joint initiative between the Engineering Foundation and the National Research Council. The goal was to take workforce science to new heights through unifying modern engineering, labor, management, and educational bodies. It has given birth to what we know today as Workforce.com and workforce management.

Since then, the team behind Workforce have delved deep into the science behind workforce management — from productivity, labor regulations, workforce challenges to the evolution of work. All of these insights have been put into practice with a full-featured workforce management platform that is being used by companies across the world.

The anatomy of effective workforce management 

So what is workforce management? Based on almost a century’s worth of research and study, we identified three main components that are crucial at effectively leading teams. Each of them requires a unique approach, but as a whole these areas should function seamlessly. Let’s look at each of them. 

Operations. When talking about workforce management, the first thing that comes to mind is operations management. It is all about making sure that quality output is created, within the given timeframe and resources in an organization. This involves planning and organizing. Some of the processes are creating employee schedules, timekeeping, output management and budget forecasting. 

Labor compliance. Labor regulations govern workforces around the world. These laws are set to protect workers and regulate certain business practices concerning the welfare of employees such as wages, work conditions and employment relationships. 

Labor regulations can differ by country or region, and these are taken into account in company employment rules and policies. While increasingly difficult to remain compliant, failure to do so can mean costly penalties that can greatly damage not just an organization’s bottom line but also its reputation. 

Employee engagement. Employee engagement is an area of workforce management that focuses on enabling employees to perform their best in alignment with their individual purpose and the objectives of the organization as whole. 

Employee engagement is typically correlated with happiness with work. But it’s important to note that they are not one in the same. Happiness at work is just one of the byproducts of good employee engagement.  To achieve good employee engagement, there has to be a clear communication in the workforce — from onboarding to getting the job done. 

Also read: How to make your onboarding process engaging and easy

Debunking common workforce management myths

Workforce management can spell success or failure for an organization. Let’s look at some of the common beliefs that can hinder success for an organization. 

It’s just scheduling. While creating schedules is an important part of workforce management, it’s not just all there is. It has a lot of moving parts that are tightly integrated with each other. This includes timekeeping, budget forecasting and engaging employees. 

Also read: Leave management should be as simple as submit, approve and hit the beach

It can be done manually or using spreadsheets. This can be done manually, but such an option can be prone to mistakes. One wrong value input can mess up the entire sheet and end up being counterproductive. It can result in wasted time to find the problem. 

It is easier for smaller organizations. There are many factors at play in workforce management, and one of them is company size. But that doesn’t mean that a smaller organization has it easier than a big corporation. Each organization, regardless of size, has its own unique sets of goals, objectives and needs. And all of these come into play when managing the workforce. What makes it easier or harder is not just how many employees they have but also the alignment of roles, resources and objectives.

Upskilling or training can lead to more skills and less staff. Nurturing the potential of staff is vital in workforce management, but developing their skills and training them to gain new ones doesn’t necessarily mean a lesser need for staff. 

There needs to be a balance in mentoring staff to be able to do more and making sure that they still have the space to master their newly acquired skills. Leaders need to be careful not to unnecessarily push staff from task to task or they can risk driving them to burnout. 

Culture doesn’t have an impact on business performance or bottom line. Culture is one of the vital components that sets the tone for employee engagement. A company may have a strong set of policies but it will all be for nothing when the culture doesn’t sit well with the employees. It can lead to high turnover rates, lower productivity and overall low workforce morale, which can all impact the bottom line.

Also read: Give managers the time they need to sharpen up their all-around skills

It’s a one-time deal. Establishing processes for operations, labor compliance and employee engagement is a good start. But workforce management continuously evolves. There are always changes that will influence the needs of an organization and leaders need to be quick to adapt to those changes. Optimizing is constant in workforce management, and it’s something that leaders need to pay more attention to. 

Setting up the workforce for success

Workforce management involves many processes that can be daunting and time-consuming for managers or team leaders. Here are some best practices that can make workforce management more efficient.

Use a workforce management platform. Leverage technology for the admin tasks involved in workforce management. Use a workforce management platform to accurately keep track of attendance, automate timesheet to payroll processing, scheduling, time-off management, and to make sure that labor laws are accounted for in computing for pay.

An effective workforce management platform goes beyond borders and allows for teams to work together no matter where they are. Go for a solution that can be accessible anytime, anywhere and on any device. 

Before going for a workforce management solution, it’s imperative to look at your needs as an organization. According to the Workforce Management Trends for Hourly Workers, 46 percent of respondents say that poor integration with other systems is a shortcoming of their current workforce management platform. Avoid this type of challenge by understanding your requirements and considering ease of use for staff. 

Monitor and optimize. Workforce management is all about maintaining efficiency and employee well-being. One advantage of automation is having data and analytics that can be a source of insights as to how you can optimize your operations and what areas you can improve on. Analyze your data and make informed decisions about how you can improve productivity and employee engagement in your organization. 

Listen to your employees. Communication is key to a successful workforce. Always keep channels open to your employees. Since staff are always on the front lines, it pays to listen to them to gain better insight on customer service, identify operational gaps, and improve working conditions for staff. 

Effective workforce management is all about employing smart solutions to spend less time on repetitive tasks and paperwork and more time on improving the business and empowering staff for success. It’s all about creating value for customers and employees alike. 

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How to communicate when an employee tests positive for COVID-19

essential workers; workers' compensation, mask

Positive COVID-19 tests are sadly the reality of 2020 and likely at least part of 2021.

Nationally, 2.23 million of us have tested positive for coronavirus. If your employees have been fortunate enough so far to avoid the virus, the odds are good that before this pandemic is over one or more of your employees will test positive.

Before we discuss the right way to communicate a potential workplace exposure to your employees, let’s explore the wrong way, via one of my favorite punching bags, the WWE.

Via Deadspin:

As “Monday Night Raw” was wrapping up last night, reports started to leak out that a member of WWE’’s developmental program had tested positive for COVID-19.… It’s hard to pinpoint which is the more galling aspect: that the talent and crew of WWE found out about the positive test the same way the rest of us did, through social media and the internet last night, or that everyone showed up to work thinking they were safe, or however close to that word they felt by working for WWE, when in fact they weren’t.

If one of your employees tests positive for COVID-19, your other employees deserve to hear the news from you, not from a Facebook post, a tweet, a local news reporter or otherwise. You just have to make sure you are communicating the news legally.
The ADA’s confidentiality rules still apply to these communications, and an employee’s positive coronavirus test is still a confidential medical record. This means that you cannot divulge to anyone else the identity of the employee(s) who tested positive. It does not mean, however, that you can’t (and shouldn’t) communicate to employees that they might have been in contact with someone who has tested positive (or is displaying symptoms consistent with COVID-19) and that they should be diligent about monitoring their own health for potential symptoms.
Your only limit is disclosing the identity of the corona-positive employee. Otherwise, you are free to make any communication you want.
And you should. Your employees will resent you if they learn of the diagnosis of their potential exposure from anyone but you. Moreover, you can flip the story around into one focused on everything you are doing to protect the health and safety of your employees.
Dear Employees:
It saddens us to inform you that one of your co-workers has tested positive for COVID-19. The law prevents us from telling you the identity of that co-worker, but we want to assure you that we will continue to support this employee as your co-worker heals from this virus, and we will welcome them back to join you at work once it is safe to do so.
We are doing everything within our ability and resources to keep you as safe and healthy as possible at work. Still, with many cases of COVID-19 transmitted before anyone knows they have been exposed, and with you only being at work for a fraction of you day, we cannot 100 percent guarantee the virus won’t enter our workplace.
We continue to require that you self-assess daily for your own potential COVID-19 symptoms (fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea). If you have any of these symptoms, please let us know, and do not return to work until you have received a negative COVID-19 test, or you are symptom-free for at least 72 hours and at least seven days have passed since your first symptoms.
We are also continuing to take the following steps to help ensure, as best as possible, your health and safety here at work:
  • Employees are required to wear masks or other facial coverings at all times while at work, unless you granted a specific exception (such as for safety, a medical reason, or because you are working alone in a closed office).
  • employees are required to maintain six feet of social distance from others at all times.
  • Employees must diligently wash their hands and otherwise use hand sanitizer (which we are providing in intervals around the workplace).
  • Employee must self-assess their own health before reporting to work, and no employee is permitted to come to work if they have any of the known symptoms of COVID-19.
  • Lunch room and other common areas are closed until further notice.
  • Each employee is responsible for cleaning their own work station at the end of each shift.
  • We are deep cleaning the entire workplace on a weekly basis.
Additionally, because of the unfortunate positive test, we had the facility deep cleaned and sanitized prior to anyone being allowed to reenter after we learned of the positive test.
Our commitment to your health and safety is our top priority. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact ______________. Our door is always open.
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A midterm outlook on the future of the workplace

future workplace, remote work

The COVID-19 pandemic is the first of its kind for virtually everyone living on this planet.  We’ve survived SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) in 2012, Ebola around 2014, and even AIDS. 

We’re still here, and yet this feels different.  As of this writing, we still don’t know what we don’t know about this virus’s trajectory, its reinfection rate, or the longer-term ramifications to the health of those infected. 

It’s difficult to speculate how and in what ways this health crisis will affect the workplace globally, but in the nearer term, it’s reasonable to predict certain outcomes with a fairly high degree of certainty. The phases of COVID-19 will likely follow a pattern of illness, mitigation, and control (where we are now), economic impact in terms of stock markets and unemployment, and anticipated litigation, especially in the areas of employment, wage and hour, and disability discrimination. Finally, a “new normal” of sorts will establish itself, but things many never be quite the same.  We’ve lost a certain innocence about many of the things we take for granted. 

For example, there will certainly be a gradual, staged reintegration of workers back into the workplace. Some nations, states and companies may lurch right back in, while others will be more cautious, prudent, and mindful about the upcoming reintegration. What’s for sure, though, is that we’ll gradually move back into a fully operational and integrated workplace.

Working remotely

Two changes, however, are likely: a smaller workforce at each company and a remote approach to working. To that latter point, Gen Z’s desire for more flexibility and greater work-life balance may dovetail nicely into this paradigm of remote telework. Technology creates new opportunities for face-to-face, real-time meetings, even if they aren’t in person. Likewise, a smaller, leaner workforce will likely be the new norm as organizations pare down corporate infrastructure and spans of control and retain only the strongest performers.  

A practical impact of more remote work from smaller teams, however, may be the threat to managers’ exemption status. For example, in California, “concurrent duties” are permissible during emergencies. An exempt employee may perform both exempt and nonexempt duties, all the time qualifying as exempt.

However, outside of an emergency, exempt managers must spend 50 percent or more of their time engaging in “exempt” level duties, meaning responsibilities with a high degree of independent judgment, discretion, and decision-making. If remote managers in smaller organizations start doing more of the work their subordinates have typically done, their exemption status could be threatened.  And if your managers’ exempt classification is in jeopardy, class action wage and hour lawsuits may result. 

HR steps up

How can HR leaders step up? By predicting the natural reintegration curve that’s coming our way. Some workers may truly suffer from anxiety and depression as they return to work. Expect new medical diagnoses of “adjustment disorder with anxiety” and PTSD—pre-traumatic stress disorder—as workers experience a new paranoia about coming to work, their surroundings, and everything they touch and come into contact with.

Think about it: simply using public transportation to get to work may cause some to seek medical treatment for an invisible enemy that surrounds them. Employees may ask about “proximity alarms” and warning devises that trigger when coming within six feet of coworkers and customers. Partitions and barriers like the plexiglass windows seen at the grocery store may be at the top of certain employees’ wish lists, as may be requests for staggering arrival times to avoid overcrowding.  

Likewise, as an employer, you may want to implement new rules on PPE (personal protective equipment), hand-washing and other sanitation standards.  You may likewise look to introduce attestation language to your electronic timekeeping system when nonexempt workers clock out at the end of the day verifying that they have no COVID-19 symptoms.

Challenges ahead

Whatever this looks like in your particular organization, rest assured that change is coming in the form of predictable and unforeseeable challenges.  

Be the wisdom. Lead and welcome the change. When in doubt, err on the side of compassion and leave judgment behind when supporting your workers through this.

There will likely be no greater opportunity for you to exercise selfless leadership than you’re getting right now at this very moment in your career. We’re at a point of pure creation, with few policies, precedents, or practices to fall back on or guide us.  See this as an opportunity to excel, shine, and lead.

Teach what you choose to learn. Help your team members and employees know that you’re there for them and you’ve got their backs, no matter what challenges come your way next. This crisis is the making of inspirational leadership that will define you for the rest of your career.

Now, more than ever, you have an opportunity to demonstrate role model leadership and touch and inspire those around you. Never let a crisis go to waste.