Unwind from the Grind
URL: http://tradepost.selectfamily.com/index.cfm/2012/7/12/work_after_hours
Author: TradePost
As an increasing number of Americans work beyond the typical eight hour work day, the distinction between work and personal life is slowing disappearing. In addition to staying late or going in early, employees are now expected to bring their work home with them. In fact, a recent Good Technology study shows that 80% of people continue to check their email and answer phone calls after they leave work for the day (Good Technology, 7/2/12).
Improved technology through smart phones, tablets, and laptops makes it much easier to work outside the office and creates a new level of connectedness among businesses and customers; customers want a near-instantaneous response time when they have needs, and employers expect workers to stay connected, even after hours.
As a result, workers (especially those on salary) are finding themselves checking in at all hours of the day, every day of the week. According to the study, roughly 70% of people check their emails both before they head into work, and before they go to bed. It seems as if “off the clock” has a whole new meaning in this world of technology. Whether on vacation, sick at home, or on a family outing, people are not leaving work behind.
In fact, the average workers spends seven extra hours a week staying connected to their work—that’s almost an entire extra day of working per week that the employee is not getting paid for.
But why are people sacrificing their personal time to keep working unpaid hours? In today’s economy and job market, there is always someone else out there willing to work longer and harder hours. People are working the extra hours in order to keep their jobs and continue driving business, which will keep the boss happy.
The problem with working so many extra hours lies in employee productivity and motivation. It’s hard to stay motivated, as well as positive and driven about one’s job, when one never gets a break from it. That’s why it’s crucial for businesses to encourage their employees to take a break. People need down time to recharge both mentally and physically. After all, aren’t we all striving to “work to live, not live to work?”
Here are a couple of tips for unplugging from work:
• Communicate with your management: It’s important that you and your boss come up with realistic deadlines for projects you have due. If you feel that you need more time, be sure to communicate that and be prepared to give reasons why. And as always, as stuff comes up along the way, communicate that to your boss so that you can shift deadlines as needed and make room for other responsibilities.
• Set a stop time: Each day, set aside some time to unwind. Giving yourself set periods of personal time that are truly yours will make the times when you have to work long hours much more manageable.
• Keep your family first: It may seem as though work can’t wait, and you are too far behind to stop; however, nothing will make you feel more balanced and good about your work then if you make your family time truly family time.

posted by TradePost in Business, Human Resources
Last month’s job report was an indicator that our economy is starting to make a turnaround (TradePost, 3/9/12). The unemployment rate (8.3%) has declined 0.8 percentage points since last August, and the economy has continued to add jobs and show signs of improvement. Also changing are the numbers of Americans who are taking advantage of these rose-colored economic glasses to find a new job. As a result, retention is becoming a hot topic among employers looking for ways to keep their top talent.

In a down economy, companies need to cut costs. Perks that were once provided to employees, such as coffee or snacks in the break room or 401(k) matching, are cut as businesses look for ways to drive down costs and reduce overhead. Dissatisfied as they may be with the removal of such benefits, employees feel lucky to have a job when so many do not – and stay put… for the time being.

With the economy building speed towards a recovery, employees are starting to look around for better job opportunities and environments. Consequently, businesses experience higher rates of turnover and all the costs that accompany it. Not only do companies risk losing their top talent— those who produce their best ideas, the most revenue, and bring the best results—but they also are impacted by the costly price associated with hiring replacements. A new hire means a hit in productivity and lost time, not to mention the costs associated with recruiting, screening, and training new employees.

In view of that, we’ve got several tips for you to help you hang on to your top talent and avoid the costly price of turnover.

1) Benefits: There is more to a job than getting paid, which is why offering a solid benefits plan that includes life insurance, health insurance, and a retirement plan is a must! Soft benefits such as paid lunches and telecommuting are an added bonus.

2) Advancement: The go-getters and top talent that you strive to keep in your company are looking at their position and determining how it fits in with their career as a whole. As their employer, it’s important that you show them a future with your company and how you plan on advancing their professional careers, whether it is through promotion or new job responsibilities.

Which leads us to our next tip…

3) Career development: Your top talent is also looking at how they can increase their value as professionals. Wherever possible, provide your employees with new training, education, and skills to develop them professionally so they have more incentive to stay on board with your company.

4) Incentives: Your top producers are competitive and driven by nature, so keep them interested and motivated in their job by challenging them through contests and added bonus opportunities.

5) Wellness Programs: Offering wellness programs to reduce costs of health benefits is beneficial to both your business as well as your employees. Rewarding your employees by implementing smoking cessation programs and offering discounts to employees who maintain a healthy lifestyle gives employees more control over their health care costs and ability to drive prices down (TradePost, 11/3/11).

Some of the above tips will cost your company money, but not all of them will – and there are ways to spread the costs across your entire workforce in many cases. Yet, the value of the investment back into your human capital will surely pay for itself in employee retention.

posted by TradePost in Business, Management
Dress codes are something that we all have to deal with as working professionals. While the industry we work in generally sets the standards, employers still have some flexibility to the degree employees have to dress up or down. And despite other considerable work-related issues like vacation time, health benefits, salary, and so on, the dress code for employment remains to be a fundamental topic that people really care about. Last week, “Job Talk with Anita Clew” published an interesting article, Addressing the Dress Code, which really seemed to resonate with readers and stir up quite a few opinions.

In the article, Anita notes a trend of the “corporate” dress code moving toward a more “business casual” standard. While there is certainly less individuality when dressing up for a “corporate” dress code, Anita remarks on the ease of pulling together this type of professional look because the only real decisions that have to be made revolve around the color of ties and shirts for that day. This in turn makes it easier for businesses to maintain a professional look for all of their employees and create uniformity amongst the entire company. Instead, dressing for a “business casual” look can be a much trickier task. The ability to mix casual with formal requires much more fashion insight, especially where women are concerned.

And speaking of women—what about the pantyhose requirement in the workplace? According to Anita, this is one dated requirement that employers should do away with, or at the very least, make optional. While yes, pantyhose do in fact come in handy for providing a more polished look, the fact is they frankly can be a huge pain!

At the end of her article, Anita wraps it up asking her audience to weigh in on both dress codes and specifically pantyhose for women. The answers were pretty much unanimous—workplaces need to employ some type of dress code for their employees. One reader observed a link between dressing casually and taking their work less seriously, especially in the case of “Casual Fridays,” while another reader remarked on the inappropriateness that ensued from “Pajama Fridays.” The fact is, discrepancies will always occur when employers lack clear-cut policies regarding dress codes at work because people hold different judgments about appropriateness in the workplace.

Surprisingly though, the consensus on pantyhose was not widespread—some readers hate them, others see their use but feel they should be optional, and one reader even went as far to say that they should be mandatory for all professional dress codes. But what about that old adage that says you should always dress for the job you want, not the job you have? In many cases, this means wearing pantyhose and professional attire.

posted by TradePost in Business, Human Resources, Management, Employment
We plan to tackle “Smart Hiring” for Part 3 of our “Start of the Year Planner” – and who should know better about that topic than a staffing agency?
The hiring process is one of the most difficult tasks managers face. A bad hire can cost a business money, time, and productivity, and put you further behind in accomplishing your business goals for the year. It’s time to fine-tune the hiring process to get higher-caliber employees on board that will go the distance for both you and your company.
So where to start? First you need to know where to look, and we’ve got several recommendations.
1. Referral Programs
It is a well-known fact that some of the best hiring comes from referrals. Research shows that referred employees tend to be both more productive and stay with the company for a longer period of time, consequently reducing the cost-to-hire ratio. Additionally, hiring through a referral program allows you to cheaply find candidates who already understand how your company operates and the type of working environment they will be working in (Inc.com, 12/9/11).
2. Social Media
Job seekers are utilizing such social media sites as LinkedIn and Facebook more and more to find jobs today. Not only are people using social media to do background research on companies, they are also using it to network with other professionals and find open positions. So it’s critical that your company not only has an online presence on these sites, but that you are utilizing these sites to find job candidates. (TradePost, 7/21/10)
But how do you know where to start? LinkedIn, for example, is geared toward networking professionals. This site allows users to customize their profile as if it’s a resume, and even allows colleagues to recommend each other’s work. Businesses can find those candidates’ LinkedIn profiles individually or through industry-related groups, giving hiring managers the ability to assess someone as a potential job candidate by seeing what type of knowledge a user has on a subject.
3. Staffing Companies
The hiring process is not only tedious and time-consuming, but also costs businesses a lot of money and is not always fool-proof. It’s critical that you have the right people lined up to assess your job candidates. That’s where staffing agencies like Remedy Intelligent Staffing come in. These firms are experts at writing and placing ads to find job seekers, interviewing candidates and assessing them for your position, and verifying their resumes and references. They also have pre-qualified candidates just waiting for a position like yours to open up. Finally, the staffing firm absorbs the costs of benefits, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and other employer burdens – making the cost of outsourcing the hiring process comparable to what you could do in-house. Truly, if you do not have the resources, or are not confident in your ability to hire the right candidate, hiring through a staffing firm is your best bet.
Readers: Where do you find your best candidates? How do you see the hiring process changing in 2012?