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Friday, 25 October 2024 10:46

Take Stock of Your Succession Plan

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Succession planning is mission-critical for companies of all sizes and spanning all industries. Simply put, a succession plan ensures that, when an important decision-maker or senior-level leader leaves the company, your organization isn’t caught flat-footed. A succession plan allows you to identify key roles, to recognize promising new talents, and to ensure future leaders are well-prepared to assume new roles as they become available.

Succession planning isn’t a one-and-done kind of activity. On the contrary, it’s wise to review your organization’s succession plan on a regular basis, and to revise it as necessary.

How to Evaluate Your Succession Plan

As you try to take stock of your succession plan, here are a few questions that may help you to think critically, analytically, and systemically.

1) Does your succession plan account for each member of your leadership team?

Succession planning probably doesn’t need to encompass your entire team; for example, you are unlikely to need a succession plan for an entry-level sales rep. But neither is succession planning meant to encompass the CEO only. Every leader or executive should have a succession plan in place, ensuring continuity for if and when they leave the organization.

2) Are you preparing your up-and-coming leaders?

Your plan should help you to identify potential leaders, and to ensure they’re ready for success before they are promoted. Professional development is a critical aspect of any good succession plan.

3) Do your leadership candidates know they’re being considered for advanced positions?

It’s difficult to prepare future leaders for success without actually communicating with them about the opportunities that lie before them. Make sure your succession plan includes a communication plan.

4) Are you hiring to get a diversity of views, or just to replicate the boss?

A common succession planning error is looking for a successor who is, for all intents and purposes, just a clone of the current boss. Make sure you’re recruiting and hiring with the goal of bringing in a wide range of mindsets and perspectives. Your organization will be richer and more robust because of it!

5) What tools are you using to evaluate your talent pool?

From CVs to 360 performance reviews, there are numerous tools available to help you size up future leaders. Are you using all the tools and resources at your disposal to ensure an informed decision?

6) Are you challenging your up-and-coming leaders?

One way to ensure your top talents are ready for a promotion is to challenge them with new projects or expanded scopes of responsibility. Rather than allowing anyone to “fail forward,” provide employees with opportunities to prove themselves.

Is Your Succession Plan Sufficient?

These and similar questions can help you appraise your current succession plan. If you’d like to talk more about the role of HR in ensuring a viable succession plan, reach out to the FullHR team at your convenience!

Friday, 20 September 2024 02:21

How to Protect Your Middle Management

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At larger companies, middle management serves an important function. Simply put, middle managers play a vital role in liaising between executives and entry-level employees, ensuring strategic alignment and operational efficiency.

Lately, studies have shown that middle management is actually in jeopardy, with more and more employees eschewing these mid-level positions. Many reasons have been given for the decline of middle management, including workplace burnout, inadequate work-life balance, or a lack of clarity about expectations.

All of this raises a question: What can HR leaders do to ensure that their middle managers are well cared for? We have a few suggestions.

Taking Care of Middle Management

Consider a few guidelines to keep your middle managers happy and engaged.

Reduce Reporting Requirements

One thing that quickly drains time and energy from your middle managers is the need to file seemingly endless operational reports, sharing their intel with executives on a monthly or even a weekly basis. Consider cutting back on reporting requirements (or using AI to automate some of your reports), or even getting rid of the reports that don’t really get read. Free more time for managers to interact with their team members or to do meaningful creative work.

Provide More Autonomy

Nobody likes to be micromanaged, and that includes the people you have in middle management positions. One way to reduce micromanagement is to come up with a clear set of guardrails: Determine, as a department or as a company, which areas require more oversight, and which areas can accommodate more freedom and independence.

Allow Middle Management to Air Their Concerns

Something else to consider is that many middle managers feel like they lack a safe space to share their fears, struggles, or concerns. Make sure your middle managers know where they can turn when they need to process or troubleshoot issues, without fear of finger-pointing. Make sure the lines of dialogue remain open and unencumbered.

Explain Why Their Roles Matter

The “mushy middle” sometimes struggles to identify their import in the workplace. Provide middle managers with regular reminders of how their role fits into the big picture, and how their daily activities promote team goals and core business objectives. Do everything you can to keep middle management from feeling like they’re just doing “busywork.”

Provide Training That Makes a Difference

While nobody likes wasting time in training sessions that feel pointless or disconnected from daily realities, everyone wants to feel supported in their professional development. Provide opportunities for your middle managers to get additional training and collect feedback to ensure the sessions offered are actually meaningful.

Safeguard Middle Management

The bottom line: Employees who work in middle management play an important role in keeping your company running smoothly and effectively. Protect these important positions however you can. And with any questions, reach out to FullHR directly.

Monday, 12 August 2024 10:18

Why Employee Happiness Matters

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Most businesses place a big emphasis on maintaining happy customers… and rightfully so. But what if having happy employees is just as important?

The argument for employee happiness goes something like this: The only way you can provide a really rich and satisfying customer experience is through team members who genuinely like what they do and see the value in helping to achieve broader organizational goals. An employee who is disgruntled is seldom going to go the extra mile to serve their customers joyfully and enthusiastically.

In other words, promoting employee happiness can lead to customer happiness. And that’s just for starters.

The Benefits of a Happy Employee Base

Consider a few additional reasons to prioritize the happiness of your team members.

Enthusiasm is contagious. One reason to focus on happy customers is that doing so can help you convert your customers into brand advocates. When your team members use enthusiastic and emotive language to describe the organization they work for, it’s much easier for their love and passion to seep into the way customers describe the organization, particularly to their own family and friends.

Valued employees = valued customers. If your employees are genuinely happy in their day-to-day work, that’s a pretty clear indicator that they feel valued. And only employees who feel valued can help customers feel valued.

The way you treat employees affects how employees treat customers. This is sort of a variant of the Golden Rule: Do unto your employees how you would have them do unto customers and clients. The way you treat the people who work for you provides them with a model for how they should treat the folks they interact with day in and day out.

Happiness helps you sell your brand values. Another angle to consider: If you can’t sell your own people on the value or the greatness of your brand, you shouldn’t expect to sell it outside, either. Learning how to translate your organizational vision into real satisfaction starts with your employees, then extends out to your customer base.

Happiness and engagement go hand in hand. Employee happiness is not quite the same thing as employee engagement, but the two certainly go hand-in-hand. The employee who feels genuinely happy about their work is more likely to be detail-oriented, to invest in excellence, and to do everything with a good attitude.

Be Intentional in Cultivating Happy Employees

It’s not uncommon for businesses to say that customer happiness is their #1 priority. While having happy customers is obviously desirable, this may be an example of putting the cart before the horse. Working to ensure your team members are happy may be paramount. And that’s an area where HR can show tremendous leadership and initiative.

Questions about the role HR can play in cultivating employee happiness? We’d love to chat with you further. Reach out to FullHR any time!

There have always been challenges with rallying your employee base around a shared vision or a common set of values. Those challenges have been exacerbated by the era of hybrid work, with fewer and fewer companies having their full personnel in the same geographic location each day. When your employees are working remotely, at least part of the time, it presents some real obstacles to culture-building.

What, if anything, can HR leaders do to ensure a strong sense of culture for their dispersed, decentralized teams? In this post, we’ll share a few ideas.

Why Culture Matters

First, it may be helpful to know why building culture amongst a decentralized workforce even matters.

There are a number of benefits to robust culture-building, but we’ll focus on just two. First, the lack of a shared culture can make it more difficult for employees to find common ground for communication and collaboration, which may result in a less effective, less productive team.

Second, culture is a major factor in employee satisfaction and loyalty. Your team members will be more likely to commit to your company if they feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. In this way, a strong culture can help you minimize turnover.

Creating a Process for Centralized Culture

With that said, how can HR teams create a culture in which even remote and hybrid workers can thrive? Consider a few suggestions:

  • Introduce values early on. Your employees shouldn’t be hearing about the company culture and values for the first time when they’ve been on the job for a few months. Instead, you should introduce these principles during the recruiting process, sharing your cultural touchpoints with potential hires and asking them for their reactions.
  • Improve the onboarding process. The onboarding process itself offers ample opportunity to expose new employees to your company’s values. For example, providing chances to meet key leaders, and to discuss the company culture in a one-on-one setting, can be huge.
  • Provide clarity from day one. Make sure every new hire is provided with a written statement of your culture and values, and that you connect the dots between the culture and their particular role. Ensure that each employee knows from the outset how their work contributes to the big picture.
  • Plan ahead. As you bring new employees into the fold, be planning ways to engage with them beyond the first few weeks. Create a routine of team-building events (even if they are remote), check-ins, and cultural refreshers that extend beyond the initial 90 days of employment.

Create a Culture That Brings Employees Together

Even if your employees are working from different locations, a shared culture can unite them. Follow these guidelines to ensure your company culture remains central. And with any questions, reach out to FullHR directly.

Wednesday, 19 June 2024 14:07

Talking with Employees Who Are Underperforming

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Sooner or later, every manager encounters an employee who is talented and knowledgeable yet fails to meet workplace expectations. Initiating conversations with these employees can be difficult, and many managers feel ill-equipped to deliver negative feedback.

When handled appropriately, however, these conversations can not only improve relationships between managers and employees, but potentially result in significant improvements to the employee’s performance. Here are some tips to help guide these conversations

Tips to Talk with an Underperforming Employee

Set the Right Tone

When you first sit down with the employee, be clear and candid with them about the nature of the conversation. Demonstrate right from the get-go that you’re on the same team, and that the goal is for a constructive and collaborative discussion. Say something like: “My goal for this conversation is to have an open and honest dialogue, to provide clear feedback, and to work together on a plan for your performance development.”

Invite Self-Reflection

It’s often helpful to provide the employee with a chance for self-assessment. Ask them to take a moment to reflect on their performance, and to evaluate whether they have met their own personal goals and expectations. Also ask if they have anything they might wish they could change or improve.

Connect Performance and Goals

One way to motivate employees is to connect their current performance with their long-term career goals. For example, you might ask them to reflect on how their current role contributes to their professional development, or to inquire about the kinds of skills they hope to develop.

Provide Clear Feedback

When delivering constructive feedback, clarity and specificity are essential. Rather than speaking in generalities, offer some concrete examples of the issues or inefficiencies that you’ve noticed. Leave no room for ambiguity. Also make sure you seek comments from other leaders or managers, ensuring the feedback isn’t only coming from you. This makes it harder for the employee to blame you personally, or to assume it’s an interpersonal misunderstanding as opposed to a real issue with performance.

Demonstrate Vulnerability

Empathy goes a long way in these conversations. You can convey empathy by sharing relevant personal experiences. For example, if your employee struggles with organization, you can share about a time when you messed something up due to poor organization, then highlight some of the steps you took to address the problem.

Offer Positive Reinforcement

It’s also important to provide some positivity. Reiterate that you value your employee. Enumerate some of their strengths. And underscore your sincere desire for them to do well.

Be Clear About Expectations

Before you conclude the meeting, be very clear and deliberate about expectations moving forward. Ensure your employee knows the benchmarks you’ll be using to assess their performance improvement.

Ask Questions

Finally, provide the employee with a chance to weigh in on the feedback they have received. Often, this will lead to some healthy self-reflection and accountability. Also ask what steps they think they might take to better align their performance with the expectations you have provided.

Be Prepared to Coach Underperforming Employees

Managers must be ready to have candid conversations with employees who are struggling. These tips should provide the parameters for healthy feedback and effective coaching. With questions, reach out to FullHR at your convenience.

No matter what kind of business you’re in, you need insurance coverage to manage your financial and legal risk. In fact, most states require small businesses to maintain certain types of coverage, including workers comp insurance.

As you seek adequate insurance coverage, there are a number of considerations to make, including the type of coverage, the limits to your coverage, the agent or broker you purchase from, and beyond. And then there’s the question of timing. Simply put, there are certain times when it is especially beneficial to purchase coverage or to review the terms of an existing policy.

When to Shop for Business Insurance

Some of the most advantageous times to consider your business insurance needs include:

  • When your current policy hits its renewal period. This is an excellent time to shop around, compare rates, and ensure that you’re still getting the best kind of coverage you need.
  • When you hire or lay off employees. As your workforce changes and the scale of your company evolves, you may determine that you need more or less insurance.
  • When you relocate your business. You may need to change insurance coverage to ensure compliance with local laws, or simply to accommodate the needs of a new facility.
  • When you buy new equipment, or when you get rid of old equipment. Any change to your business resources can involve a change in insurance needs.
  • When you expand your product line. You may need new insurance to cover liability risks associated with a particular product.
  • When your revenues take a sharp increase or decrease. You may need more or less insurance as your business income changes.

What’s the Best Time of the Year for Buying Business Insurance?

Insurance offers year-round protection for your business, but there may be certain seasons where it makes more sense to make your insurance purchase.

Remember that, when you choose a certain month to buy insurance, that’s when your renewal process will occur each and every year. As such, it can be wise to look at your fiscal calendar in order to determine the time of year best suited for buying insurance, taking into account your cash flow and the price of your insurance premiums.

When Should New Businesses Invest in Insurance?

A final question: Let’s say you’re launching a brand-new business entity. Is insurance something you need from the get-go, or can it wait until your business is more firmly established?

There are certain types of insurance, including general liability, that you’ll probably want from the very beginning. After all, as soon as you start your business, you begin courting risk. A good broker will be able to tell you more about the types of coverage best suited for your new business.

Something like workers comp may be able to wait until you start bringing on employees, assuming you don’t have personnel on staff from the very beginning.

Is Now the Time to Buy Business Insurance?

If you’re ready to move forward with business insurance, or simply have questions about the timing of the process, reach out to us directly. At FullHR, we are always happy to address questions about small business insurance coverage, and to help our clients get the insurance they need at rates they can afford.

If you’ve managed a team for any length of time, then you’ve surely realized one basic fact about the workplace: That even the happiest and most cohesive team will experience turnover eventually. People leave because they crave a change, they find a better offer, or they are simply ready to move on.

While turnover is inevitable, it’s usually not welcome. In fact, extensive turnover can be incredibly costly. It results in elevated recruitment and onboarding costs. It can drain your team’s morale, disrupt customer service continuity, and more. Above all, extreme turnover is a major red flag about your company culture.

But while you can’t always avoid turnover, sometimes you can minimize its frequency. It all starts with developing the right plan.

Planning to Reduce Employee Turnover

There are a handful of steps we’d recommend as you develop a plan to reduce employee turnover.

Hire with Diversity in Mind

One important way to ensure your team remains highly functional, even with the occasional departure, is to hire with cross-coverage in mind. Be proactive about hiring people who bring different skill sets to the table, as opposed to laser-focused specialties.

Develop a Transition Plan

When you do have an employee leave, it’s important to have some kind of a template, allowing you to guide a smooth transition. Maintain an internal document denoting the expectations for employees during their final weeks: What do they need to complete, and to whom do they need to pass off their unfinished projects?

Train for Cross-Coverage

When one employee leaves, another employee will likely need to fill their role and perform their duties, at least until a new hire can be made. Invest in cross-coverage training, ensuring your employees are prepared to step into new responsibilities as needed.

Be Strategic About Delegating

Empowering your employees to take on new projects and duties can accomplish two things. One, it shows existing team members that you trust them, which can go a long way toward boosting satisfaction and retention. And two, it shows employees that they can be flexible and adaptive, even when there is a sudden departure.

Normalize Time Off

It’s much better to have employees take vacations or sabbaticals than to have them burn out, then quit. Create a culture in which people feel like they can take their PTO, even if that means the occasional mental health day. Remember, this is an area where you can lead by example: When the boss or manager takes time to recharge, everyone else will feel the freedom to follow suit.

Plan for Turnover

Turnover happens, but with the right strategy, you can mediate its effects. Questions? Reach out to the FullHR team any time you want to chat.

Wednesday, 14 February 2024 12:26

4 Ways to Rethink Remote Work

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Ever since the COVID lockdown, remote work has become standard practice for many businesses. Even at companies that have launched “return to work” initiatives, there remains a lot of interest in flexible or hybrid work arrangements.

As such, one of the big challenges HR teams have taken on is finding a way to create and sustain a meaningful work culture, even with many employees working from their home offices or kitchen tables.

Whether your team has struggled with building a meaningful remote work culture or you’re simply looking to shake things up a bit, here are a few action items to think about.

Creative Ways to Shape Remote Work Culture

1) Create a mentorship structure.

Encourage employees to sign up for mentorship relationships. Pair older and younger employees and invite them to take a few minutes each week to check in with each other, digitally, to share insights and experiences.

You might even opt for a “reverse mentorship” model, asking junior employees to share their perspective with more senior team members. Fresh perspectives can benefit everyone!

2) Plan “wildcard” days.

Many businesses schedule wildcard days once every week or two. The premise is simple: On wildcard days, employees are encouraged to work on projects or initiatives that are beyond their normal scope of duties.

For example, you might have employees planning community service endeavors, brainstorming new business strategies, or developing teambuilding exercises. This can be a great way to shake off the monotony that often comes from remote work.

3) Emphasize shared experiences.

It’s helpful to remind employees that they’re not in it alone; that they have team members and colleagues, even if they don’t see each other in a physical workspace each day.

A simple way to create a sense of shared experience? Make a group playlist and encourage employees to add songs to it. Everyone can listen throughout the day and chat with one another about standout tracks.

4) Rethink office hours.

It’s important to maintain a sense of work-life balance for all employees. However, it’s equally important to acknowledge that some employees may be more or less productive during different times of the day.

For example, some employees may benefit from having early morning brainstorming sessions but taking a longer break for lunch; or knocking off early but regrouping for an evening planning session. Encourage this kind of flexibility whenever possible.

Get Creative with Your Culture

Remote work is here to stay, so it’s important for teams to think long-term about developing a strong culture. Outside-the-box thinking is essential, and the suggestions we’ve offered are just a jumping-off point.

Questions about building a strong, cohesive team? Reach out to the FullHR team at any time.

Monday, 05 February 2024 15:10

Key Questions for Your Business Insurance Broker

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Insurance is a critical investment for any business, allowing you to mitigate risk and maintain financial stability. Not all insurance coverage is created equal, though, which means it’s important to do some due diligence. A good place to start is having a candid conversation with your broker.

What to Ask Your Business Insurance Broker

There are a number of key questions that can help you size up your options and make an advantageous decision. Here are a few good places to start.

1) What kind of insurance do I need?

A number of factors can determine the types of coverage you require, including your business location, your industry, and more. Your broker should be able to counsel you on the types of coverage that are legally mandatory, those that are recommended, and those that might not be as necessary.

Some examples of different types of coverage include:

  • General liability, which covers customer injuries or property damage that happens at your place of business.
  • Errors and omissions coverage, which covers you against claims that a customer suffered ill effects due to bad or negligent advice that you provided.
  • Workers comp insurance, which covers any employees who experience an accident or injury while on the job.

2) How do I submit a claim?

If you experience some type of incident at your business, you’ll want to know how to file a claim right away. Often, time is of the essence when it comes to having your claim processed and the issue resolved. However, the person who sells you your insurance policy is usually not the person you’ll file the claim with. Make sure you ask about the point of contact for filing a claim, along with any apps or online dashboards that might expedite the process.

3) How much will my insurance cover?

To determine how effective different policies are, you’ll want to consider their payment limits. Generally, business insurance policies fall into one of two categories:

  • They have aggregate limits, which denote the maximum amount your policy will pay in a year for all your claims combined; or,
  • They have per-occurrence limits, which denote the maximum amount you can receive for any single claim.

4) What are the factors affecting my insurance costs?

When thinking about the pricing for your business insurance, it may help to consider some of the factors that determine overall cost. Some of the most common factors include:

  • Type of business or industry.
  • The number of employees you have.
  • Previous claims you’ve filed.

5) How can I save money?

Finally, ask your broker if there are any ways you can keep your costs down. For example, you may be able to secure discounted rates by bundling different types of coverage.

Explore Your Business Insurance Needs

Questions about your small business insurance needs? We’re happy to address them. To speak with someone from FullHR’s insurance team, reach out to us at your next convenience.

Monday, 18 December 2023 01:40

Practical Ways to Boost Employee Engagement

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Every employer espouses the value of employee engagement. It’s actually knowing how to engage employees that’s the problem. Thankfully, there are plenty of practical steps that businesses can take to bolster engagement among their personnel. And with many of these solutions, HR can lead the way.

How to Boost Employee Engagement: Real-World Strategies and Solutions

  1. Provide channels for two-way communication. Employees need to feel like they have a say in things, and that they can offer honest assessments of the company’s leadership and direction without fearing repercussions. There are plenty of ways to provide employee communication channels, including surveys, town hall forums, and open invitations in each day-to-day interaction.
  2. Advocate for employee growth and professional development. One way to keep employees engaged is to let them know that there is ample opportunity for them to hone their skills and advance their careers. Be open in discussing long-term career goals with employees and connect them with resources or professional development courses whenever possible.
  3. Recognize your employees for what they achieve. A little bit of acknowledgement goes a long way. Make sure your HR team has a habit of honoring employees for their hard work, and for rewarding big wins with parties, team activities, half-days on Friday, etc.
  4. Ensure a positive work environment. Conflict is going to happen in any workplace, so what matters is putting a strategy in place for addressing it. Make sure your HR team is equipped to handle disputes between employees, and that employees know how to seek amicable resolution as swiftly as possible.
  5. Provide a sense of purpose. It’s crucial for employees to feel like their work matters, and that their day-to-day responsibilities are connected to a broader sense of mission. Be clear about your company’s vision and values, and use some of the same language in creating employee job descriptions.
  6. Offer flexibility. One thing that younger employees particularly care about is flexibility. Ensure that your team members have some wiggle room to work remotely sometimes, or to adjust their schedules to fit the needs of their children and families.
  7. Foster a team dynamic. Another way to improve employee engagement is by cultivating camaraderie. You can do this with team building activities but it’s usually more effective to do it by assigning projects to groups rather than individuals, forcing collaboration and cutting down on siloes.

Make Employee Engagement a Top Priority

Employee engagement is essential for building a strong, versatile, productive workforce. Make sure your HR team is thinking strategically and taking initiative here. And with any questions, reach out to FullHR at your convenience.

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