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The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
Change is a constant in business – growth and innovation are goals, after all. But abrupt change, especially rapid large-scale change, can pose challenges to any organization.
One of those challenges is figuring out how to set employee goals and assess their performance after a major disruption, whether it’s a large business transition, a natural disaster or a shift in markets. The goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) that worked before may no longer apply.
So, as companies change their products, services and markets in response to sudden shifts, managers may need to also adjust their expectations and the way they provide feedback. More resilience and adaptability are required from managers and employees alike.
This need to adapt can be the catalyst for creating a new and more effective performance culture, one that focuses on:
To update your employee KPI and review process, you’ll need to start by sorting the employee KPIs from before the change that are still valid from those that no longer work.
After a major disruption, the way your employees work will probably have to change.
For example, if there’s a natural disaster in your area, your sales team might not be able to continue making calls and close sales. If your manufacturing plant temporarily closes because of supply chain issues, your production team won’t be able to make quotas.
In these kinds of situations, evaluating your people on their ability to attain the old goals wouldn’t be helpful. And if the team is hard at work on the goals they can achieve during the disruption, measuring them by the old metrics will also fail to reflect their contributions to the company.
So, if your employee KPIs are based on tasks or goals that are impossible, either temporarily or for the long term, it’s time to set those aside. If they’re still relevant, you can hold on to them.
After you identify and shelve the KPIs that aren’t useful, you may face another challenge. How can you create new KPIs when your business situation may be uncertain or changing rapidly?
Rather than invest time in KPIs for short-term metrics that may soon change, you can adopt goals and metrics that focus on your employees’ ability to adapt to the situation at hand. For example, you might consider your employees’:
These kinds of KPIs are less numbers-focused than traditional employee performance metrics. Does this mean numeric KPIs are out? Not necessarily.
You may be able to build a rubric that allows for a numeric rating based on the actions your employees take against the new goals. For example, you might have sales team members log the number of clients they check in with, or employees’ progress through videoconferencing app training.
This kind of new KPI also focuses less on past performance than on dealing with present conditions and laying the groundwork for future success. As a manager, using these KPIs may require a shift in mindset as you think about your employees’ accomplishments and your company’s goals.
During times of change, it can be helpful to set aside hard metrics and focus more on your connections with your employees to find out what they need and how they can adapt. This is where a more person-centered, forward-looking mindset is valuable.
Big disruptions don’t only affect your team at work. Everyone in your organization is dealing with the change on a personal level as well. They may be dealing with something like:
As a manager, you can acknowledge your own struggles, too. For example, you may be dealing with your work responsibilities while also coping with the fact that your parents or adult children (or both) have moved in with you. Letting your team know that you have issues to cope with makes you more relatable and easier to approach when they need help.
It’s important to keep in mind that we don’t know what everyone on our team is dealing with. Everyone has a different set of changes to adapt to at work and at home. And everyone’s ability to cope with an onslaught of stressors is different.
For all of these reasons, it’s a good idea to shelve the one-size-fits all approach to measuring goals and giving feedback during bigger shifts. Instead, you can tailor them to each team member’s situation. To do that, you’ll need to collaborate.
Updated employee KPIs and goals should support the organization, of course, but now it’s particularly important that they also reflect what employees are capable of. For example, an employee who’s working from home while also managing his children’s remote schooling is not going to be able to give 110% during that time.
Rather than hand down a set of goals, a better way would be to discuss realistic goals for each person on your team and paint a clear picture of why those goals matter. That can help people stay motivated under stress.
Support is another motivator. Feel free to ask your team what you can do differently to help them meet their new goals and find ways to clear roadblocks as they work.
One the biggest problems with the traditional, number-based annual performance review is that it really doesn’t leave much room for developmental goal setting. Often, we spend an enormous amount of time talking about what somebody did last year.
After a big change, last year’s performance may not have any bearing on the future. Instead, employee KPIs and feedback need to focus on what’s coming next. For example, will the employee need to:
Again, offering support and resources can help your people pursue these new, forward-looking goals.
With personalized, future-oriented goals and support from you, your employees will be in the best possible position to adapt to whatever major changes your organization faces.
And with that foundation in place, you can step into the role that great managers play – that of a coach who helps the team achieve their potential even under tough circumstances.
What does coaching-based feedback look like?
After you have your new performance metrics in place, it’s a good idea to check in frequently with your employees to see how they’re doing. In uncertain conditions, leaving reviews for once a year leaves employees without the feedback they need to know if they’re adapting well.
More than that, employees benefit from frequent feedback even under the most stable and predictable circumstances. It’s human nature to want to know how we’re doing.
It’s also been shown that younger workers in particular want and need performance feedback. Without it, they (and workers of any generation) can feel adrift – especially when they’re working remotely and don’t get immediate feedback and support from colleagues in the office.
Frequent feedback also helps overcome another issue we often see with once-a-year reviews. If a manager brings up an issue from February in November, that’s a good chance the employee won’t remember it clearly, if at all. In the meantime, months have gone by when they could be putting that feedback to good use.
Updating employee KPIs, mindset and review frequency are some of the adjustments that managers may need to make during times of change. Another is how they deliver feedback, especially if your organization is working remotely.
It’s easy to give in to videoconferencing fatigue and just make a voice call or send an email. But those channels don’t allow you to see how your employee is reacting to the information you share.
So even if everyone in your office is tired of video calls, it’s a good idea to use them for feedback. By reading the other person’s responses in real time, you can adjust the conversation so that it’s as productive and supportive as possible.
If you’re interested in more ideas for coaching your team through uncertainty – similar to updating employee KPIs – download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to leading through change.
The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
In a leader’s desire for encouraging employee engagement, inspiring discretionary effort (in other words, getting your employees to do their best work) is the crown jewel. The greatest company success stories can be traced to employees who went above and beyond at work.
How can you inspire discretionary effort in your employees, especially ones who might already care deeply?
The answer is a culmination of a few foundational and complementary practices. When each are executed well and consistently, you can create the type of environment that inspires employees to give extra effort.
It starts with having the right people in the right places at the right time.
When people like what they are doing, they are generally good at it. When they are good at their work, they, generally speaking, like what they are doing. It’s a circle that feeds itself.
As a leader you first must ensure you have the right people doing the right things. The right people in the right seat on the right train car. They must be set up to succeed and feel secure in that.
Then they have to feel appreciated and valued. When they feel appreciated for doing what they are good at and being successful at it then they go above and beyond. They give you, willingly, discretionary effort.
It feeds their soul. It is not “work” or drudgery. They don’t feel like, “I have to go to work.” They get up saying, “I get to go to work.”
Use your company values and mission as a foundation on which to build a culture that inspires discretionary effort.
As a leader you must have a vision and communicate that vision clearly and often. You must connect the value of what people do to that vision.
It gives them purpose and focus. It demonstrates to them how the work they do is valued and makes a difference. Feeling valued for your contributions yields discretionary effort.
Set clear expectations for what they are to produce and provide meaningful feedback and guidance. Set those expectations together. Give them a voice in how they deliver on those expectations.
Give them autonomy over managing their workday. At the end of the week ask, “Did you accomplish what you set out to since we last spoke? Did you meet your commitments to your clients? Tell me more about how you did that.”
It takes a leader’s effort, commitment and time to create this environment. It is simple. It is not easy.
Tie your expectations of the team to meaningful consequences.
That could mean a simple high-five and a “Good job!” Or your reward system might include more tangible things, like PTO days, gift cards, lunch out or more responsibility. Recognizing those efforts gets more of the same.
You don’t have to spend big money to appropriately recognize employees’ time, effort and results. Everyone is different and appreciates recognition differently. Find out what would mean the most to each person, and tailor your approach to the person and the situation.
Dangling presents in front of employees might cause employees to work harder in the short run, but it’s not sustainable or meaningful. Instead, rewards should be a genuine appreciation for the employee’s job well done.
Everyone likes to be appreciated. You can find something to appreciate in everyone.
Remove barriers for them to do what is important to them and the business. Be their advocate for finding and garnering valuable resources, tools and support.
This can take the form of collaboration with peers, too. Find time to work collaboratively as a team and bond.
For example, you and your team can meet to have coffee or tea and share what is going on in their lives. This binds people in meaningful ways. As a result, people can work more collaboratively and offer that discretionary effort that elevates the team to achieve business goals.
Provide development opportunities for your employees to improve their skills in ways they are interested in and that elevate the business.
Create or adjust assignments and work responsibilities in ways that leverage what they are good at. Provide development opportunities in which they can stretch their skills and succeed.
Consistently model what you want. You are the leader, and your team is always watching you. If you bring your best — your best work; your most positive attitude; your best listening skills, equanimity and, above all, your authentic, real self — they will too.
Don’t sweep issues under the rug or avoid difficult conversations. Give them the attention they are due.
Celebrate successes and always look for the glass half full. Be the emotional anchor. Be a model of stability and positive pragmatism.
The secret to inspiring discretionary effort is really to take care of your people.
Every employee is important. Give each of them the attention they deserve and celebrate their successes along the way. By taking care of your people, everything else gets done. They will be inspired to willingly provide that discretionary effort.
All these together create a culture of trust in which employees can thrive. This comes full circle back to feeling secure in an environment where they are valued for what they contribute and can see how that value drives the business in meaningful ways. That translates into more discretionary effort. Again, simple, not easy.
Employees providing discretionary effort is just one benefit of a strong company culture. To learn more about how building a better work environment for your employees can improve your business overall, download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to designing a people-first culture.
The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
At first glance, some may dismiss company culture as touchy-feely stuff. But when you dig deeper, you’ll find that company culture is actually the driving force for business success. It shouldn’t just be left to happenstance – it calls for thoughtful, deliberate action.
What is company culture?
Company culture is the sum total of your organization’s:
There’s hardly an aspect of your business or a part of each employee’s day that culture doesn’t permeate.
Culture is all the things that make your company what it is and help you deliver on your promise to customers, partners and team members.
You can also think of it this way – your culture is your organization’s unique identity and personality. When people think of your organization, certain attributes may automatically come to mind.
Why company culture matters
Culture impacts the:
In turn, all of these things influence:
The bottom line: companies with a great culture have fewer people-related problems, perform better and are generally more successful.
Increasingly, human resources (HR) professionals and company leaders understand that culture is the top recruiting and retention tool any organization has at its disposal, especially in a highly competitive talent marketplace that makes it harder to find top-tier talent and keep them for the long term.
As employees evaluate their options, culture is the big differentiator when all other things—like salary and benefits—are equal.
After all, everyone wants to feel happy, fulfilled, included, appreciated and valued in the place where they spend most of their time: at work. It’s human nature.
What company culture looks like in action
Company culture is something that you can actually observe in real time. Walk in the door of any workplace and watch for how:
You’ll witness a dynamic that’s either:
Must-have workplace qualities for a great culture that aligns with current employee expectations
So, what attributes do you need to focus on as you ponder your own company culture? What do most employees today want?
1. Prioritization of people
The most successful cultures put people at the forefront. We call this a people-first culture.
This means that your organization understands that people are the heart of your company and are the foundation for any success you achieve.
Knowing this, your company should do everything it can to:
As examples, a people-first culture is reflected in:
2. Psychological safety and sense of belonging
It’s imperative that each employee feels:
3. Connectedness and collaboration
Employees should feel that they are on a team, with everyone:
4. Transparency
Secrets, gossip and exclusion are the drivers of a toxic workplace.
A transparent workplace values honesty and open, timely communication with employees about matters relevant to them and their roles. Your workplace should prize transparency because it fosters trust and integrity and bolsters feelings of respect, inclusion and connectedness within employees.
Additionally, transparency can level the playing field and put everyone on the same equal footing.
5. Respect for others
A healthy culture prioritizes treating others with respect. Nothing will hurt morale and retention faster than an environment in which people feel constantly belittled. Respect in action can be big or small and look like:
6. Trust
Employees need to feel safe with each other in sharing ideas and exploring new ways of working and accomplishing tasks – and know that others are there to support them. In a healthy culture, people can rely on each other without fear of reprisal or ridicule.
Trust is also an essential component in the relationship between managers and employees. For example, trust enables:
7. Openness to change
Nothing stays the same forever. The conditions surrounding businesses are always in flux, whether it’s the passage of a new law, the introduction of a game-changing technology, or a market shift.
Furthermore, companies themselves change over time as they grow. What your company once was may not be what your company is about today.
Companies can’t be so beholden to outdated practices or fearful of change that it holds them back, causes business to suffer or repels employees. Instead, companies that seek out and embrace new ideas are better poised to take advantage of lucrative opportunities.
They can also adapt more nimbly in response to unexpected changes that could otherwise threaten their business. As part of a culture that embraces change, employees should be imbued with a mindset of resilience to help them cope and adapt well even when changes are undesirable at first.
8. Consistency and fairness
Everyone should be treated the same and be subject to the same policies, whether they’re senior leadership or interns. Toxicity starts when people sense favoritism, discrimination or feel like there’s a special class of employees who don’t have to play by the same rules.
How to get started establishing your company culture
Here are the steps you can follow to achieve a great company culture at your business.
1. Lay the groundwork
It all begins by defining what your company stands for. The cornerstones of your company are:
Mission: Your mission statement tells the world – your employees, customers, vendors and everyone else – why you’re in business.
Vision: Your vision statement describes your company’s future aspirations in a way that motivates and resonates emotionally.
Values: Your core company values tell the world what you believe and how your employees will behave.
Employee value proposition: This explains to employees why they should want to work for your company. What’s in it for them? What makes your organization unique and appealing to its people?
These things influence every decision and action taken by your company.
Especially when your company is under pressure and facing challenges, they act as your guidepost and keep you on track.
2. Take the temperature
Here’s the thing: you already have a culture, whether you realize it or not. The question is, how do employees feel about it? Do they feel your culture is positive or negative?
Smart leaders understand that if they don’t evaluate how their workforce perceives their culture, they’re already behind their competitors and missing out on opportunities and talent.
Before you make big decisions or change anything, be sure to ask for your employees’ input and feedback. After all, they have to live with the results.
Your employees are a great resource in finding out where you’re lagging behind in the company culture department and identify opportunities for meaningful improvement.
You can do this by:
Some sample questions and topics covered in a climate survey:
How many employees participate in the survey can be telling. If there is a lot of distrust in your organization, the participation rate among employees is going to be pretty low. That’s a red flag.
If you ask for employee input, commit to doing something with the results. Either implement some suggestions or communicate why you’re unable to take certain actions. If your employees offer feedback and feel it’s ignored, it will underscore any reason they may have for being disengaged.
Employee feedback can be eye-opening and affirming. What you thought would be a marginal issue may rank higher for your employees – and what they find compelling may not have registered high on your meter.
This isn’t a one-time exercise either. Maintain an open-door policy and encourage ongoing feedback. If your culture is healthy, people will come to you with concerns or suggestions. Silence is another red flag.
3. Get leadership on board
Be sure that your major stakeholders, including senior leadership, support the type of culture you want to implement and are willing to lead by example and enforce the culture.
This is because everything, including culture, starts at the top of your organization. To get buy-in from your entire population of employees, the values and behaviors you want them to adopt must be modeled by leadership. Every day, your leadership needs to walk the walk and champion the culture you want everyone else to embody.
How your management team acts is the litmus test for employees. You don’t want your employees to be able to say: “Well, they say it. But they don’t do it.” In that scenario, they’ll get the impression that everything you say about culture is just lip service.
4. Hire for cultural fit
It’s easier to implement a culture if your employees are already naturally inclined to follow it.
Fill the ranks of your workforce with people who are a strong cultural fit. This means that they align with your organization’s mission, vision, values and professional ethics, and have a similar outlook on the company’s trajectory.
However, this doesn’t mean that everyone has to think and act exactly the same. To allow for enhancements to your organization, also see if new hires bring something new to the table that’s currently missing. This could be a fresh perspective, new experience or a different approach to problem solving.
5. Live your culture every day
This gets back to the discussion of consistency. Everyone, at all organizational levels, must adhere to the company culture for it to be accepted, felt and effective.
6. Maintain culture
Your culture will, ideally, position your company for growth.
But as your company grows, don’t neglect your culture. Have a plan in place for how you’ll maintain your culture and overcome common issues such as:
Remember – lean on your culture to guide your organization through challenges and times of transition.
Summing it all up
Your company culture isn’t a minor feel-good initiative that you think about only to check a box or be trendy – it’s vitally important to the engagement, satisfaction and productivity of your people and the success of your organization as a whole. Your culture has the biggest impact on your employee experience and is your strongest differentiator in a competitive talent landscape. To get started, focus on the workplace qualities that we’ve highlighted in this discussion and follow the steps we outlined.
The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
Employee wellness has become a core part of the modern workplace. As expectations shift, many workers now consider mental health, work-life balance and overall wellbeing just as important as salary and job security. In response, employers are investing more in wellness programs not just as perks, but as strategic tools for retention, productivity and employee satisfaction.
Why employee wellness programs are worth the investment
There’s a growing body of evidence that employee wellness programs are important and deliver a valuable return on investment (ROI).
When done well, employee wellness programs can:
According to an employee survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 62% of employers consider wellness initiatives to be “very important.” In fact, wellness programs ranked within employers’ top six benefits.
The existence of employee wellness programs may not necessarily make or break a job offer, but they can certainly set your company apart for job candidates when all other factors are equal. In a job market tilted in favor of employees and applicants, a comprehensive and well-executed wellness program may very well tip the scales in your favor.
With this in mind, whether your company has instituted an employee wellness program or you’re thinking about doing it, you may wonder:
How employee wellness programs differ from traditional employee benefits
First, let’s clarify how wellness initiatives are different from standard employee benefits, such as 401(k) retirement plans, paid time off (PTO) and various types of insurance (health, dental and vision being among the most common).
Employee wellness programs encompass any activity or initiative related to employees’ overall health and well-being, both at work and outside work, including:
These initiatives are designed to:
The overall goal of any employee wellness program is to enable employees to bring their best selves to work, with the potential for sickness, chronic poor health, stress, anxiety or other distractions significantly reduced.
FAQ: Building a strong employee wellness program
What should a foundational employee wellness program include?
At minimum, your program should address the key dimensions of health—physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial. A solid foundation typically includes:
How do wellness programs help employees take action?
Wellness initiatives should do more than check a box. The best programs:
Do I need legal guidance before launching a wellness program?
Yes. Especially if you plan to collect health data or track metrics, consult legal counsel to ensure compliance with relevant laws and protect employee privacy. And remember—participation should always be voluntary, not required.
Examples of advanced wellness program ideas
Want to take your employee wellness program to the next level? Here are some of the latest workplace wellness trends that have paid off for some companies:
How can you benchmark your employee wellness program?
It can be challenging to find data to compare because companies:
Other than reaching out directly to individual corporate HR departments to inquire, pay attention to other companies’ job postings and see what they advertise to candidates. You can also review the careers section of other companies’ websites to see the full list of their programs and benefits, if available.
The reality is, there aren’t any etched-in-stone standards. Rather, employee wellness programs tend to be company specific. The exact mix of wellness features that your company provides will largely depend on three factors:
Focus on your company – what makes sense and is working well, what your employees want and what you can afford.
Get started by surveying employees to find out what they like or dislike about your company’s wellness program, as well as any other features or services they’re interested in. You can also provide a tool that allows for ongoing feedback, such as an email inbox dedicated to employee suggestions or a form on the company Intranet.
The true employee wellness differentiators: company culture and good leadership
An employee wellness program is just one piece of what improves working conditions and appeals to new hires, but it’s not the end-all, be-all.
A “competitive” employee wellness program won’t add much ROI if caring about your people isn’t already ingrained in your company culture, core values and leadership.
For an employee wellness program to feel authentic and be meaningful, it should be apparent that regard for employees’ wellbeing permeates every aspect of your company, from the top down.
Consider what your company’s core values are and whether anything important is missing. Assess whether your people practice these core values daily.
Leaders in your organization should consistently display certain behaviors such as:
Especially in our rapidly changing workplace in which more people work remotely or feel compelled to sit at a computer all day, be mindful of the little things that can improve your employees’ day and alleviate stress. Examples:
Other ways to promote employee wellness at work
Aside from the implementation of an employee wellness program, there are other ways and areas in which employee wellness should play an important role:
The bottom line: It’s the day-to-day employee experience that matters the most. When everything else at your company is outstanding, the employee wellness program should be the cherry on top.
Key takeaways for building a meaningful employee wellness program
Want to learn more about building benefits and programs your employees will value? Download The Insperity guide to offering irresistible employee benefits.
The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
In the world of human resources (HR), certain terms are thrown around casually and used interchangeably. Prominent examples of such terms include HR operations and HR administration.
These two terms are closely related and often overlap, but don’t mean precisely the same thing. Yet, you know they’re both vital to your company running smoothly and meeting its business goals – to say nothing of staying out of legal trouble and achieving your organization’s people strategy.
Between the two, HR operations is the broader term.
HR operations is the big umbrella that encompasses HR administration along with HR infrastructure, both of which support the delivery of HR services and the execution of HR strategy across organizations.
Some examples:
It’s all about how HR services are structured and delivered for maximum effectiveness – and how to make these services more efficient, effective and accurate.
Meanwhile, HR administration is a narrower term.
HR administration is the delivery of HR services within your HR operations. Whereas HR operations is the how, HR administration is the actual doing.
Thus, HR administration encompasses everything we typically think of as tactical HR – all the core, day-to-day, employee-facing tasks that are essential. Without them, your HR department simply can’t function – even for a very short time.
Some examples:
As you can see, HR strategy – the broadest and highest-level objective – sits on top and is supported by HR operations, followed by HR administration. On the flip side, HR administration – though the narrowest and most specific in objective – makes it possible for HR operations and HR strategy to be executed at all.
To clarify the differentiation between these two terms further, let’s draw a simple analogy.
If HR operations is the busy kitchen of a popular restaurant — with all the well-established processes, workflows, top-notch appliances, and essential tools needed to prepare five-star meals at scale — then HR administration is everything that brings the meals to life: the recipes the chefs and line cooks follow, the prep cooks plating the food, the servers delivering it, and the finished meals themselves. It’s the execution, the output, and the human touch that keep the whole system running.
The next question: Who in your organization is vital to the execution of HR operations and administration? And what do these roles entail?
The most critical roles in HR operations bridge the gap between strategy and administration. They manage the workflows, tools, and systems that support daily work, and ensure HR services are delivered effectively and consistently.
These roles ensure the daily execution of HR tasks that keep the department functioning.
The next question: Which practices, at minimum, should your organization focus on to do HR operations and administration well and keep the business on track?
As much as possible:
This ensures a consistent experience for stakeholders – in particular, an equitable and fair experience for employees – while promoting compliance and reducing the risk for errors, omissions and other legal missteps.
Deploy HR technology (an HRIS or HCM software) to help your organization:
Maintain accurate and up-to-date employee data and legally required employee paperwork.
Follow best practices for workplace cybersecurity.
These measures put your business on confident footing when it comes to compliance and protecting employees. They also enable you to make the most informed HR and organizational decisions possible.
Although it’s common for HR personnel to specialize in a certain area of focus, your HR department should prioritize employee development while incorporating flexibility and agility into its structure. This means that everyone needs to be aware of what their HR colleagues on other functional teams are doing and everyone should be trained to carry out these tasks as well. It also means that HR staff should be encouraged to expand their knowledge and skill set to include brand-new information.
Upskilling and cross-training HR personnel helps your organization:
HR teams shouldn’t operate in silos based on specialty or role. Get your team members talking to each other across HR functions and even business units across the company and maintain open lines of communication. This helps your organization:
How do you know how vulnerable you are to an external audit? Furthermore, how can you understand in advance how well your company would perform in a hypothetical audit? The answer is to conduct internal HR audits routinely to assess:
Every successful HR department is committed to improvement in performance and service delivery and needs goals to work toward. Track key performance indicators (KPIs) and HR metrics as an objective way to measure performance, identify opportunities for improvement and set realistic and achievable short- and long-term goals.
Much of your HR work is centered on a big goal: improving the employee experience for your workforce. This is directly tied to higher employee engagement and improved retention.
While the foundational aspects of HR operations and administration will remain important, how they’re executed is shifting. Certain factors are reshaping the HR landscape.
HR departments have already largely embraced HR technology that makes their jobs easier, saves time and improves the employee experience. Expect the use of automation and AI to expand even further into additional HR applications. Also expect:
Data will be leveraged for more advanced analytics – even predictive applications like forecasting turnover, skills gaps, workforce needs, best leadership candidates and biggest retention risks. With this quality of valuable intel, organizations can shift their HR function into proactive, strategic mode and enhance competitiveness.
HR will become less transactional and more about designing a complete and seamless employee journey in which each interaction between an employee and the company is carefully mapped – from the first impression as a job candidate in the application process to onboarding, development, engagement, retention and exit. This journey will be marked by more personal support and proactive communication.
Although often used interchangeably, HR operations and HR administration play distinct yet complementary roles in supporting a successful HR strategy. HR operations provides the structure, systems, and workflows that enable consistent service delivery across the organization. HR administration brings that strategy to life through the day-to-day execution of essential tasks and employee interactions.
Together, they form the backbone of an effective HR function. In this blog, we’ve explored the definitions of each, the critical roles that support them, the best practices that drive efficiency and compliance, and the evolving trends shaping their future. To dive deeper into how HR administration and operations supports broader initiatives like your HR strategy, or more importantly, your people strategy, download: The ultimate people strategy playbook: Building a winning workforce.
The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
Fact: Uncertainties and changes are givens in the workplace.
It’s not a question of if your business will encounter a significant disruption, but when and how often.
Are any of these issues sounding familiar lately?
What most of these issues plaguing business share in common is that they aren’t single, short-term episodes with a clear beginning and end. They’re more like rolling obstacles that can flare up and recede – or, at least, become better managed – over time, with the potential to evolve and cause further complications at some undetermined point.
Now is the time to prepare – before your business is in the throes of a disruption. After all, you can’t just hit the pause button and take your time to figure things out when the going gets tough. The world is fast paced. Customers move on, employees move on. In extreme cases, exposure to risk, liability or financial devastation can end your business.
Engaging in business continuity planning and ensuring business readiness are part of any responsible risk-mitigation practice. That is, how will your business overcome challenges, adapt to new circumstances and maintain operations despite volatility?
A critical element of this is thinking through how to respond to multiple business scenarios.
This is your guide for building a business readiness strategy that holds up no matter what.
What is scenario planning?
When a disruption impacts your business, there may not be a single, clear-cut result. Often, many things could conceivably happen. And situations can fluctuate.
Scenario planning is simply examining what the future may look like and preparing your business to thrive in the midst of it and, ultimately, outlast it. You’re anticipating what could happen and developing plans of action so your business can navigate these different paths effectively.
In this exercise, you’ll ask yourself questions like:
Advantages of scenario planning
1. Scenario planning is an opportunity to shift from a reactive to proactive approach while promoting flexibility and resiliency.
Engaging in this exercise can help you to adopt a mindset of resilience in which your tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity increases along with your confidence. Having a plan – and a few back-ups – automatically makes you feel more in control and increases the likelihood that your business will successfully respond to disruptions.
2. Scenario planning encourages more informed, strategic decision-making.
This activity nudges you to look farther into the future – perhaps 12 to 18 months out – and take a strategic, visionary approach. You’re not engaging in a knee-jerk or shot-in-the-dark reaction to a disruption – you’ve anticipated a variety of scenarios, studied their potential outcomes, readied your organization and can execute efficiently based on the information you’ve gleaned. With this level of preparation, the odds that your organization will make a misstep are greatly reduced.
3. Scenario planning minimizes risk exposure.
The worst impacts of a disruption – for example, higher costs, increased turnover, loss of funding, fewer customers or government investigations and penalties – won’t be felt at your organization as deeply if you’ve prepared in advance.
4. Scenario planning widens your company’s competitive advantage.
This activity can help you stay ahead of your competitors and become more nimble and innovative. It can also help you respond and adapt to changes even sooner.
How to plan for multiple business scenarios
Step 1: Assess the nature and extent of uncertainties.
Get leadership and all relevant parties together to assess the situation.
Examine the externalities that are out of your control:
Talk to suppliers, customers and competitors to solicit their opinions and recommendations.
Review what you learned about your company during the disruption and discuss its internal state. This analysis could center on:
Consider what may not be the same going forward. This could include your:
What are the cost impacts of making these changes?
In general, what are you most optimistic about?
With all this in mind, consider the likely future direction of your business.
Each of these options requires varying levels of organizational- and change-management skill, time and resources across people, processes and systems.
Everything discussed at this stage – an analysis of internal and external conditions, as well as the potential future direction of your business – is a jumping-off point in brainstorming scenarios.
Step 2: Identify the most likely scenarios and develop strategic postures for each.
As you build your portfolio of scenarios, solidify how you can best implement the scenarios given the assets you have. Consider which assets you need to focus on and develop further.
The ideal number of scenarios is three. The maximum number is about five. Too few scenarios put you at risk of being insufficiently prepared and results in mere stopgap solutions that have to be constantly revisited. On the other hand, too many scenarios could mean you’re bogged down in the planning stage and are becoming slow to execute.
This shouldn’t be a lengthy, overly complicated process that hinders your business’ forward momentum. Identify the factors that are most relevant to your business, make plans that address these issues [SC1] and take action.
Step 3: Actively manage the strategic direction while maintaining the flexibility to shift.
Remember, your business may go through several cycles of disruption. This is why you need to be open to reconsidering and adapting your approach as needed. A flexible and agile mindset can increase your odds of success.
Continue to practice robust management:
As long as your business remains in a disruptive, fast-moving environment, you may need to reevaluate your planned scenarios every 21 to 30 days.
As the situation evolves, expect to review these planned scenarios every 90 days to six months.
Common scenario-planning mistakes
Remember: New markets and opportunities are most often created on the fringes.
How a PEO can help
A multifaceted professional employer organization (PEO) won’t tell you what to do. However, it can help to facilitate and guide the conversations and processes within your company and can help to stretch perspectives on what the future of your business could look like.
The scenario-planning process is a bit like visiting a buffet. You have a lot of different options before you, along with many factors to consider. Everything’s right in front of you – a PEO can help you make sense of it.
Nobody has all the answers for overcoming a major business disruption. You don’t have to figure it out all by yourselves. Leverage the resources at your disposal.
Summing it all up – from recovery to readiness
Ensuring business readiness for a variety of disruptions and maintaining business continuity despite volatility are vital components of risk management. Developing such a strategy requires multi-scenario planning. Among the advantages are:
Ready for what’s next? For more information on how to build resilience into your business plan, download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to leading through change.
The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
A generation ago, the typical employee career path was the classic “ladder,” with a series of clearly defined rungs for employees to climb. Now, according to a report by Gartner, with little physical time in the office, career paths aren’t as clearly defined because there is less visibility of the options for growth.
In addition, employees have spent the last few years rethinking the role of work in their lives – and there’s less drive to climb that classic ladder.
Your organization may benefit from defining career paths within your company, to keep your people engaged and to decide how to invest in your employees’ development. Without the old-fashioned ladder structure to guide you, career pathing requires a holistic approach and careful planning.
Before mapping career paths, it’s important to review the differences between employee development, succession planning and employee career pathing. These three practices are related but each has its own distinct goals.
Any organization can map career paths, but it’s especially useful for companies that need people with a specific or hard-to-find set of skills and experiences – this is even more heightened in a competitive job market, where the options for outside talent are especially limited. For example, if your business needs people who are in short supply, like data scientists, or people with a particular set of certifications, like social workers, career pathing can help you build an internal pipeline for those careers.
Career pathing can also be helpful for supporting internal promotion from entry-level and junior positions.
With clear career maps in place, your organization may also have a recruiting advantage. When you can show candidates their options for vertical and lateral moves within your company over time, as well as cross-training options, they’re better able to envision a long-term career there.
In addition to workforce planning purposes, employee career pathing is a very useful tool for engagement. If employees see that their organization values their personal career goals by sharing different ways they can grow in an organization, they will naturally feel more engaged and:
One caution to keep in mind, especially if you’re focused on career pathing to build internal pipelines: Take steps to make sure you’re also building a diverse culture.
If your internal career pathways are full of people with the same or similar backgrounds, educational experiences and lifestyles, your company’s innovation and brand appeal can stall.
It’s also important to leave enough room in your career paths to avoid creating overly restrictive requirements for education, experience and skills. Career paths are about guiding, not gatekeeping.
Flexibility in your pathways allows managers to identify people who can move along the paths with the right training, coaching and support, even if they don’t tick every box.
1. Start with your organization chart, to get an idea of the general career paths available within your organization for different roles.
2. As you’re mapping paths, use your company’s compensation policy in conjunction to keep your pathways as consistent and fair as possible.
3. It’s a good idea to include your HR people in your career pathing exercises, to help you identify the training and support that each pathway may require.
4. Keep in mind that not all pathways will be vertical. There may be opportunities for someone to shift sideways in your organization.
Consider a community health care system that needs to use data analytics to schedule staff efficiently and improve patient outcomes. Rather than draw only one career path, from junior IT staffer to analytics, the employer could also create a lateral path for nurses who want to get trained in informatics and analytics.
5. Finally, step back from your career paths to think about how employees’ progress along them will affect your whole organization.
For example, how does moving someone from IT into data science affect your company’s infrastructure? If one of your nurses moves into an analytics role, what needs to happen to maintain patient care?
You can use your performance review schedule to discuss career path options with your team. You can then tie those discussions into your succession planning.
Keep notes on each employee’s preferences and performance toward their career goals. By comparing their goals and current skills to the path they want to follow, you can identify the best next steps.
For someone who’s underperforming but wants to do more, getting a clear idea of their preferred career path will help you see which skills and trainings to prioritize.
For an employee who’s a high performer, special projects can help them build skills to move along their desired path. These projects can also help them stay engaged even if there’s not a new position for them to move into just yet.
Special projects are also a good option for them, to keep them engaged without the pressure to move up or sideways. As a bonus, these projects can help them build skills they’ll need if they ever do decide they’d like to make a move.
Discussing career pathing with employees and candidates can be exciting. It’s important, however, to use those discussions as an incentive and for planning purposes without overpromising a particular outcome.
The existence of a career path doesn’t mean that every employee along the path will follow it, or that they’ll follow it from end to end. It’s crucial to be clear with your people that simply meeting the criteria to move up or sideways doesn’t mean that move will happen automatically or right away.
For example, if a social worker attains a new certification that allows them to advance to a managerial role, but there are no open roles, the employee will have to wait.
Career path conversations don’t need to be formal or follow a rigid schedule. You can check in with your employees in casual chats between performance reviews to see:
Then you can help them make the most of their journey along their career pathway.
Employee career pathing is a useful tool not only for workforce planning, but also for employee engagement and retention. As you are implementing employee career paths, make sure you identify the areas of training and support that will be needed. In addition, ensure that any plans you do put in place include diversity.
Need help structuring your team for success? Download our template: Your organizational design blueprint.
The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.
Internship programs are a win-win for businesses and educational institutions. For companies, they bring fresh perspectives, enthusiasm and the chance to develop a talent pipeline. For students, internships offer hands-on experience, professional connections and a glimpse into their potential career paths.
However, starting an internship program isn’t just about hiring a few students for the summer. It requires thoughtful planning, compliance with legal regulations and a clear understanding of how to provide a meaningful experience for interns while meeting organizational goals.
In this guide on how to start an internship program, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know, from legal considerations to mentorship strategies and beyond.
Internship programs help to bridge the gap between academia and the professional world. They give students the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge in real-world scenarios while enabling businesses to cultivate future employees. But what’s the real value for both parties?
In short, these programs are mutually beneficial. While interns gain work experience and practical exposure, organizations can strengthen their recruitment pipeline and stay competitive and innovative.
To kick off an internship program, begin by identifying your organization’s goals. Are you looking to support recruitment efforts, tackle special projects or simply enhance your company’s reputation?
Understanding these goals will help you craft a program that delivers measurable results.
Next, outline the structure of your program. Decide on the number of interns, the duration of their assignments and the types of projects they will handle. Additionally, consider connecting with local educational institutions to tap into a qualified talent pool and design a program that aligns with academic credit requirements.
Internship programs must comply with employment laws, which can vary by region. For example, in the U.S., the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) outlines guidelines for unpaid internships. These laws ensure that interns are treated fairly and that their contributions are balanced with the learning benefits they receive.
Organizations need to consider classification rules, minimum-wage requirements and overtime laws when structuring their programs. This is especially important for summer interns and those performing unpaid internships, where the primary focus must be on the intern’s educational experience rather than the organization’s benefit.
Writing a job description goes beyond listing tasks – it’s about painting a clear picture of the opportunity and setting the stage for a valuable experience. A well-crafted job description not only attracts the right candidates but also communicates your organization’s goals, culture and expectations.
A strong job description serves as the cornerstone of your recruitment process, helping you communicate the purpose and value of the internship opportunity. It should strike a balance between being concise and detailed, providing potential interns with a comprehensive understanding of what the role entails while sparking their interest.
Job descriptions are not just recruitment tools – they are candidates’ first impressions of your program. Ensure your descriptions communicate the value of the internship experience clearly and effectively.
Internship programs can be funded through a mix of internal budgets, grants and sponsorships. Adequate funding ensures that your program is not only sustainable but also capable of providing a high-quality experience for interns. Beyond simply covering wages, a well-funded program can support mentorship initiatives, training opportunities and professional development activities.
Exploring funding options is an essential step in ensuring your internship program’s success. Whether you’re seeking internal support or external partnerships, having a clear funding strategy can make the difference between a short-lived initiative and a long-term, impactful program.
Recruitment is key to finding the right candidates who can contribute meaningfully to your organization’s goals. A strategic approach to recruiting talent ensures you attract individuals who not only meet the qualifications but also align with your company’s culture and values. This process goes beyond filling positions; it’s about building relationships with potential future employees.
Retaining interns requires intentional efforts to create a positive and fulfilling experience. Interns who feel valued, challenged and connected to the organization are more likely to return as full-time employees. Crafting a program with meaningful work and growth opportunities ensures you attract and retain the best talent.
Mentorship fosters a supportive and enriching environment for interns, helping them transition from academic settings to professional workplaces. Mentors play a crucial role in guiding interns, offering industry insights and providing feedback that shapes their professional growth. A strong mentorship model can significantly enhance the value of an internship program.
Effective training ensures that interns are well-prepared to contribute meaningfully to your organization. Structured programs that include orientation, hands-on tasks and skill-building workshops set the stage for a productive and rewarding experience. Together, mentorship and training create a solid foundation for successful internships.
Develop orientation sessions that introduce interns to your organization’s values and goals. This is a crucial step in creating a cohesive intern program.
Offer hands-on training and access to learning resources, such as online courses or workshops. Training should align with the intern’s career goals and your organizational objectives.
Evaluating success ensures continuous improvement and helps organizations determine whether their internship programs are meeting intended goals. A well-rounded evaluation process considers both tangible outcomes and qualitative feedback, ensuring that the program consistently delivers value to both the interns and the organization. Regular evaluations also highlight areas for refinement, keeping the program aligned with industry trends and organizational objectives.
Regular evaluations allow you to refine your corporate internship program framework and ensure it remains relevant and impactful.
Starting an internship program is an investment in your organization’s future. By carefully planning, adhering to legal guidelines and prioritizing mentorship, you can create a program that benefits both interns and your business. A strong corporate internship program framework can provide the foundation for an impactful experience.
Interns may be your future workforce – and a strong people strategy helps you support them as they grow. Learn more in our free e-book: The ultimate people strategy playbook: Building a winning workforce.
Community heroes are clients who share our values and enrich the places where their people live and work through entrepreneurship, innovation, job creation, mission-guided impact and collaboration. This year’s honorees have been named from Missouri, New York, South Carolina and Washington. Learn more about the four 2024 community hero honorees and read their stories here.