Category: Thought Leadership

The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

Wage growth, record-high inflation and an extremely competitive labor market have all put business leaders in a difficult position. Anyone involved in hiring and retaining employees is torn between important and seemingly contradictory objectives:

• Address employees’ pain and concerns about the increased cost of living so you can prevent them from disengaging or leaving the company in search of a higher salary elsewhere. (The Great Resignation is ongoing, after all.)
• Win the war for top talent that’s driving wage growth – and be able to entice new hires across the finish line, sometimes with great urgency to overcome other job offers on the table.
• Be smart with company financials and stick to budgets, especially in the face of a potential recession.

In these uncertain times, how can leaders make optimal compensation decisions for their employees’ benefit while still controlling business costs and maintaining compliance?

1. Understand cost of labor versus cost of living – and decide which will drive your company’s compensation philosophy

Although cost of labor and cost of living are two distinct concepts, employees and the general public tend to conflate the two.

So, what’s the difference between the two terms?

Cost of labor: How much a company must spend to hire and retain employees in a particular market. It has to do with supply and demand, and can be industry and role specific. Information for individual markets can be obtained from various sources, including labor market competitors and published data from survey vendors.

Cost of living: The measure of the average change over time in prices paid by consumers in a particular market for goods, such as food, gas, housing and transportation. The Consumer Price Index, an economic indicator released each month by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, puts inflation at a 40-year high, having increased 8.2% over the prior year.

Traditionally, the cost of living isn’t a factor for companies in determining wages and pay increases. Instead, the cost of labor has usually been companies’ predominant consideration.

However, the current climate is forcing many business leaders to reconsider that stance and wrestle with these questions: How do we keep up with the rate of inflation in our salaries and be competitive? What will we do going forward to help employees?

As business leaders undergo the budgeting process, they must consider whether salaries and pay increases will be based on the cost of labor, cost of living or some combination of two.

Then ask yourself what your company can reasonably afford.

Your decision on this point will help to inform your overall compensation strategy.

2. Establish a compensation strategy

Every business needs a sound and proactive compensation strategy to:

• Protect the long-term interests of business
• Meet the needs of team members in the here and now

Your company’s compensation is one of the most important elements of a clearly defined human capital management strategy. Given today’s climate, it’s more critical than ever in creating discretionary effort in employees and preserving the discretionary income that businesses will need for the future.

Whether you realize it or not, if you’re hiring employees or giving out pay raises, your company already has a compensation philosophy. So, why do you need a formalized strategy? Because it:

• Serves as the foundation and principles for how your company pays its people
• Is important to document your strategy in writing in the case of disputes
• Acts as a guidepost in times of stress or change
• Aids in the consistent application of compensation policies

All of this helps you treat employees equitably and avoid legal problems down the road.

Here are a few simple steps to get started creating a compensation strategy:

1. Assess your current pay practices, including base pay along with any bonuses or incentive plans. Consider how your pay program aligns with your business strategy, competitive outlook and human capital needs.
2. Examine why your pay practices are in place. Did you decide to base your compensation philosophy on cost of living or cost of labor?
3. Define the competitive market position of your organization. A lot of companies will say that they target the 50th percentile, to be right in the middle of what other companies pay. However, you’ll want to consider certain factors, including:
4. Your competitors
5. The size of your business
6. Where you hire (locally, regionally or nationally)
7. Your budget and pay capabilities

All of these factors go into the development of a compensation strategy and establish a framework to attract and retain employees, and motivate them to do their best.

Your compensation strategy should:

• Align with your company’s vision and values
• Promote equity and fairness for employees
• Ensure fiscal sensitivity for the organization
• Be legally compliant
• Be easy to communicate and explain to employees
• Be applied consistently

3. Ensure pay equity

As you contemplate increasing employee pay or setting salaries for sought-after new hires, be careful to maintain pay equity within your organization.

Pay equity means compensating employees in similar job functions with comparably equal pay, without regard to protected classes, such as gender, race or ethnicity. Of course, not all employees will be paid precisely the same amount, even if they occupy the same job function. Salary differences often come down to other unique, individual factors, such as:

• Work experience
• Education
• Specific skills that are relevant to a position
• Responsibilities of a position in the organization’s long-term financial stability

Pay equity is often mandated by state law, so maintain awareness of your company’s legal obligations. Nearly all U.S. states have enacted equal pay laws to varying degrees. Some states, such as California, have even gone on a step beyond the “substantially similar job functions” standard to also require employers to provide pay rates for employees by department. It’s likely that other states’ pay laws will enact similar, more stringent measures in the future.

But when compliance and best practices run up against flexibility in adapting to market demands, pay equity can become a tricky issue for businesses.

Especially in an ultra-competitive labor market, it can be tempting to offer a talented job candidate more money when you’re under pressure to fill a position fast and they’re the perfect fit. However, don’t overpay in a moment of urgency or desperation. This can be a slippery slope.

Pay compression is when there’s little to no difference in pay between employees despite differences in their experience, knowledge and skills. If you pay new employees at the same level or more than tenured, experienced employees in a bid to secure a job candidate, pay compression may be the result. This can cause many unintended consequences among your employees:

• Weakened trust in the company and management
• Lower morale and satisfaction
• Disengagement
• Reduced productivity
• Loss of valued, long-term employees
• Potential discrimination claims

Quick decisions need to be made in a competitive hiring process, but taking the time and effort to ensure internal pay equity is worth it.

What can your company do to preserve pay equity and avoid trouble?

• Regularly update job descriptions and ensure their relevancy to the actual duties performed by employees. Job descriptions are how companies identify similar job functions.
• Conduct a pay-equity analysis to identify pay gaps in your organization, with the engagement of internal or external counsel.
• Prohibit salary negotiations, which enable organizations to drive up the costs for new hires to bring them on board. Instead, establish set pay ranges for each position with recruiters – and don’t deviate up or down from those ranges.

4. Embrace pay transparency

More than anything, employees and job candidates want your company to be transparent about your pay practices. They also want to understand the reasoning behind these decisions and gain assurance that your decisions are based on objective data that reflects the relevant markets.

This desire is reinforced by a growing trend in state legislatures to enact pay-transparency laws, with the intention of closing pay-equity gaps.

What is pay transparency? It’s the willingness of companies to:

• Explain the how and why behind their compensation strategy and practices
• Disclose pay ranges for positions or departments
• Allow employees to share their salary information with others

To some degree as mandated by regulations, leaders must share pay ranges with employees and be prepared to explain to employees:

• Where they fall within the set pay range
• Why their pay is set at the current level
• How they can direct their efforts to increase their compensation

How well your organization accomplishes pay transparency depends on:

• The quality and regularity of manager training for these types of conversations
• Executive leadership support and buy-in
• Your culture
• Communication capabilities of the organization
• The level of sophistication of the compensation strategy

5. Implement variable pay programs instead of base pay increases

Sometimes, it’s just not financially feasible to deliver on pay raises for current employees, or a job candidate simply wants too much money. But all is not lost.

If you aren’t able to offer a higher base salary, there are other ways to acquire talent and motivate current employees without damaging the integrity of your compensation strategy and practices. A great – and, perhaps, less risky – solution is to implement variable pay programs.

Unlike salary, a fixed cost that the company pays out regardless of performance or achievement of goals, variable pay is distributed to employees contingent on their contribution to the organization’s success. It’s a win-win – employees can earn more money and are incentivized to perform at a high level, and it serves the need of your business with less impact on the company budget.

Additionally, variable pay isn’t as “sticky,” or permanent, as an increase in base salary. If your company’s financial outlook changes or external conditions shift, you can easily end or modify variable pay programs and avoid overpaying employees for the long term.

Here’s how you can started:

1. Start at the top and engage executive leadership in conversation to get everyone on board. Decide which behaviors or results you want to reward and align them with the goals you want to meet.
2. Include the financial team in all discussions so everyone is on the same page in terms of funding – and ensure that there are no unpleasant surprises ahead.
3. Create a variable pay plan in writing. This plan should be:
4. Adaptable. Reserve the right to make changes, including downward adjustments, at any time based on employee performance or company finances. You should also be able to adapt the plan to change goals and strategies to achieved your desired financial objectives or re-incentivize employees.
5. Finite. Tie incentives to clear goals, at a defined frequency and with an end date. Open-ended goals are more difficult to measure.
6. Limited. Establish a cap, or maximum, on payouts to avoid putting the company in an unexpected or challenging financial position.
7. Simple. The more complex the plan is, the greater the potential for confusion and misunderstandings.
8. Communicate with employees consistently. Everyone should know the expectations and what the rewards are for meeting them.

6. Shift toward a “total rewards” strategy

What else can you do to engage and motivate employees and entice new talent that doesn’t involve cash compensation? Get creative!

What else does your organization bring to the table that brands you as unique and differentiates you from competitors? Think about what job candidates and your employees value most in their work environment.

The possibilities run the gamut. Some examples:

• More competitive benefits, such as more family- and caregiver-friendly benefits or better healthcare coverage
• Special perks
• More time off
• Remote working options
• Workplace flexibility
• Opportunities for career development and growth
• Employee recognition
• Wellness programs
• Employee assistance programs
• Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
• Greater opportunities for collaboration
• Support for volunteerism
• Any initiative that improves work-life balance

This is known as “total rewards,” or the cumulative value of all the rewards and the overall positive experience that employees can enjoy at your workplace.

This can drive motivated, productive workforces who feel appreciated and rewarded for contributions, which in turn can improve the relationships between employees and company leadership.

7. Account for the removal of geographic limitations

Remote work has enabled recruiters to source job candidates from across the U.S., without regard for geographical limits.

But, when compensation strategy is largely dictated by the local, specific market, how do you handle payment for employees in varied locations? You can’t have a different payment standard for each individual employee – the larger your company is, that’d be a nightmare to manage.

If your company offers remote work, you may need to modify your compensation strategy to account for this scenario. Come up with an approach that is:

• Consistent
• Easy to manage
• Easy to communicate to employees and candidates

A few common options:

• If you have one office, set pay rates based on your main office location.
• If you have multiple offices, choose the regional office that is closest to an employee and establish a geographic differential based on the corporate office to account for variations in the cost of labor or cost of living in other areas.
• Establish geographic differentials for various locations around the country. Many organizations are moving toward a strategy of looking at a national average and establishing geographic differentials for major metropolitan cities.
• If employees leave major metropolitan areas to work remotely in less expensive markets, you have the option of either reducing that employee’s pay (the less popular choice) or lowering annual salary increases.

Summing it all up

Between unprecedented inflation, and a competitive job market that’s driving wage growth, employers are in a tremendously difficult position. How can they meet the expectations of job candidates and employees and not get left behind while controlling costs and maintaining fiscal prudence? Here, we’ve outlined strategies to help employers navigate these tough times. To learn more about making your company appealing to employees, no matter the current work environment, download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to attracting, recruiting and hiring top talent.

The below content was originally published on the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

In today’s post-pandemic landscape, a company’s path to success depends on the quality, adaptability and resiliency of its people. But how do you cultivate a top-notch workforce ready to meet all the challenges of a modern and dynamic workplace? Upskilling your workforce is an important place to start.

When you need additional skills in your workplace, it’s good to have a mix of external candidates so that your company can incorporate new and more diverse capabilities, experiences and perspectives. But with a competitive labor market that has complicated attracting top talent, along with rapidly rising wages and increased demands for more expansive benefits, it’s not always feasible to rely on recruiting alone to reskill or upskill your workforce.

To stay ahead, it’s critical that your company invest in the people you already have on your team via a comprehensive training and development program. In other words, on a continual basis, your company’s leaders must intentionally and proactively take steps to prepare your workforce for whatever the future holds.

In this blog, we’ll cover:

• Why upskilling your workforce matters, and the benefits to your organization
• The employee attributes you should prioritize
• How to get started
• What to watch out for

Importance of upskilling your workforce

Many companies don’t put a lot of weight into ongoing training and development. Why? Because it’s often viewed as:

• Expensive
• Frivolous
• Never used once completed

Furthermore, company leaders often say, “We hire people who have the competencies we need. Why do they need extra training?”

The counterargument to that is that the workplace isn’t static – and your people can’t be either. Knowledge and skill development is never a one-and-done deal – no one walks in the door knowing everything they need to know at their job, nor can all this education take place in a single training session. Plus, conditions are always evolving and require companies to keep up.

Furthermore, it’s not always financially feasible to hire a candidate with the desired level of experience and mastery of all the skills you deem necessary. This caliber of talent is not always available at a competitive rate within your budget. Yet, you still need these competencies to succeed.

The benefits of upskilling your workforce

Upskilling your workforce via training and development has a strong return on investment when:

• It targets a specific competency that can be addressed by people and resolves a business need or problem (not a process or tool issue)
• Employees can demonstrate mastery of a competency following the training
• It connects to an employee and integrates within their role going forward into the future

And it does not have to bust your company’s budget. There are plenty of cost-effective training and development options.

Upskilling has very real benefits to your employees. When you equip your team members with the right tools, resources, knowledge and skills, they can:

• Perform their job responsibilities and everyday tasks most efficiently and effectively
• Maintain pace with industry and job trends
• Adapt to fluid internal and external circumstances with less disruption
• Expand their knowledge base and skill set to assume new responsibilities
• Gain autonomy and take greater ownership of their work, while requiring less support
• Advance in their careers

Upskilling your workforce can positively impact your business as well. It’s been proven that training and development:

• Strengthens employee engagement
• Inspires greater discretionary effort
• Better prepares organizations to manage unexpected change

All this can improve business performance.

Additionally, in the current job market in which the balance of power is tilted toward candidates and employees, people simply expect their employers to offer ongoing training and development. Employees want to continue to grow and progress in their careers, and they see this as a crucial enabler of that goal. It’s something that can help your company stand out and be an employer of choice.

Employee attributes to prioritize

When it comes to upskilling, it’s important to evaluate the qualities present within prospective employees that make them the types of people you’re able to invest in with training. As you build your team initially, consider their:

• Hard skills
• Soft skills
• Cultural fit
• Internal drivers

Certainly, mastery of hard skills – the practical knowledge an employee needs to do their job, or the basic boxes that must be checked – is required for an employee to get by each day. But hard skills are also pretty straightforward to quantify, teach and measure.

To build a strong, innovative, world-class business, soft skills are crucial. Examples of soft skills:

• Adaptability
• Resilience
• Trust
• Communication
• Empathy/EQ
• Creativity
• Critical thinking

Any skill set can be built upon over time. However, soft skills usually must be developed through experience and mentorship.

When you hire employees initially, consider in which way they may be deficient in certain hard or soft skills. Ask yourself, honestly, whether you have the time and resources to dedicate to bringing them up to your desired level of proficiency. Are you willing to put in that work? If yes, make sure you have the appropriate training programs in place. If no, don’t hire them for your sake and theirs – it will only result in frustration. You also don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver on learning and development.

Additionally, an employee could have all the hard and soft skills you’d ever want, but if they fail to embody your culture and values, they won’t be successful – despite training – and can drag your business down. That’s why it’s very important to assess their cultural fit and alignment to core values.

Lastly, look at their internal drivers, which are arguably more important than skill sets. For example, does an employee:

• Have ambition and goals?
• Have motivators?
• Hold themselves accountable, and how?

During candidate interviews, ask behavioral questions aimed at identifying the presence of internal drivers. After an employee is hired, it then becomes the role of the manager to cultivate these drivers to encourage the best possible performance. Of course, an undesirable workplace culture can extinguish these drivers.

Cultural fit and internal drivers can’t be developed, period. Employees either have them or they don’t. If a candidate lacks these traits, it’s best to avoid hiring them and wasting resources on training and development.

Getting started with upskilling: The role of culture

How do you nurture the qualities you want to see in your workforce and allow these to thrive? How do you become a company of highly skilled workers that’s ready for the future?

It all comes down to your culture. Your culture must:

• Be intentional by design
• Prioritize learning
• Make people feel comfortable asking questions or speaking up
• Favor collaboration and communication
• Enable employees’ natural gifts and tendencies to shine
• Encourage recognition of others’ gifts
• Instill resilience and adaptability
• Welcome risk-tasking
• Embrace innovation and creativity
• Tolerate the failures that inevitably accompany risk and innovation

As a leader, your actions demonstrate the culture to employees. Lead by example, remembering that you are a reflection of what you want your people to do. Be careful to not shut people down, exclude people, or express anger or frustration at failure.

Once you have your culture in place, you can implement training programs, deciding on the what, when, who and why.

It’s not uncommon for companies to acknowledge the need for training and the new capabilities within their workforces that rise out of it, but they lack the time and resources to train or have no idea where to begin.

Lots of businesses start with the solution: Train on X skill. Instead, work backward and start with your end goal in mind: “I’m looking to fix X problem, because then I will see X result.” Then identify:

• The skill sets and competencies that you need to develop
• From which employees you need these skill sets and competencies to flourish
• Whether training is required
• What else needs to change within the business to accomplish the goal

Things to remember when upskilling your workforce

1. Don’t create training and development solutions in a vacuum, discussing them at the highest echelons of your company and then rolling them out to the workforce. Instead, collaborate with your team and solicit their perspectives, feedback and opinions. Bring new voices into the conversation so that the training and development program will be more well-rounded and, ultimately, more empowering and effective.

This is because employees don’t like to have things done TO them. Nothing you do TO your employees will be well received, no matter how great the benefits are. Instead, introduce training and development initiatives WITH your people to obtain their buy-in, commitment and discretionary effort.

2. Training is not a one-time event; rather, it’s a series of steps involving repetition. Employees may have to hear new information multiple times to really absorb it.

3. Training is often cyclical in nature, not a straight line from start to finish. As a manager, you:

• Identify what needs to be fixed

• Administer training
• Provide feedback
• Assess whether the employee mastered the training according to success metrics
• Move on to the next problem or revisit the training – either way, the cycle starts again

4. Employees learn in all sorts of ways. Deploy various methods to convey the same information to different people.

5. Mere observation likely won’t be effective. Embrace experiential learning in which people must think for themselves and DO. Making mistakes – and following up with a debrief discussion – is an important and necessary part of the learning process.

6. Despite what many company leaders want to believe, competency has nothing to do with tenure. Anytime someone encounters a brand-new skill or situation, regardless of how much time they have spent in their role, it causes them to restart the learning process.

7. “Working harder” is not a remedy for lack of knowledge or skill set. If you say this to an employee who is struggling with a competency, it will only make them more frustrated.

8. Employees crave direction and guidance, especially during periods of change. Yet, managers often fear micromanagement and, as a result, they tend to overcompensate in the opposite direction and end up under-supervising. This also applies directly to when employees are learning new information. In trying to avoid doing their people a disservice, managers end up doing exactly that. Leaders must be directive during training, even with tenured employees.

9. Burnout is a real risk when you ask people to learn new skills and step out of their day-to-day routine. You must balance the need for training and development with avoidance of overwhelming people, especially if your workplace is understaffed and employees have taken on extra responsibilities already, or if change fatigue is rampant. In these cases, be mindful of the timing, duration and frequency of training, and how it can take a toll on your workforce.

Summing it all up

If you desire certain skills and competencies among your employees to future-ready your business, and recruiting isn’t an option, you’ll need to upskill your current workforce. This offers many benefits to your employees and business alike. To get started, assess the hard skills, soft skills, cultural fit and internal drivers of each employee to ensure that training and development are worth the time and resources you’ll need to commit. Examine your culture, including your dedication to learning and your tolerance for failure. Then start with your end goal in mind and, from there, determine which skills need development and how you will carry out training.

To learn more about preparing your workforce for the future, download our free magazine: How to develop a top-notch workforce that will accelerate your business.

The below content was excerpted from the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

Lately, you may have heard the buzzword quiet quitting. But what exactly is it if it’s not actually about leaving a job? An outgrowth of The Great Resignation, it’s a trend gaining traction on social media in which working professionals share their alternative to quitting their job outright.

Even among quiet quitters, there’s a range of behaviors. These employees fall into one of these groups, which are progressively more extreme:

• “I’m no longer going to stress out over my job and getting everything done perfectly, but I’m still going to be productive and produce quality work.”
• “I’m only going to do what’s asked of me and nothing more. I’m just going to coast along and won’t go above and beyond without additional pay.”
• “I’ve mentally checked out of work and plan to get by doing the bare minimum until I attract negative attention. I’m sheltering in job and will flee the minute a better opportunity becomes available.”

An employee who is quiet quitting hasn’t given their two weeks’ notice (yet!), but they’ve completely rethought their approach to work. Instead of giving their best, they could choose to do the bare minimum.

Why does quiet quitting matter?

If the employee is still meeting minimum requirements and finishing work – you might be wondering, “What’s the big deal?” It’s similar to a server at a restaurant. Is it a big deal if they don’t refill your water and check in a few times as long as they take your order correctly and deliver the food?

The concern with quiet quitting (and in the case of our example of the absent server) is that it indicates some level of disengagement and can be a form of protest against something an employee’s not happy about in their current job. When quiet quitting results from low employee engagement or even anger, it may indicate deeper problems within your workplace, such as distant leadership or an undesirable culture.

And it’s not all positive for employees either. Quiet quitting has the potential to impair relationships with colleagues and managers and can lead employees to overlook or retreat from opportunities for sought-after work projects or even career advancement.

Why are employees quiet – and when do you need to worry?

Let’s talk about the quiet in quiet quitting. Really, it’s just a way of saying that these employees are stopping short of taking a big, noticeable step like quitting their job. Instead, quiet quitters are dialing back and, in doing so, may:

• Lay low
• Withdraw from social interaction in the workplace
• Reduce their communication

To be clear, being quiet is not automatically a red flag. In fact, there are many valid reasons why an employee might be quiet.

Maybe an employee is an introvert, or outwardly appears quiet as part of their personality type. Quiet is part of their baseline.

It may be that an employee is focused and has their head down working, reflecting and planning. That’s actually a great thing! They’re doing what you want them to be doing.

The danger zone is where employees suddenly turn quiet because they feel like:

• They have nothing to say of value
• They have nothing meaningful to do
• No one listens to them anyway

What’s the quitting in quiet quitting?

If employees get quiet because they have nothing to say or do, or that no one is listening, it can be related to their feeling:

• Directionless
• Purposeless
• Unmotivated
• Unfulfilled
• Misunderstood
• Underappreciated

All of the above feelings can make a person feel like quitting – or giving up – causing them to withdraw and, eventually, leave.

Who’s quiet quitting?

Across the entire U.S. employee population, engagement is falling. According to Gallup, employee engagement has declined for the first time in more than a decade, from 36% engaged employees in 2020 to 34% in 2021 – and now 32% in 2022.

So, if engagement is in a slump across the board, why has quiet quitting become a social media phenomenon primarily with younger workers? Why does Gallup data show that younger millennials (born after 1989) and Generation Z workers have the lowest level of engagement of any age group?

Generally, different generations have adopted their own approaches to work. For example, baby boomers have long been recognized for their strong work ethic. Typically, they would do anything necessary to show merit and climb the corporate ladder.

With older millennials, the new catchphrase became “work-life balance.”

Now, younger millennials and Generation Z workers are all about “life-work balance.” It’s a subtle shift that reflects how they put their personal life first. Overall, their attitude is “I have a life and I have to work. But my work is just a part of my life – it’s not my entire life.”

When engagement is low as a result of feeling misunderstood, underappreciated and undervalued, this modern attitude toward work can easily shift into a more negative mindset: “They don’t care about me, so I don’t care about the company. I’m not doing anything extra to help them.”

Furthermore, younger generations live in the post-digital world. They’re accustomed to using technologies that, while making work more efficient and enabling remote work, have also created more barriers to face-to-face human interaction. In this way, their reliance on technology could encourage disconnection from others.

What does quiet quitting look like?

Here are three possible stages of quiet quitting to be aware of:

1. TOLERATE: “This behavior/situation/person drives me crazy, but I just want to get back to my job. I don’t like it, but I’ll put up with it.”
2. AVOID: “I’ll do whatever I can to not deal with this behavior/situation/person. I’m looking for opportunities to get away or distance myself.”
3. ELIMINATE: “I’ve had enough, and I can’t take any more of this behavior/situation/person. I have to find a better place to work.”

As a leader becomes aware of the varying points within the tolerate and avoid stages, know that once an employee reaches the eliminate stage, they’re out looking for a new job and are no longer quietly quitting – they’re going to actually quit in the near future.

In addition to the withdrawal that we mentioned earlier, look out for any sudden changes in behavior that are the opposite of what an employee would usually exhibit. It could be a normally engaged employee suddenly getting quiet – or it may be a normally quiet employee suddenly becoming pretty outspoken and assertive.

A few more behaviors to put on your radar:

• Disillusioned
• Frustrated
• Overwhelmed
• Confused (by lack of direction)
• Bored
• Unenergetic

Pay attention to the small things – the potential warning signs that someone is looking to quit. (Of course, this task is more challenging when managing remote employees who aren’t directly in front of you to easily pick up on more subtle cues.)

The small things you should look out for are behavioral cues, or “whispers.” And if we don’t pay attention to the whispers, then get ready for the shout.

How to keep employees from quiet quitting and encourage re-engagement

1. Make sure that leaders’ cups are full

You know how flight attendants on airplanes tell you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others? If you’re not taking care of yourself first, it can become very difficult to care for your team. You need to have energy for yourself so you can bring energy to your team members and keep them engaged.

There’s a tremendous amount of stress placed on leaders – though, that stress need not come at the cost of the team’s success. No one wants to be on a boat in a middle of a storm, the waves getting higher, only to discover that the captain jumped ship 10 minutes ago with the emergency raft.

So, here’s what you can do to help yourself:

• Practice self-care
• Emphasize the things that bring you passion in your work
• Partner with other leaders to share learnings and best practices
• Prioritize the things you enjoy outside of work that increase your energy and inspiration
• If you’re a senior leader, don’t forget to take care of your middle managers

2. Bring energy to your team

Have you ever heard the phrase “If the audience is dead, wake up the speaker?”

If your team is disengaged, then you, as the leader, need to become a needs satisfier, not a needs frustrater. Start from a place of servant leadership, helping others to reach their goals.

Turn on the light and bring the energy in your workplace by implementing a culture of:

• Love and belonging
• Safety and security
• Fun and learning
• Results and autonomy
• Recognition and worth
• Growth and development

All of these attributes are interconnected and represent opportunities to meet needs and increase engagement within your team. 

3. Understand what brings YOUR team energy

From the above list of ways to introduce energy within your team, there will be certain areas that resonate more than others depending on your individual employees.

This is where you need to be aware of personality assessments, such as DISC or Myers Briggs. Connect the gifts or strengths that someone already has and tailor the work environment to them.

Summing it all up

Quiet quitting, the phenomenon of “I’m not quitting my job, but I’m not giving 120% either,” is a slippery slope when it’s related to disengagement or is revenge for perceived wrongdoings. As these employees advance through the stages of tolerate, avoid and eliminate, their lack of discretionary effort and growing negativity can have real impacts on your company and other team members.

To reengage these employees, attend to your own passion and excitement for your work; create a trusting, inspiring and safe atmosphere that offers plenty of opportunities for recognition, growth and autonomy; and emphasize what is most important to your team according to their unique needs and personalities. Want to learn more about how to overcome quiet quitting? Download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to employee engagement.

The below content was excerpted from the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

The stigma associated with mental health issues can be challenging to address in the workplace. Many people carry subconscious biases toward mental health issues that can lead to serious workplace problems such as discrimination and hurt an employee’s wellbeing.

Additionally, those suffering from mental health issues in the workplace might choose to keep their personal challenges to themselves out of fear of being labeled weak or incompetent to perform their job duties – which can stand in the way of them seeking help.

Here are five steps companies can take to effectively support employee mental health in the workplace.

1. Educate your workforce

Experiencing mental health issues – like anxiety, stress, grief, trauma, depression and burnout – in more common than you may realize.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five adults experience mental illness in a given year.

When you consider these numbers, chances are likely that someone in your workforce may be suffering from mental health issues. If that’s the case, it has the potential to not only affect the employee in question – but also a good portion of your workforce, team morale, productivity and other areas that impact overall business performance.

There are four subtle signs you can watch for to identify an employee struggling with emotional health in the workplace. They may:

1. Be more likely to miss work (increased absenteeism)
2. Lack efficiency and show poor decision making skills
3. Have gaps in their productivity, resulting in poor job performance
4. Experience strained interpersonal relationships with coworkers

By helping your employees understand the importance of mental health at work, and that common concerns can be quickly addressed, you can cultivate an accepting environment that reduces stigma and minimizes the potential for long-term problems.

2. Promote good mental health practices

Managers and employees who are educated on how mental health issues can affect the workplace will be better prepared to offer help, follow wise protocol and avoid developing stigmatizing prejudices.

Here are six proactive initiatives to address mental health in the workplace:

• Offer lunch-and-learn programs on the facts about mental health.
• Establish an eEmployee aAssistance pProgram (EAP) that provides counseling and mental health services and support. Make sure your employees know about it and how to use it.
• Train managers on how to spot risk factors and signs of stress, fatigue, anxiety or depression.
• Have an open-door policy for employees to share when they’re going through a difficult time at home or are feeling overwhelmed.
• Work with managers on how to help their employees balance their stressors and embrace a healthy work-life balance.
• Include information on how to address mental health in the workplace in your employee handbook.

3. Treat mental health hand-in-hand with other wellness initiatives

We’re all aware that we have choices when it comes to our physical health. To proactively protect ourselves, we’re consistently encouraged to get free flu shots, stop smoking, eat healthy – the list goes on and on. Mental health and wellness should be no different.

It’s important to be proactive for emotional wellness, too. By addressing mental health conditions in the workplace as you would any other wellness topic, you can help open the door to productive solutions. Talking openly about commonplace mental health concerns is an important part of a healthy work environment. Don’t sweep it under the rug.

Here are some things to consider:

• Many types of mental health issues are brought on by challenging life events and are not permanent.
• Employers who are knowledgeable and open with their employees about difficult issues create an atmosphere of trust (which ultimately leads to happier employees and greater productivity).
• Businesses that encourage work-life balance and make employee wellbeing a priority not only reduce the risk of employee burnout, but also experience lower turnover rates with fewer sick days reported.

4. Focus on stress management, not stigmatization

Stress can manifest in many different ways, so it’s important not to jump to conclusions about someone’s mental health in the workplace. If you are concerned about an employee or peer’s emotional health, it’s best to start with an honest conversation without making assumptions or labeling the behavior.

It is important to be direct and upfront. Be specific and to the point.

For example, you might say, “I noticed you yelled at Mary during the meeting and left the room abruptly. Is there something going on that you can tell me about?”

A good starting point is to suggest they ask themselves these questions:

• What is causing my stress?
• Do I feel that it is temporary?
• Do I need to ask for a change in my workload or schedule?
• Where is this coming from?
• Should I seek help?

If they indicate that they need additional help for work-related stress, be open to their suggestions about what they need. Be supportive and nonjudgmental. Let them know there are resources to help them, and put them in contact with your HR professional or EAP. Remember that mental health concerns are to be kept confidential.

5. Create a healthy workplace culture of trust

Your employees are your greatest asset, and they need to know they’re valued and supported. Nothing communicates this better than creating a balanced culture where people feel that they matter.

When you have a strong company culture, you’ll foster an atmosphere of grace and mutual trust within your business that reinforces the importance of mental health awareness and acceptance.

Employees who feel valued are more likely to have open, honest conversations and genuinely care about each other, their work and your business.

Here’s what you can do to nurture a supportive company culture:

• Have an open door policy.
• Let your employees know how their work contributes to the greater good of your business.
• Recognize people for their unique accomplishments.
• Don’t tolerate gossip, including name calling.
• Be trustworthy.
• Develop a mission statement that supports and values your employees as your number-one asset.
• Communicate and reinforce your culture regularly.
• Realize your words are powerful; they should be intentional and thoughtful.
• Demonstrate your culture from the top – lead by example.

We all face difficult times in life and could encounter mental health concerns at any time. Being proactive and making sure your employees have the support they need at work can be a big part of their successful recovery.

If an employee requests to take paid time off to handle a mental health concern, make an effort to grant it. Taking earned leave doesn’t require a medical diagnosis or utilization of the days allowed under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for serious health conditions.

But what if the employee is asking for time off due to a chronic or serious diagnosed bout of mental health complications? It’s wise to look at what kind of reasonable accommodations can be implemented to assist the employee to meet the essential function of their job.

Mental Health and the Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination in the workplace due to disabilities or illness. It defines someone as having a disability if their impairment limits a major life activity or if there is a record of impairment.

• A reasonable accommodation, including requests for time off, doesn’t have to be expensive for a company. Something as simple as restructuring the workday, moving start times, chunking up breaks or providing flexible work arrangements could be all that is needed. These smaller accommodations may lead to fewer requests for lengthy leaves.
• Employers can also look at additional, optional ways to create a more peaceful and supportive work environment for workers with mental health disabilities. Referring them to the employee assistance program ( EAP) and free or low-cost resources through the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) can make a big difference in workplace satisfaction and management of mental health symptoms.

What if a worker can’t regularly meet the requirements of their job, even when given reasonable accommodations and an allowable and reasonable amount of leave under the ADA?

Using Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for Mental Health

When the accommodation that a worker seeks includes time away from the office, the topic of FMLA may come into play. How can a manager or HR leader know what leave of absence qualifies for FMLA and what doesn’t?

While the topic of mental health policies is a complicated one that may require the advice of a legal or HR consultant, here are the quick FMLA facts:

• One or two days away, from time to time, and requested in advance, may be a good use for unused flex time, sick leave or even banked vacations days (and handled in the same manner as common illnesses or injury).
• If the absence is greater than three days and if certain criteria are met, qualified FMLA may be considered.
• Not all companies have to offer FMLA leave. Those with fewer than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius aren’t bound by FMLA laws.
• The employee must have worked 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months to qualify for leave.
• The leave is usually unpaid, although certain states may cover time away with partial disability plans or additional private insurance compensation.
• Leave may be taken intermittently, a few days at a time or all at once – totaling no more than 12 weeks off in a one-year time period.

An employee will typically be restored back to the same or an equivalent position when the employee returns from family and medical leave. An employee who does not return to work at the end of an authorized leave should create an opportunity for the employer and employee to engage in the interactive process to see if any reasonable accommodation could return the employee to work.

In the event an employee’s position with the company is affected by a decision or event not related to the employee’s leave of absence (e.g., job elimination due to a reduction in force), the employee will be affected to the same extent as if they were not on leave. Certain “key employees,” as defined under the FMLA, may not be eligible to be restored to the same or an equivalent position after leave if doing so would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to the operations of the assigned company.

Finally, if you find that your top-tiered talent is requesting more time away due to stressful work obligations, a formal sabbatical program may be a perk to consider offering.

The laws governing employment can be cumbersome and overwhelming. Don’t leave your business exposed to undue risk. Educate yourself on the basics by downloading our complimentary e-book: Employment Law: Are you putting your business at risk?

The below content was excerpted from the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

For all the speculation about what the future of work will be like, one could argue that “the future of work” is already here – it actually began in mid-March 2020 when workers around the world were sent home by their employers to slow the spread of COVID-19. Before the pandemic, companies were toying with videoconferencing technology and allowing people to work remotely – but then things got serious. Suddenly, everyone was thrust into action as part of an impromptu, widespread experiment in real time.

For the past few years, we’ve all been grappling with rapidly unfolding changes. Now that the situation has stabilized, it’s a question of which changes will stick around for the long term.

We occupy an evolutionary state in which we’re investigating the choices before us and how to move forward:

• What aspects of the pre-COVID workplace will we return to?
• What new changes will we further revise going forward?
• What aspects of the current workplace will we adopt permanently?
• How will leaders need to adapt in the post-pandemic workplace?

Let’s discuss eight hot issues impacting the future of work.

1. Remote work and, ultimately, flexibility

The pandemic proved that employees can successfully work remotely without negatively impacting productivity or quality of work.

During this time, employees got to experience a whole new day-to-day routine and, for many, they were able to enjoy not just a better work-life balance but a work-life integration. For the first time, they were, for example, able to walk their dog in the middle of the day, run time-sensitive errands or exercise during breaks. If they were parents or caregivers, they could engage more easily and frequently with children or relatives throughout the day.

For many employees, the new normal works well for them. They’ve become accustomed to it and they don’t want to give up their newfound freedom for a commute and long hours in a cubicle again.

Despite this, a sizeable portion of employers report wanting to return to the office full time, for various reasons. It appears that employers and employees could be headed for a stand-off.

Going forward, most organizations will likely settle on a hybrid work arrangement, as well as flexible work schedules or even shortened workweeks, as a compromise. In terms of remote work, the “cat is out of the bag” and there’s no going back to five days in the office for many companies.

Currently, employees have a lot of say over their work conditions – and they clearly want more agency in how, where and when they perform their work. Companies must recognize this and take action to incorporate more workplace flexibility – or risk losing top talent to competitors.

In this remote and hybrid work environment, workplace leaders will need to become adept at managing remote employees by:

• Cultivating relevant and valuable skills, including empathy and emotional intelligence
• Focusing on how to build trust and conduct difficult conversations over distances
• Letting go of any tendencies to micromanage
• Understanding how to lead employees across time zones

Companies that insist on 100% on-site work will need to be prepared to:

• Fully explain the business needs or the “why” to employees for a fully on-site schedule
• Consider taking steps to enhance their workplace, making the office more amenable to collaboration and creativity
• Institute more rigorous health and safety standards
• Focus on how to introduce flexibility for employees in other ways

2. Investing in time and attendance tracking

In remote, hybrid or flexible workplaces, work is no longer centralized at the same time and location. This leads to some big questions for employers to consider.

• Have workplaces been focusing on the wrong things all along? Where work-life integration exists, is it the deliverables and results that matter more, or hours spent in a chair? How does this impact time tracking?
• Where there is fluidity between work and life, how can companies make time tracking fair and equitable to everyone?
• How should employers measure productivity in general?
• Which key performance indicators  or metrics need to change per role?
• Are there other ways to leverage technology to help companies understand the value they’re getting from individual employees – without being intrusive or making employees feel micromanaged?

Now more than ever, with remote and dispersed workforces, companies need a time and attendance policy to address these issues. A time and attendance policy doesn’t have to conflict with solidifying norms around workplace flexibility. Rather, this type of policy exists simply to establish basic ground rules, set expectations around availability and accessibility and ensure fairness for all employees.

3. Relying on independent contractor labor

As businesses face post-pandemic turnover and a tight, ultra-competitive labor market, hiring talented independent contractors to fill knowledge gaps and complete specific deliverables in a timely manner is growing in popularity.

Often, it can be a great idea.

• Contractors can enable your business to scale up or down efficiently, according to your needs at the moment.
• As people reassess their priorities, goals and interests post-pandemic, many workers are open to temporary and short-term work because of the lack of long-term commitment.
• Contractors are usually highly skilled or knowledgeable in a specific area and don’t require lots of training to get up to speed.

However, there are some drawbacks.

• Independent contractors, or any temp worker, can be difficult to retain.
• They are more disconnected from your workplace culture and lack the sense of loyalty and long-term investment in your company’s success that a full-time worker would have.
• There may be a large pool of willing contractors and temp workers right now, but those conditions can swiftly change.

4. Expanded employee benefits

Of course, the standard suite of benefits will always be important in attracting and retaining employees. This includes:

• Retirement account, or 401(k)
• Health insurance (along with dental and vision insurance)
• Paid time off
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance

But the pandemic shifted peoples’ priorities and exposed needs that were neglected previously by employers, such as the importance of mental health and support for working parents of young children.

As a result, other benefits that would’ve been less common a few years ago have skyrocketed in popularity with employees. Companies looking to step up their game in attracting and retaining top talent may want to consider these options, such as:

• Investments in mental health and physical wellness through a workplace wellness program
• Childcare assistance
• Financial wellness programs
• More paid time off (with some companies even considering unlimited PTO)
• Continued ability to work remotely, at least some of the time

There is a growing sense that employers should enable employees to bring their whole selves to work, free of distractions, and make them feel seen, supported and valued.

5. Improved training and development

One of the reasons that employees cite for leaving their companies in the midst of the Great Resignation is that they don’t feel invested in or developed. They feel stagnant and stuck in a rut, as though they’ve learned all they’re going to learn at their current company. Because most people crave growth, upward mobility and opportunities to improve, they’ll go elsewhere to obtain it.

In financially tough times, training and development are commonly among the first line items in a budget to get cut or scaled back.

However, companies should consider not moving training and development to the expendable list. Why?

Training and development are critical in:

• Preventing turnover
• Maintaining high employee morale and engagement
• Remaining competitive in the marketplace by expanding employees’ knowledge and skills
• Reskilling staff to manage worker shortages

In delivering effective training and development that’s suited for today’s workplace, companies must consider:

• The skills that were exposed as lacking among some workers during the pandemic, and how those can be improved (for example: technology proficiency, time management, problem-solving abilities, good communication, empathy and emotional intelligence)
• The delivery methods and duration of training for remote, dispersed workforces
• The preferences of millennials and Gen Z workers, who are growing in numbers and prefer focused, concise and short learning opportunities

6. Transparent leadership

Everything boils down to good, regular communication. This certainly transcends current circumstances and is always true, but it’s especially important following tumultuous periods.

In the absence of communication from leadership, employees will fill in the blanks on their own and their input will usually be negative.

Leaders tend to think of transparency as all or nothing and worry about having to share with employees every little thing they’re dealing with. However, it’s much more simple. Transparency is really about informing employees of the matters that are important to their jobs and the organization as a whole in a timely manner.

Employees want their leadership team to communicate openly and honestly about:

• What’s going on with the business now and in the near future
• Changing policies, procedures or expectations – and the “why” behind these decisions
• Company goals and purpose
• How their role supports the overall company

This helps to provide a sense of stability and consistency, and helps people feel prepared for what’s coming. Furthermore, everyone wants to know whether and how they’re making a difference to remain engaged.

When employees work remotely or on a hybrid arrangement, it can be easy for them to fall victim to workplace isolation. This can make them feel disconnected from the workplace culture and their team, or feel like they don’t know what’s going on at the office. That’s why it’s imperative for managers to maintain regular communication and a constructive dialogue. When teams are further apart, more effort and intention is required from managers to connect and inform.

7. Diversity and inclusion

For a long time, a compelling business case has been constructed showing that a diverse workforce, as well as a diverse leadership team, can improve any company’s culture and bottom line. Companies with diverse and inclusive workforces boast higher employee satisfaction and engagement, and are more collaborative and innovative.

For established business reasons and because of major cultural shifts, companies are looking closely at how to support greater diversity and inclusion within their workplaces. As a start, companies should:

• Institute a diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policy
• Align DE&I with hiring strategies

8. Importance of human resources

Human resources (HR) has a hand in managing all of the issues outlined here. If anything, the last few years have underscored the fact that people make up companies – and understanding how to get the people part of the equation right is fundamental to the success of any organization. This truth has elevated HR in the minds of business leaders. Going forward, HR will remain a critical organizational function.

For companies that lack a dedicated, in-house HR team, working with a professional employer organization can be a great option in preparing a company for the future of work, whatever that may bring.

Summing it all up

The future of work is here, and there are eight issues that are shaping the discussion surrounding it. Employers need to address these issues to be competitive with employees and job candidates, as well as not be blindsided by unfolding developments. To learn more about adapting your workplace to current expectations – and even anticipating what lies ahead – to maintain employee satisfaction, download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to employee engagement.

The Insperity guide to employee engagement

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The below content was excerpted from the Insperity blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

Current events can be hot-button topics that often affect different people in unique ways, and therefore have an impact on daily business operations. But where’s the line between “This shouldn’t be a work conversation” and “This is affecting our employees’ productivity and wellbeing?”

There’s a place for addressing current events at work, and it should be part of your overall communication planning and strategy.

The 411 on current events at work

It is completely natural that discussions about current events will take place within your organization among employees. This can include topics such as:

• Hard news events occurring at the local, state, national or international level (examples: Russia-Ukraine war, natural disasters, etc.)
• Events impacting public health, economy or public institutions (examples: pandemic and inflation)
• Political, social and cultural issues (examples: legislation and elections)

Historically, company leaders may have viewed current events that do not directly impact the company as irrelevant and not issues to discuss in the workplace.

However, this position has evolved as workforce expectations change. Today, more companies recognize that some current events, although perhaps outside the scope of business operations, can impact their employees in a number of ways:

• Focus and productivity
• Overall wellbeing and emotional health
• Engagement and attendance

Why is this?

• With the rise in hybrid work and remote work, there’s less of a hard divide between employees’ work and personal lives.
• The 24/7 news cycle and heightened use of social media can increase employees’ exposure to and awareness of current events, which can raise stress and anxiety about these topics.
• Younger generations of workers (especially Generation Z) have greater expectations for their employer to display corporate citizenship – meaning, getting involved in the community, taking stands on issues and modeling values that, ideally, align with theirs.

As a result, it can be challenging to identify current events that don’t impact employees, and thereby employers, in some way.

Benefits of addressing current events at work

The inclusion of guidelines for handling current events within your company’s communications plan provides important benefits for any business:

• Outlines a plan of action for what, when and how to communicate, if at all
• Shifts your business from a reactive to a proactive mindset
• Creates consistency in your company’s response
• Gives employees an idea of how you, as their employer, might respond to a future event, which can convey that the company is staying on top of evolving news and events
• Helps employees to feel seen, valued, respected and supported through difficult times
• Fosters a strong connection between employees’ professional and personal lives, leading to a positive impact on long-term wellbeing goals
• Shows responsiveness to employee expectations for corporate social responsibility and engagement

Ensuring a thoughtful, consistent response to current events across the entire organization helps cultivate a positive company culture and an employee experience worth showcasing. And if your company publishes an annual corporate social responsibility report, it may provide you with an opportunity to weave in compelling stories that demonstrate the heart and values of the organization from your employees’ point of view.

From an employer brand standpoint, few resources are more powerful when it comes to recruiting and attracting talent.

How to address current events at work

So, how do you get started incorporating these guidelines into your communications plan? Your company has a couple of potential courses of action for dealing with current events:

• Forego communications about current events that do not directly impact the company.
• Communicate about specific, relevant current events.

If you decide to forego all communications on current events, explain this to employees up front, along with the rationale behind your decision. Insert a written statement explaining this position in your communications plan.

The worst approach would be silence without explanation. If you leave blanks, employees will undoubtedly make assumptions. Employees can misinterpret your organization’s silence as:

• Simply not caring about a specific issue
• Being out of touch with current events
• Not appropriately prioritizing people and community within the broader business context

Choosing to communicate about current events doesn’t necessarily mean that your organization is taking a definitive stance for or against something, which can carry its own risks in today’s political landscape. For most companies, this simply means that you’re acknowledging the current event and offering support to employees.

Confirm which types of current events you will address

At a high level, reference the types of current events your company will communicate about in your communications plan. Consider:

• Issues that your employees have shared are impactful to them and their families
• Potential connections between current events and your unique employee population
• Issues that have the potential to eventually have a more direct impact on your business, customers or local community

Between an absence of communication and full communication regarding current events, there is no right or wrong answer across the board – it’s about what works best for your company given your:

• Corporate values
• Workplace culture
• Workforce needs and expectations

By defining which types of events you will address in advance, you’re less likely to be caught off guard and unsure whether or how to react to a current event. If an employee has questions or concerns that some topics are given more weight than others, you can point them toward your documented company policy.

Select communication messaging, methods and frequency

Much of this will depend on the size of your business, the specific event and how quickly information evolves. In many cases, a one-time communication will suffice.

The most common delivery methods that companies use to discuss current events include:

• During a companywide meeting (in person or virtual)
• Within the context of small group or one-on-one meetings between managers and direct reports (in person or virtual)
• Recorded message from company leadership
• Email
• Company intranet posting
• Internal social exchange posting

Leadership should decide on the content of messaging, and it should cascade down through the organization in a prepared process.

Extend support to employees

If you decide to communicate about certain current events, the general sentiment you’ll try to aim for is: We’re aware of the issue and are listening to employees. The company cares about your wellbeing and wants to support you.

It’s a simple acknowledgement of an event that may be a factor in someone’s life or compete with work for their attention and peace of mind. It’s also a way to express empathetic leadership.

Let employees know about available resources to help mitigate their stress or anxiety related to a current event, such as:

• Employee Assistance Program
• Availability of mental health providers via the insurance provider in their benefit plan (and how to find this information online in a benefits portal)
• Wellness programs
• Paid time off
• Open-door policy in communication – employees should always feel comfortable bringing concerns to their manager, human resources or company leadership

Coach leaders on how to have conversations with employees after tough or negative events and how to foster a mindset of resilience within their teams.

A note on PTO: If employees have available PTO in their leave bank or are willing to take unpaid leave, treat it as any other PTO request and allow them the time off to process a difficult current event that’s impacted them – within reason.

Continue listening

Solicit feedback from your employees on a regular basis, so you:

• Keep a pulse on what your employees think
• Discover which topics matter most to them
• Understand employee perspectives about how your organization handles internal communication

This can be accomplished as part of an annual corporate culture survey or pulse survey, or as a company town hall meeting.

Before you ask for employee feedback, make sure they know it is not possible to implement every suggestion. Otherwise, you risk the appearance of not listening – the opposite of your goal in soliciting feedback – and they may resist participating in future feedback sessions.  

Be prepared to handle heated discussions of current events among employees

As mentioned, current events are more casually and frequently discussed among employees. That’s fine – until there are disagreements and heated arguments, which can be disruptive to the workplace. Be prepared to diffuse tensions associated with discussions about current events in the workplace.

The situation can become contentious when employees talk politics, which of course are closely related to current events.

Have a separate policy about political speech and activity in the workplace that can help guide you in controlling these discussions and limiting their effect on workplace morale. Frequently remind employees of your organization’s core values, including respect for others and the courteous exchange of ideas, as well as anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.

Summing it all up

The days of “If it’s not directly work related, we don’t have to plan for it” have likely passed – or, at least, have become a bit murkier. It’s a relatively recent phenomenon in the workplace, but increasingly more employees expect their employers to acknowledge current events that concern them and their interests outside of work.

Whether your organization sticks to a position of noncommunication or opts to communicate regularly with employees about current events, you need to account for this in your communications plan and explain why you’ve adopted this stance.

To learn more about other policies and plans that can benefit your workplace and help you avoid unnecessary conflict, download our free e-book: 10 must-have HR policies that no business can do without.

The below content was excerpted from the Insperity Blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

The widespread adoption of remote work has enabled a larger number of companies to hire employees from anywhere – in the same city, across the state, the other side of the U.S. or even around the world. By hiring employees across time zones, many companies are taking advantage of the opportunity to:

• Extend business hours
• Make personnel immediately available to more customers, thereby improving customer service
• Broaden the job candidate pool to obtain top-tier talent
• Increase diversity in their workplace

So, how exactly can business leaders overcome distance and separate schedules to successfully manage employees across time zones?

The general rules of good leadership still apply

Over the past few years, leaders have learned to successfully manage remote employees. The virtual environment has shifted workplace culture, and management has also had to shift its focus to:

• Check in more regularly
• Work harder on connecting with individuals and maintaining team cohesion
• Be intentional in enhancing empathy and emotional intelligence (EQ)
• Detect subtle facial cues, tone and body language over videoconference
• Maintain awareness of employees’ mental health, workload and work-life balance

These are all positive developments and are applicable skills for managing employees over greater distances, too.

Once you’ve managed remote employees within the same ZIP code, managing employees in other time zones generally isn’t that different. Remote is remote, whether the team member is down the street or five states away.

The core rules of solid leadership in remote work environments – or any work environment – still apply:

• Meet employees where they are
• Clarify goals and expectations
• Give employees autonomy to get the job done in a way that works for them

There are just a few key additional factors you should consider. After all, managing employees across time zones isn’t without its unique challenges:

• You won’t see distant employees as often and certainly not without intention.
• There may be delays in communication and response times, which means you can’t always expect real-time conversations and results.
• Expectations and due dates can sometimes get tricky – especially if the time gap is bigger. For example, if you’re in London and need a report by Monday morning, an employee in California might not deliver that to you until the end of your day.
• It can be more difficult to identify mutually agreeable meeting times.
• Employees can feel a stronger sense of workplace isolation.

Once you acknowledge these challenges exist, you can turn your focus to managing employees across time zones despite the potential constraints.

Figure out why you’re meeting, and when

When you’re on a completely different working schedule than some or all of your team members, it’s more crucial than ever to connect, get face-to-face time and learn about work progress on a regular basis. Of course, that can be tricky when time zones get in the way.

Here are some tips you can experiment with to see what works best for your business:

• When you schedule meetings and send meeting invitations, clarify the time zone in which the meeting takes place.
• Be courteous about not scheduling one-off meetings for really early or really late in the day for certain time zones. For example, if you’re on the East Coast, try not to schedule a meeting that will happen at 5:30 a.m. on the West Coast.
• If there is a certain block of time in which all employees are working and availability overlaps, consider designating those as core meeting hours. For example, if you have employees across the country, perhaps the middle of the day is best for meetings.
• If you have recurring team or department meetings, change up the time every so often to avoid inconveniencing the same employees for too long. You can rotate meeting times so that some employees have to meet earlier (7-8 a.m.) or later (5-7 p.m.) for their time zone and can all share in the burden of having a less desirable meeting time temporarily.
• For recurring one-on-one meetings, ask the employee what time works best for them. To accommodate several different employees in various time zones, you may need to adjust your own schedule to work earlier on some days and later on other days. If you do this, just make sure everyone on the team is aware.
• Use a shared team calendar that shows employees’ availability so that managers and colleagues can easily book meetings during open times. With some software, employees can even set parameters on their availability to avoid receiving meeting requests that won’t work. This saves everyone time.
• Reassess what constitutes a successful meeting in a working environment with dispersed employees in different time zones. For example, evaluate the duration and size of typical meetings.
• Can you condense meetings that were formerly one hour into, say, 25 minutes?
  • Who truly needs to be included?
• Sometimes, larger meetings and formal company announcements have to occur at a certain time and place. In these instances, record important meetings and ensure that employees in other time zones are given access.
• Be mindful about requesting on-site meetings. If you elect to have one, you’ll have to cover employees’ travel and accommodations. Weigh the return on investment for your company.

Additionally, think about what on-site meetings mean for employees in other locations. For you, it may mean a commitment of an hour or two. For them, it could be a time commitment of one or a handful of days, depending on travel time, and could introduce unnecessary stress in their personal lives.

Team cohesiveness and preservation of workplace culture

When people aren’t directly and spontaneously interacting as much, and instead operating in their own silo and time zones, it’s a natural concern that team cohesion will fracture and workplace culture will diminish.

From the on-a-different-time-zone-employee’s perspective, they may also worry that they’re going to be overlooked for opportunities, cut out of the information loop or feel lonely.

Managing employees across time zones forces business leaders to do the hard work of really figuring out what makes a team cohesive.

Spoiler: It was never about the foosball table or the beer on tap back in the days of everyone working on-site – those are easy “outs.” The answers are actually much more simple and basic, and these practices still apply to more flexible and remote working environments:

• Have a clear, common purpose and make sure everyone knows what that is. You want people to feel as though they’re part of something amazing, important and fulfilling.
• Hire people who feel passionate about their work, and give them the right tools and resources to succeed.
• Encourage mutual accountability. All team members should want everyone else to do well because they all care about the outcome of their work.
• Emphasize caring for each other’s personal well-being.
• Prioritize employee development so they can advance their professional knowledge and skills.

Other creative ideas for building engagement and community:

• Participate in virtual team building.
• Showcase employee volunteer activities or personal achievements on company social media channels.
• Regularly recognize and reward employees internally for good work or special achievements, individually and in front of their colleagues.
• Offer peer mentorship and coaching between colleagues who occupy similar roles but reside in different locations.

Create cohesive scheduling and availability

At the outset of your working relationship with an employee in a different time zone, clarify their working hours. Because their schedule won’t be the same as yours, you need to understand exactly when they are available.

And because you won’t be able to manage them in real time, you should also clearly establish and explain all goals, expectations and priorities.

In everything, from setting deadlines to scheduling meetings, specify the time zone to avoid confusion, errors and setbacks.

Communication

Adopt a wide array of channels to enable robust communication, such as:

• Email
• Videoconferencing
• Instant message (IM)
• Text
• Phone

Pick the options that work best for you and your team.

Be flexible and understand that, as a manager, you may sometimes need to hold meetings outside your own core working hours to accommodate team members in other time zones.

Unless there’s an urgent issue, be mindful about contacting team members when they’re off work, even if it’s just by email. You don’t want to upset work-life balance by constantly making someone feel pressured to work at 11 p.m. their time – even though it’s the middle of the workday for you and it feels normal.

Conversely, problems will undoubtedly arise when your employees are on the clock but you’re not. Let employees know how to best reach you outside your working hours in case of an emergency.

Make collaboration a priority

Teams can still work effectively and in an efficient, coordinated manner across time zones and distances with the aid of technology, smart business practices and some creativity.

• Implement a virtual project management platform that works for your company’s needs. This can aid in the coordination of work, enhance efficiency and enable you to easily track individuals’ progress on tasks.
• Leverage collaboration technologies that show workers’ availability and enable spontaneous chats easily.
• Rethink the scope of meetings, which has the added benefit of reducing the volume and duration of meetings. Ask yourself: What can only be done when the team is together? How can we use our limited time together wisely and most efficiently? Usually, it’s tasks such as problem solving and ideation in which employees benefit from the team being together and collaborating.

Otherwise, the team can read background materials, brainstorm and complete preparation work ahead of time independently.

• Try a “digital huddle board,” the virtual version of the office whiteboard. Make it available any time for employees to access, obtain the latest information and update.
• Consider digital “lab time,” the virtual version of the office breakroom. This is a space in which team members can join – voluntarily and at a time that works for them – to chat about various topics and share and debate ideas. Employees can still work while participating to avoid disruptions to business.

Summing it all up

Managing employees across time zones isn’t all that different than managing remote employees nearby – it just requires some additional considerations. Key highlights:

• Clarify working hours and expectations as early as possible.
• Always specify time zones for deadlines and meetings.
• Carefully evaluate communication and collaboration platforms for maximum effectiveness.
• Consider adjustments of your own schedule to accommodate one-on-one meetings with employees.
• Set aside designated team meeting days and times when employees have overlapping availability, and rotate the timing of recurring group meetings for fairness.
• Shorten meetings and reassess the necessity of an employee’s attendance.

Otherwise, remember to continuously practice the general rules of good leadership that the remote work era has brought to the forefront. Want to learn more about being a strong and effective leader in any work environment? Download our free magazine: The Insperity guide to leadership and management.

The below content was excerpted from the Insperity Blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

Whether you’re a small business or a larger company, you want to do what you can to attract and retain top talent. Offering competitive pay is one way to accomplish that, but there are other things you can do. For example, you can offer fringe benefits.

What are fringe benefits?

In common parlance, fringe benefits (a.k.a. perks or perquisites) are benefits you offer in addition to pay. The IRS’ Publication 15-B (2021) Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits defines a fringe benefit as “a form of pay for the performance of services.” They can be anything from paid time off to access to a company car. In other words, “fringe” is whatever makes a position or your company more attractive for someone to join and grow.

Why are fringe benefits important?

If you want to build the best team, you need to offer something to stand out from your competition. It’s one more way to signal that you’re an employer of choice.

Job hunters typically compare fringe benefits their target companies offer – they’re an important factor in choosing an employer. At the same time, current employees may compare your offerings against a prospective new employer. In either scenario, you want to be competitive.

According to recent findings from Gallup.com, today’s employees seek benefits that enhance the quality of their lives, particularly around five key areas of wellbeing:

• Career wellbeing
• Social wellbeing
• Financial wellbeing
• Physical wellbeing
• Community wellbeing

Types of fringe benefits

Fringe benefits can be taxable or non-taxable. The IRS Fringe Benefit Guide gives examples of fringe benefits that are non-taxable, in whole or part, including:

• Achievement awards
• Adoption assistance programs
• Dependent care assistance programs
• Educational assistance programs
• Employee assistance programs  (EAP)
• Employee discounts
• Employer-provided cell phones
• Group term-life insurance
• Health savings account (HSA) contributions
• Learning portals for professional development
• Remote work options
• Working condition benefits

You might also want to add non-taxable perks such as time off for volunteering in the community, the occasional theater and sporting event tickets or marathon sponsorships. These offerings can also be very attractive.

What types of fringe benefits are taxable?

Unless specifically excluded by the tax code, all fringe benefits are taxable as income. This generally means FICA (Social Security and Medicare taxes) and FUTA (federal unemployment tax) are withheld and must be included on W-2s. Some states may also tax fringe benefits, so be sure to check with your state tax authority before designing a fringe benefits package.

Examples of taxable fringe benefits include:

• Non-business use of company cars
• Cash (bonus pay)
• Gym memberships
• Paid personal time off

Remember to determine the value of the fringe benefits provided by Jan. 31 of the year after you give them to the employee. Also, some FUTA taxes are paid by you and not your employee, so you will use the employee’s total compensation to determine your FUTA liability.

Who is eligible for fringe benefits?

You might think only employees are eligible for fringe benefits, but certain non-employees are too. Independent contractors you hire for a specific job can be recipients. Partners in the business are also eligible. Though you don’t withhold taxes for these parties, you may need to report the benefit to the government using one of the following forms:

• IRS Form 1099-NEC for independent contractors
• IRS Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), Partner’s Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc. for partners in the business

Must all employees receive the same benefits?

In most cases, the answer is no. You will generally have discretion when you structure your fringe benefit plan to base access on any number of qualifiers (e.g., full-time versus part-time, exempt versus non-exempt status, departments, job groups, etc.). However, in certain cases, if you don’t provide the same benefit for all employees, you can cause tax consequences for yourself or your employees, especially when highly compensated or key employees are being favored.

That said, you cannot discriminate against protected groups, even unintentionally. For example, if all your non-exempt employees are women and all your exempt employees are men, and you base your benefit access on exempt versus non-exempt, then you may be perceived as discriminating against women.

What mistakes do employers make?

The biggest mistake employers make is not promoting and reinforcing the use of fringe benefits. You don’t want to just talk about them once a year. You want to remind people to take advantage of what you have to offer.

For example, when an individual or a team takes a day to volunteer in the community, talk about it in the company newsletter. Use your EAP to help promote various benefits to staff. Encourage managers to reinforce continuing education through your learning portal by offering $25 gift cards for successful completion.

Remember: What people are really looking for in an employer of choice is not just a base salary. They want a company that thinks about the whole person – emotionally, physically, developmentally. Increasingly, they also want the company to be socially responsible. By creating a thoughtful fringe benefits package, you can start to address those wants and not break the bank.

Did you know that by properly addressing HR compliance, policies and procedures within your company, you may sidestep potential problems down the road? To learn more, download our free e-book: 7 most frequent HR mistakes and how to avoid them.

The below content was excerpted from the Insperity Blog, a great source of information for business and HR best practices.

Increasingly, more workplaces are instituting a diversity and inclusion policy. Also known as a diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policy, its purpose is threefold:

• Promote a welcoming, diverse and discrimination- and harassment-free workplace
• Highlight the values and best practices that your company prioritizes to both internal and external stakeholders
• Establish your company’s status as visionary – forward-looking and dynamic

Why is a DE&I policy so important?

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, companies that institute DE&I policies tend to see tangible benefits, likely because:

• Diversity of thought, backgrounds, experiences and skills promotes more idea sharing and innovation, rather than homogeneity and groupthink, which can lead to competitive advantages.
• Employees’ feelings of inclusion and contentment with their workplace can raise morale and productivity, which can improve retention rates.
• Companies that publicize their diversity initiatives may attract an expanded talent pool.
• Companies with diverse management may enable heightened awareness of, and sensitivity toward, discrimination and harassment issues. This can aid in faster detection and resolution of these incidents.

And, frankly, having a DE&I policy is what current and prospective employees expect of companies – especially among millennials and Generation Z, whose members tend to prioritize diversity at their place of employment more than any other generations.

These workers frequently cite diversity as a primary factor they consider when fielding job offers. To them, jobs and workplaces are an extension of their identity, and it’s important to them for their values to align with their employer’s. If employees or job candidates perceive that diversity isn’t a value that your company shares with them, or that your company doesn’t support vigorously enough, you could miss out on high-quality talent.

As you craft your organization’s DE&I policy, here are the core elements that should be included.

Declaration of your company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion

This is a concise and high-level overview statement in which you define what diversity and inclusion mean for your company. Since every company is different, your organization’s culture, strategic vision and values should be reflected in your definition of diversity and inclusion. It should not be a carbon copy of another company’s DE&I statement.

With this statement, you can ensure that all your company’s stakeholders interpret the language of your policy consistently.

For example, how does your company define diversity? Which characteristics are part of this definition? Furthermore, which types of diversity, specifically, does your company seek to cultivate? Common examples include:

• Race
• Gender
• National origin
• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Sexual orientation
• Disability
• Age
• Marital status
• Parental status
• Socioeconomic status
• Veteran status

What does inclusivity mean to your company? Is it an environment in which everyone is:

• Treated fairly and similarly?
• Given the opportunity to speak up and contribute?
• Embraced and accepted for their differences?

You’ll notice that these are all aspirational, qualitative goals. DE&I policies typically aren’t so specific as to include numerical targets – ironically, that can expose a company to liability for discrimination. Any mention of specific, quantitative goals is better reserved for a strategic plan rather than a DE&I policy.

Definition of policy scope

To whom does your company’s DE&I policy apply? Best practice is to include all stakeholders, ranging from full- and part-time employees to contractors, vendors, suppliers and job applicants.

Explanation of the policy’s purpose

Once you’ve established the basic parameters of the policy, you should outline why your company is implementing a DE&I policy. Questions to consider:

• What value does your organization see in a DE&I policy?
• What positive impacts resulting from a DE&I policy does your company anticipate?
• How do you want all employees to feel when they come to work? Many employers cite the desire to empower their employees to come to work as their authentic selves, comfortable in expressing their ideas and participating fully within the team – assured that their contributions will be considered.
• More broadly, how do you want any stakeholder to feel when they interact with your business?

Alignment of the policy with company values and vision

Reiterate your company’s core values, mission and vision. Demonstrate how your DE&I policy supports and complements these concepts.

Stakeholder responsibilities

In keeping with the desired concise, high-level tone and broad language, avoid listing any examples of behavior that isn’t tolerated under your company’s DE&I policy. These examples could be limiting.

Instead, focus on your stakeholders’ responsibilities to uphold the DE&I policy. Common examples of responsibilities:

• Understand one’s individual role in promoting diversity, implementing policies correctly and modeling desired behaviors.
• Treat others with dignity and respect.
• Behave inclusively at all work functions, on and off the worksite.
• Complete diversity training to enhance knowledge.
• Enable others to gain access to opportunities to develop skills for career advancement.

Training and compliance

Describe the diversity and inclusion training that your company requires, how often training takes place and what each course entails.

Most companies already have an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy that describes the disciplinary actions for noncompliance with discrimination and harassment policies. However, you should address these disciplinary actions in your DE&I policy as well. It may be repetitive, but it can provide additional clarity.

Reporting mechanisms

Explain to stakeholders what to do if they have directly witnessed or suspect behavior that conflicts with the DE&I policy. You can also explain the investigation process that commences once a report is made – including the steps and who’s involved at each stage.

This information is important to include so that stakeholders know that your company will enforce the policy and hold accountable those parties who have violated it.

Some options:

• Establish a single point person in your organization to accept reports of violations and route them to the appropriate parties for investigation.
• Promote an open-door policy that encourages employees to go to their managers with concerns.
• Offer an anonymous reporting mechanism for employees who don’t feel comfortable speaking about these matters in a face-to-face conversation.

Where to publish your diversity and inclusion policy

Your DE&I policy should be written in your employee handbook. It should be its own separate, standalone policy so that employees understand the priority that your company places on diversity. Consider making your DE&I policy equal in status to any other organizational policy in the handbook.

Keep in mind, a handbook is internally focused – it’s for employees. DE&I policies are of great interest to external stakeholders, too – especially job candidates. For these audiences, their first experience with a company is often via the website. For this reason, you may make your DE&I policy accessible on your company’s website in the recruiting or employment section.

Summing it all up

Implementing a diversity and inclusion policy is an increasingly core element of a company’s core mission and values. It can enhance your company’s image and culture, attract a broader talent pool, and enable better business performance across the board, among other benefits. Equally important, it aligns your company with the expectations of a rapidly growing segment of the job market.

A DE&I policy should be fairly brief, concise and high level, but there are basic elements that any policy should address.

To learn more about DE&I policies, as well as other critical HR policies that your organization should consider implementing, download our free e-book: 10 must-have HR policies that no business can do without.