What Are the Organizational Benefits of Professional Development?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | What Are the Organizational Benefits of Professional Development?Hearing the phrase “professional development” makes some people squirm, others roll their eyes, and a few actually listen candidly. There’s often a misconception that managers who suggest some type of professional development to their employees actually suggest it because of poor performance, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Professional development is a great way for people at all levels of an organization to hone in on what exactly they want their career path to look like and gives them the opportunity to experiment with new tools that might help them to get there. There are many different avenues of professional development, but some common types include seminars, workshops, conferences, career conversations, job shadowing, and online courses.

The Benefits of Professional Development

If you’re reading this and thinking, “as much as I’d like to offer these types of programs at my organization, it just sounds a bit time consuming and expensive,” then consider the many benefits:

Long-Term Money Savings

As the tried-and-true sales saying goes, it costs more money to acquire new customers than it does to retain existing ones. The same goes for people within an organization.

It is important to note, however, that poor employee development (unorganized structure, prioritizing high performers over the whole, etc.) will cost more time and money than no development at all. So if you’re going to go in, go ALL in.

There’s No “I” In Success

Some people enjoy the monotony of knowing exactly what their tasks are for the day, how long it will take to complete them, getting them done successfully, and doing it all again tomorrow. Others like a challenge—setting higher goals and aiming for the moon. By understanding the unique motivations of your employees you can tailor a different professional development plan for each individual. Skilled managers should strive to foster their employees’ development because when your employees are successful, then everyone is successful. By creating professional development plans, you can combat complacency and build teams from simply competent to excelling in no time.

Improve Company Culture

Company culture may seem like a cliche buzzword, but it still holds a lot of value to today’s labor force. As of 2019, 46% of job seekers say company culture is very important when applying for a specific role.

Now more than ever, employees are worried about crafting a sustainable career with a company that has values closely aligned with their own.

Initiate Professional Development Conversations With Employees

“But how do I go about starting the conversation on employee development,” you ask? It’s simple, talk to your team and discuss your motivation for wanting to start a development program. If you’re in a hybrid or remote work environment, you can easily set up a video conference call and begin asking questions to get the team thinking about how they would like to see their role expand.

One great question to ask your team is: “How can being an employee here help you become the person you want to be?” It shifts the perspective from “what” you would be (your duties in a role) to “who” you would be (emphasizing you as an individual.) Unlocking your team’s core values will help you further understand their goals as well as new ways you can help support their success. After all, contributing to meaningful work is the number one reason employees choose to stay in their current positions.

Foster Professional Development During COVID-19

It might be daunting to talk to your employees about their careers in the midst of a pandemic, but, nonetheless, these are still important conversations to have. It’s vital to utilize a secure network option to ensure your line of communication is private and confidential. Other tools like learning management systems make it easier to track employees progress with special e-learning courses unique to the company.

You can test the waters of your development plan by checking in on your remote employees often, and making sure they know that you’re accessible, even if it’s only over Zoom. You can also encourage their success by highlighting them in larger team meetings.

After getting a feel for the areas your employees have expressed interest in, try introducing them to other people in the company that have experience in those areas. Professional development doesn’t have to be only hard skills—it can also include soft skills such as networking or public speaking.

Are You Liable if Your Employee is in a Car Accident with the Company Car?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Articles |Auto Insurance|Are You Liable if Your Employee is in a Car Accident with the Company Car?Perhaps. It depends on what the employee was doing at the time of the accident and where your business is located. This information is from the office of a car accident lawyer in Norristown, PA.

No-Fault Auto Insurance

If your business is located in Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Utah, you have no-fault auto insurance. Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and New Jersey give drivers a choice between no-fault and at-fault.

No-fault auto insurance was created to reduce the auto accident lawsuit overload on the court system and to eliminate the need for those injured in auto accidents to prove they were not at fault or were not at fault as much as the other driver.

In no-fault states, each driver’s insurance pays that driver’s minor injuries regardless of fault. In many no-fault states, one driver may still sue the other if they suffered damages in excess of a threshold set by state law.

If you are located in a no-fault state and your driver gets into an accident, your insurance will cover the minor injuries of the other driver. Your workers’ compensation insurance may well cover your driver. But if the accident is serious and injuries exceed the threshold in your state, you may be sued and have to establish that your driver was not at fault. You can click website here to learn more.

At-Fault Auto Insurance

If you do business in any state except the states listed above, in an accident involving your company vehicle, each drivers’ insurance company will pay for the damages sustained according to the degree of fault of each driver.

The driver who caused the accident will be responsible for the damages to other parties involved. That driver’s insurance company will pay the victims up to the policy limits on the policy. If there are damages in excess of those limits, the victims can sue.

If your business is located in Arkansas, Delaware, or Maryland, you have the option of purchasing add-on insurance that provides the same type of protection that would be available in no-fault states. If you have this additional coverage, your insurance will pay injured parties without determining who was or was not at fault. However, those injured parties can still sue or be sued for injuries and pain and suffering.

Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation will cover the medical expense and lost wages of the driver of a company vehicle in a car accident if:

  • The driver is an employee of your company;
  • The driver was driving the company vehicle in the course of their regular work duties;
  • The driver was driving the company vehicle in your direction.

Your workers’ compensation insurance may not cover the driver if:

  • The driver is not an employee, but is an independent contractor;
  • The driver took the vehicle without your permission;
  • The driver was doing something illegal when the accident occurred (speeding, running a red light, etc);
  • The driver was using the vehicle as part of regular work duties, but ran a personal errand without your knowledge or permission;
  • The driver was impaired due to drugs or alcohol.

Keep in mind that victims of an accident with your company vehicle, when they have the right to sue, can sue the driver, you, your company, your vehicle mechanic, and the vehicle manufacturers and retailers under various theories of legal liability. Do not skimp on your commercial auto insurance coverage, and be sure to retain the service records of all company vehicles in case they are needed to prove that you maintained your vehicles responsibly.

Additional Resources

StrategyDriven Contributors recommend the following resource that elaborate and compliment this article:

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor |Veronica BaxterVeronica Baxter is a blogger and legal assistant living and working in the great city of Philadelphia, she frequently works with Craig Altman, Esq., a car accident lawyer in Media, PA.

Help Your Employees Perform At Their Absolute Best

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employee Performance|Help Your Employees Perform At Their Absolute BestThere’s something of an unbalanced impression among employers that employees will do all they can to work less, get paid more, and generally lower their morale if they haven’t anything better to do. That’s simply not true. Most staff care about their jobs, care deeply, and are willing to work extremely hard to keep them. This is especially true in these uncertain times, where the health of your business could quite easily mean if they have a job or not for the foreseeable future.

Employees just want to be given the tools to perform their jobs well, while enjoying fair compensation in the process. It’s really rather simple when we boil it down that way. Managers that fail to care for their staff are often managers (or owners) that care little for truly getting to the heart of the matter.

What daily protocols could your staff use assistance with? How can you make sure they can perform their work well, and limit the possible mistakes they may make? How can you alleviate the grunt work to help them apply their best, most creative potential? A few of the following tips could work well here:

Make Security A No-Brainer

Making security a no-brainer is essential for your business, and essential for your employees. Sure you should educate them in how to care for their devices, what SSL certificates are, the importance of VPN’s and encrypted website access, but it can also be that through Enterprise Email Security Software and more, careful protection against cybersecurity threats are taken care of in advance. This gives them the chance to actually focus on their work, something they won’t argue with.

Keep Employees Updated

It’s essential to keep employees in-the-loop, particularly at a time where remote work might be one of the most important and essential measures of staying productive and safe from COVID. Keeping employees updated means holding regular morning briefings over Zoom, disseminating newsletters, or publishing announcements to shared workspaces.

There’s no reason why these updates must be at the same time every day, but a daily summary can be very effective in helping people attend work with care and attention. Keeping employees updated can also mean reminding them of protocols and policies that need adhering to, and more.

Regular Training Investments

Regularly investing in employee training is more than something you would read in a light business advice column on Forbes. It’s an essential measure of retaining skillsets, of keeping staff motivated to stay at your firm, and to help dispel poor action, and misdirected intentions. Regularly investing in training, even if that’s just in public speaking or customer handling will emphasize the standards and principles you hope to evoke as a brand, and from there, how you will be perceived. Training can help rejuvenate a team, and it will keep them prepared for the future. In that context, it’s reliable and worthwhile to focus on this approach.

With this advice, we hope you can help your employees perform at their absolute best, no matter what.

Creating a Conducive Work Environment

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Your employees are the backbone of the business. Even with great ideas and business plans, nothing can get done without your team. That is why providing them with a place to work that is a conducive work environment helps to ensure that they can do their work in a much more productive and effective manner. How can you create a work environment that is effective, without having to raise costs? Here are some things to think about.

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | Creating a Conducive Work Environment

Remove bad vibes

If there are any employees who are getting into ‘trouble’ with their coworkers on a regular basis, then they create some unnecessary stress and unnecessary tension in the workplace. This can impact more people and stop them from doing their job as they would like to. So it is important to step in as management when this kind of thing happens, to give them enough warning so they can adjust their attitude, and take steps to deal with the issues. When it comes to hiring new people, look for people who will be a good fit for the role, but also fit into the culture of the business and existing team. A mix of personality and skills is a must for new candidates.

Incorporate branding into the workspace

We all know that when employees are at work, they will also be thinking about other things, and doing some other things. They might need to take a personal call, book an appointment on their lunch break, or deal with a personal issue when getting on with their workload. Which is why having some branding in the office can make a big difference. When the theme of the business and the brand runs throughout the work space, it can spark creativity, and helps give employees a focus when working. They only have to look around and see a custom flag or brand colors on the wall to remember where they are and what they should be doing. Simple things can make a difference and help your team to work more productively.

Use technology

It is so important to look at and harness the power of technology in the workplace. It can streamline what you are already doing, and improve things like management, cash flow, and other aspects of the business that can be prone to human error. Technologies and collaboration tools so cost the business money. They also need to involve some learning, which is why some businesses can be shy to use them and embrace them as much as they could. The costs associated will pale in comparison to the benefits that can be gained, so that is an important thing to think about.

An effective and productive work environment for your team is one that is not just rewarding for your team and the business, but one that is also safe. Look for ways to make the office a safe space to be, and that can help too. People aren’t going to stay working with you if they are just working in an office space that is full of accidents that are waiting to happen.

10 Top Tips for Making an Employee Redundant

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Redundant|10 Top Tips for Making an Employee RedundantMaking an employee redundant is never easy, but it can be more manageable if you follow the right steps. Discover more, here…

Redundancy is on people’s minds more than ever before. Since the coronavirus pandemic started, the UK government has tried to mitigate these redundancies. But, unfortunately, it’s not always possible.

If you’ve done your best to follow government guidelines to save your employees and you still plan on making an employee redundant it’s important that you do it the right way.

In this post, we’re going to cover what redundancy is, whether COVID-19 has made redundancy more commonplace, and share some tips on how to make an employee redundant. So, to make sure you tackle this task the right way, read on…

What Does it Mean to Make an Employee Redundant?

Before we share our top tips on how to make an employee redundant, we’re going to briefly go over the definition of redundancy, so you know what it entails.

Redundancy is the dismissal of an employee because the employer no longer requires anyone to do their job. This could be because the business is:

  • Changing what it does
  • Upgrading to new technology or machinery that makes the employee’s job redundant
  • Changing location or closing down
  • Doesn’t have enough money to retain certain job roles

For a redundancy to be considered so, the employer must demonstrate that the employee’s job will no longer exist. This way the employer can’t use the excuse of redundancy to unfairly dismiss an employee for other reasons.

Redundancies can be compulsory or non-compulsory. This depends on whether you allow the employee to take their redundancy voluntarily or make them take it.

Employee’s Redundancy Rights

To give you an idea of the rights an employee has when you make them redundant, here’s a quick list of what you might have to provide them with:

  • Redundancy pay
  • A redundancy notice period
  • A consultation with their employer
  • The option to move into a different job role
  • Time off work to look for a new job

This probably goes without saying, but do not select people for redundancy based on age, gender, disability or because the employee is pregnant. This will likely be considered unfair dismissal.

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Redundant|10 Top Tips for Making an Employee RedundantIs COVID-19 Forcing Employers to Make Staff Redundant?

Coronavirus has obviously had a huge impact on businesses, with the Financial Times reporting that the UK economy has shrunk by a fifth since the pandemic started. The government’s Job Retention Scheme has eased the pressure somewhat, but lots of businesses are still faced with having to let employees go.

Just so you have an idea of the companies that have had to make large proportions of their staff redundant in the UK, here’s a quick list of some of them:

  • Rolls-Royce: 9,000 staff
  • BP: 10,000 staff
  • Centrica: 5,000 staff
  • Bentley: 1,000 staff
  • British Airways: 12,000 staff
  • The Restaurant Group: 1,500 staff
  • Oasis and Warehouse: 1,800 staff

These are just a few of the major companies who have had to make redundancies. So, if you’ve found yourself in a position where you have to make some, you’re not on your own. The only thing you can do now is make sure you carry out the proecdure in a way that’s best, or least painful, for both parties.

10 Top Tips for Making an Employee Redundant

Now that we know what redundancy is, and that COVID-19 is forcing more employers than ever to consider it for their employees, it’s time to give you some tips on how to go about it. Whether you’re making one staff member redundant, or hundreds, it’s important that you try to do so with compassion and tact, which these tips will help you do.

1. Be clear and communicate your reasons effectively

The wordier and more complex the message, the more confusing it will be and the more upset it will cause. So, it’s important to make sure the message you share with your employees is as clear and consistent as possible. To do this, try and communicate the reasons why the business has to make them redundant as best as possible.

2. Preparation and practice

This might not be necessary if you’re only making a single employee redundant, because in that scenario it’s better to have an actual one-to-one conversation with the employee.

However, if you’re making several employees redundant, and you’re planning on giving a speech, prepare the script carefully and practice delivering it until you’re comfortable with what you’re saying. Also, prepare to answer questions and try not to talk too much when the staff are giving their input. It’s better to listen to their concerns and answer them effectively.

3. Avoid leaks

You don’t want to go through all the preparation, practice and honing of a clearly communicated message and have news of the redundancy get our before you’re able to deliver it. Also, there’s nothing worse than gossip getting out and causing undue stress to your employees. So, keep it as under wraps as possible before breaking the news that redundancies will be made.

4. Provide a clear end date

Whether it’s to a single member of staff, or many, giving a firm end date will make it easier for them to move on and start looking for a new job. Also, as we mentioned earlier, you might need to provide some time off for them to search for a new job, so factor that in when you plan the employee’s end date.

5. Share resources that can help your employees

There are loads of organisations that offer support for those who are made redundant, especially with COVID-19 making them more prevalent. Sharing details on where your employees can find help might help them feel less alone and anxious about being made redundant.

6. Don’t make your employees keep it a secret

Keeping word of the redundancies under wraps before they’re announced is fine, but once the employees who are going to be made redundant have been informed, don’t force them to keep it a secret from others.

It might seem like a good idea at the time, because it will stop other employees from worrying about their own jobs. That said, all it does is isolate the redundant employees further, as they won’t be able to seek support from their friends and colleagues.

7. Don’t announce redundancies before a weekend or holiday

If you make redundancies before a weekend or holiday, those employees are likely to go home and feel isolated. If you do it earlier in the week, at least they can air out their grievances with you and seek support from their colleagues.

8. Be careful when trying to make the redundancy sound positive

It’s tempting to try and make the redundancy seem like a good thing to put your employees at ease. But, being made redundant is generally a bad situation, so letting them down gently is the better approach.

For example, telling a working mother “at least you’ll have more time with your kids” isn’t a consolation. Most people will either need their job to feed their kids, or enjoy their job and will have chosen to do it for a reason. So, be sure not to make light of the situation.

9. Don’t ask your employees to stick around to finish a project

The reason you’re letting the employees go in the first place is because their job has become redundant. If you tell them they’re being made redundant and then ask them to stay on until they’ve finished a project they’re working on, it’s doesn’t reflect well on you.

10. Look after yourself

Obviously, putting the redundant employees first is a good strategy and should be implemented before you start thinking about yourself. But, don’t forget about yourself once you’ve helped out your employees.

Apart from the stress of giving the news, you’ll likely be losing colleagues and friends as well. So, getting support from others at your company might help you through it. Also, before you make the announcement, it might be good to get the backing of your company, so you know you’re not taking the burden on your own.

Are you Ready to Announce Your Redundancies?

Hopefully, after reading this post, you now have a better idea of what redundancies are, and are aware that you’re not alone in making them due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also hope you’ve garnered some useful tips to help you make the announcement to your employees along the way.

Like we said at the start of this post, it’s never easy to make the people you see every day at the office redundant. That said, you can try your best to mitigate their suffering and your own.

Thanks for reading and good luck with the redundancies.