The Big Signs An Employee Deserves A Promotion

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employee Promotion|The Big Signs An Employee Deserves A PromotionA happy, driven employee is better than one who feels like they’re stagnating and going nowhere within their career. It’s a simple truth, but it’s still one that’s sorely misunderstood. It can be complicated to meet employee needs from time to time. But overall, it’s up to you as their employer to ensure they feel like the former at least 75% of the time.

To do this, you’ll need to grant regular performance praise, pay rises, and promotions. The latter option covers all three! That makes it the best way to recognize someone who meets the challenge every time. But when should you give a promotion? When an employee shows signs like these.

They Take Initiative without a Problem

If someone knows what they’re doing, it’s going to show in their work. Look out for signs of initiative, and someone who can take it without needing to be prompted. This person is a self sufficient worker, and is able to find drive and motivation with little to no worry. That’s someone you want managing your team for you! Be sure to chime in with a good word every so often, but be sure to observe when they’re acting on their own.

They’ve Been Improving Qualifications

As a boss, don’t worry about an employee’s career plans. Instead, think about ways to utilize their skills to the fullest while they work for you. Encourage them to seek out new learning and further training.

Walk through potential courses with them, such as a Healthcare Administration Certificate Program if you run a medical business, or an MBA degree if you’re a marketing unit. And if you find out they’ve been working on their resume outside of work hours, not only does this show their ambition, but also their dedication to your cause.


They Work Well with Others

Working well with others means a person has strong social skills, and is able to adapt to a situation no matter what’s going on. Office politics can be tricky to navigate, but someone who stays out of ‘drama’ and is able to smile and chat politely to all around them is a clear team player. Even if they have personal gripes from time to time, they bring professionalism to the door and use it to the full within the working day.

They’re Not Perfect, But They Deliver

No one is completely perfect at their job – we’re all human, after all. However, a person that deserves a promotion is someone who understands this. They’re not always looking to impress; they just want to get a good job done.

They’re also willing to make mistakes and own up to them, and allow themselves to learn from them in the future. And if you’ve got someone on your team who has such an adult, rational approach to their job, call them in for a very productive chat!

Promotions aren’t granted lightly. If an employee passes tests like these, it means they’re clearly deserving of the responsibility.

5 Staffing Conferences To Elevate Your Business In 2022 and 2023

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | 5 Staffing Conferences To Elevate Your Business In 2022 and 2023To keep the best talent, you need to know the level of engagement in your organization. Unhappy employees have options and employee retention is difficult in today’s market. To keep employees connected from executive to intern, it will take a strong commitment to understand the pressures they face in everyday life and support them as they struggle to find work that provides more than just a paycheck.

Focus On Employee Growth

As your executives work to build the best team in a tight labor market, information from staffing conferences in 2022 can help them see the best choices for the future of your company. There are employee pressures coming that many executives, especially older leaders, may struggle to understand.

Many younger generations know that they constantly need to be building better skills to stay competitive in the job market. Your executive team needs to know how to structure this training. They also need to know what is on offer from other employers in your industry and region. Because everyone needs to find quality talent, the pressure on your executive team to keep the employees you’ve invested in will be intense.

Focus On Retention

Of course, your pay and benefits offering will need to stay current and competitive to bring in the best employees. Make sure that, once hired, your employees stay engaged. In addition to giving them manageable work requirements and achievable goals, look for ways to build engagement.

Employee engagement is often closely tied to the community in the workplace. Group gatherings, fun events, and team-building opportunities abound. However, you will also want to strive for methods of private engagement. For example, you can check with local charities for individual volunteer opportunities. You may find that an elementary school needs reading tutors or a high school needs mentors for students at risk. The ability of an employee to take paid leave for such volunteer time could do a great deal to boost their connection and loyalty to your organization.

Look For Training Across Generations

The bumper sticker thinking associated with conflict across generations may not be obvious in your office, but it does get a lot of cultural focus. Look for training opportunities that will boost connections between boomers, Gen-Xers, millennials, and Gen-Z.

Understanding the viewpoint of another employee can be easier with an understanding of the crucible in which they were formed as an employee. An older baby boomer who got to kindergarten and had to struggle to stand out in an overcrowded room has a very different view of workplace competition than someone from a later generation. The more employees know, the better they will connect.


Build In Flexibility

Workplace flexibility, including the option to work remotely, will be critical as we move forward into 2023. That being said, your managers and leaders will also need to be aware of how to support the employees left in the office.

Make sure that the training and opportunities for personal growth created by your staffing conference choices also include employees who remain in the office. The risk of friction and resentment between remote and in-office employees, as well as between in-office employees and the leaders who require them to be there, can be destructive. Do your best to offer similar opportunities and flexibility to all employees.

Invest In Well-Being

The phrase “work-life” balance will continue to fall by the wayside through 2023. Employees are looking for flexibility, but they’re also looking for a way to integrate their job into their life. To that end, look for staffing conferences that offer training on

  • time management
  • stress management
  • personal finance and budgeting skills

Of course, not every employee is able or interested in traveling to such a seminar. Consider contracting with a provider that can allow personal training on their desktop. It should not be out of the realm of possibility to provide an employee with at least an hour’s paid training per week on a topic that will improve their work life and their life at home.

With a very tight labor market, employees will have to offer more than their salary. A happy, well-rounded employee who has access to training that will allow them to improve their skills and balance their life effectively has a better chance of staying. The more people you retain, the more skills you have at your disposal.

The Case of the Never-Ending Workweek: How to Manage Employee Stress in the Face of Overwork

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Workweek|The Case of the Never-Ending Workweek: How to Manage Employee Stress in the Face of OverworkIt’s no secret that the American workweek is long. In fact, it’s been getting longer for the last few decades. The average worker now puts in 47 hours each week, and nearly one-quarter of employees report working more than 60 hours per week. For some people, this overwork is a choice – they love their job and can’t get enough of it. But for many others, the never-ending workweek is a source of stress and anxiety. In this post, we’ll explore the causes of employee stress related to overwork and discuss ways to manage it.

The first step in managing employee stress is to understand its causes. There are a variety of factors that can contribute to work-related stress, including:

Long hours: As mentioned above, the average workweek is now 47 hours long. This leaves little time for anything else, including family, friends, and leisure activities.

Pressure to perform: With competition for jobs at an all-time high, workers feel pressure to be productive every minute of the workday. This can lead to burnout and anxiety.

Lack of control: Employees who feel like they have no control over their work or their career are more likely to experience stress.

Poor working conditions: Unsafe or uncomfortable working conditions can also be a source of stress.

Job insecurity: In today’s economy, many workers worry about losing their jobs. This fear can lead to stress and anxiety.

Now that you understand the causes of employee stress let’s discuss some ways to manage it. Here are a few tips:

1) Communicate with your employees:

Ensure you’re regularly communicating with your employees about their workload and stress levels. This will help you identify problem areas and develop solutions. Communication also allows employees to feel like they have a voice in the workplace.

2) Encourage breaks:

It’s important that employees take breaks during the workday. This will help them recharge and come back to their work refreshed. Encourage your employees to take a few minutes each hour to step away from their desks, walk, stretch, or just relax.

A healthy and relaxing break can be in the form of the following:

  • Taking a quick walk outdoors
  • Listening to calming music
  • Doing some deep breathing exercises
  • meditating for a few minutes


3) Promote a healthy lifestyle:

Encourage your employees to live a healthy lifestyle. This includes eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and drinking supplements that help combat anxiety and stress. Your employees can have a look at cbd oil for anxiety as a possible supplement to help them cope with stress. CBD oil is known to have calming and relaxing effects, which can help reduce stress levels.

4) Schedule workshops relating to stress management:

Educate your employees on stress management. Schedule workshops or lunch-and-learns on the topic. There are a variety of stress management techniques that employees can learn, including deep breathing, meditation, and visualization.

5) Offer flexible work options:

If possible, offer your employees flexible work options. This could include flexible hours, working from home, or job sharing. Flexible work options can help employees better manage their work-life balance, which can reduce stress levels.

The case of a never-ending workweek is a real problem for many employees. However, by understanding the causes of employee stress and implementing some stress-management strategies, you can create a healthier and more productive workplace.

4 Reasons Your Staff is Lacking Productivity

/in /by

When it comes to productivity, your team is only as strong as its weakest link. So it’s crucial that you make sure everyone is on board and doing their part in order to reach maximum efficiency as a team. Before you can get to this point, however, you have to find out where the kink in the hose is.

Once you identify the reason for your lack of progress, you can make adjustments where needed. Here are some of the most likely reasons why your staff isn’t where it needs to be, and what you can do to remedy a productivity issue.

Unspoken Frustrations

Even though all of your team may be completely professional, humans are still emotional beings. If your team has a poor working relationship with each other, then they’re going to have low morale. It’s important that you keep your team motivated, and encourage communication among staff. If there are any issues coming up, make sure that they’re addressed immediately so that you can identify any work-related frustrations.

One of the best places to start is having a meeting so that you can go over any pending issues that need to be discussed as a team.

Lack of Praise

If staff members feel like they’re not being recognized for their efforts, then it won’t motivate them to continue working hard. Besides monetary reward, employees also require verbal encouragement and recognition.

Make sure that you bring up a job well done in front of the entire team. When you can praise your employees openly, you’ll give them a sense of value that keeps them inspired to continue delivering their best work.


Poor Leadership

When working in a group environment, it doesn’t matter how strong each individual is at their job if you don’t have a strong leader behind them. A strong manager is essential for keeping everyone on task, and delegating roles based on individual strengths.

As a manager, it’s your job to make sure everyone is fulfilling a role they’re best suited for. After all, half of the battle is delegating to the right people. If everyone is playing to their strengths, then you’ll move much faster with fewer issues that come up as you go.

Time Lost on Manual Tasks

It’s crucial that you’re constantly striving to look for new updated ways to get work done. Sadly, many teams are stuck in the past when it comes to manual processes. If your team is wasting half of their day on tasks that could be done with software, then it’s time to start thinking about an upgrade.

Automation software can save your team hours of manual work per day, and free up your schedule so you have time to focus more on what matters at your business, like forming new ideas and customer relationships.

Ways to Help Your Workplace Function Smoothly

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Workplace Function|Ways to Help Your Workplace Function SmoothlyRunning a business means having to do your utmost to run a functioning workplace too. That’s often easier said than done when there’s a lot going on and you have a whole team of people to manage. But when things get too messy and chaotic, it eventually takes a toll on the business and its ability to function as it should and hit its targets.

If you’re having problems in that department right now and you feel like the lack of structure and focus in your workplace is holding your business back in some ways, there’s never a better time than now to act and make a change. The longer you allow these kinds of problems to fester, the more deep-rooted they’ll eventually become, and that’s not what you want to be dealing with.

So if you’re looking to make some changes to the functioning of your workplace and you’re not sure where to start, read on now and find out more. Each of the changes discussed below will put your workplace on a better and more sustainable path.

Create a Culture of Trust

First of all, you should try to create a culture of trust inside the workplace. Thaat way, you’ll find it much easier to get the most out of each member of your team. If your employees feel like they’re not trusted to do their job, that’ll impact their morale and you’ll create a vicious cycle over underperformance that’s good for nobody. So if you want to create a culture in which people trust each other and believe in each other’s abilities. It’ll also create a more collaborative workplace and one with fewer conflicts.

Communicate Standards Clearly

Communicating what’s expected from employees is important in order to maintain high standards and avoid a slipping of standards. You don’t want to allow standards to slip too far because that’s ultimately damaging for the business and the impression you give to clients and customers. At the same time, it’s your task to communicate standards so that everyone in your workplace can live up to them. Inaction will only lead to a furthe erosion of those standards and that’s not what you want. Be sure to communicate them clearly without being dictatorial.

Share Out Authority

Sharing out authority is a concept that’s alien to a lot of bosses and managers. But when you pass on the authority to make relevant decisions to more people within your workplace, it spreads responsibility and encourages more people to step up to the plate. It essentially stops the workplace from becoming too centralized, which is important because over the top centralization of your workforce tends to be bad news for everybody. It’s far better when there’s input from various different sources and decision-makers.

Avoid Micromanaging

Micromanaging is one thing you definitely don’t want to do if you’re serious about making improvements to the way in which your workplace functions. When you try to micromanage every little situation and piece of work, it simply undermines your employees. And if you’re not going to let them get on with their jobs, you have to wonder why you bothered to hire them in the first place. Try to place more faith in them and see how it goes. You might be surprised by what they do and how much they impress you when you set them free and let them got on with the tasks at hand.

Encourage Two-Way Feedback

Feedback is an important asset for your business if you want to continue pushing in a positive direction and making the right kinds of changes moving forward. That’s why you should encourage everyone to participate in giving and receiving two-way feedback. That means you provide feedback to your employees, and they give their own feedback to you. That way, everyone can improve and the business will move in the right direction. You just need to ensure feedback is kept positive and constructive on both sides for this to work.

Train Your Team in New Areas When it Becomes Necessary

As your business grows and its priorities and focuses change, you might need different things from your workforce, and that’s something you should be mindful of. If you’re expecting new and different things from your employees, you’ll need to offer them the relevant training to smooth that transition. You can’t expect their jobs to change and for them to adapt immediately, especially if they’re not being supported and provided with the right training to make that possible. So whenever something changes for your business, explore whether your team needs to be trained differently.

Promote From Within Your Team

When you promote people to higher positions within your business, you should definitely think about promoting people from within your own team. When you do that, you give people the motivation to keep pushing and working hard because they’ll know they’ll have a chance of eventually clinching a higher position within the organization. Whereas, if they don’t see that opportunity ahead of them, they may lack the drive to keep pushing to achieve more, which is definitely not an environment you want to create. It’s a small change but it can make a big difference.


Offer Flexibility

These days, people tend to want and expect a little more flexibility in their work and work hours. That’s certainly something that your business should think about offering if it’s not doing so already. When your team is able to work in a more flexible way, they can set their own hours and balance the different priorities in their life. That results in a happier and generally more positive workforce. If you want everyone to be on their game and working as they should, flexibility will definitely help you get there.

Put the Stuff You Don’t Need Right Now Into Storage

One of the reasons why your workplace might be currently lacking a bit of structure and clarity is an abundance of stuff. When you have lots of stuff that shouldn’t really be there, you should move it out and make some extra space. Use a storage solution so that your employees don’t feel crowded out by excess clutter. If something isn’t serving a genuine purpose and doesn’t have a real reason to be in your workplace, simply don’t leave it there. A more minimalist approach to the workplace should serve everyone’s interests.

Use Project Management Software

It definitely makes sense to start making use of project management software if you’re not doing so already. Keeping everyone on track and working on the right tasks will help ensure the team meets deadlines and clients are kept satisfied. In the end, that’s what really matters more than anything else when you’re trying to create a workplace that functions in a smooth and cohesive kind of way. It’ll help you to operate things in a much more productive way and ensure that your projects get to where they need to be on time.

Facilitate Opportunities for Collaboration

If you’re going to get the most from your team, you want the members of that team to be operating together as a cohesive unit. That’s why you should find ways to facilitate collaboration among the different members and even among the different departments of your business. Of course, how you go about doing that will depend on the kind of business you run and how big it is. It’s up to you and the rest of the management team to find ways of pulling the team together and making the most of all the talents being brought to the table.

Put as Many Tasks on Autopilot as Possible

It’s a lot better for you if you can put things on autopilot and avoid getting bogged down in unimportant details when trying to run your business smoothly. If there are tasks that can be automated with the use of software, make use of those tech options. When your team has less admin work to take care of, they’ll have more time to focus their efforts on the things that really matter most to the business.

Maintain a Positive Attitude, Even When Times Are Stressful

Finally, you should try your best to maintain a positive outlook and attitude when you’re managing your team. When things become negative at the top of the business, that can feed down to the rest of your team and everything else that happens in your workplace. So even when things are stressful and stretched, you should try your best to remain positive. A generally more positive attitude will also yield better results when working for clients and trying to impress them too.

A smooth functioning workplace will ultimately only aid your business in getting closer to its long-term goals. So if you think that your workplace needs a little more organization and structure, be sure to make the most of the tips and ideas we’ve shared here today. Each of them will serve you well.