You may be considering how to start 2020 in the right way. Alongside vowing to watch less Netflix, and to actually use your gym membership, you may have considered __methods you can implement to improve work performance__. Whether this discussion took place in your annual performance review or you're just feeling motivated to start your year on the right foot, we've compiled a few tips to get you started. At the end of the day, no matter how well you perform any task, __you can always do better than you did yesterday__.

---

## 7 Ways to Improve Work Performance

### 1. Identify and remove distractions

It’s easy to get distracted by notifications from all manner of apps you have, not to mention your favourite websites. Distinguish which apps/websites/distractions are not part of your work and remove them from your working environment. It can take up to 30 minutes to get into "the zone" with challenging work, and every interruption to your flow resets the clock. Minimize distractions either by __turning off notifications during working hours__ or deleting the apps/blocking the websites from your work computer. This way you will limit time wasted to a minimum and manage interruptions. Another way to become more focused is to schedule time for each of your responsibilities to develop healthy habits and routines.

### 2. Set milestones

What do all productive people have in common? They set goals and focus on milestones. __[Creating individual success metrics](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-set-smart-goals-for-work-examples-and-tips) to analyze your goals is a useful way to keep track of your progress__. By effective project management - breaking down big tasks into smaller steps - whether these be personal or professional, you can enjoy the small gains whilst working towards the end goal. This will keep you motivated which a vital way to improve work performance.

### 3. Focus on one task at a time

Multi-tasking can compromise the quality of your work. Work towards creating a habit of __prioritizing your tasks and focusing on one task at the time__. Which of your responsibilities is the most important? Working on one task at a time streamlines your work, leaving you less stressed and less likely to make mistakes.

![ways of improving work performance in 2020 peoplegoal](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/1xriXydZCVvgzl5lQdM4so/263b6730ca3ae479634ca57997b288d6/ways_of_improving_work_performance_in_2020_peoplegoal.png)

### 4. Utilize the right tools

You may need specific [tools to improve your work performance](https://www.peoplegoal.com/product/performance-management-software), whether it be software or hardware. __The right tools for the way you work best can streamline repetitive tasks and make them easier to complete__.

### 5. Communicate

[Establish a consistent communication channel with your colleagues](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-improve-internal-communication) so that you are never in the dark about what you are working on. There is nothing worse than going into a project blind. __Never shy away from asking for help or clarification__. This way you can have a clear picture of what you need to achieve and you won’t waste time working on something unnecessary.

### 6. Make sure you take time out

Utilize your lunch break to stretch, take a walk, eat, and talk to people about subjects other than work. You need to give your brain a break in order to [avoid burnout](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/mental-health-2020), and you need to keep your body fuelled.

### 7. Ask for feedback

[Ask your colleagues for feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-ask-for-feedback) on the tasks that you are working on. __The only way to improve is to learn__. You will never know everything, so ask your team members what can be done to improve your performance at work and in your professional development, both in the short run and in the long term. It's often easier for other people to see patterns of behavior and to suggest improvements than we can do for ourselves.

---

A big part of getting to the bottom of ways to improve work performance is to be aware of the ways in which you work that are unique to every person. __Try to pay attention to the causes, both when you're feeling extra motivated and when you're losing focus__. Once you start to become aware of your drivers and distractions you'll find it easier to build on the motivators and cut out the obstacles to being productive.


The chances are you just went through your annual performance review, and feel motivated to find ways to improve work performance even more in 2020. We've got you covered!

Just been through your annual performance review, and feel motivated to find ways to improve work performance even more in 2020? We've got you covered!

7 Ways to Improve Work Performance in 2020

7 ways to improve work performance in 2020 - PeopleGoal

Ways to Improve Work Performance

7 Ways To Improve Work Performance in 2020

## What is telecommuting?

Telecommuting is a working style that permits professionals to work outside of a conventional office environment. It reflects the idea that work shouldn't be done in a particular place to be executed effectively.

## Best practices to optimise your teleworkers:

![What are the best practes for telecommuting?](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/39jrak5zvs1u3gzS4qsZ1Q/f74bffdc410174154db2e2a9ad8f1847/Telecommuting_best_practices.png)



### 1. Assign "office" space. 

Demand that [telecommuters make a calm spot](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-from-home "Work from home: How to make it work") to think and concentrate. While it need not be a detailed set-up, a territory wherein business related material can be put away and sorted out keeps significant papers from being thrown out with junk mail or lost some place in the house. A committed work area likewise prepares the mind to associate this area with working, prompting the mind to adjust into a work mentality akin to the office. 

### 2. Set up work hours. 

Its highly recommended that businesses urge telecommuters to create calendars and stick to them with a similar devotion as though going into the workplace. Other than making it simpler for the telecommuter to remain on target, this normality helps supervisors, associates, and relatives plan connection as needs be. 

### 3. Find your optimum work hours. 

On the off chance that the circumstance is with the end goal that your telecommuters can pick their hours, guarantee them that outcomes are what is important. Opportunity to finish undertakings when energy levels are the highest, when one's home condition is most favorable can cultivate more noteworthy outcomes than demanding a 9-to-5 calendar. 

### 4. Communicate early and frequently. 

Maintaining the same level of [communication](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/workplace-communication-can-suffer-when-individuals "Workplace communications can suffer when individuals") or even increasing it when working from hoome is vital. Set extensive rules in regards to answering emails and calls etc, shared schedules and archives, and favored specialized strategies for different circumstances. Yet additionally encourage your remote workers to just remain in touch as they see fit. You should offer your employees somewhere to touch base with everyone, and to ask questions. 

### 5. Organize shared trust. 

At last, the two businesses and flex laborers need to understand that working from home courses of action include an act of pure [trust](https://remote-how.com/blog/how-to-build-trust-with-new-remote-employees "How to build trust with new remote workers"). Tell telecommuters how they can reinforce trust through activities, for example, requesting help when required, and reliably conveying quality work. Recording your work can be done using a [performance management platform](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/dont-think-performance-management-software-is-worth-it-think-again "Why you need a performance management platform"). Consequently, managers can respond trust by giving suitable credit, requesting input, and avoiding micromanagement. All things considered, the "best practice" is a staff cooperating to accomplish outstanding results!

### 6. Take the necessary steps to implement telecommuting to best effect:
![Best way to remote work](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3DFDKYUKyPo9rlNHEAJgg0/394220d6a1100e9ed7e6ffe29bd4ab98/Most_effective_way_to_remotely_work_.png)


These are some recommended steps management should take in determining what
options might work for the organization.

- Evaluate each of the positions and determine if an employee’s physical presence is required full-time, part-time or never, except for periodic meetings.

- Decide which remote work programs might be viable work options for you.

- Identify which employees have sufficient institutional knowledge and experience to be considered for a flex/remote work arrangement.

- Evaluate the different communication and collaborative tools such as Skype and Slack.

- Develop a guide for each type of remote work option, you can use [Peoplegoals remote working guide](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/remote-work "Remote working guide") as an example. 

- Decide on a pilot program and on a trial group of staff for the pilot. For example, the pilot program might allow a trial group to work from home one day a week, scheduling the home days on different days so that they are not all working fromhome on the same day.

- Schedule a company-wide meeting to discuss flex-work arrangements and the
positions and level of experience that a flex-work arrangement would be suited for. Afterwards, have managers meet with each of their eligible staff to determine the level of interest in a work-flex arrangement.

- Train the entire staff on how to use the communication and collaborative tools.

- Implement, monitor and evaluate the pilot program. 



Explore the best practices of telecommuting and learn you all you need to know

Telecommuting best practices: What you need to know

Telecommuting best practices

The way in which teamwork manifests at your workplace is usually reflective of your company-culture. Enabling teamwork to thrive in the workplace in no easy task, however if you manage to develop your teamwork and produce [good teams](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/what-makes-a-good-team "What makes a good team"), it can have a profound impact on not only productivity, but also the general welfare of your employees. As Henry Ford once said: 

![Teamwork tips for remote work](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/39XeDQRBmRGjawLGxw2hBF/6faf40f69529a4083d13c59b680ca002/Screenshot_2020-07-27_at_10.55.22.png)

## Why is teamwork important?

Fundamentally, successful teamwork empowers individuals to contribute to common goals. And of course, the success of most organisations relies on the [ability of individuals to build effective teams](https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork "The Secrets of Great Teamwork"). Teamwork itself has been likened to two essential compounds of modern life. 

It's the glue which keeps a team together, a bond promoting strength unity, support, and reliability. But it is also the oil that makes the team work smoother, and enables momentum as well as assisting the resolution of obstacles. 

Moreover, vital to teamwork is the division of labour. This enables your workforce to split difficult tasks into smaller ones, and work together to complete an overall task faster. Also, by dividing the labour, individuals are able to specialise in certain areas, which means tasks can be divied out in accordance to individuals strengths, making the process far more efficient. 

Not to mention it's morale boosting potential. Employee's tent to feel their work is valued when they contribute to something that produces results. Having the opportunity to contribute to a team builds both confidence in the individuals, and trust amongst the team. This also creates a sense of belonging and deep commitment to each other and organisational goals within the team.


## 10 Benefits of teamwork in the workplace. 

![10 benefits of teamwork in the workplace](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/27h7PsHzbvRNlxLR43sXoZ/d024dfa5f7372deb6e4321da8b68d35c/10_benefits_of_teamwork_in_the_workplace.png)

__Increased Creativity:__ Working as a team, enables people from a wide variety of backgrounds, each with different perspectives and insights to each contribute to a common goal. No 

__Complementary skills:__ Bringing together multiple individuals to take on a task or tasks is a great way to effectively complete work. This is due to the unique [strengths](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-strengths-and-weaknesses "A Process for Employee Strengths and Weaknesses") of individuals. With each person having strengths in different area's you are able to dedicate certain area's of the task to the right people in order to get the job done in the most efficient manner. 

__Support network:__ Creating a [positive team environment](https://www.cluerhr.co.uk/how-to-make-the-workplace-a-more-positive-environment/ "How to make the workplace a more positive environment") is vital to the success of any business. In order for employees to remain focused on the goal at hand, they should feel comfortable to be able to rely on one another for support and guidance. 

__Conflict resolution:__ Nurturing a cohesive workforce is vital to conflict resolution. So much time is wasted on resolving internal conflicts due to poor teamwork. A good team can disagree respectfully. This is done by listening to each others opinions, and equally working together to find a solution that everyone or the majority agree upon. 

__Attracting talent:__ Showing off your united team is a huge incentives for others to come and work for you. [Gen-Z employees](https://www.business2community.com/leadership/millennials-prefer-collaboration-competition-01456213 "Why millennials prefer collaboration over competition") are known to value collaboration over competition, therefore make collaboration part of your culture, and win the best of the best employees. 

__Improved service:__ Developing teamwork within your organisation is unsuprisingly important to customer service. This is due to the tendency of people to be reluctant to work with unhappy people, and prefer to work with those who show team spirit and a value in their own work. 

__Career building:__ When you are working with others, you are benefitting both yourself and others. This can be accomplished through the trading of skill sets. You can learn of others, and create alliances with your colleagues, which in turn may lead to networking opportunities and further oppertunities both within your organisation and externally. 

![How to improve teamwork when telecommuting](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3SlsbUQoBXhZxLTkwqLCN9/0499c93aeece00faa146a04169a299f6/Screenshot_2020-07-27_at_16.47.58.png)

__Risk taking:__ Employees that are working as a team towards a common goal are more likely to take take risks. This is due to shared blame if something does not work. Due to the decreased individual risk, employees feel more comfortable to share potentially ground breaking ideas. 

__Improved communication:__ When employees work together, they must [communicate](https://www.intralinks.com/blog/2020/05/how-communicate-effectively-while-working-remotely-during-lockdown "How to communicate effectively while working remotely") more often, and learn of the most efficient form of communications. This is so that no body is in the dark about any decision making. Making communication a priority within a team not only benefits that team, but also the organisation as a whole, as communications in general will be undertaken in a more concise manner. 

__Division of work:__ A huge benefit of teamwork is the division of labour involved. This means that employees can each complete specific areas of a task which they may be more adept in, instead of completing the whole task on their own. This reduces the workload, and also workplace stress. 


## Tips for effective teamwork in remote teams: 

![Great teamwork tips for remote workers](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/6tlqPkO7zRfIyfiGOxgkWq/b71daadc5392ffe6ebfd26414a576138/Teamwork_Tips.png)

- Make sure your team understands the goals: Make sure you [communicate the goals](https://www.peoplegoal.com/employee-performance-management/setting-team-goals "Setting team goals") to your team, and that they are committed to attaining them. Giving clear direction and mutual support is essential for effective teamwork. Clarifying expectations for specific teams reinforces accountability and outcomes for everyone within the organisation. 


- Make your communication honest and open: The best work is done when you get different perspectives to come to the ultimate decision.  Therefore you need to create a space where team members feel comfortable to share their thoughts, opinions, and potential solutions to issues. Also ask further questions, this will show team members that they are being heard and there idea’s are being at least attempted at being understood.

- Create a sense of belonging: If you can create a sense of belonging in the team, whether it be by giving it a name, or creating social norms such as a weekly gathering in or out of the office, this creates an environment of commitment and the sense of belonging is enhanced. 


-	Acknowledge unique traits: Each individual is different, with a different way of thinking, working, and contributing. It takes many minds to complete a project to the best degree. So much so, that the more that a team can bring diverging perspectives to the table, the better. Therefore, you should highlight everyones individual strengths and utilise them to there utmost potential. 

-	Self Analysis: An effective team must be able to continuously self analyse to be able to [improve its processes](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/high-performing-teams](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/high-performing-teams) "Increase motivation for a team"), practices, and interations with other team members. Therefore, it is good practice to meet once a week and discuss what issues are hindering the teams ability to progress with any tasks. 

![Great tips for telecommuters](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/14QTgiaU8Tm0zPMDdZZTUj/237515500251448fb401af5761d50ddc/Great_tips_for_remote_workers.png)

-	Agree upon procedures: Vital to teamwork is agreeing to procedures to follow when diagnosing and issue. Following these procedures will allow you to resolve teamwork problems swiftly. This is more a conversation on how members can work towards a mutual resolution rather than a personality conflict.


-	Have a dedicated leader: A [high performance team](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/high-performing-teams "High performing teams") will need a leader to assign tasks, lead meetings, record decisions and commitments, analysing issues and exploiting opportunities, as well as holding team members accountable for any misdemeanour’s. If you prefer a horizontal style of leadership, one option here is to rotate the leadership within the team so that each individual has the opportunity to take the lead and develop individually as well as providing a platform for team development. 

-	Help Eachother: You are a team, work as a team and help each other out where and when possible. Not only will this improve the overall performance of the team, it will increase job satisfaction as those who need support will have access to mutual support. 

-	Celebrate Success: If your team have worked hard together, let them know, [reward them](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/ideas-for-employee-recognition "Ideas for employee recognition"). Teamwork is built off hard work and communication, so why not reward their hard work with by communicating your appreciation! 


If you are looking to improve teamwork within your workplace, be sure to check out our tips. Warning: Will increase productivity. 

Great Teamwork Tips for Remote Teams

Teamwork Tips to Improve remote work

If you are looking to improve teamwork within your workplace, be sure to check out our tips, and apply them to your own discretion. Warning: Will increase productivity. 

__I'm pleased to announce that we've released our redesigned user dashboard to our PeopleGoal v2 beta customers today. This is a major upgrade on the old dashboard with numerous new features and displays.__

## Our Objectives

We've been listening to your feedback regarding the current dashboard and agreed on a number of objectives for the redesign:

- Bring together the different __areas of functionality__ (teams, workspaces, apps, users) into a cohesive one-stop picture for a user
- Provide better resources for users that are __searching for information__
- Provide quick access to__ key apps and actions__

---

## Dashboard Key Features

Our newly designed Dashboard is a real homepage now, where you can take the actions you need as you log in.

### Quick create

The quick create menu is intended to allow users to quickly perform common actions. We've added the ability for app owners to tag their apps as __included in the quick create menu.__ This allows your app to appear in the quick create menu for all users who have permission to access it:

![quick create menu](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3wGH2HZA73bYjkG5toYLSn/34e86b6842ec0ea6d5d3d8ace9533dde/quick_create_menu.png)

Apps that have webforms enabled will include a link to the webform that can be copied to your clipboard. The full list of apps and workspaces is still available in the sidebar.

### Omni-search bar

Often users are logging in to find information relevant to them. We've replaced the old user search functionality that sat in the sidebar with a new omni-search bar in the dashboard header. This search functionality allows you to search for pretty much anything on your PeopleGoal account: items, apps, teams and users.

![omni-search bar](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4ljriQvMjSoqfBbroY9VsK/ff6de5bd3c77d407980217824f59b3f6/omni-search_bar.png)

### Profile snippets

What's important to users in your company is often not the same as another company. With profile snippets we've given you the ability to display certain fields from your profile templates on the user dashboard. For example, if you would like to display the user's role or date of last promotion, you can tag these fields from the user profile template and they will appear as below in the user dashboard.

![profile snippets](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/2zWnjEIGTlSoxpE43K9U1S/9c883049af2c1e65e3d081f1282b89e7/profile_snippets.png)

### Teams & Relationships

Your teams are listed below your profile snippets. This list is just the teams to which you belong - all teams are still available from the sidebar. Similarly, your default relationship (typically Manager) is shown below that, highlighting your counterpart users (e.g. manager / direct reports). This provides quick links to browse your colleagues' profiles.

![teams and relationships](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/7uklp9n4ZA4zxH11kviv4m/adee59c3cd3b76a49446256c0e0e99dc/teams_and_relationships.png)

### Company news

Sharing company news on your dashboard is a great way to inform users of important news or events. We've enhanced the Posts functionality to allow account owners to tag a given post as '*display on dashboard*'. This will allow the post to be seen on all users' dashboards as Company News. Posts still retain the ability to comment and render comments inline when expanding the post detail.

![company news](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/5jphPh6CDyarXfAcJIQvwC/f4bd154cfe8577a2e6df56979346b8b7/company_news.png)

### Your timeline

This feature allows you to showcase your journey at your company. It's a retrospective look at key events in your career. The timeline can be populated automatically:

- App owners can trigger rules to create timeline events in the app state rules builder.
- Account owners can update profile template date fields to enable these to auto-generate timeline events.

Users can update and maintain their own timelines too. For example, if you'd like to add more information to specific events you can double-click on the timeline event to provide that information.

![your timeline](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/63tMBbdKhVpuQCh08DhrbC/221d183b7d1f227b24ce2355ad00b43e/timeline.png)

### Your network

This is an activity feed containing activities linked to users in your network. This is presently driven by your relationships - manager/direct reports.

__We'd like your feedback here - it may make sense to include users from certain teams in this view__. 

![your network](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3HrDsiHBodsiAgq0SX4hwO/11b89d7034874bee7179e1d2cb7f81df/your_network.png)

---

## Give us feedback

The new dashboard should provide a more welcoming and informative experience for users when they log into PeopleGoal v2. We'd love to hear your feedback on the new dashboard. As always, let us know what works and what could be improved. 

A quick overview of the new dashboard for PeopleGoal v2 including the new quick create menu, omni-search bar, company news, timelines and network activity feeds.

A quick overview of the new dashboard for PeopleGoal v2.

Feature release: New v2 Dashboard

re-designed dashboard

A quick overview of the new dashboard for PeopleGoal v2

Feature Release: New v2 Dashboard

## What is telecommuting? 

Telecommuting is the term used for when an individual works from their home, or a secure workplace such as a library or co-working space. This can either be conducting on a full-time or part-time basis. It has become increasingly more popular, especially since [Covid-19](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/guidance-for-employers-to-plan-and-respond-to-covid-19 "Guidance for Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus"), but moreover because a lot of jobs only require network connectivity to be completed. 

![What is telecommuting](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4YR5QKfhGJcalNSZuG3vN9/2c41c2e736261cb8bb24eb0cf0ff9944/what_is_telecommuting.JPG)

## Benefits:

__Increased Happiness:__ Telecommuting workers can feel an overall benefit to their [quality of life](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/when-anxiety-attacks-in-the-remote-workplace "When anxiety attacks in the remote workplace") as they no longer have to commute into work, allowing them more time to spend on activities they enjoy outside of work, as well as having the ability to work around family necessities such as child care.  

__Employee retention:__ Another pro to telecommuting is it's beneficial impact on staff retention. Organisations that offer telecommuting are more likely to retain staff when they go through big life changes such as having children, or moving to another area. Working from home is one manner by which a business might have the option to keep an employee working from home when they may otherwise be out of work. It is likewise touted as an instrument that licenses laborers to limit utilization of "sick days" in cases where they need to remain at home and care for a wiped out youngster, and so forth. 

__Increased productivity:__  Although this is reliant on the employees self discipline, telecommuting [reduces the amount of distractions](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/employee-engagement "The essential guide to employee engagement") that the office offers. Therefore employees can work without distractions, and focus on the job at hand. 

__Decrease in cost:__ Both office space and parking can prove to be costly for many organisations. Telecommuting can reduce these costs as you can reduce the number of desks and parking spaces needed. 


__Positive environmental impact:__ With less workers taking transport to work, there will be less pollution.

![Telecommuting benefits](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/1rynrp5PvgGyoMEji7GQEV/574bfc551c2820e97801441d74e81384/telecommuting_benefits.JPG)

## Negatives: 

A boost in productivity is not a guarantee , particularly if you have difficulties/a lack of resources to monitor your workers productivity. Remote work can cause an increase of procrastination as employees are not always engaged with colleagues or managers. Because of this,  A couple of prominent organizations, for example, Yahoo and Reddit, have freely moved away from telecommuting.

A considerable lot of the drawbacks of telecommuting apply to regular as opposed to occasional telecommuting. Proficient confinement from working from home can negatively affect career progression. This is both in terms of managers witnessing hard work first hand, but also because there is a decrease in the social aspect of an office which sparks creativity. 

It tends to be an issue when a few individuals from an organisation or a team can telecommute and others can't. Having more colleagues who telecommute can bring about lower productivity, higher absenteeism, and higher turnover among the individuals who don't telecommute, especially if colleagues have extremely restricted face to face time. This is due to the decrease in social interaction being a con for some individuals in a workplace, as well as discrepancies over who is doing what work, and some feeling they are doing more work than others. 


![Telecommuting negatives](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3lN4zCvX581ahTtdsp6EOu/595780d7c49618231862a90ef174422d/telecommuting_negatives.JPG)


## 5 Telecommuting management tips: 

__1.	Don’t Micromanage__

If your team has turned to telecommuting you will have been forced to relinquish most of your micromanagement habits. This is vastly down to the fact that you cannot track your teams work the same way as you used to. This means that you are going to have to learn to trust your employees to complete their work. As long as they are hitting their targets, you should not be concerned as to how they are completing their tasks.

__2.	Communicate__

One of the big hang ups with telecommuting is the reduced amount of contact time you have with your colleagues, i.e not being able to knock on the door or tap them on the shoulder if you wish to discuss something with them. Therefore you need to have communication strategies in place so that you can communicate enough to get your work done to its best ability. A couple of ways you can do this is by using tools such as [slack](https://slack.com/intl/en-gb/ "Slack"), or video conferencing. As a manager, make sure you are always available for you team to reach out during the day.

__3.	Use tools__

Use all the tools you have available to track your teams work and performance. This can come in the form of a [performance management platform](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/performance-management-software-for-small-business "Performance management software for small business'"), or simply a group chat. However, don’t fall into the trap of implementing too many products, this may dissuade staff from using them. 

__4.	Trust your team __

Your going to have to learn to trust your team as now you can no longer see exactly what they are doing everyday. Trust is earned via deliverables and performance, but managers shouldn't start from a position of distrust. Trust your people until proven otherwise.

__5.	Monitor KPI’s__

If you are fortunate to work in a business that operates with deliverables and deadlines, there will be crucial to managing remote work teams. In order to make sure their work is getting done, you’ll need to focus on [performance metrics](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/key-performance-indicators "Key Performance Indicators") they can obtain, and make sure they are quantifiable so that you can check in on them and check the progress. 



Telecommuting is the new norm for many organisations. But what is it, and how can you effectively manage a team remotely?

Telecommuting and How to Manage Remote Workers

Telecommuting and remote workers

## What is performance Planning? 

Performance planning is an aspect of performance management which is directed towards providing employees with a clear structured process for attainting the desired level of performance. Primarily, this involves creating goals and targets that will be continually analysed in order to understand if an organisation has improved its performance.  Performance planning can be utilized in any circumstance where individuals, departments or teams collaborate to accomplish a result.

## Key areas of Performance planning:

### Check Ins (1 on 1)

Have a [one to one](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/one-on-one-discussion) to discuss an employees performance and work together by having an open ended discussion to pin point which areas can be improved and incorporated into a performance plan. This should start as a general conversation, offering employees the ability to ask for assistance in specific areas. 

Different situations need different plants, but key to both parties is an understanding of the areas that need improvement, and how they can be improved. 

### Quantify the areas

Key to improving performance is the [ability to measure progress](https://www.peoplegoal.com/product/performance-management-software). When creating a performance plan, you need to put your goals into quantifiable terms. For instance, if your employee needs to improve their outbound sales numbers, they need to know by how many, so set 250 a week as a target. You are also able to measure “soft skills”, for instance if an employee does not ask enough questions during a qualification call, give them a target of 10 questions to be asked every call. The more you use numbers to define success, the easier it will be to track your improvements. 

### Make it timebound

Give the targets a deadline, and make sure that your employee is crystal clear on when the goals need to be completed. A good tip here is to break down the larger goals into smaller goals. For instance if an employee need to make 400 calls a month, break that down to 100 calls a week. This will seem more feasible to the employee and reduce stress. 


### Ask what assistance the organisation can provide

Within certain performance plans, you may need to provide extra training to employees, or they may need specific equipment to help them with their work. Make sure you ask them if they can think of anything they need, or offer them various options that will benefit them. 

### Be Transparent

Being honest with your employees is vital. Nothing will cause stress to an employee more than not knowing what entails the failure of a [career development plan](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-performance-improvement-plan-tips), so be totally direct about what will occur if the plans standards aren't met. Does the employee remain to lose the current year's reward, or the possibility for a promotion? Or on the other hand is a termination of employment on the cards?

### Provide regular 360 feedback


 [360° feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/360-feedback-the-essential-guide) is a process of feedback where the employee is rated by members of their organization, across all levels of seniority using surveys or forms. Feedback is gained from subordinates, peers, managers, supervisors and senior leaders. The goal is to get feedback from different sources about performance and areas of improvement.

360◦ feedback provides a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations to elucidate deficits in their knowledge and skills, but also highlight where they are achieving and doing well. It provides people with what has gone well in the past, and what needs to get better at in the future.

## __Tips for conducting the meeting: __

Talk about business needs. What are the up and coming objectives and needs of the organisation? What requirements to happen to all the more likely line up with organisations initiatives and values? 

Ask the employee what perspectives from his/her work they most appreciate and should develop. Think about related objectives as well as development plans that consolidate the employees progress interests. 

Examine potential objectives to help guarantee that unit needs are met. 

Utilise Goal setting. Set 2-4 [SMART objectives](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/smart-goals) (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) or [OKRs](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/okrs) (Objective Key Results). 

Examine which development opportunities will address the skills gaps currently present within the organisation. 

Offer assistance to the employee to complete their goals. 

Finish on a positive note.

Performance planning is the process of setting goals and defining how to measure performance.

What is Performance Planning and why it matters

Performance Planning: How to do it in 2020

What is Performance Planning?

Exit interviews are significant in light of the fact that they offer a more profound understanding of your [work environment](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/company-culture-and-human-resources "What is company culture? TIps and examples"), everyday procedures, management, and employee engagement. The motivation behind a exit interview is to evaluate the general [employee experience](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/why-employee-experience-matters "Why employee experience matters") inside your association and distinguish chances to improve morale and retention. [Reducing employee turnover](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-reduce-employee-turnover "How to reduce employee turnover") is a crucial target for all people teams, and the first step to get there is to understand why employees are choosing to leave and which of those factors you can control.

Having a concise procedure when conducting exit interviews is also __vital to risk management__. When employees' issues are tended to fairly and adequately inside the work environment, there is no requirement for outside examinations, litigation or negative PR.

When you have nailed your standard exit interview, they can provide a crucial platform to foster positive relationships and company culture. You may not know where to start with questions, so we've put together some of our favourites.

## 15 Essential Interview Questions
 
1. What was the best aspect of your job?
2. Why are you leaving?
3. What could we have done better?
4. Were you comfortable talking to your manager?
5. Do you think you were adequately equipped to do your job well?
6. What skills and qualifications do you think we need to look for in your replacement?
7. How inclusive do you think your organisation is for employees of different backgrounds and perspectives?
8. What could we have done differently to get employees like you to want to stay?
9. Was training or assistance needed and offered?
10. Was there a specific person or event that led to your resignation?
11. Can we call you in the future to discuss your reason for leaving?
12. Would you consider coming back in the future or recommending friends to work here?
13. Do you think the company policies were adequate? If not, do you want to suggest changes to the company policy?
14. How do you feel about the organisation?
15. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about your time here?

![Exit Interview Benefits](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4FrAB4FLMLbjqOTX4Kf5jZ/8bba18b0c4b05246bf1d2f21e3a9ea91/exit_interview_benefits.png)

*An effective EI process creates a needed mechanism for companies to systematically learn about and from what is their most important resource: their human capital. - [Everett Spain, HBR](https://hbr.org/2016/04/making-exit-interviews-count)*

## Why are Exit Interviews vital to developing your organisation?

__Employees that are leaving are far more likely to be honest and open about the various aspects of your organisation which may have factored into their decision to leave.__
 
- An exit interview allows for an employee to provide [constructive feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/6-principles-of-constructive-feedback "Constructive Feedback: 6 Tips to Success") and leave on a positive note.
- It gives the chance to inquire as to whether there are any open issues of which you should know. This can help lessen hazard and distinguish matters that may require quick consideration.
- You will get a real evaluation of your association's condition and [culture](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-important-is-company-culture-if-we-want-to-develop-a-great-brand "How Important Is Company Culture If We Want to Develop a Great Brand?").
- The candid responses you receive will help you identify areas you can improve to raise your employee retention.
- You will be able to identify any issues with management, and also developmental opportunities for up and coming employees.
- It's cost effective and easy to facilitate using [PeopleGoal](https://www.peoplegoal.com/product/employee-manager-software "Employee Manager Software to Increase Engagement").
- An exit interview also gives you an opportunity to tie up any loose ends, and pass over any company assets.


Effective exit interview questions can give your organisation the insight to make the changes they need to make in order to progress. But what questions should you ask?

Effective exit interview questions can give your organisation the insight to make the changes they need to make in order to progress.

15 Essential Exit Interview Questions

15 essential exit interview questions to ask departing employees

Exit Interview Questions

15 Essential Exit Interview Questions to ask Departing Employees

## What is employee turnover? 

Employee turnover is defined as __the number or percentage of employees who leave a company and are replaced by new employees__ over a period of time.

### Employee turnover equation: 

The employee turnover rate is calculated by __dividing the number of employees who left the company__ by the __average number of employees__ in a certain period in time. This number is then multiplied by 100 to get a percentage.

![employee turnover equation](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/bAeEUDqMA19OXgNQ7sDNA/e6ce18815ada4878c6d9ca9b570f2eed/employee_turnover_equasion.png)

## The different types of employee turnover: 

__Voluntary:__ wwhen an employee chooses to end their employment, such as a resignation. 

__Involuntary:__ when an employer chooses to terminate the employment relationship, and the employee did not make the decision to leave. This could be a firing of a poor performer. 

## What is a good employee turnover rate? 

Typically, employee turnover is viewed as negative due to the costs surrounding it. However, this isn’t always the case as you could be shedding poor performers. Nonetheless, i'ts not ideal to lose your top performers. This is why it's difficult to determine what a healthy turnover rate is as it's dependent on the individuals you are losing, and is thus very subjective. [According to LinkedIn](https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/trends-and-research/2018/the-3-industries-with-the-highest-turnover-rates "These 3 Industries Have the Highest Talent Turnover Rates"), the __average annual worldwide employee turnover rate is 10.9%__.


## Why is reducing your employee turnover important? 

Keeping your top performers happy and in the fold has multiple benefits for your organisation such as: 

### A reduction in costs

Replacing an accomplished worker is expensive. Re-hiring a new employee costs you, as you may have to pay for a recruiter or lose work time to talk with new candidates and train a fresh recruit. The loss of an experienced employee additionally implies a specific loss of information about how your organisation functions, and any new joiner will unavoidably commit a greater number of errors and cost you more than just the outgoing employee.

### Consistent production:

When an employee leaves,there can be a disruption to production. Other employees may need to stretch their workload to cover the absent employee, or to find a replacement. When you do come round to hiring a new employee, there may be weeks or months of training before he will be up to the standards of his predecessor.

### Boosted morale 

When an employee leaves, not only will they be missed socially, but also there work may need to be covered by other workers. This can cause extra strain for the workforce which can have a negative impact on worker worker productivity. Therefore, reducing your employee turnover can avoid negative emotions. 

---

## How can I reduce my employee turnover? 

1. __Get Feedback:__ Make sure you consistently receive [feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/360-feedback-the-essential-guide "The Essential Guide to 360 Feedback") from employees, find out what changes they want to see, and how you can help them with their work. You could do this by creating a suggestion box or a committee on the staff's behalf that meets with management regularly, and push for them to utilise your human resources department for wellbeing needs. 

2. __Utilise 1:1s:__ Schedule regular [1:1s](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/one-on-one-discussion "How to run a one on one discussion with your employee") with your staff so that you can listen to their concerns and discuss their performance. This will also keep your staff engaged, and less likely to look for another job if you are showing how you value them. 

3. __Thank your staff:__ Create a reward scheme for your staff so that they feel valued. This could be as simple as using [recognition software](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/driving-employee-engagement-using-recognition-badges "Driving employee engagement using recognition badges"), or alternatively you could go old school and have an employee of the month system. 

4. __Provide flexible working hours:__ Where feasible, offer your workers flexible hours so that they can adjust their work life around their personal life. This of course can also take the form of [remote work](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/remote-work "Remote Work Guide: How to support your workforce"). 

5. __Give them a social platform:__ Organise social events for you team such as Friday drinks, a book club, cycling club, or a lunch club for instance. 

6. __Offer competitive salaries:__ Find out how much your competitors are paying, and make sure you offer more, whether it be through the salary or benefits! 


7. __Work on engagement:__  This one sounds self-evident, yet for such a large number of leaders enthusiasm for engagement is restricted to the [engagement surveys](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/engagement-surveys-done-right "Employee Engagement Surveys Done Right"). It's insufficient to only run a engagement survey once per year. You need spare a large portion of your energy to make a move dependent on the outcomes and you have to work to manufacture a [culture of engagement](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/employee-engagement "Employee Engagement: The Essential Guide") in your organisation throughout the entire year.

8. __Focus on employee happiness:__ Happiness may sound somewhat delicate and soft to numerous executives, yet the numbers behind it are definitely not. Employee happiness is a key pointer of job satisfaction. Putting resources into the satisfaction of your workers will deliver profits in commitment, profitability and indeed, maintenance.

9. __Offer development opportunities:__ Employees greatly value opportunities to grow personally and professionally. So much so that, according to a recent [cornerstone survey](https://www.workforce.com/uk/news/as-career-development-lags-workers-grow-restless "As Career Development Lags, Workers Grow Restless"), a lack of [opportunities to develop](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/development-plan "How to Set Up a Development Plan for Employees") directly correlated with high turnover rates. If you're not investing in your workers, why would they find it a good idea to remain with you?

10. __Don’t be afraid to fire people:__ This may seem counterintuitive, however at times you may come across an employee who just does not fit - whether that be culturally or in their work ethic. This can do more damage than good as it can decrease the motivation of the rest of your team, and negatively influence your work environment, therefore it may be best to replace them if feasible. 

---

__Employee turnover is a tricky business.__ The rates of retention and replacement that create a dynamic, thriving organisation are different for every industry, so following our steps to reduce turnover is a great initiative to get you to the right rates for your business.




Employee turnover is a crucial challenge for leaders to tackle. We've got 10 steps to help you reduce your employee turnover rate.

Employee turnover is a crucial challenge for leaders to tackle. We've got 10 steps to help you increase staff retention.

Employee Turnover - how can you boost your retention?

Employee turnover is defined as the number or percentage of employees who leave a company and are replaced by new employees.



How to Reduce Employee Turnover

Working from home (and remote working) is fast becoming the "new normal" for traditionally office-based work. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to adapt quickly and develop work from home policies that they may have been reluctant to tackle in the past. Because of this, even as we start to reopen in the next few months our ways of working are unlikely to simply go back to the way they were, and __many people will continue to work from home as long as they're able__. For those questioning whether they'd like to return to the office or not, these are our top 10 work from home benefits.

### 1. No commute time

What can you do with an extra two hours in your day? For workers in major cities, commuting to an office likely takes at minimum an hour each way. Working from home means no traffic jams, no packing yourself onto a crowded train, and no skimming through your emails on your phone to kickstart your day. Instead, you can use your commute time to exercise, make a great breakfast, and log on to your workspace refreshed and ready to focus. And when you're ready to end the day you can switch off and get straight to your hobbies, time with family and general unwinding - without the stress of fighting thousands of other people to get home.


### 2. Reduced stress

Just eliminating the commute already reduces your stress levels as you start and end your day. But [the office environment itself can be a stressful place](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-stress-awareness-what-can-help-an-employee-and-employer-perspective), especially when it comes to managing relationships and office politics. Being able to step away from that and create a workspace that suits your ways of working has a massive benefit. On top of this, working from home gives you the space to cook healthy meals at a time that suits you - rather than grabbing a rushed takeaway from wherever's nearest and eating at your desk.


### 3. Better work life balance

Plenty of remote work guides warn that it's difficult to switch off from the job when your workspace is part of your home, and that's definitely something to look out for. But the flipside is that you have far more flexibility in your schedule. When you need to run a quick errand or schedule a personal appointment, there's no need to take a half day or worry about being eyeballed for taking a long lunch. You can build your work life around your personal life and getter a better balance of both.


> Struggling to get into a productive work from home routine? [We've got 5 tips to make it work](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-from-home).


### 4. Save money

According to a Global Worplace Analytics survey, [36% of respondents would rather work from home than take a pay rise](https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/resources/costs-benefits). Between the costs of travel, lunch and (if you're like me) multiple coffees a day, working from home can have a surprisingly positive effect on your savings account. You'll also often be reimbursed by your employer for home office costs like your phone and hardware.

### 5. More time to focus

How often have you sat down at your desk, put on your headphones and started digging into a complex task, only to be interrupted by a colleague's question? It can take 15-20 minutes to really get into the zone with a new challenge, and every interruption resets that clock. When remote working you get to choose to switch off all distractions, put on your favourite tunes and get stuck in to your project without unnecessary disruptions.

### 6. Increased productivity

More time to focus means you're able to get your work done more quickly than if you were in the office. More importantly it means the quality of your work is improved. Big businesses have found that remote workers are as much as [40% more productive when they're working from home](https://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/resources/costs-benefits) - better for your personal development and for the company's progress.

![10 Work from Home Benefits](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/5AqaQLm3ec1rvQX0imz3gX/fb208f53062943a26cfd60c2a68b6442/10_Work_from_Home_Benefits_PeopleGoal.png)

### 7. Better communication skills

Improved writing and [communication skills](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/communication-skills) are an often overlooked work from home benefit, and it's down to the fundamental difference in how we relate to our colleagues when we're remote. Everyone is much more reliant on written updates when they're not able to pop over to someone's desk for a chat, and doing that writing forces you to consider the real value of the information you're presenting. Written updates also replace a lot of useless "meetings that could've been emails", and even online meetings are easier to manage with chat and filesharing.


### 8. Independent working

Similarly to improved communication, when you're not able to turn to a teammate two desks over to ask for their help, you're forced to work more independently and search for solutions yourself. Just that process leads to better retention of your new skills, and you're developing a self-sufficient approach to work that sets you up for better personal development.


### 9. Access to more working opportunities

So much of your career is limited by geography. In the past, if you weren't already based in one of the big hubs for your industry, you were either forced to move or to look for jobs in other sectors. As more companies implement wider work from home schemes it opens up the talent pool - both for companies to hire the best talent in their field, regardless of their location, and for talented employees to seek out the best employers without having to move cities.

### 10. Fewer work absences

This work from home benefit is more for companies themselves, as [reduced stress levels and a better work life balance already reduces sick leave](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-burnout). As an employee you also generally recover quicker, don't have to worry about being contagious in the office, and can still check in while taking proper time to rest.

---

If you ask me, the work from home benefits available far outweigh the challenges of keeping productive in an open-plan office. If you'd like to learn more about how to set up a remote working schedule, what to include in a work from home policy and how to manage remote teams, head over to our [Essential Guide to Remote Work](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/remote-work).

The many work from home benefits available far outweigh the challenges of keeping productive in an open-plan office.

10 Work from Home Benefits

10 work from home benefits - PeopleGoal blog

Work from Home Benefits

10 Work From Home Benefits

Employee recognition is tied in with __recognizing the difficult work and achievements of the people and groups inside your association__. It's about making an enthusiastic association with your representatives and your organization, all while supporting the work your workers do and remaining true to your organization's qualities.

It's as much art as science, and the best acknowledgment strategies accomplish something no gift voucher ever can – they cause workers to feel esteemed, regarded, and valued.

In this article we have listed our favorite employee recognition ideas. Given that everyone is working from home at the moment, recognizing employees can boost team morale and employee engagement.


## Why Is Employee Recognition Important?

It's common knowledge that employees are far more [motivated](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/five-employee-engagement-activities-to-boost-motivation) when there work is recognised. The best employee appreciation programs address employee desires and needs in line with organisational values and budgets. In return, they work harder and a lot of the time spend more time on work, therefore vastly benefitting your bottom line. Fundamentally, providing employee recognition not only benefits the individual, but also the organisation as a whole, so tis worth spending sometime adjusting your employee recognition strategies.

In terms of employee recognition ideas, what works for one company may not work for another. However, by in large, recognition programs should be comprehensive, well thought of, and should include feedback for the employee in an atleast semi-formal format.

There are many ways to provide amazing employee recognition, so we've compiled a list of our favourites:

## How should you give employee recognition?

It's not always simple to give great worker acknowledgment. Here are the some of the most important aspects you should factor in.

![4 Principles of Employee Recognition](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/5Yd4rObYcst0mXqvUDFKyj/a7ba00f7591d58bbd900720c8b5412e4/4_principles_employee_recognition_peoplegoal.png)

### Give it regularly
Exhibiting representative appreciation once a year doesn't cut it. For employee recognition to be successful, __it should be given consistently__. This doesn't mean you need to show signals of thankfulness on a daily basis – in fact, just giving recognition for the sake of it lessens its impact – however, you should aim to recognize great work at least every quarter.

### Give it at the right time
After a worker turns in excellent work, __your acknowledgment ought to quickly follow__. Take too long to reocgnize the positive activity and it loses its meaning and overall impact.

### Make it specific
It's disheartening to get a generic "much obliged" after a worker invests a great deal of energy into a venture. So try to __make any acknowledgment specific to the employee's activities, qualities, and abilities__. Everyone's limits are different, and [it's important to acknowledge where someone has gone above and beyond what's expected of them](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-quotes).

### Employee recognition from management
Being shown appreciation by organizational authority and supervisors can be significant for workers. It shows that __senior-level staff is aware of and valuing their difficult work__, which is inspiring and usually a source of motivation for employees who may think their commitments are going unnoticed.

---

## 20 Ideas for Employee Recognition

The following are employee recognition ideas for management to provide to their staff, whether it be individually or on a team/department basis.


## 1. Positive feedback

It's easy to provide [positive feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/positive-feedback-for-colleagues-examples-and-tips) on a regular basis, whether it be in person or through an email.

## 2. Organizational awards

Offer a month to month or quarterly organizational award, where management chooses a representative who is working admirably or epitomizing the company's qualities. It formally acknowledges your employee's efforts among their peers and it's a great way to get everybody on the same page.

## 3. Give recognition publicly

In the event that your worker is receptive of public recognition, [make sure they are recognized publicly, in a meeting or on a group forum](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-examples-from-peoplegoal). This allows the person to feel acknowledged and to highlight to the rest of the organization the extraordinary work being undertaken by others.

## 4. Lunch out

In the event that your employee isn't one for open acknowledgment, decide on a private lunch with simply you two. This will encourage significant one-on-one discussion and give you a calm space to show face to face the amount you value the difficult work.

## 5. Organizational merch

Nobody would turn down a decent marked mug, hoodie, or note pad. They're a useful gift and a method to promote pride in where you work.

## 6. Experiential prizes

If you're willing to invest more into your employee recognition program, consider giving your top employees an experiential prize like sky diving or go-karting. [Snacknation has a fantastic list of 50 unique gifts for employees](https://snacknation.com/blog/gifts-for-employees/) if you need some inspiration and gift ideas.

![Employee Recognition for Individuals](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/2fmP1FpKCHt3ak6KkVAFSy/2bc7b3f69eac96b75ff36d5df66a59c8/employee_recognition_for_individuals.png)


## 7. Cooked feast

Getting everybody together for a meal is a lovely group activity to foster team spirit. It encourages your team to reflect on their great delivery and shows appreciation for their collaboration.

## 8. Volunteer day

If your business is enthusiastic about offering back to the community, offer to support a volunteer day where everybody goes to a animal shelter or soup kitchen to perform great deeds together.

## 9. Office excursion

Rather than the standard office party time on Friday, treat your organization to an office trip. Attempt to abstain from drinking-based exercises – since that can segregate a few representatives – and rather pick ones that are unwinding and can suit a different gathering - for example, surfing or paintballing.

## 10. Wellness day

Worker wellbeing is a hot issue at this moment, and an incredible method to address this and representative acknowledgment simultaneously is to carry self-care exercises to the workplace. You can sort out a spa voucher, care meetings, or wellness classes for the whole group.

![Employee Recognition for Teams](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4bhMNfg2cOnxYED7kpmDtN/880f79d8ea4442049022b50a77e32ca8/employee_recognition_teams.png)


## 11. Lottery Lunch

This one can be a product of both peer to peer, and manager recognition for employees. If you provide a platform for employees to be able to give recognition to each other, as well as top down, they are statistically more inclined to be engaged with, and motivated to work.

Your platform, whether it be manual or software, should have a function for employee recognition, and each week you could either pick the two employees who are most recognised for their hard work, or if there is a larger pool, you could take the top ten names, and pick two at random and offer them lunch on company expenses.

## 12. Drop them a note

You don't always have to spend money, or set time aside for recognition, a manually written note goes far. Drop them a hand written note saying thank you and why you're expressing gratitude toward them on a Post-It. Stick it in your employees work area with the goal that when they come into work the following day, they show up to a nice surprise. This would be a great way to start the day.

Pondering where to begin? [Start with some of these ideas](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-quotes). Be certain your message of appreciation is and attached back to your timely, specific to the employee’s action and impact, and tied back to your organization’s mission and values. By appreciating your individual workers specific activities, you can promote rehashed practices and energize the development of a solid organizational culture.

## 13. Wall of Fame

WWE do it, so why shouldn't you? Photographs help paint an image that words now and again can't. In addition, they're enjoyable to look at! A wall of fame is a great way to recognise an individuals hard work, but also to bolster company culture, allowing individuals and teams to have something in common and a discussion point.

Snap photographs of your worker's achievements or take candid shots of them working diligently. Urge different representatives to post notes of appreciation for included workers around their photographs.

Searching for something somewhat more inventive? Have representatives you're celebrating get an infant photograph rather and incorporate a brief bio with everything they've accomplished for the organisation. You can likewise utilize the wall to feature group wins with photographs of the group and any significant ventures they've finished together.

## 14. Custom T-shirts

One recognition strategy you can employee which allows for some creative freedoms is personalised tops for top employees, you can customise these to be humorous and allow your employees to where them every Friday. Of course it would not be a great idea to enforce this, rather make it an option. One option could be to create a different top for each of your company values, and make it an aim for your employees to collect the, all.

## 15. Premium Parking Spot

Exceptional parking spots are some of the most sought after employee bonuses. Consider offering outstanding amongst other parking spaces for representatives who have gone well beyond. You can even embellish the parking space so everybody knows who the champ is.

Another thought is to hold a month to month drawing for the best parking spaces or an open transportation pass in the event that you have a high number of commuters. Everybody cherishes a blessing they can utilize!

## 16. Provide development opportunities

[Development opportunites](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/4-steps-to-design-an-employee-development-plan-that-works) are exceptionally prized in work environments. By extending your representatives' chances, you are boosting their capacities, notwithstanding expanding their working environment adequacy. You could do this by offering training programs for the top performers, an r&r retreat, or an all expenses paid trip to a regional lecture or assembly to listen to professionals or industry experts for instance.

## 17. Gold

At the end of the day, everyone is chasing gold. So why not reward your hardest workers with a little extra gold, whether it be in the form of 20 lottery tickets, or an Amazon voucher? Simple.

## 18. Give your employees a choice and a voice.

Recognition isn't only a game and reward framework. It ought to be incorporated with your organisations way of life. One approach to do that is to give your employees real choices and a platform to vocalise their opinions.

Does your staff get the chance to pick the projects they work on and the team they work on, or would they say they are constantly allocated their projects? Do you tune in to their thoughts or concerns and really take action on them, or do you tune in yet disregard or excuse what you've heard and proceed with nothing new?

Genuine appreciation is basic. You can give an employee a gift card on their birthday, yet in the event that they've come to you over and again with concerns and you've never made any genuine endeavor to take action, that gift card may not mean much.

## 19. Party

Why not celebrate together, as a workplace? Wether it be due to hitting a project goal, or because its 5 o'clock somewhere-once in a while a spontaneous celebration is the best time. Also, in those cases, pick a day and when staff may be battling through their work and at a low point during that time or day.

## 20. Recognise employees acheivements outside of the office.

You have individuals on your staff who are doing fantastic things all the time. They are making, chipping in, and doing a wide range of exercises both inside and outside of work such a charitable work. Why not show them recognition for this publically? We as a whole prefer to have individuals find out about us, yet the greater part of us would prefer not to boast about ourselves. Do the boasting for your staff, and show your entire group how great your employees are behind the scenes as well as in the office.


Coming up with new ideas for employee recognition should be on your HR radar regularly. __Remember to make it personal and authentic__, and tie your recognition program in to your company culture and core values. 

Use these proven employee recognition ideas in your workplace to create a positive environment and motivate your people

20 Amazing Ideas for Employee Recognition

ideas for employee recognition peoplegoal blog

10 Ideas for Employee Recognition

When it comes to recognizing an employee's good work, there are multiple ideas for employee recognition. If you're looking for inspiration, look no further.

Kidding around and making jokes in the workplace is regularly disapproved of. Perhaps you stress that you won't be paid attention to enough in case you're viewed as amusing, and there's a hazard factor to utilizing humor which a significant number of us need to stay away from. Consider the possibility that our joke is taken litrally. Imagine a scenario in which we insult someone over a conference call. Overwhelming it might be, however there are a few convincing reasons why using the right humour can enable your remote working environment to [become more joyful and increasingly beneficial](https://www.peoplegoal.com/product/employee-engagement-software) – and we'll talk about how to stay away from the traps too.

__Silliness can boost morale__

As you'd expect, a work environment which feels fun and well disposed to be in is one that will energize employees. Morale is Directly connected with motivation, so it's to each chief's advantage to empower high morale.

__Humour is good for your health__

'[Laughing is the best medication](https://hbr.org/2018/11/the-benefits-of-laughing-in-the-office)', they say, and it is surely obvious that laughing has been connected with both short and long haul medical advantages. Giggling invigorates the heart and lungs, builds blood stream around the body and expands feel-great endorphins discharged from the mind. It can likewise build your capacity to adapt to troublesome circumstances or break the ice to forestall a potential clash.

__Jokes can be used as icebreakers__

It's maybe not a shock that the [majority of us feel progressively good](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/17-icebreakers-for-team-building) imparting a joke to a collaborator than our chief; the danger of an unrivaled misinterpreting your funniness is more prominent than somebody with no control over you. Be that as it may, a mutual joke really sets up shared conviction and diminishes the view of contrast between individuals. Research shows that where somebody is recounting to a convincing story, the storyteller and their audience members are reflecting each other's cerebrum examples and encouraging associations that fortify their bond.

## The correct method to make appropriate workplace jokes and incorporate humour in your teams work day.

There are a few rules and regulations to using [humour in the work environment](https://hbr.org/2014/05/leading-with-humor). Jokes surrounding somebody's age, ethnicity, religion or appearance are constantly forbidden – recall the humorist's saying: punch up and not down. Never forward messages or recordings containing 'amusing' images – it's too risky that a beneficiary will be insulted or that the email will be sent on to another person accidentally. Keep your jokes eye to eye where conceivable. Keep jokes short; a cast off joke is continually going to be preferable gotten over a long 'shaggy dog tale'. Nonetheless, we’ve put together a list of our favourite jokes to get you started:

__1. My dad used to say "when one door closes another one opens"__

He's a great man... Rubbish cabinet maker though.

__2. A cop stops a miner for speeding on the highway and asks, "Whose car is this? Where are you headed? What do you do?"__

On which the miner replies, "mine".

__3. I recently swapped all the labels on my wife's spice rack, she hasn't noticed yet__

But the thyme is cumin.

__4. I mixed up the words "Jacuzzi" with "Yakuza"...__

...Now I'm in hot water with the Japanese Mafia.

__5. I used to get irrationally angry at ice cubes and throw them onto the floor.__

But now it's just water under the fridge.

__6. What's green, fuzzy and if it falls out of a tree would kill you?__

a pool table

__7. I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high...__

She looked surprised.

__8. I’m not going to bungee jump.__

I was born because of broken rubber and i’m not gonna die the same way.

__9. Two silk worms had a race.__

They ended up in a tie.

__10. I once told a man 10 puns, trying to make him laugh.__

Unfortunately no pun in ten did.

Using humor in the workplace can be hugely beneficial for your employees, there's the right ways to do it and wrong ways. We've compiled 10 appropriated jokes for the workplace to inspire you.

Using humor in the workplace can be hugely beneficial for your employees. We've compiled 10 jokes for the workplace to inspire you.

10 Appropriate Workplace Jokes

How to make appropriate jokes in the workplace

Workplace Jokes

Using humor in the workplace can be hugely beneficial for your employees

[Teamwork is vital to all organisations success](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/teamwork-in-the-workplace). Therefore motivation for a team should be a key priority. At the point when you combine the minds and motivations of a group of talented people, you can achieve anything your organisation has set out to complete.

However, keeping your employees motivated is no walk in the park, so we've put together a couple of strategies you can implement to keep them working to their full potential:

![10 Ways to increase motivation for a team](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4EULTZjo95tEV2Ow2QqJzm/1cbe55b01e4f0a2d6ed6ed8873084515/10_Ways_to_increase_motivation_for_a_team.png)


## 1. Make sure they are not underpaid

At the point when you set your workers' salaries, be certain that consistent with other similar organisation within your industry and location.

## 2. Develop your work environment

Everybody needs to work in an office domain that is comfortable and invigorating, and that causes them to feel great rather than awful. You don't need to go through a great deal of cash to make an office an enviable place to work in.

## 3. Offer open doors for self-advancement

Your employees will be more valuable to your organisation, and to themselves, whenever they have chances to learn new aptitudes. Provide your employees with the resources they need to progress their career, such as training courses, and mentorship.

## 4. Encourage teamwork

Motivate the team to give their input. Show that you care about what they have to say, ask about their point of view, and if you have the chance, implement their suggestions. This will make them feel valued within the team, and push them to work harder and provide more input.

## 5. Dedicate time to happiness

Cheerful employees are energetic and positive individuals in a team, and their [demeanor is infectious](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/ted-talks-happiness). Watch out for whether your colleagues are content with their work, their boss, and you. In the event that they're not, you can depend on this despondency to spread.

## 6. Try not to rebuff disappointment

We as a whole commit errors. It's a part of being human. The key is to take in important exercises from those errors so we don't make them once more. At the point when colleagues commit innocent slip-ups, don't rebuff them- - rather, urge them to learn from their mistakes and develop as an individual.

## 7. Set clear objectives

Leaders should always work with their employees in setting their [objectives](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/performance-objectives-examples), and dedicate time to make them as clear and understandable as possible., What's more, when you do that, ensure everybody knows precisely what those objectives are, what their relative need is, and what the group's job is in completing them.

## 8. Avoid Micromanagement

If you invest enough time in your employees in the first place, their will be little need for micromanagement. By spending more time with them you should understand what their strengths and weaknesses are, and trust them to do the work they are tasked with. Part of this is making sure that they fully understand what they need to do to complete their work.

## 9. Don't hold useless meetings

Gatherings can be a mind boggling exercise in futility. Make a plan for your gatherings and convey it ahead of time. Welcome just the individuals who truly need to join in, start the gathering on schedule, and afterward end it as fast as you can. Also make sure you [start each meeting with an icebreaker](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/17-icebreakers-for-team-building) to get the creative juices flowing! 

## 10. Lead by example

If you are a manager, you have the ability to lead by example. If your shown to be putting minimal effort into a project, your peers may also believe effort is not required. However, if you are to put 100% into all your work, your employees will look to replicate you for both team success, and individual satisfaction.

Teamwork is vital to any organisations success, however keeping your team motivated isn't always easy. Not to worry, we've noted 10 ways to increase motivation for a team.

Keeping your team motivated isn't always easy. Not to worry, we've noted 10 ways to increase motivation for a team.

10 Ways to Increase Motivation for a Team

Ways to increase employee motivation

## What is a performance management system?

Performance management is a set of processes that ensure work activities and output meet and or exceed individual, team and organizational goals. Essentially, performance management promotes and optimizes effective and efficient performance. Performance managements remit can focus on the organization as a whole, department, individual or any processes which manage certain tasks. There is no definitive definition of performance management, but performance management should aim to:

- Establish objectives
- Improve performance
- Promote Accountability

A performance management system is slightly different. A performance management system is a tool which uses a systematic approach to communicate goals and objectives to employees. It segments individual accountability, and is essential in goal tracking and performance. These few statements are full of jargon and unnessacrily obtuse terms. Here are the essential elements, your holistic:

- __Goal Setting__
- __Goal Tracking__
- __Employee Recognition__
- __Development__
- __Feedback__
- __Performance Reviews__
- __Developmental Elements__
- __Communication__



![How can performance management systems promote self-management in your organization?](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/1G4ocmk0F1ftl4YCwwXbiT/59f30443b02a1db84fa3d01e13452383/Self-Management.png)

## What is self-management?

Self-management does what it says on the tin really. It is the extent to which you can [effectively manage oneself](https://medium.com/@actionableco/self-managed-employees-are-engaged-employees-d264f74518e2). Self-management is holding oneself accountable, having responsiblity for ones own behaviour and well-being and having self-control to complete goals and tasks.If you’re good as self-management, you can set and achieve goals independently. The classic self-management skills include:

- __Goal Setting__
- __Time Management__
- __Organization__
- __Accountability__
- __Initative__
- __Motivation__



## How can performance management systems promote self-management in your organization?

### 1. Ergonomics
A performance management system helps you say goodbye to endless paper streams and mass filing cabinets. Information and data is kept securely, in one place. It helps individuals manage their time, have a centralized location for the important information. A performance management system reduces processing time and creates a more effective communication network.

### 2. Goal Tracking
A performance management system is perfect for [managing goals](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/10-annual-performance-review-employee-self-evaluation-examples). It helps you to manage your goal progress, neccesssary tasks and align them with others’ goals. You can see how you are progressing and other members of your team. Performance management system helps effective goal management. You can self-manage your own goals. review, edit and add goals continuously through the performance cycle. Not just in the beginning or the end of the cycle.

### 3. Coaching, Feedback and Support
Included in an effective performance management system is the ability to recieve effective feedback and conduct [continuous performance reviews](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/10-annual-performance-review-employee-self-evaluation-examples). This should help to inform coaching and relevant support. If you want to get better at self-management, it is often useful to get timely reviews and feedback on how you are progressing and developing. It is a neccessary element of developing better self-management skills. An effective performance management system will have proper feedback and review processes in place to help you become better.

### 4. Clarity
Perfomance management systems help managers and leaders clearly and precisely lay out goals, whether it be organizational all the way down to individual goals. It helps make sure employees are well informed about what the organization expects of them. Performance management systems help translate organizational aims into organizational practice.

### 5. Structuring of Work and Responsibilities
Self-management has its limits dependent on seniority. An entry level employee has far different reponsibilities and roles than a senior manager. A performance management system helps to outline specific responsibilities so any employee can get on with their tasks, understand their responsibilities and see how their job fits in with the company.

### 6. Structuring of incentives, advancement and promotions
One that we are all interested in. Merit based incentives, promotions and advancements can be linked to self management and tracked in performance management systems.

![How can performance management systems promote self-management in your organization?](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/75Oj4jGLkPQoMGEwbnZFtf/04ad5befd6c0c35d758431ba207ba1f2/Self-Management_Skills__2_.png)

Two very distinct facets, but two which overlap and can have an effect each other. Its important to understand and utilize both, for maximum performance.

How can self-management in your company benefit from utilizing performance management systems?

Performance management systems and self-management overlap, how can you utilize this overlapping for your benefit. 

How can performance management systems boost self-management

How can performance management systems promote self-management in your organization?

How to utilize performance management systems to benefit self-management?

When times are uncertain it's tough trying not to get overwhelmed, and managers can __struggle to keep their team morale up__. It's your job to steer the ship and get your team back on track, and the good news is that many strategies to improve team morale are just simple changes in behavior that you can implement with ease.

![8 Ideas to Improve Team Morale](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4q7qNRkGZYVkLIAFjuGSyY/ab296745c32081dfa9ac4fafbaebcd05/improve_morale_peoplegoal.png)

## Tips to improve team morale

### 1. Set a clear vision

Very often the culprit behind low team morale is a __lack of clarity on what we're working towards__. Without a clear vision it's hard to see where our contributions are making a difference or what the purpose of our tasks are. Whether it's for the whole company or for your particular team, make sure to create and publish the core strategic goals that will drive you forward. Be transparent about the efforts needed to achieve them and give your teammates a vision to believe in.

### 2. Celebrate the wins

When you're working towards a big delivery, a major project or under a heavy workload we often take a "head down and get on with it" approach. Make sure to step back and __recognize the achievements of individuals and teams__. It doesn't have to be a big presentation - smaller, more regular recognition goes a long way. The important thing is that [the recognition is genuine and personal](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-quotes), and publicly acknowledges where a person has stretched themselves.

A great initiative is to incorporate a "colleague of the month" area into your one to one meetings with employees. Before your check-in, ask your team member to nominate a colleague from another team who went above and beyond to support them that month. After the one to one, share that feedback with the colleague directly. It'll not only boost the morale across teams, it'll encourage your direct reports to recognize and appreciate the support they receive from their colleagues.

### 3. Encourage work-life balance

Make sure that your employees' __personal time is as valued as much as their work time__. Encourage your team to prioritize their families, hobbies and interests and you'll see inspiration and creativity brought back into their work. [If you don't you'll be facing burnout](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-burnout). Not only is burnout dangerous for your employee and extremely difficult to recover from, it also affects their teammates and costs your business lost productivity. While lots of organizations enforce email breaks after hours, be careful also to not to disrupt the flow of work itself with unnecessary distractions and meetings. Let people get things done in their work hours.

### 4. Lead by example

Your attitude models the mood for the whole team. In especially stressful times, __if you're bringing stress and anxiety to your role you'll be dragging your team down with you__. That isn't to say you have to pretend that everything's alright - you can be transparent about your stresses with the team. Just make sure that you're approaching it with positivity and a problem-solving mindset, and encourage your team to do the same.

### 5. Communicate

Be curious - ask your team questions. It can be as simple as asking what's causing their low morale and how can you help. Go beyond the "my door is always open" policy, expecting people to come to you, and [actively reach out to your team](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/communication-skills). If you can, get out of work and have a chat in a new environment. Encourage them to air their frustrations and if they're reluctant, share some of your own - with examples from your own experience.

### 6. Talk about professional development

Especially in larger companies, job roles can be very specific and specialized. Even so, everyone has room to develop further skills. One of the biggest drivers of motivation and engagement is a sense that __we can improve ourselves and progress within an organization__, and you should be promoting from within wherever possible. [Take the time to create a development plan with your team members](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/development-plan). Understand their development goals and their signature strengths, and create an action plan together to develop their skills. Give team members the reassurance that they're moving forward to boost morale.


### 7. Build on employee-led initiatives

As employees socialize outside of work, pay attention to the activities that recharge the batteries and get people excited. Then encourage the organizers to take those initiatives to the wider team and support them where you can. For example, if employees have started a lunchtime running club together, encourage them to formalize this through your communication channels and invite others to join. As a company you can sponsor team shirts or a charity race for all participants. It not only gives teams a morale boost within work, it shows them that __their ideas are valuable and worthwhile to the whole company__.

### 8. Do something fun

And lastly, __try not to take it all too seriously__. Sometimes the biggest morale booster is a team lunch, a pub quiz or a group hike. Especially for new joiners, [group activities gets everybody out of the office mindset](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/17-icebreakers-for-team-building) and allows people to relate to their colleagues in new ways.

Boosting team morale doesn't have to be a complex and in-depth process if you approach your team with an open mind and a willingness to listen.

Is team morale feeling a little low at the moment? These tips will help you to boost your team's mood and reward their best efforts.

8 Ideas to Improve Team Morale

8 Ideas to Improve Team Morale from PeopleGoal

Team Morale

## **What is an open-door policy?**

An open-door policy, in the business sense, is a type of communication policy. Usually enacted by a manager, senior leader, director, president or supervisor. Open door policy is a communication method/policy wherein an individual will leave their door ‘open’ in order to encourage employees to come and talk to them. It is meant to engender openness, transparency and free-flowing communication in the organization. As a side note, the door is always metaphorically ‘open’. An open-door policy encourages employees to come in and ask questions whenever they feel need to be asked. An open-door policy is intended to facilitate discussion, address problems, and present queries and concerns. It is intended to create an environment of productivity, performance, collaboration, and transparency.

![What is an open-door policy and how does it translate to the digital age?](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/7c6VwaVSFNu9h51uFwP8ZK/78ebdf1f9204841fea8d9f7378d9111f/open-door_policy.png)

## **What are the benefits of an open-door policy?**

There are a number of benefits associated with an open-door policy. Let’s take a quick look at the evidence:

- __An open-door policy encourages employees to bring up issues and problems easier.__
- __It encourages people to bring forward suggestions.__
- __Builds a transparent environment.__
- __Fosters face-to-face communication.__
- __Builds trust in the organization.__
- __Allows employees a voice to be heard.__
- __An open-door policy allows employees to receive and provide feedback.__
- __Allows management to discover employee concerns.__
- __Allows management to discover important insight from employees.__
- __Increased clarity of communication.__

**How does an open-door policy translate to the digital age?**

Now, when someone talks about the classical definition of an ‘open-door policy’, you immediately think of a manager’s door being transformed into a revolving door. Or perhaps slightly cornily it’s not even there, because, ‘my door is so open, it’s off its hinges’. But as we continue delving further into a digital age, how does an open-door policy translate? How do the open-door and open-office policies present themselves in the digital age?

Virtual communication is perhaps the biggest change that effects open-door policy. Virtual communication lends itself to immediacy. Immediate knowledge sharing, immediate feedback and immediate information. In fact, the effective use of virtual communication can increase productivity by [14%](http://www.successfactors.com/en_us/download.html?a=/content/dam/successfactors/en_us/resources/white-papers/forrester-tei-cost-savings-business-benefits-enabled-sap-jam.pdf), by reducing the amount of time spent emailing, awaiting responses and searching for information.

Virtual communication doesn’t negate the open door policy. In fact, it makes it more efficient. If managers and leaders convey and maintain the message of openness and transparency, then employees can use virtual communication methods, like [Slack](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/slack-for-team-communication-and-collaboration), to resolve queries, ask for feedback, and share information.

Along with one to one, virtual communication lends itself to information sharing, value creation and sharing goals and principles at a company-wide level. Managers and senior leaders can share vision, information, and goals pertaining to the company to engender transparency and information sharing at a company-wide level.

An open-door policy in the digital age isn’t just about communication. It’s also about connection. Using proper virtual communication, HR software, digital meetings, and the like foster digital connection.

An open-door policy in the digital world doesn’t need to neglect all the benefits that were in the previous age. Instead, it just needs a translation to accommodate a far more digital world. Think about maintaining these benefits, how they fit in with digitalism, and how digitalism can improve them. Take transparency for example. An open-door policy fosters transparency. How can we maintain this in the digital age? For example, you could make sure that all your workplace policies are available to employees so that when they ask, all you have to do is point them to the documents online. How do you maintain employees having a voice in the digital age? Discussion boards, communicating open channels for discussion between employees and managers at an individual and group level, discussing employee thoughts with those more senior -where appropriate- and conveying responses to employees. You could even try having forums for employee and manager discussion. Remember, just because we are in the digital age, it doesn’t mean that you have to forget about an open-door policy. You can make it work.

What is an open-door policy how does and how does an open-door policy translate to the digital age?

What is an open-door policy in the digital age?

What is an open-door policy? What are the benefits? And how does an open-door policy translate to the digital age? 

What is an open-door policy and how does it translate to the digital age?

What is an open-door policy?

It's 2020, yet managing microaggressions in the workplace is still an ordinary encounter for professionals from underrepresented backgrounds. Regardless of whether you're a non-white individual who's accomplished this yourself or a future partner who needs to abstain from being a microaggressor no matter what, it's worth educating or re-educating yourself on this topic.

## What is a microaggression?

Microaggressions are brief proclamations or activities that convey a negative message about a non-dominant group. In contrast to out and out prejudice, sexism or other "isms," microaggressions aren't constantly planned to be hostile. In reality, numerous microaggressors will bristle at the proposal that their announcement or activity was unsafe. Regardless, microaggressions are established in inclination and have destructive ramifications for individuals from non-dominant groups.
![Microaggressions in the workplace - Definition](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/47ZXx8FWIfRTOMPlSdycMl/01894b2276e870e728d40f40c5a6e279/Microaggressions_in_the_workplace_-_Definition.PNG)
Dr. Derald Wing Sue, an educator of Psychology at Columbia University, is an ideal head in the field of microaggressions. Alongside partners, Dr. Sue has recognized three types of microaggressions: microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations. Separating each type of microaggression is significant, as it facilitates clarify why minor remarks or activities can hurt.
Microassaults are what we regularly consider as microaggressions. These are an increasingly obvious type of separation wherein "entertainers purposely carry on in biased ways, yet don't mean to annoy somebody or may believe that their activities are not seen or destructive." 

A case of a microassault would be a remark like "He throws like a girl" to propose that somebody doesn't toss well, or "That is gay" to recommend that something is unappealing.

Micro-insults are more difficult to go up against because they are a much increasingly unpretentious type of microaggression. Microinsults are explanations that "inadvertently or unwittingly impart unfair messages to individuals from target gatherings." Think of these practices like underhanded commendations. Telling a dark man he is "very articulate" is a case of a microinsult. While it might have been planned as a commendation, it infers that dark men are not expected to talk plainly. Requesting to contact a dark lady's hair is another type of microinsult, as it further serves to "other" dark ladies.
Nonetheless, microinvalidations are a type of microaggression that dismiss or undermine the lived encounters of an individual from a non-prevailing gathering. For instance, when a white individual state that they don't see shading, they are discrediting the day by day impacts skin shading has on non-white individuals.

## What sort of impact do microaggressions have?
Think of it like death (or acquiescence) by a thousand paper cuts. The unpretentious idea of microaggressions in the workplace can really make them conceivably more upsetting than unmistakable segregation. As per therapist Dorainne J. Duty, PhD, "There's a vulnerability about whether (a microaggression) was because of your race, for instance, or because of something inconsequential, for example, the other individual is feeling awful or having a terrible day. That vulnerability is troubling."
Analysts have discovered that natural reactions to microaggressions have suggestions for inspiration, memory and official working. Additionally, as per the [American Psychological Association](https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/02/microaggression), microaggressions can cause posttraumatic stress side effects, despondency, and nervousness. Grinding away, attempting to comprehend a partner's obtuse remark redirects time and consideration from genuine work. This redirection adversely impacts execution. Left unaddressed, microaggressions in the workplace can set off a descending winding prompting acquiescence or end.

## Ways to respond to microaggressions in the workplace:
### 1. Breathing Exercises
While they're designated "small scale," investigate shows that microaggressions cause their beneficiaries huge mischief. If you've been forced to bear a microaggression grinding away, you'll be all in all correct to encounter any number of feelings. You may feel irate, disappointed or tragic. Shockingly, voicing these emotions may get you named as excessively touchy or threatening.
At the time, attempt to take a full breath. Advise yourself that the hostile remark or activity was an aftereffect of somebody's obliviousness, not your reality. This care may be combined with a brisk insistence, can help ground your reaction. For further reading into breathing excersizes, check out this [link](https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-relief-breathing-techniques#1).

### 2. Try to understand where it is coming from
In the wake of taking a full breath and attesting your value, the following stage is to think about the specific circumstance. How you react to a microaggression at work can shift depending on who made the microaggression. Was it your administrator or the organization's CEO? Or on the other hand, was it your immediate report or somebody on an alternate group? Maybe it was a merchant or one of the organization's customers.
On the off chance that the microaggressor is somebody with whom you couldn't care less about keeping up a relationship, disregarding the remark or activity may be the best methodology. Instances of this may incorporate an arbitrary merchant or even a CEO with whom you infrequently collaborate. While amending certain microaggressors may profit more noteworthy's benefit, it isn't constantly worth your time or enthusiastic prosperity.
Then again, if the microaggressor is somebody with whom you routinely work, it's likely worth an opportunity to lock-in. In these cases, you'll need to be mindful so as not to cut off ties. While they were off base, the best result is one in which you push ahead with a more grounded relationship.
### 3. React with training
Despite information disclosed, blaming somebody for being bigot or homophobic won't get you far. This is especially evident when the microaggressor didn't deliberately expect to cause offense. Rather than assaulting the microaggressor, regardless of how frequently they've fouled up, it's critical to assault the microaggression itself. In teaching a microaggressor, base your reaction in your point of view. Clarify how the announcement or conduct caused you to feel and why it caused you to feel that way.
On the off chance that you esteem the relationship, or it's somebody with whom you routinely work, you may go farther than this underlying discussion. Dr. NiCole Buchanan, an educator of brain science at Michigan State University, recommends planning an opportunity to discuss what happened later. This gives the microaggressor time to consider what they said or did. It additionally allows you to chill and better detail your contemplations. Buchanan proposes that you even practice what you need to state with a thoughtful companion ahead of time of the planned discussion.
### 4. React with humor
If having a genuine discussion doesn't appear to fit the working relationship, you may, on the other hand, consider reacting with humor. Sue has shared that, as an Asian-American teacher and speaker, he frequently hears remarks along the lines of, "You talk incredible English." At first review, this seems like a commendation. In any case, the basic message conveys with it a certain predisposition of what a local English speaker resembles.
At the point when microaggressions like this occur, Sue proposes you "generously recognize the commendation, while likewise adjusting the individual's predisposition." For Sue's situation, for instance, he answers "Thank you, I trust along these lines, I was brought into the world here." Sue expresses that the expansion of the way that he was conceived in the United States "underlines the oblivious misinterpretation that I am an outsider in my own nation." This in part is a great opportunity to learn more about [conflict resolutions](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/conflict-resolution-as-a-manager).
### 5. Try not to react by any means
Another alternative is to not react by any stretch of the imagination. This is a piece of thinking about a specific situation. While all microaggressors ought to be amended, there might be times when it's to your greatest advantage to abstain from locks in. Maybe you are running late to a gathering and don't have the opportunity to address information disclosed at the time. Possibly you're worried that the microaggressor is in a situation to fight back against you grinding away. Or on the other hand, possibly you've sufficiently had that day and would prefer not to manage a cumbersome discussion.
Whatever the case, don't pound yourself on the off chance that you decrease a chance to react to a microaggression grinding away. It's hard enough to be an individual from an underrepresented bunch in your work environment. At the point when somebody submits a microaggression, it's much harder. Make sure to reaffirm your value, center around your novel qualities, and continue pushing ahead.

![Microaggressions in the workplace - How to react](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3nEsalGBob9cIU8HuGbXdt/67a5465bccc141d1098e60eb1df29b0b/Microaggressions_in_the_workplace_-_How_to_react.PNG)

### 6. How to act if you witness a microaggression in the workplace:
There might be times when you aren't the recipient of a microaggression, however, you witness one in your working environment. On the off chance that you have the chance to shout out, this is an extraordinary method to be a partner grinding away. An investigation distributed in the Academy of Management Journal found that underrepresented individuals get punishments for making some noise about the assorted variety of busy working. Their white, male partners, in any case, get no punishment for making some noise. As an individual from a predominant gathering, your voice and allyship can be amazing.

With microaggressions specifically, their inconspicuous nature makes it simple to excuse the objective as excessively delicate on the off chance that they whine. Along these lines, your voice as a partner will probably be heard more effectively than the voice of the focused on an individual. This makes it even more significant that you make some noise.
Start your reaction by clarifying that you are talking for your benefit, and not for the benefit of any other individual. Use "I" proclamations. For instance, tell individuals, "I would prefer not to hear that sort of thing in our office."
If you aren't sure how to react at the time, you can attempt to be a partner sometime later. Discover the associate who got the microaggression and recognize what happened. This will help approve their experience. You ought to likewise apologize for not saying anything when you saw it and ask how you can offer better help should you witness another microaggression.

Microaggressions in the workplace even if it's not intentional are part of the daily work life. In this article you will learn how to manage them.

How to manage microaggressions in the workplace 

Microaggressions in the workplace and how to avoid them

Microaggressions in the workplace

Microaggressions in the workplace are real. What are they? And how can you reduce their frequency?

How to manage microaggressions in the workplace: A 2020 guide

Psychological safety describes a work environment in which __team members feel open to share ideas, take risks and express concerns without retribution__. The term first became widely known following a 1999 study by Amy Edmondson at Harvard Business School, and was further popularized in 2015 after a two-year study by Google identified psychological safety as one of the five key elements of [successful teams](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/what-makes-a-good-team).

[According to Edmondson](https://www.annualreviews.org), "Psychological safety describes perceptions of the consequences of taking interpersonal risks in a particular context such as a workplace. A central theme in research on psychological safety—across decades and levels of analysis—is that it facilitates the willing contribution of ideas and actions to a shared enterprise."

>> "You know the term implies to people a sense of coziness ... that we’re all going to be nice to each other, and that’s not what it’s really about. What it’s about is candor; what it’s about is being direct, taking risks, being willing to say, “I screwed that up.” Being willing to ask for help when you’re in over your head."

## Why is psychological safety in the workplace important?

Teams who report feeling high levels of psychological safety are consistently the most __high performing, productive and creative__ business units across organizations. They're willing to put forward bold ideas because they're not afraid of being shot down or made fun of. They're able to raise concerns and own up to mistakes to prevent those from becoming bigger problems down the line. Employees know that their opinions are heard, and that makes them feel valued and engaged with their work.

[In a Gallup study](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236198/create-culture-psychological-safety.aspx), their data reveal "that just three in 10 U.S. workers strongly agree that at work, their opinions seem to count. However, by moving that ratio to six in 10 employees, organizations could realize a 27% reduction in turnover, a 40% reduction in safety incidents and a 12% increase in productivity."

## Principles of psychological safety in the workplace

[As Amy Edmondson states](https://hbr.org/podcast/2019/01/creating-psychological-safety-in-the-workplace), "It’s three activities that you have to just keep doing often. The first one is __setting the stage__, the second one is __inviting engagement__, and the third one is __responding productively__."

### Promote learning and effectiveness

Wherever possible try to instil the __mindset of learning__. It's important to communicate the company strategy to create alignment, but it's also good to not pretend like you have all the answers. __Actively encourage employees to share their ideas__, and being open about areas of uncertainty creates a reason for them to do so. Similarly, being able to own up to mistakes allows everybody to learn from them, and that can only happen if workers are confident they'll be treated fairly. You can (and should) still maintain accountability - reward great work publicly and discuss poor performance privately. Being transparent about how and where these conversations take place lessens anxiety and gives everyone a clear picture of their actual performance.

### Model the behaviors you want to see

Lead by example and __be self aware__ - doing so makes it much easier for your team to follow suit. Acknowledge the mistakes you've made and that you may miss something else, and reinforce that you want to hear your colleagues' ideas. This creates a safe environment for them to speak up knowing their opinions are being asked for. __Regularly ask for feedback__ and make sure to keep an open mind when receiving it. Most importantly, follow up with the suggestions being made, even if they're not going to be acted on.

### Make curiosity the standard

Ask questions to dig deeper into the rationale behind ideas, assumptions and mistakes. Being proactive in asking questions of everybody makes it necessary for those who are less willing or more afraid of challenging the status quo to speak up. __Replace blame with questions__ - "What blocked you from getting this done?" or "What support would you have liked to deliver this more effectively?"

*Watch Amy Edmondson's full TEDx talk on building a psychologically safe workplace.*
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8" class="embedly-card" data-card-width="75%" data-card-controls="0">Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8</a>

## How can you foster psychological safety for remote workers?

As we move to a majority remote workforce (a move born out of necessity, but which is likely to remain the new business standard as we go forward) the challenge of keeping connected to your teammates and having open channels of communication becomes vital. These are a few tips to take the principles of psychological safety from the shared office into your remote workspace.

### 1. Create new communication channels

There are plenty of amazing tools for staying connected while working remotely. Whether you're using Slack, Teams, Hangouts, Discord or others, you'll need to customize the space to allow ideas to be shared while not [overwhelming teammates with distracting notifications](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/remote-work-best-practices).

It's helpful to have one space for the full group to get together, and one or more additional ways to share information privately or within smaller groups.

### 2. Encourage remote workers to get to know one another

Getting to know more about your colleagues behind the screen is crucial. It not only lessens our feeling of isolation when working from home, it opens your team up to accept new ideas when they know more about where they come from. Use video calls to connect where it's not disruptive, or simply make it a habit to ask a few non-work questions: "What book have you been reading lately?" or "What inspired you this week?".

### 3. Create a recurring "stand-up"

Whether it's through written updates or video chats, a recurring stand-up or status meeting gives everyone the chance to share what they're working on and where they need help. Don't make the mistake of just reporting the positives or you'll only send the message that [it's not OK to discuss mistakes](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/when-anxiety-attacks-in-the-remote-workplace). Encourage everyone to share one or two things they did well, and another where they messed up and need help.

### 4. Book in regular one to ones

Private [one to one discussions](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/40-questions-for-your-next-one-on-one-meeting) are critical for motivating your direct reports and building an honest working relationship. When you go remote these can sometimes take a backseat, as you miss the informal coffee chats and face to face time in the office. Make sure to take the lead and book recurring one to one meetings (at least every month) to check in and discuss work performance.

### 5. Roll out 360 feedback

On the ground feedback is easy to get when you're working side by side, but with the physical distance of remote work this becomes a lot harder. Setting a framework for giving constructive feedback will help everyone to stay connected. As with all of these behaviors, modelling it yourself goes a long way to instilling trust from your team. Make sure you're [asking for your own feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-ask-for-feedback), as well as teaching teammates to [give upward feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-give-manager-feedback-5-examples) and providing them with [some examples of what good, constructive feedback looks like](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/positive-feedback-for-colleagues-examples-and-tips).

### 6. Measure psychological safety

Lastly, psychological safety is something you can benchmark within your team and measure for improvement. [Asking a few simple questions](https://www.midss.org/content/team-learning-and-psychological-safety-survey), either directly or through a pulse survey, will help you to gauge how safe your team feels and what you should improve on.

![Psychological Safety Survey](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3yrA4nBv4YhupjhRYwJajI/0eb9fc4ef64bf629ccd04dc330b7e9b2/psychological_safety_survey_peoplegoal.png)

Psychological safety underpins every high performing, collaborative team. And as summed up in this [NYT article following the Google study](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html), "No one wants to leave part of their personality and inner life at home. But to be fully present at work, to feel “psychologically safe,” we must know that we can be free enough, sometimes, to share the things that scare us without fear of recriminations. We must be able to talk about what is messy or sad, to have hard conversations with colleagues who are driving us crazy. We can’t be focused just on efficiency."

As most businesses move to remote work in these difficult times, it's more important than ever to foster psychological safety within your team to keep colleagues connected.

As most businesses move to remote work in these difficult times, it's more important than ever to foster psychological safety within your team.

Psychological Safety in the Remote Workplace

Psychological safety for remote workers PeopleGoal

Psychological Safety

We’ve previously looked at the different levels of core competencies. Take a look at our [in-depth analysis](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/core-employment-competencies-explained) of core competencies and the [different levels](https://www.peoplegoal.com/glossary/core-competencies) each present. In that blog, we took a look at a range of competencies, from accountability to strategic perspective. In today’s blog, we are going to take a slightly different view of core competencies. We are going to provide you with some examples of core competencies. Let’s get into it.

![TOP 10 SKILLS FOR MANAGING PEOPLE IN 2020](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3Eix8DrSH44CAAacFQXmkG/174a908a736078c500ad28a720c8dc56/TOP_10_SKILLS_FOR_MANAGING_PEOPLE_IN_2020_.png)

## 12 Core Competencies Examples Explained

## Accountability

### Definition
Exemplifies a high level of ownership and commitment to their own results, the team, and the organizations.

### Performance Examples

1. Employees completing tasks assigned to them in a timely manner.
2. Employees being responsible for their specific duties
3. Employees working towards a common organizational goal.
4. Assumes responsibility for the whole team’s results

---

## Communication

### Definition 
Listen, [speaks and writes with coherency](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-improve-internal-communication), clarity and concisely.


### Performance Examples

1. Increases the value of work communication.
2. Uses personal and organizational knowledge to enhance value.
3. Provides timely and appropriate communication.
4. Tailors communicate to the audience.

![How to Improve Internal Communication](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/Fm5dy9mskNAHkpJQbHsln/d4a73d711068504e7a11593f3568bd8b/how_to_improve_internal_communication.png)
---

## Composure

### Definition 
Responds in a constructive manner to situations of heightened pressure, emotions and conflict.

### Performance Examples

1. Achieves mutually agreeable results in a time of conflict.
2. Deals with difficult colleagues and clients in a productive manner.
3. Adjusts effectively to difficult situations.

---

## Decision Making

### Definition
The process of making choices by identifying potential decisions, gathering information and recognizing potential outcomes.

### Performance Examples

1. Makes decisions that consider the value and principles of an organization.
2. Makes decisions by providing clarity in ambiguous situations.
3. Develops effective solutions.

---

## Problem Solving

### Definition
Takes a systematic approach to problem-solving

### Performance Examples

1. Promotes problem-solving as an integral process within the organization.
2. Uses available resources, information, and personnel when solving problems.
3. Uses sound judgment and common sense.

---

## Self-Development

### Definition
Self-development refers to the extent to which an individual is concerned with bettering themselves by learning new skills and gaining experience.

### Performance Examples

1. Takes full advantage of the opportunities provided to them and seeks out their own opportunities.
2. Reviews one’s progress against development goals.
3. Responds proactively to feedback.

---

## Strategic Purpose

### Definition
Has a clear grasp on broader, longer-term vision for their work and the work of the organization.

### Performance Examples

1. Shares the organizational vision with colleagues, managers, and stakeholders.
2. Seeks out information and trends which may have an impact on the organization.

---

## Leadership


### Definition
The action of leading a group of people or an organization.

### Performance Examples
1. Maintains team motivation and engagement.
2. Assigns duties and responsibilities.
3. Fosters enthusiasm and commitment.
4. Resolves conflicts.
![Core Competencies Examples](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/yWGfwc13CQ9Qvgh3Vdl5E/6df96cbbc556f86c97c6b636f162531b/Core_Competencies_Examples.png)

----

## Listening

### Definition
Giving one’s active attention to another and take notice of actions and words.

### Examples

1. Freely listens to others.
2. Shows empathy.
3. Recognizes and understands non-verbal cues.


---


## Sharing Expertise

### Definition
Willing to share one’s knowledge. Motivated to expand knowledge.

### Performance Examples

1. Answers questions from colleagues and clients.
2. Provides expert knowledge.
3. Regularly introduces new knowledge to others.


---

## Critical Thinking

### Definition
Objective analysis and evaluation of information to form a sound judgment.

### Performance Examples

1. Breaks down complex, multidimensional problems.
2. Recognizes subtle information.
3. Establish relationships and links between information.


---

## Flexibility

### Definition
The ability to provide effective work in a variety of situations, people and information.

### Performance Examples

1. Willingly adapts plans.
2. Responds quickly and proactively to developing situations.
3. Oversees small and large scale changes.

---

## Developing Others

### Definition
The want to develop the long-term growth of others.

### Performance Examples

1. Arranges training, mentoring, education to aid development.
2. Provides recognition and appreciation.
3. Shows confidence in other’s potential.


---

## Goal Setting

#### Definition 
Sets appropriate individual and team goals.

#### Performance Examples

1. Monitors progress.
2. Develops goals that best contribute to the team and the wider organization.
3. Evaluates goal progression and adapts where appropriate.

---



Above we’ve considered the key competencies in the workplace and given some examples of how these competencies can be achieved. Can you think of any more core competencies which we’ve missed?

How do you measure competencies performance? We've detailed some core competencies examples for you to have a look at.

Core Competencies: Definitions and Performance Examples

We've detailed some core competencies examples for you to have a look at. With them are the definitions and some examples. 

Core Competencies Examples

Have a look at some of these core competencies explained.

Being placed in a stressful situation, or dealing with stress is a regular occurrence for many people. Dealing with workplace stress is a skill some people have perfected and some people aren’t so good. The good thing is, dealing with workplace stress is something you can always get better at. There are methods for preventing workplace stress, managing stress and dealing with it when it arises. Let’s have a look at some of the ways to reduce workplace stress.

---

## **Effects of Workplace Stress**

Workplace stress relates to the negative reaction that occurs when an individual’s demand at work exceeds their ability to cope. Here are some of the damaging effects that workplace stress can have on you:

- Heightened Anxiety
- Increased Risk of Depression
- Fatigue
- Reduced Ability to Concentrate
- Apathetic Attitude
- Lower Morale
- Reduced Motivation
- Increased ill-health

---

## **10 Ways to Reduce Workplace Stress**

## 5 Tips for the Employee

![10 Ways to Reduce Workplace Stress](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3qixAIap84kjp6xbe0Rgs6/07711b84abb7492c0b5ecadd555642d2/WORKPLACE_STRESS__1_.png)

### 1. **Exercise and Nutrition**

Eating right and keeping active won’t make your stress disappear. But it will help to reduce the emotional intensity you are feeling. It will help to clear your thoughts and will allow you to approach issues in a calmer manner. Evidence also indicates that physical exercise can additionally:

- [raise your self-esteem](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/raising-low-self-esteem/)
- help you to set goals or challenges
- Lead to neurochemical changes in the brain which positively affect mood

### 2. Work Smarter, Not Harder

One of the ways to optimize your work and help stave off workplace stress is to ‘[work smarter, not harder](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-smarter-not-harder)’. This helps to reduce unnecessary workload, help you keep to your work schedule and help you to reduce workplace stress.

### 3. **Establish Boundaries**

The world we live in is growing evermore digital and thus the inbuilt pressure to succeed at work means that we feel obliged to work longer hours. This causes an unnecessary and continuous impact on your stress levels. A good way to reduce stress is to establish clear boundaries between your personal life and your professional life. Come up with rules and stick by them. Leave work at a given time each day. Switch off work emails and alerts as soon as you leave the office, leave work equipment at work. Whatever you feel will work for you. Find rules which help you create a healthier work-life balance.

### 4. **Track Your Stressors**

How can you deal with your stress if you don’t know what is causing it? You need to identify your stressors. One of the best ways is to keep a journal. Track your stressors for a number of weeks. Write down the situations, circumstances, and things which make you prone to stress. Record your thoughts, information, and feelings pertaining to the situation and your reaction. Taking notes and tracking your stressors can help you to identify stress-causing patterns.

### 5. **Connect with Your Colleagues**

We all have that one person at work we can chat too. Having a colleague you can talk too when your stressed is a great way to reduce workplace stress. It can be from leaving work to get a coffee and detox from a stressful situation to talking about continuous workplace stressors.

---

## 5 Tips for the Employer

### 1. **Chillout Zone**

Create a chillout zone in the workplace somewhere. Giving people a place to destress when needs be. Think about adding beanbags, hammocks, books, board games, and plants. What about getting your employees to help design it. A chillout zone is a great way to reduce workplace stress.

### 2. **Know Your Policies**

Employees needing time off if they become stressed, are struggling with chronic workplace stress or if the stress becomes unhealthy, are situations that may occur at your workplace. Knowing your [policies](https://www.peoplegoal.com/resources/policies) for time off is the least you can do as a manager.

### 3. **Research Flexible Working Opportunities**

What about allowing more flexible work schedules. Think about having greater scope for [remote work](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/remote-work-best-practices) and for flexible hours. You hired your employees because you have trust in their capabilities to perform. Providing flexible opportunities is bound to alleviate workplace stress. Freedom is perfect for morale, freedom and perfecting the workplace balance.

### 4. **Recognition**

Make sure to continuously show appreciation and [recognition](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-examples-from-peoplegoal) to your employees when they deserve it. Receiving little or no recognition for your work compounds workplace stress with irrational thinking about your work. This causes unnecessary workplace stress.

### 5. **Meditation Classes**

One of the best ways to reduce workplace stress is to introduce meditation classes for your employees to join. Mindfulness and meditation are great ways to reduce immediate stress and keeps chronic stress at bay.


---



Reducing workplace stress is no mean feat. There are ways to reduce workplace stress from the employee and manager perspective. Do you think these may work for you or your organization? Or are there ways which you already use and are effective?

Tips to help employees and employers reduce workplace stress! Helping managers, senior leaders and employees implement ways to reduce workplace stress.

Helping You Reduce Workplace Stress

10 Ways to Reduce Workplace Stress

Tips to help employees and employers reduce workplace stress!

Everyone is on the pursuit of happiness, and happiness itself comes in many differing forms unique to each individual. Chances are that if you're reading this you are at work (and looking for TED talks about happiness), and you may be __striving to be happier by being more successful__.

In his TED talk, *The Happy Secret to Better Work*, Shawn Achor argues that this notion is the wrong way round, and instead we __become more successful when we are happier and more positive__, not the other way round. I’ve broken down some of the key areas he’s covered for you to have a good old read and implement in your everyday life.

---

## TED Talks on Happiness - The Happiness Advantage

For Shawn Achor, __happiness is the joy we feel striving after our potential__. He states that “Happiness is not a mood – it’s a work ethic”. He argues that it's those who sit around waiting for work to bring eventual happiness that put themselves at a huge disadvantage. Those who capitalize on positivity at every chance end up coming out ahead. Achor also provides a few ways in which he has developed positive energy to benefit him, such as;

### Meditation

- Neuroscientists have found that monks who spend years meditating actually grow their left prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain most responsible for feeling happy.
- Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness, lower stress, even improve immune function.

### Find Something to Look Forward To

- One study found people who just thought about watching their favourite movie actually raised their endorphin levels by 27 percent.
- Anticipating future rewards can actually light up the pleasure canters in your brain much as the actual reward will.

### Commit Conscious Acts of Kindness

- A long line of empirical research, including one study of over 2,000 people, has shown that acts of altruism — [giving to friends and strangers alike](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-quotes) — decreases stress and strongly contributes to enhanced mental health.
- Pick one day a week and make a point of committing five acts of kindness.

### Infuse Positivity Into Your Surroundings

- Our physical environment can have an enormous impact on our mindset and sense of well-being.
- Studies have shown that the less negative TV we watch, specifically violent media, the happier we are.

### Exercise

- Physical activity can boost mood and enhance our work performance in a number of other ways as well, by improving motivation and feelings of mastery, reducing stress and anxiety, and helping us get into flow —- that “locked in” feeling of total engagement that we usually get when we’re at our most productive.

### Spend Money (but Not on Stuff)

- In his book *Luxury Fever*, Robert Frank explains that while the positive feelings we get from material objects are frustratingly fleeting, spending money on experiences, especially ones with other people, produces positive emotions that are both more meaningful and more lasting.
- Spending money on other people is called ‘prosocial spending,’ and also boosts happiness.
- Draw two columns on a piece of paper (or take ten minutes at work to create a nifty spreadsheet) and track your purchases over the next month. Are you spending more on things or on experiences? At the end of the month, look back over each column and think about the pleasure each purchase brought you, and for how long.

### Exercise a Signature Strength

- Each time we use a skill, whatever it is, we experience a burst of positivity. If you find yourself in need of a happiness booster, [revisit a talent you haven’t used in a while](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-quotes-for-monday-morning).
- Even more fulfilling than using a skill, though, is exercising a strength of character, a trait that is deeply embedded in who we are.
- Studies have shown that the more you use your signature strengths in daily life, the happier you become.

---

Watch the full TED Talk on Happiness here:

<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work?language=en" class="embedly-card" data-card-width="75%" data-card-controls="1">Embedded content: https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work?language=en</a>

---

To sum this up this TED Talk on happiness in the workplace, using one of Achor's quotes: *“We’re finding it's not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but __the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality__. And if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time."*

Breaking down the happy secret to better work and the Happiness Advantage from Shawn Achor's TED Talk on happiness

TED Talks on Happiness in the Workplace

TED Talks Happiness

The generational gap is the various __differing outlooks, beliefs, skills, attitudes, behaviours, and opinions__ between the older and [younger generations](https://www.peoplegoal.com/glossary/millennials). The age difference between colleagues is said to influence these characteristics, and has grown more prevalent in recent years. Within large organizations you are bound to see these differences as you have 60+ year olds working alongside 25 year olds.

A big challenge that comes with having a generational gap in the workplace is that __a leadership deficit is being created__. As older people leave the workplace there aren't enough Gen-Xers to fill vacant leadership roles. Gen-Yers and Millennials are flooding the workplace, but they are not getting enough training to lead as of yet. Added to that, there's also often a __gap between the generations' lifestyles, values, work ethics, communication styles, technological aptitude, and experience__.

---

## 4 Strategies to Bridge the Generational Gap

To start building a bridge between generations there are multiple steps you can take to get the best out of your workforce.

### 1. Avoid pigeonholing

There are of course many stereotypes that come with each generation: Boomers being dinosaurs who are unwilling to change their attitudes; Millennials are lazy and entitled; Gen-Zers are inept without tech. Nonetheless, stereotypes are just that, and it only exacerbates tensions by perpetuating them in the office. Both managers and employees should __strive to move beyond the labels__ and get to know each other's individual traits that are worthy of respect.

### 2. Communicate

Everyone should be given the opportunity to voice their opinion and share their creative thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Within an inclusive environment __everyone should be heard, respected, and communicated with__. If anything, having multiple generations put their ideas forward will make decisions far more informed. Moreover, by openly communicating, [everyone can learn from each other and make sure all employees are on the same page](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-improve-internal-communication). A lack of communication only deepens divides, and clouds operations.

<br>

![4 Strategies to Bridge the Generational Gap](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/5P5A93Iwk2HulY0FbJDvN3/b1886910fef08a739b452e85c4d41821/generational_gap_strategies_peoplegoal_blog.png)

### 3. Create mentoring programs

Promote mentoring within your workplace. __Having a mentorship program enables different generations to communicate and learn from one another__, and works to set up younger employees for future leadership roles. You may be surprised at how much employees can learn from one another if they [spend more time together outside of their own team and manager assignments](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/teamwork-in-the-workplace). There is endless advice the old can give to the young as they have been around longer, and plenty of information and skills the young can provide the old.

### 4. Understand what motivates each generation

A fundamental way to get the best out of your employees is finding out what [motivates them](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/gen-z-in-the-workplace). __The motivators will of course be unique for each individual__, however there are by and large differences in motivating factors between generations. Gen-Xers who are close to retirement may be more interested in bonuses or salary increase, whereas millennials may be looking to repay their student loans, or to cover the cost of childcare, or to have more time to spend travelling.

Nonetheless, everyone is unique, so spend time asking each of your members what their key motivators are and [set up a rewards & recognition system to support these](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-examples-from-peoplegoal). This enables you to boost individual employee satisfaction and retention. Keep in mind that you should also practice transparency and consistency when implementing this to make sure that everyone is treated fairly.

---

When looking to bridge the generational gap in the workplace you must learn about your employees and become accustomed to the drivers and preferences, strengths and weaknesses of each individual and generation. Reduce the use of stereotypes and seek collaboration to improve productivity within your team across generational lines.

Bridging the generational gap in the workplace is vital to many organizations. But what is the generational gap, and how do you address it?

Bridge the Generational Gap in the Workplace

Bridging the generational gap in the workplace - PeopleGoal blog

Generational Gap

We all know the importance of [employee engagement](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/employee-engagement) and companies are becoming increasingly aware they need to innovate and keep employees engaged. There are so many blogs out there talking about employee engagement and why it’s important. But very few talking about niche and novel ideas to boost employee engagement. That’s why we’ve got a few for you.

## **9 Employee Engagement Activities to Boost Motivation**

![9 Employee Engagement Activities to Boost Motivation](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4JUfU0GC3iu1cv3X8bIVGU/8ae573b5d0b9d6ec139224b109c239af/EMPLOYEE_ENGAGEMENT_ACTIVITIES.png)

### **Learning Lunches**

Learning lunches are an interesting and adaptable way of increasing engagement. Take your team out for lunch and bring along a topic to discuss over lunch. Or alternatively, have an employee-focused chat about each other. We thoroughly enjoy asking each other ridiculous questions and seeing people’s responses. Have a look at these [questions](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/17-icebreakers-for-team-building) and see if they might work at your next lunch and learn.

### **Special Days**

What about a niche day every so often. Bring your dog to work day or rent a litter of puppies for the office. Think up a random thing to do in the office and put it into action.

### **Team Building Activities**

Getting out and bonding with the team through team building activities is a sure-fire way to boost employee engagement. Boardgame cafes, escape room, paintballing, virtual golf, cooking courses, the possibilities are literally endless. Get out of the workspace

### **Volunteering Days**

Supporting local, regional or national charities through volunteering is not only a good, altruistic act, it is also beneficial for boosting employee engagement. To many employees, engagement isn’t just about perks and healthcare, its also about having a healthy work-life balance, giving back and flexibility. Consider giving employees a number of volunteer days which they can utilize.

### **Casual Days**

This one might not be feasible for everyone. Why not try out a ‘wear what you want’ day, or be more conducive to allowing remote working days. If you have remote workers on your books how can you make sure they remain engaged? Have a read [here](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-engagement-for-remote-workers).

### **Snacks Galore**

Everyone loves snacks right? But what’s better than snacks? FREE SNACKS. Bulk buy snacks for the office. Fruit, chocolate, crisps, healthy bars, etc. Just ask your employees what they like and go out and buy bulk, to keep your costs low.

### **Employee Lottery**

This is a bit of a niche one. Have a weekly or monthly or even annual employee lottery. Charge employees £1 to enter the lottery, and tell them that whatever the total is, the company will match it.

### **Birthday Benefits**

Birthday benefits are a great and easy way to boost employee engagement. There are so many opportunities for birthday benefits. Presents, leaving work early, a small party, lunch out. There are so many ways to show appreciation for birthdays. You could also extend this to anniversaries and personal milestones.

### **Meditation Zone**

Have a little chill-out zone for employees. Plants, bean bags, books and plenty of natural light. Ask employees what they want in their zone, or even better get a few people to design it. You could even have a little competition for employees to design the zone.

So what do you think of some of these activities? Do you think they would be effective in improving employee engagement in your organization? Do you use any novel ways to boost engagement at your company?

We have created a list of employee engagement activities to improve employee engagement. Have you tried any of these?

9 Employee Engagement Activities to Boost Motivation

What employee engagement activities do you use to boost motivation? Have you tried any of these?

Check-ins with your direct reports is vital to monitoring and bolstering their performance. It doesn’t need to be a long and stressful process. You can think of it as a way to keep track of employees performance without it seeming like an actual performance review. They are more like a one-on-one conversation between managers and employee’s about their work, their goals, welfare, and development plans. They will help you gain an understanding on what your employees are working on, and how you can assist them.

There are multiple benefits to conducting regular check-ins:

![The benefits or regural check-ins](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3c9Rk8YVFwvkJPZPcXbxLy/b4d31b0ab792d1614f411533b4a1c5de/The_10_benefits_of_regular_check-ins.PNG)

**Drives employee engagement**

[Regular check-ins](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/manager-one-on-one-meeting) with employees gives managers an opportunity to provide their direct reports with [valuable feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/positive-feedback-for-colleagues-examples-and-tips). If this form of communication is done frequently, performance conversations between managers and employees leads to engaging conversations and leads employees to stay engaged with their work. It also allows employees and managers to stay on the same page and to help each other stay.

**Provides Direction**

Conducting frequent employee check-ins allows managers to provide their employees with affirmation in what they’re doing well and helps them communication with their employees about what they can improve. It gives managers an opportunity to not just point out their employees shortcomings but also to help them to work through them.

**Promotes continuous learning**

No matter what position you are in, you need to keep yourself up to date with the current industry trends. Every check in that is completed between employees and manages is an opportunity on both ends to [learn](https://www.peoplegoal.com/glossary/learning-style), grow, and develop. Whether it be skills for the employee or managerial skills. If you are conducting check-ins regularly, you open up the opportunity to re-evaluate the employees goals and keep them aligned to the organisational goals. Furthermore it gives the manager the oversight to see what impact they can have on improving the employees performance.

**Motivates employees**

Holding regular check-ins to discuss employees performance plans and the strategies available to improve their performance is a great way to motivate them. This stems from the idea that they are valued as an employee as the management are showing they care about the employee. At the same time it helps managers boost morale within the team which furthermore contributes to improved organisational productivity.

**Prevents miscommunication**

Regular check-ins means greater communication, this prevents miscommunications between the employees and the employers. It allows individuals to compare notes, and for manager’s to make sure their direct reports understand exactly what they are supposed to be doing on the job. A lack of communication whether it be digital or face to face can lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations on all manner of performance related aspects such as strategy and objectives.

**Drives manager development**

Lastly, just as check-ins can benefit employees performance by helping them to achieve their goals, they can also help managers reach their goals of being good leaders. Managers can use the time to ask employees what they can do to be a better leader, and they can also learn from the employee experience. This in turn also puts the manager in a better position for their end of year review.

**Improves Employee Welfare**

The time spent in check-ins also provides employees with the ability to discuss more personal topics in a safe environment, this could be to do with personal extenuating circumstances, or the like. This provides management with the opportunity to being out an empathetic side which will develop an employees feeling of value, and further motivate them.

**Provides an opportunity for collaboration**

To coin the phrase ‘two heads are better than one’ is suitable here. If you are regularly meeting with your employees, you’re creating more opportunity for collaboration and brainstorming. This time can be used to solve problems on both ends.

**Reduces pressure on end of year review**

By committing to regular check-ins, you are taking off some of the pressure of the [end of year review](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/performance-reviews). It gives everyone involved the opportunity to nip performance issues in the bud when they arise since you can identify and solve potential problems as they arise. This can reduce the chances of months of potential mistakes and relieve some of the pressures of the annual performance review.

Now the majority of us are WFH, we should be focussing on how to keep in contact. Here are the benefits of regular check-ins.

The 10 Benefits of Regular Check-ins

Regural employee manager check ins is the way forward

Check-Ins

Having a work from home policy in place now that most companies have switched to working remotely is really important. With the growing concerns surrounding coronavirus (COVID-19), there is no doubt the notion of working from home has been banded around offices across the nation. Although there are multiple drawbacks of the coronavirus, including death it is also giving businesses worldwide the opportunity/ forcing them to test working from home. There are multiple [benefits of remote working](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-engagement-for-remote-workers), and there are lots of different ways you can [make it work](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-from-home), however in this extreme case, it may well be worth your time to create a work from home policy to distribute to those employees who are working from home either voluntarily or due to self isolation.

This policy is the first step in the most fundamental aspect of remote work – Communication. There is lots of different aspects you will need to consider when drafting this policy. For example, there are certain jobs where working from home just is not possible, for example working in a bar, on retail. Therefore, your policy will need to specify which roles in your business are viable to work from home. These will by in large be the roles which have the duties that can be completed via a laptop.

One question that may arise is the question of ‘is there a working from home law?’. In short, no. Although after 26 weeks of continuous employment an employee has the right to request flexible working, as an employer you have no legal obligation to accept the request, unless for specific medical/personal reasons. However, it would be advisable to have a discussion with the employee understand why they requested it, and if in turn in may well increase their productivity. By accepting their request, you may be helping them manage an illness, or family commitments. This in turn will show the rest of the staff that you are committed to their wellbeing.

Nonetheless, there are risks to consider when drafting your working at home policy. For your staff working at home, they will usually need:

- A laptop/computer
- A phone
- A good internet connection
- Access to software the organisation uses
- A suitable working environment

![Work from home policy](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/6KvE7xBpLbvby3QoVpg27q/5bd6764ade423c4bf87406be7026a008/work_from_home_policy.PNG)

If you are planning to allow your employees to use their own devices, you will need to consider a way for them to keep any important data safe and private. Therefore your policy should include rules such as:

- Employees must protect their own devices with antivirus software where necessary. (Offer to pay for this)
- Employees must store and save all files in the company’s central cloud storage, not locally on their device.

Or alternatively you can use the template we have provided below:


---


### Work from Home Policy Sample

This Work from Home Policy example can be custom-made to your organization's needs and should be used as a beginning stage for building up business strategies on remote working. This example strategy ought to be altered in line with your organization's particular qualities. A Work from Home Policy may likewise be alluded to as a Telecommuting Policy or Home-Based Work Policy.

### Policy brief & purpose


We planned our work from home arrangement to ensure that telecommuting/digital communication is advantageous to our employees and organisation.

### What this covers

This organization telecommute arrangement applies to every one of our employees who are working remotely. Click on the template below to view and download the work from home policy sample:

[![Work from home policy template](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/2WCz1yJBa0FZGh3w3qB2GT/85d3b00ddb1cf1b93f2716d89ef9f2a0/work_from_home_policy_template.PNG)](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tduu1khactMRYm80zwA8j-hlbAIAnGIrMEwir9JIdlQ/edit?usp=sharing)



A work from home policy is a must for every company that switched to working remotely due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

A Work from Home Policy to Deal with Coronavirus at Work

With the ever-growing threat of COVID-19, it's time for all to prepare. Here is a work from home policy for you to use.

Work From Home Policy to deal with COVID-19

A work from home policy is a must for every company that switched to working remotely due to Coronavirus outbreak.

The World Health Organization recently announced the Coronavirus or COVID-19 is now a global pandemic. Many leading public health bodies have provided detailed advice on how to protect you. We’ve condensed it down to a short, quick read. Here’s what they have to say.

## Protection

The first thing public health organizations suggest is to wash your hands. This is especially true if you have recently been traveling on a bus, train, tube or other forms of public transport. This means properly washing your hands as well. Wash them for twenty seconds, focusing on all parts of the hands, not just the palms. Back of the hands, around the nails, around the wrist and in between your fingers. Once you are done, turn off the tap using tissue and throw that tissue in the bin. 

Secondly, avoid touching your face, nose, mouth, and eyes, as this is one way the virus can enter your body. Touch your face only when you’ve washed your hands prior. Experts think that coronavirus is spread by droplets that come from your mouth and nose. This means you need to cover these areas when you sneeze or cough. Try and catch them with tissues, then wash your hands. Disposable tissues are better than the handkerchiefs you carry. If you don’t have a tissue, sneeze or cough into the crevice of your elbow. This means that the droplets are away from your hands. As silly as it may sound, try and avoid touching things with your hands. This means handrails, buttons, door handles, etc. 

Try and stay away from people who are ill. If they are unwell, stay away from them, the closer you are, the more likely the virus is likely to spread to you. Apart from this, life should continue as usual. Meaning you should go to school, work, etc. and carry on with your daily life.

If you think you are exhibiting the symptoms of coronavirus, do not rush to the doctor. Instead, call your local advice hotline. If you are in the UK that is 111.

## Symptomology

The current evidence suggests a range of symptoms associated with coronavirus. These are the most well-supported symptoms:

![COVID - Advice On How to Protect Yourself](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/1B2fpEcjVJCVgjQDrF4WUe/5cdf051182e5409747dd9bc8c471d78e/_COVID_-_Advice_On_How_to_Protect_Yourself.png)

- Fever
- Dry Cough
- Shortness of Breath

These symptoms can be present, but are less common:

- Headache
- General Aches and Pains
- Fatigue
- Exhaustion

These systems have been reported in some cases:

- Sore Throat
- Sneezing
- Stuffy Nose

The virus seems to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough. After seven days, shortness of breath may become apparent. Here, the individual should contact for medical advice. This is a condensed, brief advice message for protection and awareness of symptoms pertaining to the coronavirus. 

## Common questions and answers for employees: 

What if I need to take time off work because I contract COVID-19? 
Employees who are ill should use their employer paid sick leave. Remember, medical certification can be done electronically. This can be emailed to your healthcare provider and emailed back to you to provide to your employer. 
 
### If I become seriously ill and I need to quit my job as a result of COVID-19, will I qualify for unemployment benefits?

You may qualify for Paid Family & Medical Leave while you are sick. Once you recover and are available for work again, you can apply for unemployment benefits. 
 
### What if I am asked by a medical professional or public health official to quarantine as a result of COVID-19, but I am not sick?

If you are following guidance issued by a medical professional or public health official to isolate or quarantine yourself as a result of exposure to COVID-19 and you are not receiving paid sick leave from your employer, you may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits.  If you know you can return to your job as soon as your isolation or quarantine is lifted, you may not need to search for work. You must be able to accept any work offered by your employer that would not cause you to break isolation or quarantine.
 
### What if my employer goes out of business as a result of COVID-19?

You may be eligible for unemployment benefits if you’re out of work due to a lack of work. (These benefits are intended to assist workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own.)
 
### What is a request to isolate or quarantine?
 
A request to isolate or quarantine is:
A letter documenting a voluntary request or involuntary order to isolate or quarantine from a medical professional, local health official, or the Secretary of Health.

A note from your medical provider or medical records officer recommending isolation or quarantine.

A self-determination that Department of Health’s quarantine guidance applies to you.


A quick and condensed look at advice from public healthcare bodies, on how to protect yourself against coronavirus. 

Advice on how to protect yourself against coronavirus

COVID - Advice On How to Protect Yourself

Protecting yourself against coronavirus

Coronavirus (COVID-19) - Advice On How to Protect Yourself

The World Health Organization has recently announced that the coronavirus, or COVID-19, has been upgraded to a pandemic. This has lead to widespread panic. It has also left uncertainty for how employers and employees should deal with work. Below we give a few details as to how employers should plan and respond to coronavirus, with an overarching concern giving to the safety of them and all their employees.

## Information about the Virus

The coronavirus is a virus that was first identified in the Wuhan region of China in January 2020. The coronavirus is actually part of a common set of viruses seen around the world. However, it is a new strain that is causing widespread disruption. This strain is COVID-19. The self-isolation period of COVID-19 is between 2-14 days.

## Symptomology

Here are the main three symptoms associated with coronavirus:

![Guidance for Employers to Plan and Respond to COVID-19](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3LNMvkgvMGuqyVPrCQknMl/d774a1fbf74e8e5af18e662df6761545/_COVID_-_Advice_On_How_to_Protect_Yourself.png)

- __Fever__
- __Cough__
- __Shortness of Breath__

These symptoms have also been reported, but aren’t as common as those above:

- __Headache__
- __Fatigue__
- __Sore Throat__
- __Sneezing__
- __Stuffy Nose__
- __Body Aches__

The virus seems to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough. After a week, shortness of breath may become apparent.

## Advice for employers

### 1. Prevention in the workplace

Employers have a duty of care in the workplace. There is a need to inform employees about how to stay safe, and a need to take measures in the workforce. Employees need to wash their hands more regularly and more thoroughly. Wash them with soap, for twenty seconds, all around the hand. The palm, the fingernails, the wrist and in between the fingers. Turn off the tap with a tissue, and throw that tissue in the bin. Employees should use disposable tissues. If they need to cough or sneeze they should try and use these disposable tissues, then throw that tissue in the bin. If they cannot get to a tissue in time, they should use their crack in the elbow. As an employer, make sure to clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces.

### 2. People travelling

Many world governments have placed travel bans, most notably the US placing a ban on incoming travel from Europe. Any employee or partner travelling back from the areas under containment measures, most notably: the Hubei province and wider China, Iran, Daegu, Cheongdo and wider areas of the Republic of Korea and large parts of Italy. These employees should self-isolate for two weeks, and call for medical advice if necessary. 

Employees who have planned holiday for the foreseeable future need to fully investigate where they are travelling and the potential risks involved. If for example, they are travelling to Italy, this has to be an absolute necessary travel plan. They should also keep up to date with government bans and delays to travelling, as these are expected in the forthcoming future.

### 3. An employee has come back positive

Closure of the workplace is not recommended, but if employees can work from home, this is a possible outcome. Dependent on location, management should contact a public health body. Who in return should contact with a protection team to discuss the case and advise on precautions and measures which should be taken. A risk assessment will be taken with the outcome on advice regarding isolation, cleaning and the rest.

### 4. An employee is suspected of coronavirus

There is no need for closure. Recommend the employee to self-isolate and await confirmation or refutation. 

### 5. An employee has had contact with a confirmed case

Again, contact a public health body for advice. Contact if an employee has had contact with a confirmed case with:

Close face-to-face contact or touching
Talking with or being coughed on
Anyone who has cleaned up bodily fluids
Contact with close friendship groups or workgroups
Living with 

### 6. Handling post, packages and food

There is no perceived risk increase in handling external goods.

### 7. Certifying absence

Legally, medical evidence is not needed for the first week of illness. After this, it is up to the employee’s discretion if they require evidence from the employee. This is not a usual situation and if employers need further advice on sickness, self-isolation and absence contact the relevant government body.

### 8. Discrimination

As the coronavirus originated in South-East Asia, there is room for potential discrimination of these groups. Employers need to be aware of direct and indirect discrimination. Employers need to have proper discrimination and grievance procedures in place. Action must be taken swiftly.

The coronavirus is more than likely to increase in volume and spread in the forthcoming future. This means these factors and situations are also likely to increase in likelihood. Make sure to be clued up on these outcomes and act swiftly and correctly.


A helping hand digesting the public health information surrounding coronavirus. Helping employers plan and respond to coronavirus.


Guidance for Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus

Guidance for Employers to Plan and Respond to COVID-19

Helping employers respond to coronavirus

Guidance for Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus 

We’ve all been there. We are walking into our new job, nervous as anything, wondering how it will go when you meet your new colleagues. You feel like the onus is on you, but realistically it should be on the employer to make you feel welcome. Welcoming a new employee isn't the hardest task, but it sure is important. Here are some great ways to welcome a new employee into your company…

## **How to welcome a new employee in your company?**

![Welcoming a new employee in your company: How to?](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/6R50frkavn90zGRtU6K34w/1b122b81b884056df87b5b36a3e8a736/Welcoming_A_New_Employee.png)

### **Personal Colleague**

Whenever you’ve got a new hire coming in, think about assigning them a buddy to help get them through the first day or so. Get this person to be the new hire’s first port of call. Show them round the place, show who’s who, show what’s where, go out for lunch and give them the information they need or ask for. As a note, although this buddy system is aimed towards an individual, other colleagues should take their time to help out and start building a relationship with the new employee.

### **Company Culture Immersion**

There are loads of ways to immerse your employee into the new company culture. A mission and values presentation. A brief history lesson on the company.

### **Warn Your Staff**

You need to let your staff know about the new employee. Ask them to introduce themselves and make the new recruit feel welcome. Maybe you could let your employees know a few bits about the new recruit, so they feel more at home when they first came. Maybe their name and where they come from?

### **Lunch and Learn**

This is a great way to make the employee feel wanted on the first day, but also offers them an opportunity to meet some of their colleagues. On their first day, don’t let the employee go and eat on their own. Get someone to take the colleague out to really get to know them, or if you prefer get a group of you to go out.

### **End of Week Review**

We talk about [feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/360-feedback-the-essential-guide) all the time. It should be an important part of the process from the word ‘go’. By the end of the first week, the employee will have answered twenty questions but still have a million unanswered ones. Go through an end of week review, covering all the employee wants to know, finding out how they are feeling and how you see the next few weeks playing out.

### **Have a Proper Process in Place**

Onboarding. Onboarding. [Onboarding](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/onboarding-a-new-employee). A super important process, and one you need to get [right](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/onboarding-for-new-hires-how-to-make-it-a-success-story). This should be in place long before the new recruit comes. Its an important process to ensure engagement and motivation at your organization. We’ve written extensively about onboarding and recommend giving some of the articles a quick read.

It's particularly daunting for a new hire starting at your organization. The pressure of new work, new colleagues, new managers and a new environment. Help welcome them better into your organization with these tips!

We've all been there. Walking into a new company on our first day and being super nervous. But welcoming a new employee isn't hard. Help them out! 

Welcoming a new employee is easier than being the new employee yourself! Help out your new hires as much as you can.

A guide to welcoming new employees to your company

Welcoming a new employee in your company: How to?

It's tough being a new hire. Help these people out!

Communication is important. There is no getting around it. It is the one essential pillar in an effective organization. Without communication, the world and all the organizations in it would stand still. Communication skills are arguably, the most important set of skills you can have as a manager. But why is it so important. ‘Drop this spiel about why it’s important’, and tell me I hear you say. So let’s give you a quick overview as to why [communication](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/workplace-communication-can-suffer-when-individuals) is so essential.

- Improves Business Performance
- Builds Teamwork
- Improves Customer Service
- Improves Customer Loyalty
- Organizational Growth
- Enhances Creativity
- Improves Knowledge Sharing
- Builds Strong Company Culture

## 8 Communication Skills Every Manager Needs

In the past we've discussed the top characteristics of a [good manager](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/7-characteristics-of-a-good-manager), and the traits of a [bad manager](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/manager-characteristics-to-avoid). But what are some of the key communication skills that every manager needs? Here we list our top 8 skills that every manager needs.

![8 Communication Skills Every Manager Needs](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/5422BtXH8hEui8t8JHsi4f/afdb9bc71fbd3d3eadad7f02f61ce376/Communication_Styles.png)

### __Rapport Building__

A key skill in team-building and developing good, effective interpersonal relationships. The ability to build rapport with people is essential and will help to create a positive and safe working environment. Regular, supportive communication is needed to develop a positive working rapport with people.

### __Active Listening Skills__

How are your active listening skills? Do you interrupt people? Are you waiting for your turn to listen? Are you really listening to others? Your team needs to know that you are listening to them, that you recognize their points of view and that you will put some points into action. Active listening means giving an individual or team your full attention, noting and responding to verbal and non-verbal cues.

### __Clarity__

Providing clarity through your communication is an essential skill that is likely to lead to goal success from everyone in your team. Be efficient with your language. Get the message across and don’t waste time being floral, which is bound to make people confused.

### __Showing Understanding__

As I’m sure you know, communication isn’t a one-way street. You need to listen to others and put yourself in their shoes. Understand their perspective, what are their arguments, why may they have this position? Different people have different opinions, different communication styles and they may prefer informal or formal styles.

### __Flexibility__

Being able to talk to a range of people is imperative in any professional life. People are different. Different ages, different likes, different backgrounds, different levels of seniority. Being able to communicate effectively with all these people is a key skill.


### __Dealing with Conflict__

Whether you like it or not, conflict is an inevitable element of life. Conflict at work is just the same. How you deal with such conflict is in your control. Using certain communication styles is an effective method for dealing with conflict. One of the greatest skills to deal with conflict resolution is communication. However, conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing and as such de-escalation isn’t always the best option. Conflict can give rise to different viewpoints, changes in direction and creativity. Managing conflict to your benefit is a key skill that few possess. Communication is a key element in this.

### __Being Available__

We are currently in the era of hot-desking, gig workers, remote working and open offices, it’s not good enough just to have an ‘open door’ policy. You need to convey the message that as your employees’ manager, you are always available. In-person, over the phone or digitally. Being available for your employees when and where they need you, is an important communication dimension for a manager.

### __Assertiveness__

Assertiveness is a key communication skill. Assertiveness means expressing yourself clearly and effectively. It doesn’t mean steamrolling other people’s points of view or controlling the conversation. Being a [leader](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/leaders-are-born-not-made) means being assertive in an effective manner.

Communication is the cornerstone of organizational effectiveness. It is arguably the most important skill to have. Do you, as a manager, evoke these communication skills? Or is it time to improve on them?


What are the top communication skills every manager needs and why are they important? Have a read to see if you agree with our thoughts. 

Communication skills are arguably the most important skill repertoire you can have as a manager. We think these communication skills are the most important.

Top Communication Skills Every Manager Needs

What are the top communication skills every manager needs and why are they important? Have a read to see if you agree with our thoughts.  

8 Communication Skills Every Manager Needs

What are the key communication skills every manager needs?

## What is burnout?

Burnout is the state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion. Burnout is caused by prolonged and excessive stress. Symptomology of burnout includes exhaustion, extended fatigue, lower concentration levels, attention deficits, reduced performance levels and struggles with initiative and imagination. Individuals who are struggling to cope with workplace stress are the most at risk of burnout.

Different sources will give you different interpretations of burnout. The most commonly accepted amount of stages are 5 and 12. Let’s go through them quickly.

    

---


## The 5 Stage Model

Recently, [Calmer](https://www.thisiscalmer.com/blog/5-stages-of-burnout) adopted and adapted a model of burnout devised by Bob Veninga and Jim Spradley. Here are the five stages they outlined:

### __Honeymoon Phase__

The honeymoon phase is characterized by high job satisfaction, energy, commitment, and creativity. The pertinent point here is the choice of coping strategies when the inevitable stressors of one’s job become apparent. If the coping patterns are effective and positive then burnout should be avoided. If however, these strategies are not enacted, then burnout is a possibility.

### __Stress Onset__ 

The second stage of burnout begins when stress begins to become apparent. Not every day, but some. It is the awareness of stress on different days which signifies the onset of stress.

### __Chronic Stress__

This is the experience of stress on a daily basis. Signified by a marked continuous change in stress and motivation levels.

### __Burnout__ 

This stage, symptomology becomes more critical.
Habitual Burnout - The symptomology of burnout is so ingrained in an individual’s life, they are more likely to be labeled with habitual burnout.

### __Habitual Burnout__

The symptomology of burnout is so ingrained in an individual’s life, they are more likely to be labeled with habitual burnout.


---



## The 12 Stage Model

The 12 stage model of burnout was developed by psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North. Here are the stages they outlined:

### __The Compulsion to Prove Oneself__ 

A desire to continuously demonstrate individual worth.

### __Working Harder__

Inability to leave work at home.

### __Neglecting Needs__

Neglecting basic needs i.e eating properly or getting enough sleep.

### __Displacement of Conflicts__

Dismissing problems that may threaten us.

### __Revision of Values__

Values that were previously important are changed to fit a work focus.

### __Denial of Emerging Problems__ 

Intolerance to problems which if not dealt with, will manifest.

### __Withdrawal__

Stress relievers are dismissed, i.e. social life, etc.

### __Odd Behavioural Changes__

Irregular changes in behavior.

### __Depersonalization__

Seeing oneself and others as unimportant.

### __Inner Emptiness__

Feeling empty inside.

### __Depression__

A vast topic, generally defined as severe despondency and dejection

### __Burnout Syndrome__

Mental, physical and emotional exhaustion.


---


## 6 Ideas to Prevent Burnout

![6 Tips to Prevent Work Burnout](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/8fp55D20MWTqtUCg4EKlF/30d2655c209c7d1fd2367cca23a16bdd/WORKPLACE_BURNOUT.png)

### __Perform a Job Analysis__

Experiencing work overload on a daily basis isn’t nice, and it certainly isn’t healthy. Perhaps a job analysis will help you to quell this overload. Job analysis is the culmination of techniques used to determine the content of a job. The content of a job includes the roles, activities, attributes, and requirements. A job analysis will help clarify what your remit is. What is expected and what is not. Helping ease the work overload you are experiencing.

### __Regular Exercise__

Exercise is an excellent stress reliever, helps to create a sense of well being and is an excellent way to get your mind of work and the focus on you. Making sleep, exercise and rest a regular part of your working life plays an important role in avoiding burnout and staying healthy. Exercise results in increased energy, productivity, and creativity. Exercise helps you to get a good night’s sleep. When can you get some exercise in? At work, at lunch, after work?

### __Stress Management Tactics__

Why not face stress head-on? Using stress management tactics to reduce stress immediately or to prevent it from affecting you. So, what strategies can you use? The NHS recommend these tactics for dealing with stress:

- Be Active
- Take Control
- Connect with People
- Personal Downtime
- Challenge Yourself
- Avoid Unhealthy Habits
- Help Others
- Positive Mindset
- [Work Smarter, Not Harder](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/work-smarter-not-harder)

### __Mindfulness__

One of the best ways to avoid burnout is to have a focus on mindfulness. Mindfulness is a type of meditation involving silent relaxation, listening to your thoughts and focusing attention on you. Plenty of apps have now been created to help you along your way, including: Headspace and Calm.

### __Support Workplace Recovery__

Employers can develop a workplace recovery plan to help support employees who may be experiencing burnout. You may wish to integrate accommodation strategies into your workplace recovery plan. You can find such strategies [here](https://www.workplacestrategiesformentalhealth.com/managing-workplace-issues/Accommodation-Strategies).

### __Keep to your Work Hours, and Schedule Breaks__

Usually, an accompanying factor of burnout is the inability to leave work in the office and on time. Make sure to keep to your work hours, schedule breaks during the day.


---



Workplace burnout is dangerous and unwanted. Use these strategies to help prevent burnout and manage stress. Use one or all of these strategies and see which are effective for you.


What is workplace burnout? Why is it dangerous? How does it manifest? And how can you prevent workplace burnout and manage stress effectively? Find out here. 

How to Prevent Work Burnout?

6 Tips to Prevent Work Burnout

What is work burnout and how can you prevent its appearance?

## **9 Ways to Support your Learning at Work**

We all want to be more effective at work right? So how can we do it? One of the best methods is to implement different learning strategies. This makes you a more effective problem solver, helps you to be malleable when it comes to solutions and so much more. Lets have a quick look at some of the ways we can learn at work.

![9 Ways to Support your Learning at Work](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4xv0O5Tb9dS6WUleZ7Fs23/baadd13b4932d6d58269066f0dee514a/LEARN_AT_WORK.png)

### **Mentoring**

How can [mentoring](https://www.peoplegoal.com/glossary/mentoring) help you learn? Mentoring can help develop leadership skills. Mentoring help to develop your strengths further and address your weaknesses. Mentoring provides you with someone who you can discuss difficult decisions with, and who has experience. Mentoring helps you to connect with a wider range of people and helps you to develop your interpersonal skills.

### **Role Models**

Having an individual to look up to, to base some decisions off and someone to strive up to can only be a good thing. It helps to motivate your learning and development. Good role models influence and motivate us. They are a guide for self-improvement.

### **Best Practice Learning Strategies**

Back to school with this one. What are the most effective practices to utilize when trying to learn? Here’s the low-down:

- **Chunk** - Break down the learning material into chunks. This makes the material more manageable.
- **Taking Breaks** - Experts suggest that attention span and concentration last around 45 minutes. Thus take short breaks around the 45 – 60 minute mark, to optimize learning.
- **Context Dependent Learning** - The best way to learn and remember things is to try and keep the context at time of learning and repetition similar.
- **Attention** - Try and reduce distractions so you can boost focus.
- **Spacing** - Break up your practice. Don’t try and learn it all in one block. This isn’t as effective as breaking the learning and placing breaks/spaces between learning phases.
- **Multi-faceted approach** - Mix up your techniques, material, learning approach and more, to get a balanced strategy when learning.

### **Emotional Tying**

Try and find good emotional reasoning as to why you want to learn. Ask yourself what will it do for you? Why is it needed? Is this the best time for it?

### **Making Use of your Procrastination Time**

What do you do in your procrastination time? Can you mix it up? Can you give some of this time to your new learning? Every little counts, especially when it comes to learning your new skill or knowledge.

### **Habituate Learning**

Integrate your learning into your daily routine. Set realistic aims regularly for your learning. Once acquiring the skill, keep it, and move onto find another skill. Keep on developing and improving. Keep on moving forward.

### **Stretch Assignments**

Every so often its good to stretch yourself. Go beyond your capabilities. A stretch assignment is a task given to employees which is above their experience, knowledge or skill level. It challenges employees by making them uncomfortable. It helps employees to learn, develop and grow. You don’t have to wait for your employers to give you a stretch assignment, stretch yourself!

### **Ask Questions**

‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get’. Ask questions, absorb knowledge. You’re not going to develop unless you ask questions. You’re not going to improve without asking for help. Don’t be afraid of asking silly questions, they all help.

### **Establish Support Pillars**

Find a support pillar. You need someone to get advice from, someone to share your concerns with and someone who has been through it all. They will be the perfect support and mentor for you when learning. Build a good relationship with your pillar and they’ll be there for life.

Do you recognise any of the ways that you learn above? Are there strategies you didn’t think of? Strategies that you are surprised to hear about? Strategies you might consider using? Whatever the answer to these questions it is always useful to know of the different methods used by people. Consider using these strategies in different situations to see if there effective for you.

How can you learn at work more effectively? Needing some help implementing new learning strategies into your work? Look no further...


We all want to be more effective at work right? So how can we do it? Here are some ways to help you learn at work.

Supporting your Learning at Work: How to do it?

How can you learn at work more effectively? Needing some help implementing new learning strategies into your work? Look no further...

9 Ways to Support your Learning at Work

How can you make learning more effective at work?

Human resources should __focus on measuring employee performance as well as managing performance, the efficiency of the manager-employee relationships, if the performance goals are being achieved or the levels of employee engagement and satisfaction__. 

It is a task more complex you might initially assume. Therefore, it is important to dedicate the necessary time and resources to make sure your evaluation is going to help you evaluate the current situation, identify the areas necessary to focus on to improve the performance of your business and develop an adequate strategy to reach those goals.

____

## 5 Tips to Measure the Effectiveness of Performance Management System

![tips to measure performance management effectiveness](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/cKNRHfKWI9COgh3xF6RTl/470b3a2e06ad99f5c7bc150930c17558/tips_to_measure_performance_management_effectivenness.png)

### 1. Benchmark best performance management system practices

Research the best practices and appropriate measures to inform yourself what success looks like in performance management in general and your industry. It is important to dedicate time to research to understand what success looks like.

Examine success stories of companies similar to yours, explore and analyze the current performance management trends to provide yourself with a comprehensive understanding of the best practices.

____

### 2. Define organizational goals and objectives

What is it that your company attempts to achieve? Are you trying to improve organizational performance or individual performance? Or are you focusing on increasing employee motivation and engagement?

In order to make the plan effective it is important it is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. To find out more about how to set such a SMART goal read our essential guide for SMART goals.

____


### 3. Establish Your Success Measures

Once you have established your goals you need to define measures to identify if your objectives were met. Some of the usual measures of performance management effectiveness include:

-  __Increase or decrease in profitability__

At the end of the day increasing profitability and growing revenues is the aim of every business.

- __Productivity rate__

It is calculated as the total output of your employees divided by the hours worked. 

- __Quality of personal goals and rate of their achievement__

Assessing the quality of goals; how SMART are they, and whether or not are they aligned with the wider organizational objectives.

- __The response rate of employees and managers to performance management activities__

What is the response rate to the employee performance reviews? How many of your employees successfully set their goals? Does management provide constructive ongoing feedback?

- __Employee engagement survey results__

Evaluating and measuring the levels of employee engagement will provide you with an ample understanding of the effectiveness of your performance management process.

- __Performance review results__

If there is a significant number of negative performance reviews and underperforming employees it is a sign that there is something wrong with your performance management system.

- __Employee turnover rates__

It is the number or the percentage of the employees that leave your organization and need to be replaced. The rate can help you evaluate the cost to hire for budgeting purposes and highlight issues with management.

- __Employee satisfaction index__

It is based on three questions;

  1. How satisfied are your employees with their current workplace?
  2. How well does their current workplace meet their expectations?
  3. How close is the current workplace to their ideal one?

The employee rates each of the questions on a scale of 1 to 10 (one being the lowest score and 10 the best one). The Employee Satisfaction index is then calculated as ES= [((question mean value ÷ 3) – 1) ÷9]*100

___

### 4. Evaluate the Results

Based on the baseline you calculated and the benchmark you can justify if you are satisfied with the performance or not. 

Remember to acknowledge and celebrate success. Even if you are satisfied with your performance it is important to track and assess the progress on a regular basis. Performance management is a process that should be continuously measured and adjusted to meet the everchanging needs of your employees and business.

____

### 5. Take Action on the Results

Develop a strategy and [set new goals](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/smart-goals) on how to improve the deficient performance or problems in your performance management process. Make sure to make the new goals specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and with a clear timeline.

___

However, we are aware that implementing change in your organization can be challenging. Hence, we have created a guide to help you implement change in your organization. 

It is not an easy task to measure performance management system effectiveness. There are various aspects to consider when evaluating the performance management process. 

It is not an easy task to measure performance management system effectiveness. There are various aspects to consider when evaluating the performance process. 

How to measure performance management effectiveness and efficiency

measure performance management system effectiveness

## What is zero-discrimination?

__Zero discrimination day__ is an annual day celebrated on the __1st March__. Created by the UNAIDS Executive Director, Micheal Sidibé in 2014. The day __celebrates and promotes equality__. It aims to engender people to practice equality throughout their daily activities. The day is particularly prominent for organizations combating HIV and AIDS. Zero discrimination day has now been adopted by campaigners speaking out about LGBTQ+ discrimination. The day aims to promote equality before the law and in practice throughout all of the member countries of the UN.

Zero-discrimination day aims to show people how they can become informed about and promote inclusion, peace and compassion for all. The emblem for zero-discrimination day highlights this. The movement uses a butterfly, which is suggested to represent a message of transformation and trying to encourage people to share their stories.

This year zero-discrimination day falls on Monday the 1st March. The focus <a href='https://www.unaids.org/en/2020_ZDD_campaign' target='blank'>this year </a>is on discrimination against women and girls. So what can you do in your organization to celebrate zero-discrimination day? We’ve got some ideas for you, but first we recommend reading the UNAIDS zero-discrimination <a href='https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2017-zero-discrimination-day_en.pdf' target='blank'>booklet</a>.

____

## How to make zero discrimination day count at work?

### Workshop

Why not schedule a company wide equality training workshop? Equality and diversity training will not only highlight the issue of discrimination, it helps align people to a goal of an inclusive environment, which respects and values everyone in the workplace. It enables people to work together effectively and creates a healthy environment of inclusivity.

### A gentle reminder

Signs, posters, a little email. All gentle reminders that today is zero-discrimination day. Alternatively, have posters up all year round. What’s the point of having just for one day? Why not have gentle reminders available to employees all year round. You can design your own posters, or UNAIDS has some <a href='https://www.unaids.org/en/2019_ZDD_campaign/posters' target='blank'> ready made</a> for you.

### A talk from a keynote speaker

What about a keynote speaker? A keynote speaker is a talk from a known individual or expert, which establishes an underlying theme. This could be integrated into other zero-discrimination activities, i.e. a workshop. Keynote speakers usually raise interest in a specific event or topic. Think about bringing a speaker who has previous experience working in fields dealing with discrimination, someone who has been subject to discrimination, an academic with a particular focus on discrimination or someone with a very different perspective on discrimination to the norm.

____

## 5 tips to implement to promote zero discrimination culture at your company

![Ideas to Make Zero-Discrimination Day Work](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/sTmYFPU3I4vlHL0AqL7LU/3341903fe72700f1bc7d54b36a4a0398/Zero_Discrimination_Culture.png)

### 1. Effective Recruitment

Recruiting new staff is exciting. If you’re just starting to recruit staff, you're entering a brave new world. If you are a big company you can always improve your hiring process. Perhaps the first step to promoting a zero-discrimination culture, is to implement an effective recruitment strategy which avoids discrimination. How do you do that? Firstly, advertise your job widely, and not in singular places which attract similar groups. Secondly, in the person specification and criteria, avoid loaded language and be objective for the role. Don’t describe a certain person, describe the role.Try and avoid [unconscious biases](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/10-examples-of-unconscious-bias) throughout the recruitment process During interviews their are given questions you cannot ask, i.e questions based on age or prospective children. Finally it is imperative that you maintain a record of your decision making and contact with potential employees.

### 2. Promote Supportive Dialogue

Creating an environment which is inquisitive and open to supportive dialogue is bound to help drive you towards zero-discrimination culture. Try and create a culture where people can ask about others’ backgrounds and cultures, and an environment where people feel comfortable explaining said background to others. A big misconception is that with a lack of knowledge comes the fact that you may want to try and avoid these types of conversations. But without encouraging people to learn from others, you can’t reach a point of inclusivity at work.

### 3. Training and Awareness Workshops

Regular training, diversity, awareness and anti-discrimination are great ways to maintain a zero-discrimination culture. Training helps employees become more aware of unconscious biases, unknown knowledge and other barriers to inclusivity. Training of this type can motivate positive behaviours and change attitudes in the workplace. It also helps to create a culture of respect, diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.

### 4. Equality, Diversity and Discrimination Policies

It is essential, in order to achieve zero-discrimination, to have proper equality, diversity and anti-discrimination procedures and policies. They are needed to protect employees from individual discrimination and structural discrimination. They are needed to protect the opportunities and rights of different groups of people. Make sure to have proper structure, processes and policies in place. You can have a look at ours [here](https://www.peoplegoal.com/resources/policies/diversity-and-inclusion-policy).

### 5. Understanding Biases

Making people aware of their unconscious bias is tough. Training and workshops are a great method to try and make this happen. By promoting awareness of possible biases, it makes people more receptive to others’ position. By not addressing unconscious bias it can lead to unintentional discrimination and poor decision making.

____

So with zero-discrimination day just around the corner it’s time to think about how you can create a culture of openness, diversity and inclusivity. Think about trying these strategies for zero-discrimination day, and also for creating a culture of zero-discrimination at your organization.

What and when is zero-discrimination day? What can we do as an organization to make zero-discrimination day work for us?

What can you do as an organization to make zero-discrimination day work? And how does one achieve a culture of zero discrimination?

Ideas for Zero-Discrimination Day

Ideas to Make Zero-Discrimination Day Work

What and when is zero-discrimination day?

## How to deal with negative feedback?

Recieving negative feedback is something that happened to all of us at some point. What we have *not* all experienced, and I can look back on previous personal experience, is the best way to deal with it. How can you respond to someone looking upon your work negatively? What steps are best to take? __No one likes receiving negative feedback, but it is there for our benefit__. Now, it is possible to reason unfair negative feedback. But the focus of today's blog is to look at how to best respond to negative feedback, not how to respond to unfair feedback. With that covered, lets look at some steps you may want to take in order to get the most from negative feedback.

____

## 10 Steps to Help Deal with Negative Feedback

![10 Steps to Help Deal with Negative Feedback](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4v2H5q0BI5IOP7TFgtX5sU/c16a7d27088bcb1511e9fae13b531774/Negative_Feedback.png)

### 1. Pause First

This one happens to us all, so don’t feel like you are on your own. The natural reaction to any criticism is to respond defensively. This is true not just for workplace-based feedback. Now, we aren’t telling you not to respond defensively, as this is really hard to control. However, what you can control is pausing. 

Pause when you hear the feedback. Listen to it. It may be the case that once you review the feedback, you can start to understand your supervisor's feedback.

### 2. Review the Feedback

Evaluate the feedback as objectively as possible. This will help you get the most out of your feedback. So, how do you do it? Firstly, listen to your reviewer. Ask for evidence and examples of the described behaviors, so that you can get more clarity on the feedback.

### 3. Negative Feedback is Positive!

There are so many reasons to view negative feedback in a positive light. Firstly, negative feedback means that your manager or supervisor cares about you. They want you to improve and they are motivated to see you develop. If they were not bothered, they would have given bland, neutral feedback.

Negative feedback is an eye-opener for you. It’s great to hear positive feedback and be [recognized](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-recognition-quotes)but negative feedback helps you to identify areas which need improving. While it may be bitter to swallow, if you want to improve, you need to hear what you’re not so good at.

### 4. Don’t React Defensively

During a feedback meeting, it is likely that you might feel slightly attacked when given negative feedback.

Reacting defensively is normal. You have a choice in your reaction though. Try not to respond with, ‘*that’s incorrect*’ or ‘*no, you’re wrong*’. Pause for a short-time, and come back with a measured response. Giving yourself time will allow you to process the feedback. It is rather easy to interpret comments in a way that they were not meant. Give yourself time to think, and come back measured.

### 5. Don’t React Impulsively

Receiving particularly negative, emotion inducing or critical feedback is tough. You may want to react  in the moment to defend yourself. In order to make feedback more effective and in order for you to look professional, try to avoid reacting impulsively when hearing critical feedback.

### 6. Ask for Exemplary Behavior

If your manager has given you areas where you need to improve, ask for specifics. Ask for where you haven’t been up to scratch. Why weren’t you up to scratch in that area and how do you improve? Ask for exemplary behaviour in that area so you can give yourself a target to reach.

### 7. Ask Questions

Asking questions is particularly useful. Firstly, it follows on from the classic saying, ‘*if you don’t ask, you don’t get*’. If you don’t ask [questions](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/what-feedback-questions-to-ask), you won’t receive the desired benefits.

- __What areas aren’t I improving in?__
- __How can I get better at X?__
- __What do I need to get better at this? __
- __Who is an expert in this field?__
- __Can I work more closely with an individual to improve?__

…

Secondly, asking questions eliminates the perception of defensiveness or impulsivity. Instead questions allow you to pause, and provide you with the opportunity to understand and clarify feedback.

### 8. Ask for Time

Ask for a bit of time to review the feedback. Managers shouldn’t expect you to assimilate negative feedback and respond immediately. We aren’t telling you to take a few weeks and come back to your manager. It is essential to respond quickly, but ask for time to respond appropriately, and in order for you to properly assimilate the negative feedback.

Asking for time prevents you from reacting defensively or impulsively. It also conveys the message to your manager, that you are properly considering what they have to say. And for you, it gives you time to consider the validity and appropriateness of the feedback.

### 9. Take Action

Following on from the point that negative feedback is actually positive, you need to take action. Take accountability for the areas you need to improve. Own your prior actions and take action for the areas which have been identified as your weaknesses.

### 10. Move on

An important one to finish, __try not to get hung up on the criticism__. Do not get too down on negative feedback. Absorb the reasoning, take on board the lessons, implement actions to improve and move on more positive from the feedback.

Negative feedback is not easy to hear at first. And we aren’t saying it should be. however negative feedback when provided [correctly](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/6-principles-of-constructive-feedback), has the potential to do a lot of good. We’ve tried to provide some steps to make sure you get the most out of the feedback if it is ever negative.

Receiving negative feedback is never nice. But it often can be a positive experience. Here's how to make negative feedback benefit you.

Receiving negative feedback is never nice. But there are ways to make it benefit you. Here's how to make negative feedback benefit you.

10 Steps to Help Deal with Negative Feedback

360 reviews have become a popular part of the continuous performance management cycle because they allow us to __assess a broader picture of our behavior and skills__. These can be consequently discussed in our regular employee-manager meetings. We all have blindspots in our work life that impact our professional development. 360 reviews that are __focused on personal performance improvement__, not performance outcomes, can be an incredibly valuable tool for encouraging new perspectives and __developing skills__ in a long term.

___

## What is a 360 review?

A 360 review (also often called [360 degree feedback](https://www.peoplegoal.com/glossary/360-feedback)) asks for individual assessments across many different work relationships. 360 reviews provide an insightful, broad-picture assessment of an individual's behavior from multiple touchpoints. While most organizations are familiar with annual employee performance appraisals, __a 360 review is not a performance review__! 

360 reviews are personal and help employees to develop their business and interpersonal skills, and shouldn't focus on the delivery of targets and outcomes. Everybody can improve no matter what level they're at. 360 reviews are therefore useful for everyone from the CEO to middle management to entry level employees.

___

## Who participates in a 360 review?

There is no set formula for who should participate, but always keep in mind that the 360 review is about the individual. You want to gather 360 evaluations from __participants at multiple levels__ in the employee's working life. Also be aware that you want enough participants to give a broad performance feedback picture for the individual, but not too many that you overwhelm everyone with the number of feedback reports they need to write. Generally __4-7 reviewers per employee__ works well, and these should include:

- Supervisors (project-based or dotted line managers)
- Colleagues
- Subordinates
- Senior leaders
- Clients and external suppliers (if relevant to the employee's role)

![360 Review Participants](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/5ZeTrwwm19yAv5H6TwEzsT/79446e7caab8810456232302c7b82a02/360_Review_Participants_PeopleGoal.png)

___

## Why are 360 reviews useful?

Flatter organizational structures can see managers and team leads supervising upwards of 20 individuals at a time, and that can create difficulties in assessment when you're relying on just a direct manager's feedback.

360 reviews provide a more __rounded view of an employee's behaviors and contributions__. Meeting one's targets is important. However, if they get there by undermining fellow employees and causing stress for others, both they and their manager need to be aware of that and implement steps to improve their interpersonal skills.

Your colleagues can also have areas of skills and expertise you're not aware of, and can provide really useful suggestions for your own professional development that are as important as a direct manager's plan.

____

## The 360 review process

- Administrators create a set of review questions to assess skills, competencies and development areas for all employees.
- Employees (in consultation with their line manager) nominate participants to provide feedback.
- Managers receive and collate all feedback.
- Managers deliver summary feedback to the employee and develop an action plan together.
- Development and progress from the last 360 review cycle is discussed.

___

## Questions to include in a 360 review

360 review questions should focus on __skills development, interpersonal relationships and an individual's demonstration of competencies and company values__. Keep your questions short, simple and focused on one core area at a time. Make sure that your 360 review doesn't take participants longer than 15-20 minutes to complete. Otherwise you will have people losing interest in the process, especially over multiple review cycles.

Some of the skills you can assess are:

- Teamwork
- Communication
- Organizational values
- Problem solving
- Leadership

You can also grab a few of our [general feedback questions](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/what-feedback-questions-to-ask) that will help you to design a 360 review form across a few different business areas.

---

### New to 360 reviews? Try our feedback phrases builder!


<div align="center">
  <iframe
    src="https://www.peoplegoal.com/feedback-templates"
    scrolling="yes" frameborder="0" marginheight="0px" marginwidth="0px"
    height="460px" width="800px" allowfullscreen>
  </iframe>
</div>

---

## Tips when creating 360 reviews

- __Keep it short__ (no long-form surveys).
- Consider __start, stop and continue feedback__. Ask reviewers to identify what an employee should start doing (where they can improve), what they should stop doing (critical areas hindering their work) and what they should continue doing (what's going well).
- __Train and coach__ individuals to give and receive constructive feedback well. People can be reluctant to participate when they've never done a 360 review before and don't have the right tools to help them. Some resources to help you with training include:

[Examples of positive feedback for colleagues](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/positive-feedback-for-colleagues-examples-and-tips) <br>
[How to ask for feedback for yourself](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-ask-for-feedback) <br>
[How to give feedback to a supervisor](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/how-to-give-manager-feedback-5-examples) <br>

- Take the time to properly explain __why you're running a 360 review__, what the outcomes will be and what levels of confidentiality are enforced.
- Always follow up with __face to face meetings__. Receiving critical feedback can be tough, and it's a manager's job to summarize key themes and deliver these in an empathetic and encouraging way.
- __Don't feed 360 reviews in to compensation and bonus plans__. Doing so almost guarantees you'll stop getting honest feedback when people are aware that their bonus is on the line.
- Get __senior leadership buy-in__ to the 360 review process. When leadership is modelling the behavior they want to see in the organization, it's 10 times easier to get employees to understand the importance and benefits of 360 reviews.

---

When properly constructed you can deliver a great 360 review process that really helps individuals to develop their professional skills. Always remember that the feedback loop is continuous, and you can improve on every feedback cycle. If you'd like to learn more about the history of 360 degree feedback and why it has such a big impact on organizations, check out our [Essential Guide](https://www.peoplegoal.com/guides/360-feedback-the-essential-guide).

A great 360 review encourages employees to develop their professional and interpersonal skills and highlights the blindspots we all miss in our own behavior.

How to Deliver a Successful 360 Review

360 Review

Workflows are the ways people get a task done, the vast majority of the time these can be illustrated as __a series of steps that need to be completed sequentially in a diagram or alternatively a checklist__. This helps individuals breakdown and visualize the steps that need to be taken to get a task done. You can execute a workflow as an individual, or if a task includes other people, they can also be incorporated into the process. Each workflow example starts by describing the overall goal of the process, which in turn summerizes what the workflow should achieve, and the context in which you may be able to automate this process.


This system can be hugely beneficial to the majority of human resources processes, as such we have put together 5 custom workflow examples for human resources processes. Each workflow example starts by describing the overall goal of the process, which in turn summarizes what the workflow should achieve, and the context in which you may be able to automate this process.


____

## Hiring an employee

There’s no right or wrong way to conduct your recruitment, so this system can be manipulated as a workflow constantly. This example changes focus from filling a vacancy to responding to a job application, which makes more sense when there are few applicants for positions that generally stay open. It gives you an overarching view of what needs to be done for an employee to be successfully recruited. Once you have advertised your job, and had applications sent in, the second step in the hiring process is evaluating the CV. This will primarily be completed by the talent manager, however those CV's that stand out will usually be put forward in front of the individual that will be managing the new hire. 

Once the CV's have been evaluated and a certain number of them approved, the next stage will be to plan the interview. Considering you will most likely need more than one person's opinion on hiring an individual, you will need to organize three calendars accordingly to find the best suitable time to conduct the interviews. Conducting the interviews in bulk can work better as you can set aside a whole morning for interviews and get them done in slots. Once you've find a time that works for both the interviewee and the interviewer, you'll need to interview the potential hire. During this stage, it would be useful to take notes to refer to in the future when you are making the decision. Once you have conducted all the interviews of the individual candidates, you will need to decide which candidates are succesful, and which are going to be rejected. Once this has been decided, you can draft up an offer of employment which will need to include information along the line of; a job title, job description, reporting structure, salary, starting date, benefits information and eligibility, acknowledgement of offer. 

![worflow1 peoplegoal](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4iDXegqGXDueMBGPCK6VcZ/e33ac1b64c648f6f8eed8e7723a4a0ce/worflow1_peoplegoal.png)

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## Approve Vacation Request:

Perhaps we should have started with this as it’s the most basic, but even approving a vacation request can have a workflow. The greater purpose of using such a system within workflow software is to be able to track the steps each individual took within the process for future reference. 

Here you can see the simple steps incorporated, starting with an employee submitting a vacation request. The employee's, manager with then be notified that the employee has submitted the vacation request and will have to analyze the request and decide if the employee has enough days holiday left, and if the vacation time requested will suit the running of the business. If if the vacation time requested is feasible, then the manager can approve the request, or deny the request if not. Either way the employee will then receive a notification dependant on the outcome. 

![workflow2 peoplegoal](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/4sZoGZXucqkKeCWrXoeamz/0eda45006e74e0035ff678feebd2d62e/workflow2_peoplegoal.png)

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## Onboarding

The onboarding breaks down into a series of phases, each of which includes a number of parallel preparation tasks. The key milestones are signing a contract with a start date, the first day in the office, and the end of an initial trial period. Nonetheless, prior to the onboarding, an employer should gather the future employees details necessary for employment, this can range from national insurance numbers to proof of residency. The next step would be conducted by the hiring manager, and will incorporate the pre-employment checks, this can range from vetting a new hires social media, to a full Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS). 

The next step - new joiner activities- will incorporate the more social side of onboarding, this can range from providing the assets necessary to do the job such as a laptop or a car, to introducing the individual to the team they will be working with, and then taking them out for lunch to go through some icebreakers. The confirmation stage is necessary for the employee to confirm that they have everything they need, both material and knowledgeable to complete the tasks they have been set. The last stage 'Post-employment review' is a highly important aspect of onboarding, it's dependant on the employer as to the time scale of when this is undertaken, but usually this happens at the end of ones probation. This is essentially a check in to make sure the employee has everything they need to complete their work, and is coping well with the work they have been given. This opens up the conversation of what the next steps are to improve the employees performance. 

![workflow3 peoplegoal](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/1upsXM8F3DLC7rTH5yI8E8/2fcbe288a5b2b852bcf2bc9d9ea77605/workflow3_peoplegoal.png)

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## Reimbursement of expenses

Reimbursing expenses is a vital HR component of many big corporations, therefore having a process in place is key, and to control and approve all of this is a complex procedure, involving several departments. Creating a workflow process for this makes everything happen faster in additions to allowing cost control and cost analysis to check deviations or procedures that can lower costs. 

This begins with an employee submitting a reimbursement request for an expense they incurred to the whoever may be responsible, this is usually management. Management will then analyze the expense to judge whether or not the claim fulfils the necessary requirements, then approve or reject it. If approved, the necessary documentation will be needed to be sent to the individual(s) in charge of company finances who have the ability to reimburse an employee. Once the reimbursement has been paid, the employee will need to receive an email deposit receipt for their own reference. 

![workflow4 peoplegoal](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/qcqYXSAZ4te0DEDBCNDu9/f89b9f08fe759688fd4616379272c7d9/workflow4_peoplegoal.png)

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## Employee offboarding

A perfect resignation procedure is quite significant for both employers and employees. As for the former, the staff are very important for company's long-term development and profit earning. So it's crucial for employers to retain talented workers and maintain image in exit procedure. A good resignation process not only ensures that relevant things concerning resignation are dealt with effectively but can also help to receive much useful feedback from resigning employees. Here is an example workflow for employee off-boarding. This has been broken down into phases, each of which incorporates specific details: 

__Phase 1__: The basic information to be submitted by the employee that is leaving the company such as name, team, manager, date of resignation, and an attachment of their letter of resignation. 

__Manager input__: A manager will need to acknowledge the change, and notify those who the change will affect, and start putting a plan into action for the handover. Furthermore they will need to analyze which documents (if any) the employee will need to fillout and send over before they leave. 

__Phase 2__: The employee will need to complete all the necessary documentation provided by management. This is dependant on your own organisational requirements, however it could include; NDA's, non compete agreements, benefits documents, and asset documentation. 

__Document & Asset Recovery__: This is an acknowledgement upon receiving the necessary documentation, and assets from the employee. 

__Phase 3__: Knowledge transfer. This is the process of the employee transferring any knowledge that they may need to such as client introductions, and research conducting, or project management if they are part of a project that is yet to be complete. 

__Knowledge transfer Acknowledgement__: The manager must acknowledge that all bases have been covered, and all necessary information passed over. 

__Final Stage__: Hold a farewell gathering for the employee, perhaps buy them a departing gift, or just say 'goodbye', its totally up to you. 

![workflow5 peoplegoal](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/6YcVDv2vGlZCdw9PmEiiGY/25e85ca3bbac3719c83164923cd7d8ee/workflow5_peoplegoal.png)



HR workflows are a great way to break down and visualize the steps that need to be taken to complete a task. They can be complex, so we have put together 5 workflow examples for you.

HR workflows are a great way to break down and visualize the steps that need to be taken to complete a task. 

5 Custom Workflow Examples for Human Resources Processes

HR workflows are a great way to break down and visualise the steps that need to be taken to complete a task. They can be complex, so we have put together 5 workflow examples for you.

## What is Employee Loyalty?

Employee loyalty is thought of as a generic term. But its actually a really important workplace concept, which organizations need to make sure they are doing the best they can to increase employee loyalty in the workplace. Employee loyalty can be defined as the extent to which employees are devoted to an organization. The extent to which they are devoted to an organization and believe that staying at the organization is in their best interest. 

Further, they are not actively seeking other employment. Employee loyalty is about reciprocity. Reciprocity between an employee and the employer. Wherein the employee feels wanted by the organization and in return continues to work to their best and is not seeking other work. Employee loyalty is a spectrum. From active disloyalty to active loyalty.

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## Why is Employee Loyalty Important?

Maybe you are asking yourself why employee loyalty is important? Should you hope to boost loyalty organically? Or do you need to actively look at how you improve employee engagement? Employee loyalty is super important, here’s why?

![The benefits of employee loyalty](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/3dDrCZfT3pD3t6k7CUtBgS/d61eb6348173d2c62fc2fb5b8f485143/The_benefits_of_employee_loyalty.png)

- Loyal employees contribute the most to your productivity levels.
- Value creation
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Organizational Success
- Customer Loyalty
- Greater Employee Retention
- More engaged employees

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## 5 Steps to Improve Employee Loyalty

We know that making employee loyalty strategy work can be tough. So we’ve got some top tips to help you out;

![5 steps to improve employee loyalty](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/1PSf0jQ1Lz72jLZW2aJk39/a4a3546f1b4648b74c095c568dd546fe/5_steps_to_improve_employee_loyalty.png)

### Invest in Progression, Education, and Training

One of the best ways to show employees you care about them is to invest in them. Invest in their progression by investing in education and training courses for them to enroll on. Provide education and training so that you show them you care about their development. Perhaps stagger your training so with greater experience you can do harder training courses. Or alternatively, make more challenging courses optional.

A little caveat, before investing in additional training, make sure you provide necessary training. A sure-fire way not to get loyal employees is to have no training at all. So, include the basics. What does the role mean? What equipment and systems training will be needed.

### Promote Internally

Hiring staff internally gives staff a clear message. You want them to progress and lead this company. Promoting internally will show your employees a clear career progression. It will show to them that you care and appreciate their work, and that you want them to succeed. Further, it shows that their hard work and loyalty is recognized and rewarded. This isn’t to say that external candidates shouldn’t be considered. Some positions will require external candidates. Consider having an unwritten policy of internal promotion in order to improve employee loyalty.

### Co-create your strategy

Your employee loyalty strategy shouldn’t be top-down. It shouldn’t be thought up and implemented purely by management and senior leaders. Your strategy should be vertically integrated. Using people from all around the organization and should have a heavy employee focus. Who knows what employees most want in order to become more loyal? The employees. 

Organizations that have a better understanding of what their employees want have the best chance of supporting them and making them feel wanted. Think about the things which will feed into loyalty. Goals, development, career progression, appreciation.

### Open communication and feedback channels

Create healthy communication and feedback channels with your employees. This is essential to the success of manager-employee relationships in the workplace. Try and make communication more open. Managers should meet with employees frequently to discuss development, satisfaction, goals, etc. 

As a manager, you will be able to identify key areas for development or issues that need addressing. Gallup research indicates that managers who invest time with their employees in order to build trust and positive relationships contribute 48% higher profits to companies.

### Control

So much to fit in this topic. What does control mean for loyalty? Let’s start with micro-management. Micro-management is the embodiment of overbearing control. The employee has no authority or scope for maneuverability in their work. Part of gaining employee loyalty is employee trust. Showing them that you trust them to do their work is necessary to gain loyalty. On the other end of the spectrum is [employee empowerment](https://www.peoplegoal.com/blog/employee-empowerment). 

Employee empowerment is a sure-fire way to gain employee loyalty. It means giving employees a degree of autonomy, responsibility, and freedom to do their work. It is essentially ‘handing over the reins’ to the employee.

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Employee loyalty is essential to the success of any organization. Consider implementing these steps into your strategy to make yours a success.

Find out what is employee loyalty, the importance of employee loyalty and how to implement an effective program in your company.

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