Employee communication is challenging. It takes time, effort and collaboration to create a clear, unified message. And that’s just the beginning of the process.
Once you’ve crafted your message, you have to figure out how to make sure everyone sees it, hears it, and understands it.
This is true across the board, including when it comes to employee benefits.
Can communication affect benefits?
You bet it can. Many companies spend a tremendous amount of money on health benefits, only to spend very little time communicating about them. With some very real consequences. This lack of information transfer can actually increase the cost and decrease the value of your plan and affect your bottom line.
As a business, you want to provide employee benefits that are cost effective and a great incentive to recruit and retain top talent. But if employees don’t know how to use their benefits, they can’t use them wisely. And if they don’t understand what they are being offered, they can’t fully appreciate the value.
Both of these things run counter to what you are trying to accomplish.
Make benefits communication a priority
It’s tempting to put most of your focus into shopping for and securing the policy. But having a policy in place doesn’t help you out much if no one knows how it works. And skimping on communication will only lead to employee confusion and HR headaches.
No one has a bunch of empty time blocks floating around on the calendar. Many days, it feels like a struggle just to check off the basics. But slowing down and taking the time to build better communication practices can actually help you move faster. How? By helping you avoid the all too common side effects of poor employee benefits communication.
When you fail to communicate clearly, you can very easily end up with:
Managers repeatedly needing to explain plan details and enrollment processes
Employees seeking management time to ask questions and clarify procedures
Co-workers frequently discussing their frustrations and confusion
Loss of trust due to lack of transparency and clarity
Lower levels of employee engagement
If this sounds less than ideal, don’t worry. There are ways you can start improving employee communication today. Here’s one quick idea:
Hold regular team meetings to share company goals and updates, benefits information, client success stories, employee kudos, etc.
Make sure your meetings are short, specific, and a good use of time
Keep them moving with a variety of interesting and educational information
Send the agenda in advance so people can come prepared to participate
End each meeting by confirming what everyone should take away and what follow up is needed
Take some positive steps to improve employee communication, and see how far you can go!
Having trouble with employee communications? We can help with that. There’s so much more to employee benefits than policies and premiums. A great benefits broker will help make sure you, your employees, and your business are all healthy and productive. Get in touch with Sonus to see how we can help your organization become a local employer of choice.
Leadership + Management |By Scott Schulte,
The Key to Successful Onboarding is… Pre-boarding?
When it comes to onboarding, the temptation is to think of everything that needs to be done as soon as that person walks in the door. This strategy can be overwhelming, for HR and new hires alike. Especially if the focus is on checking these things off the list as quickly as humanly possible.
So what if we took a different approach? What if, as business and HR professionals, we decided to slow down, back up, and do a little pre-boarding?
Make it a first class experience
It’s no secret that first class passengers get special treatment. They get on the plane before everyone else. They have their own section, their own bathroom, and the super fancy snacks. As for the rest of us? We just stare longingly at those warm towels and champagne flutes as we’re being herded back to our sad, little seats.
How do you want your new hire to feel?
Like a coveted and special addition to the group? Or like a small cog in a crowded wheel? Investing a little bit of time into onboarding will go a long way to make the transition smooth, pleasant, and productive for everyone.
Start before they walk in the door
It’s hard to get excited about a party guest if you don’t know they’re coming.
If you’re not talking about your new hire before they start, you’re missing out on an opportunity to build interest and rapport with the rest of the team. Introduce your new person before he or she actually arrives. This can be done easily in staff meetings or via email, and will set the stage for recognition and positive interactions when they finally arrive.
Not sold on the idea? Consider this example of two very different first day interactions.
First class ticket: “Hey! You must be Mike, our new IT star. We heard you were joining the team!”
From the cheap seats: “Are you part of the cleaning crew? My garbage can is overflowing.”
It’s pretty obvious which scenario is better and more welcoming to your new hire. And it’s very easy to prevent the second scene from playing out.
Want to build excitement with new hires and current staff? Promote your new employees before they even walk in the door, and let the rest of the team know how they fit into the bigger picture.
Communication is key
Just because Tim is replacing Ann doesn’t mean that position will or should stay exactly the same. Take some time to create/update the job description in a way that will allow your new staff member to contribute their greatest value to the organization.
Once you’ve hired that perfect fit, communicate the news to your team.
Be open and clear. Let key people know what things might be different moving forward and why you’re excited about the value the new person will bring. This will avoid pigeonholing of your new hire and alleviate unnecessary comparisons to the person they replaced. It will also make the rest of the team comfortable with where they fit in and how their roles may change or adjust moving forward.
Be specific
When will this person start? Where will they be working? Who will be their direct supervisor?
If you’re a large company, it’s not necessary to alert the entire company on every single new hire, but certainly those on the new person’s team will want to know.
There’s nothing worse than leaving your employees in the dark on things that affect their working environment. Give your staff the information they need to be successful. The more they know, the more valued they feel, and the more excited they will be to welcome and mentor new team members.
Make it a group effort
Successful onboarding is a team sport.
You want your new hire to feel welcomed, valued, and excited about the possibilities. This means they need exposure to more than just their immediate supervisor and occasional training videos.
Bring your employee on with a little fanfare and a lot of interaction with the team. If you’ve got the resources, assign a mentor and/or accountability partner. Plant the seeds that will help your new employees grow into their positions and into the company.
And throw in some fun while you’re at it
Finding a great new employee is exciting. Everything is fresh and everyone is ready to jump in and get a strong start.
As a Human Resources professional, you play a key role in making sure onboarding in a way that is beneficial to the new employee, your current staff, and your HR team. A little pre-boarding excitement and first-class fun will go a long way to making sure that’s what happens.
There’s so much more to employee benefits than policies and premiums. A great benefits broker will make sure you, your employees, and your business are protected. Is your agent looking out for you? At Sonus Benefits, this is what we do for St. Louis employers every day.
Leadership + Management |By Tom Murphy,
Is Your Organizational Leadership What You Need it to Be?
Strong organizations need strong leadership. It’s as simple as that.
If you’re struggling to figure out if your company has the kind of leaders you need to take the organization forward, here are some key symptoms that can help you diagnose a potential leadership problem.
No one said it was easy
The thing about bad leaders is that they aren’t necessarily bad people. In fact, they can be some of the nicest people you know. But if the leaders in your organization aren’t thinking strategically, making tough decisions, getting your team fired up, and empowering them to succeed, they aren’t actually leading. And your organization may be suffering.
If you’ve got managers who seem afraid to commit to true leadership, you’ll need to help them get onboard. Or help them off the bus.
Note: If you are in a leadership position and the thought of doing either of these things scares you to death, you are part of the problem.
If you’re not in a leadership role but want to know if you’re working for a leader who can help you develop your career, you’ll want to start paying attention.
Leadership matters to everyone
Whether you’re at the top looking down or the bottom looking up, you’ll want to assess the effectiveness of the leadership within your business.
Take advantage of team sessions and one-on-one meetings to start asking some questions about where the company (and your future) is headed. Here are some to ask:
What is the company vision for the next 3 years?
How will you help get us there?
Are specific goals in place for the organization? For this department?
How will you measure and reward success?
Any great leader would be thrilled to be asked any or all of these questions.
If that’s not the case, you may be dealing with a weak or reluctant leader. And reluctant leaders often have a hard time performing the way you need them to.
Leaders gone AWOL
Great leaders may be ridiculously busy, but they always show up when you need them to. If you feel like your top people are playing hide-and-seek instead of follow-the-leader, you need to take a closer look at what’s going on.
Absentee leadership can happen for a number of reasons. Sometimes, people are just too comfortable. They’ve done their time and now they want to coast. Other times it’s the opposite. They could be overwhelmed by what’s going on in the organization and/or uncomfortable addressing certain circumstances or challenges. Or there could be something entirely different going on, such as a personal situation or illness they may be dealing with.
No matter the reason, an absentee leader isn’t what you or your employees need.
But it is an opportunity to showcase the kind of leadership you want to see in your organization. Don’t ignore the problem. Take action. Once you’ve discovered the root of the issue, then you can come up with a plan to address it in an effective and encouraging way.
Have those tough conversations, make those difficult decisions, and keep moving forward. That’s what leaders do.
But what if I’m just an employee?
You may not have the power to affect change at a company level, but you can make changes for yourself.
If you’re happy in your role but think you could benefit from some additional leadership in your life, start looking for it in other places.
Find a colleague you admire to be a professional mentor
Seek out opportunities to work with other teams and leaders in your organization
Volunteer for or participate in business groups in your community
If you still find yourself craving an environment that will allow you to innovate, try new things, come together as a team, and be inspired on the job, you probably won’t be happy until you’re in an organization with a strong leadership culture.
In other words, you may need to hop off the wrong bus and get on the right one.
And if I’m the leader?
Don’t sit still and watch your people walk out the door.
Start by giving your leaders the skills they need to excel in their positions. Then step up your own game and be the leader your organization needs you to be.
Your team is counting on you.
Recruiting and retaining employees is easier when you can proudly offer a comprehensive benefits plan that makes your team members feel as valuable as they are. At Sonus Benefits, we build cost effective, long-lasting employee benefits strategies to keep your business and your employees in optimum health. Our goal is to take your business where you want it to go.
Culture & Community |By Sonus Benefits,
How to Flu-Proof Your Organization. Or at Least Try.
Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of workplaces like the dreaded F-word. You know the one. Flu season. Just reading it is enough to make you want to run out and buy a gallon of hand sanitizer.
Nobody wants to get the flu. And no one wants to see it ripping through their organization. Not only does it make people miserable, it can also make businesses run miserably.
A bout of the flu typically lasts one to two weeks. That’s a lot of missed work! Estimates have put the cost of lost productivity due to flu season as high as 15 billion dollars. That’s enough to make any business owner feel sick.
Luckily, there are ways to help mitigate the damage. And with the health of your employees (and your business!) on the line, they are definitely worth exploring.
1.) Adopt healthy habits
Exposure to the flu isn’t always obvious. People can be contagious without even knowing it. When flu season rolls around, it’s good to establish (or re-establish) healthy office habits that help prevent transmission.
Good Hygiene – Encourage frequent hand washing. Keep hand sanitizer, tissues and disinfectant readily available. Remind people to cough and sneeze into the crook of their arms and not their hands.
Sick time – Offer paid sick time and make sure everyone (including you) knows it’s okay to use it. Make it clear that sick employees should stay home, especially if they have a fever or other flu symptoms. “Working through the flu” may seem admirable, but the ROI just isn’t there. Not only are sick employees less productive, they’re much more likely to spread their misfortune to other staff members. Employees who stay home can help prevent the domino effect.
Remote work – If your employees have the ability to work from home, flu season is a great time to let them take advantage of it. If they are feeling under the weather, they don’t have to make that difficult decision about whether or not to trek into the office. And if they’ve got sick kids or other family members, remote working can offer some much needed flexibility.
Hold fewer meetings – If the flu is spreading like wildfire, throwing a bunch of employees into a room together and closing the door is the equivalent of creating an office Petri dish. Assess which meetings need to happen and which ones don’t. And consider using conference calls, video chats, or other technology to make them happen.
Skip the handshakes – A good, solid handshake is a business staple. But if it’s contaminated with and undetected virus, you’re better off skipping it. Encourage employees to skip the shake. A smile, nod or wave will often do the trick.
2.) Encourage immunizations
Flu shots are no guarantee that you won’t get sick, but they definitely help.Studies show that the flu vaccine reduces the risk of flu illness by about 40% to 60% among the overall population.
Yes, it IS true that you can get the flu even if you get the vaccination:
If you were exposed to the flu before the shot.
If you are exposed to the flu before the vaccine has time to do its job (1 – 2 weeks)
If you are exposed to a strain of the flu that isn’t covered by the shot
If you have a compromised immune system
But there are some serious upsides to getting vaccinated. Studies show that flu vaccines not only reduce the risk of influenza, they also:
Make your illness milder if you do get sick
Reduce the risk of flu-related complications and deaths
Protect pregnant women and reduce the risk of flu illness in their babies for several months after birth
Protect the people around you, including babies and children, elderly people, and individuals with certain chronic health conditions.
One study showed that flu vaccinations reduced deaths, ICU admissions, and overall duration of hospitalization stays for flu patients.
If you could reduce the number of employees with the flu by 40 – 60 percent, would you do it?
As an employer, you can reduce the risk of a flu outbreak by encouraging immunizations. You may even want to go an extra step further and host a flu shot clinic, making it easy and convenient for employees to get their shot. If cost is a barrier, consider subsidizing or covering the expense. It’s a small price to pay for a healthier workplace.
Is your benefits broker also a compliance consultant? How about a trusted business partner? Are you confident your policies and processes are doing what they need to ensure that your company—and your employees— are healthy and productive? At Sonus Benefits, this is what we do for St. Louis employers every single day.
Culture & Community |By Tom Murphy,
Increase Employee Retention by Improving Company Culture
Worried about hanging on to your employees? So is everyone else.
According to aKorn Ferry study, a whopping 90% of executives said they felt employee retention was an issue. And many of them admitted to losing new hires because of issues with company culture.
In fact, nearly 20% of the executives surveyed said company culture was the primary reason new employees left within the first year.
Research by Right Management backs this theory up. When employee were asked their top motivations for changing jobs, 25% said they were leaving to find a better work culture. Let that sink in for a moment:
Nearly a quarter of all employee turnover may be due to company culture.
Companies can no longer afford to let culture simmer quietly on the back burner. Creating and nurturing a positive culture is critical to attracting and retaining employees. Companies that leave culture and cultural fit to chance are leaving their businesses to chance as well.
Is change possible?
Changing something intangible like company culture might seem overwhelming, time consuming, and maybe even impossible.
When it comes down to it, shouldn’t your main priority be making widgets or providing top notch service?
Yes and no.
Yes, you have to keep your core business running, but if you want to stick around for the long haul, you’ve also got to throw yourself into creating a business model that is actually sustainable— and a culture to match. To continue to be successful, you have to make your organization attractive to current and potential employees.
Making culture happen
When it comes to intentionally building your company culture, there are three basic steps:
1.) Know where you are
To improve on what you have, you must first understand the current company culture, including its strengths and weaknesses. Take a good (and honest) look around. You may also need to take off your rose colored glasses and develop a thick skin. Talk to people at all levels and listen to what they have to say. This is your starting point.
2.) Know where you want to be
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there. You’ll need to get your leaders together and define the core values that will drive all of the decisions and behaviors your organization. The clearer you make this, the easier it will be to execute step three.
3.) Start moving
Once you know your starting point and your desired destination, the hard work begins. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that just talking about your culture is enough. Now that you’ve identified the discrepancies between where you are and where you want to be, you’ll have to actually address the issues you’ve uncovered. And it’s going to take real, tangible action.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint
Launching your culture makeover at full speed may sound like the best plan, but be sure to pace yourself. Tackling a big issue like company culture is a long and ongoing process. And even when you get there, the process of maintaining it never really ends.
Here are some tips for managing the process:
Play the long game. Should you get started? Absolutely! But unless your culture is extremely toxic, you don’t need to try to roll all of your changes out at once. Targeting one specific group, issue, or change at a time can seem much more manageable. And you may even get some quick wins to help build your confidence and resolve.
Give people a voice. It’s much easier to get your employees behind you if they feel listened to, valued and cared about. Empower your staff to be part of the change. Involve them in the strategy and execution of your culture initiatives. Not only will you get some great ideas and insight, you will quickly see who is on board and who isn’t.
Find the bright spots. Okay. So maybe there are a lot of things going wrong. But there are probably also places where things are going right. Identify those areas and try to replicate that success. Are there particular locations or departments that seem to have a lot less employee turnover, or where the culture seems to be more in line with what the organization as a whole is trying to achieve? Put some effort into figuring out why so you can multiply the desired effect.
Examine your benefits. Employee benefits can be a powerful tool for building your culture. A great benefits program tells your employees that you value them, and that you are willing to invest in them. Not only that, but the benefits you offer are a good indication of your company values.
Vacation, flex time and PTO say you value work/life balance.
Offering childcare reimbursements screams family friendly.
Assistance with student debt repayment says you care about financial stability.
And so on.
Take a look at your newly defined culture and see if and how your benefits package is in alignment with your core values. If these things aren’t in sync, make changes until they are.
Continue the cycle
Company culture may seem like a magical, mystical thing, but the truth is it’s just hard work.
Even once you’ve achieved the culture you envisioned, you’ll still need to reassess your goals, vision, mission, and processes to make sure they all match up.
But all of this hard work will pay off. And when it does, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. Because not only will you be able to attract and retain the kinds of employees you need to propel you forward, you will literally be working at the company of your dreams.
Recruiting and retaining employees is easier when you can proudly offer a comprehensive benefits plan that makes your team members feel as valuable as they are. Get in touch with Sonus to see how we can help your organization become a local employer of choice.
Culture & Community |By Scott Schulte,
Want to Win at Business? Bring Out the Best in Your Team.
There’s a reason there are so many sports analogies in business. It’s all about competition. You’re competing for market share, you’re competing for attention, and you’re competing for the best and brightest talent.
Many of your most innovative and hard-working employees also thrive on competition. They don’t just want to do a good job. They want to be the best they can possibly be. And they want to help your company win.
It’s no secret that many businesses head straight for the athletic department when recruiting on college campuses. Why? Because they’re looking for people with that competitive spirit. But you don’t necessarily have to hire a natural athlete to get top rated talent.
Sometimes, it’s about knowing how to bring out the best in everyone on your team.
Be the Coach
Many of us have had coaches that changed our lives for the better. They taught us to love the game, the challenges, and the team. They nurtured our talents and made us feel successful. They fostered loyalty, camaraderie, and respect. They treated tough losses as opportunities to learn, grow, and improve. Yes, they celebrated winning, but also rewarded fair play, determination, and effort.
Some of us have also had coaches who made us wish we had never tried out for the team. No play was ever big enough. No effort was ever good enough. Teammates were pitted against each other, and the only thing that mattered was winning— at all costs. Even when you did win, there was no celebrating. It was all about focusing on the things that went wrong and preparing for the next battle.
If you want to cultivate hard-working, loyal employees, you can’t leave them feeling constantly defeated. You’ve got to nurture your talent in ways that make them want to keep playing, keep improving, and keep being part of the team.
Playing the long game
Successful coaches know that raw talent alone doesn’t make a great player. Neither does sheer effort. The best players are the ones who know the game inside and out. Not only do they have skills and determination, they also understand the strategy behind what moves will work and why.
If you’re not sharing your organizational vision with your team, you’re missing out on an opportunity to give your team that critical behind-the-scenes knowledge. You’re also setting yourself up for a steady stream of confusion and lackluster results. Everyone will be running in different directions. Or worse yet, stuck at the starting line.
Want to keep your team motivated and on track?
Give them the why behind what they’re doing. Share your company mission, goals, and strategy, and let them know where and how they fit in.
Recognize individual strengths and who fits best in each position. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking everyone needs to be good at everything. Your catcher is not also going to be a great pitcher. Let him do what he does best. Then groom a pitcher to compliment his talents.
Keep in mind that every team has a different dynamic, with different strengths and weaknesses. As much natural talent as your new hires have, they won’t know any of those nuances when they first join the team. Take the time to teach and mentor each new employee until they feel confident in their role.
At the end of the day, your organization’s success lies in the hands of its leaders.
If you want to build a fantastic company culture and an even better team, be that inspirational coach that made you want to be a better player. And a better person.
Running into challenges with employee performance, turnover, and retention? At Sonus Benefits, we’ve got ideas to help you address these issues and more. Get in touch with Sonus to see how we can help your organization become a local employer of choice.
Culture & Community |By Scott Schulte,
Why Employees Fail— And What You Can Do About It.
When it comes down to it, there are three basic reasons employees fail. Fortunately (or unfortunately) all of these things are within your control. Once you recognize the issues, you can work toward solutions.
When it comes down to it, there are three basic reasons employees fail.
They’re at the wrong company
They’re in the wrong position
You’re not giving them what they need to succeed
Fortunately (or unfortunately) all of these things are within your control. Once you recognize the issues, you can work toward solutions.
Wrong bus
The concept is simple, but oh-so-true. You’ve got to have the right people on the bus in order to get where you want to go.
When someone is on the wrong bus, it’s usually pretty obvious. They aren’t a good fit culturally. They aren’t interested in where the organization is going or how they can help move it in the right direction. They don’t enjoy their work— or their work mates. None of this is good for the individual in question or the team as a whole.
If you let someone on your bus who clearly doesn’t belong, it’s time to gently help them off.
Right bus, wrong seat
This scenario is a little harder to diagnose. Sometimes, you’ve got an employee on staff who tries hard and is well-liked, but who is constantly struggling to meet their job goals and objectives.
It’s possible you’ve made a fantastic cultural hire only to put that person in the wrong role.
Examples of this include:
Hiring people for positions they didn’t apply for
“We really liked her when she interviewed for the accounting position, so we offered her the opening in HR.”
Promoting high performers into jobs they aren’t suited for
“He’s such a good salesperson, we made him the team manager.”
Adding new responsibilities that don’t play to individual skill sets
“Her main focus is marketing, but we needed help in IT.”
Never assume that people and positions are interchangeable. They aren’t. The absolute right person in the absolute wrong position will be an absolute disaster.
Even your very best employees can fail if you put them in a position to do so.
It’s not them. It’s you.
Of course you’re going to have the occasional hiring fail, but if you are constantly struggling with underperforming teams or employees, the problem may be on your end.
Here are some common leadership mistakes that can cause good employees to fail:
Lack of direction – If your employees aren’t clear about what they need to do, how can they possibly perform to standard? Assigning tasks in a haphazard manner will get you haphazard results.
Poor communication – Checking in the day before a project is due is too little, too late. Especially if you neglected to share said due date in the first place.
Communicate clearly and openly before and throughout a project to make sure everyone is on the same page. Once the project is complete, communicate some more. Talk about what worked and what didn’t. Answer questions and make notes about ideas for next time.
Bad management – If you’re responsible for managing a project and it goes awry, you need only look in the mirror to find out why.
Create an atmosphere of communication, trust, and confidence, and people will naturally succeed.
Rely on micromanagement, fear and distrust, and you will see projects get done, but only to minimal standards. You will have effectively squashed all creativity, innovation, and project ownership.
Manage like a magician, appearing out of nowhere to assign projects, leaving the details hidden in your bag of tricks, and constantly looking for applause, and you will see results disappear in a puff of smoke— along with the respect of your team.
Lack of teamwork– If your organization operates in silos (or silence!) you’re setting yourself up for failure from the get-go. Teams need to work together, talk together, succeed together and celebrate together. If you’re not actively encouraging and facilitating these things, you are your own worst enemy.
But how will I know if my employees are struggling?
Sometimes, it can feel like you’ve been blindsided when a key project or employee doesn’t come through. But there are usually some telltale signals that things aren’t working, if you know where to look.
Here are some signs your employees are in the dark:
Missed deadlines
Procrastination
Mistakes
Silence
Resignation letters
Okay. That last one was a joke. But the cost of underperforming employees isn’t.
If this is an issue in your company, it’s time to take a good look at your HR and management processes to see what’s going on. Look for patterns of behavior among teams and projects, and commit to carving out time with top leadership to talk about what’s going on. Your employees— and your business— are depending on you.
At Sonus Benefits, we help clients all throughout the Midwest identify organizational challenges and put customized solutions in place. From tailored benefit programs to human resource management services, we’ve got you covered. If you’re looking for a corporate employee benefits consultant who is a true business partner, and not just a once a year policy peddler, Sonus is here for you.
Culture & Community |By Tom Murphy,
So You Want To Be A Truly Innovative Business
There’s a big difference between telling the world you’re an innovative organization and actually being one. And just because you’re hiring creative people, coming up with clever ads, and encouraging your team to wear flip-flops doesn’t mean you’re doing it right.
True innovation takes more than just lip service. It takes commitment, an open mind, and a healthy dose of risk tolerance. To be successful, you need to create an environment that encourages new ideas, promotes calculated risk taking, and rewards people who try new things— even when they don’t work out as planned.
Looking to foster real innovation at your organization? Here are 4 keys to making it happen.
Make time for it
If employees feel crushed by deadlines and projects and aren’t given the time to think creatively, innovation has no space to happen. Make sure your team isn’t so overloaded with tasks that they literally don’t have time to think.
Ask about workload issues in your one-on-one meetings, and make creativity part of your company culture. Encourage daily breaks and walkabouts so staff can step away from their desks and into a new frame of mind. You could even do what one of our clients did and put puzzles, toys and coloring books in your breakroom to provide creative outlets.
Reward it
Recognition makes your employees feel valued, but it also serves an important role of helping to clarify what innovation looks like.
Many people assume innovation is about big thoughts and bold strategies, but sometimes little things can make a big difference. Any time you avoid the dreaded “But we’ve always done it that way!” mentality, you’re innovating.
Did someone come up with a sleek new spreadsheet, process or template? Call them out for it. Not only will that person feel valued, everyone will get to see a real example of innovation in action— and an organizational appreciation for it.
Cultivate it
Fear of failure can be crippling for company creativity. This is where innovation goes to die.
Truly innovative companies must be comfortable taking risks. If management balks at every new idea suggested, employees will quickly get the message that it’s not worth the effort to pitch anything new.
Creating a culture of innovation requires all levels of leadership to be very clear about their willingness to take new ideas and run with them. Nurture creative thinking by welcoming it, recognizing it, and most importantly, following through.
Keep at it
Innovation is like science: a constant process of trial and error that often leads to incredible discoveries and advances.
When it pays off, celebrate! When things don’t go as planned, take advantage of the opportunity to learn from your mistakes, but don’t let it stop you in your tracks.
Fear didn’t start your company, so don’t let it drive your decisions. Share valuable lessons with your team, and then move on to the next great idea.
Need a better ROI on your corporate employee benefits? At Sonus Benefits, we’re not interested in just finding you a policy for this year. We provide strategic employee benefits and human resource management services to help you build a better future.
HR Admin |By Scott Schulte,
Performance Reviews Are Dying. Should You Bring Them Back to Life?
This just in! People hate performance reviews.
Managers hate how much time they suck up, employees hate the awkward self-evaluations, and everyone hates the annual dump of repressed criticism, praise, and feedback. Throw in the added pressure of compensation adjustments, and you’ve got a regular recipe for despair.
In recent years, performance management backlash has resulted in many businesses deciding to ditch them all together. But is that really the best solution? Does the criticism and feedback just get repressed permanently? How will employees know where to improve? Will anyone ever get a raise?
Performance management processes are getting poor reviews
And thestatistics are out there to prove it. According toone study, over half of employers surveyed said they don’t measure improved productivity. But that’s just the beginning.
45% of HR leaders do not think annual performance reviews are an accurate appraisal for an employee’s work.
58% of organizations rated their performance management system as a “C grade or below.”
Only 14% of organizations are happy with their performance management system.
A mere 8% of companies report that their performance management process drives high levels of value. Nearly 60% said it is not an effective use of time.
Performance reviews either aren’t being done well or aren’t happening at all.
Did We Throw Out the Baby with the Bath Water?
There are some benefits to the traditional performance review. Having a defined process in place encourages the development of standardized practices and objective criteria for rating performance. It also helps with documenting employee performance issues, which may help prevent discrimination and unlawful termination claims.
When done right, performance management can also help build relationships, increase employee engagement, assist with talent development and succession planning, and create staff loyalty and trust.
The best of both worlds
Perhaps formal performance reviews don’t need to disappear. Maybe they just need to change with the times. A new version of the old review that aligns with your company goals and emerging best practices might just be the answer you need.
Here are some key ways you can put a new twist on employee reviews, and make everybody happier in the process.
Scrap the formal, annual review
The ineffectiveness of annual reviews doesn’t just come from the amount of pressure that builds up over the course of 12 months. Or the awkwardness of talking to your boss about performance issues while trying to eat sushi.
If you’re only assessing progress once a year, it’s going to be hard to remember key details for each of your employees. And even if your memory is a steel trap, the feedback you provide is often too little, too late. Employees don’t want critiques about how they handled something six months ago. They want real time feedback and support that can help them do their jobs better and more efficiently.
Tip: Schedule short meetings on a regular basis (quarterly, monthly or even weekly) and focus on and how you can help your employees succeed.
Take notes and summarize
The human memory is a funny thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes two people remember the same event two completely different ways.
Take notes during or right after your meetings, and send them along to summarize what was covered and any specific takeaways. Make sure both of you are in consensus, and that it’s captured in writing.
Once feedback becomes more frequent and notes are being kept on a regular basis, performance review meetings become more of a summary and discussion of feedback the employee has already been given. This conversation can set the tone and trajectory for the time period until the next review.
Give constructive criticism
It should go without saying that the point of performance management should be to review progress and make suggestions for improved performance— not to nitpick or wield power.
Addressing performance issues can be tricky, and requires some finesse. It’s natural for people to get defensive, but these conversations get easier when your employees know you’re primarily interested in helping them move forward and do their best.
Instead of showing up with a laundry list of complaints or demands, ask some open-ended questions so employees can address their own performance successes and concerns. Did you get the results you wanted? How does this work fit in with company goals? Would you have done anything differently? Are there ways management can help make these processes better or more efficient?
Address the elephant in the room
If you’re going through organizational change, a staffing issue, serious morale issues, or some other major challenge, don’t dance around the topic or make people drag information out of you. Be honest and open about what’s happening and how it could affect the company and the team.
The same goes for compensation. Companies who talk about compensation early and often can remove the taboo and the stress involved with bringing it up. Make sure your compensation policies are fair, documented, and consistent.
Schedule reviews in advance
Dropping by for an unexpected performance meeting is more likely to raise heart rates than performance levels.
The last thing you want to do is cause anxiety and draw attention away from the real work of developing your team.
If regularly scheduled meeting times don’t work for your company culture, that’s okay. Just be sure to approach performance meetings in a constructive way. Request a meeting ahead of time and let your employees know what you’d like to discuss.
Make it a two way street
Evaluating employees isn’t just about checking off boxes and letting them know what they did right and wrong.
Of course you’ll want to check in on things like schedules, workloads, projects, processes, and results. But also make it clear that as a manager, your main purpose isn’t just to grade performance. You’re also there to answer questions, listen to ideas, and provide support.
Your employees will never meet their goals if you don’t give them the tools they need to be successful. Make sure you’re holding up your end of the deal.
Running into challenges with employee performance, engagement, and retention? At Sonus Benefits, we’ve got ideas to help you address these issues and more. Get in touch with Sonus to find out what working with a true employee benefits consultant feels like.
HR Admin |By Tom Murphy,
Are Your Employees Failing? Examine Your Hiring (and Firing) Processes.
Ever hired someone who seems to have the right skills, attitude and desire to succeed only to watch them flounder in their new position?
This can be super frustrating for managers, coworkers, and HR. Not to mention your underperforming employees, who may not only be taking up vast amounts of time and energy, but also quietly thinking about hitting the road. Talk about wasted resources!
Ensuring employee success is critical to the health of your business. The good news is that there are ways to help increase your employee success ratio. And it all starts with you.
Let’s talk about hiring
If you’re looking to fill positions, it probably means you’ve got more work than you can handle. This can make rushing, delaying, or winging the hiring process seem really tempting. Don’t do it! This is one of those areas where taking the shortcut won’t get you where you want to go.
What’s your hiring process like? Do you have a detailed plan or are you flying by the seat of your pants? Do you involve people from the team or leave it up to hiring managers? Are you primarily focused on hard skills, soft skills, or cultural fit? How will that affect your search?
Let’s face it. When you have a well-designed plan to follow, you’re much more likely to find the right people for the right positions. Take the time to develop a strategy for who and how you want to hire by:
Rethinking roles and tasks
Rewriting job descriptions
Reassessing how you determine who is a good candidate
Reexamining who is involved in interviews and decision making
Restructuring your hiring processes to align with your new goals
Revamping your onboarding program
No, these things aren’t necessarily quick and easy, but investing your time wisely on the front end can save you huge amounts of time, frustration and money in the long run.
And Firing
Even with the best hiring practices in place, you will occasionally discover an employee who is stuck in the wrong position and unable to live up to his or her full potential. This doesn’t mean you have to fire that person and start all over again.
Once you’ve determined the problem, you may be able to address it through cross training activities, adjusting job functions, or considering that person for other positions as they become available.
What about hiring from within?
Let’s talk about internal moves and promotions. They’re great, right? Absolutely! Not only can they help put people in the right seats, they can also provide career paths for motivated employees and increase retention rates. Just beware of promoting your top performers away from their core strength areas.
If you’ve got a salesperson who excels at bringing in new business, think carefully before “rewarding” her with a Sales Manager position. These are two very different skill sets, and being good at one doesn’t mean she’ll automatically be good at the other. If you move a high performing rock star into a position that’s a struggle, the effects can be devastating, both for that individual, and for your ROI.
Yes, by all means, promote your best people. Just do it in a way that continues to allow them to excel.
Can firing be good?
It happens, even in the best of companies. Perhaps you’ve got a few people who just aren’t feelin’ it. They don’t buy into your mission. They’re just punching the clock. They’re sabotaging your efforts and spreading ill will. Clearly these folks hopped on the wrong bus. The thing is, you’re the driver. You let them on, and now it’s your job to help them off.
A few tips to make this process go smoothly:
Document what’s not working
Have a meeting to discuss current performance and future career visions
Who knows? Maybe there’s an easy fix!
Set realistic goals and agree on measurements for success
Document again
If all is going well, great!
If not…
Set that person free
Often, unhappy employees want to leave their jobs. They’re just too scared to do it. Meanwhile, the negative energy they emit brings the whole team down. Letting these individuals go can set them on a path to where they really want to be. And set you on the path to building a more consistent and positive company culture.
Paving the path to employee success
When you have an employee who isn’t working out, it’s easy to place the blame squarely on that person. And sometimes you’ll be right. But if you have consistent problems with turnover or want to improve your overall success rate, it’s time to take a look at the big picture.
Are you hiring the right people? Are they in the right positions? Are you hanging on to people you need to let go?
Your HR processes should be moving you forward, not holding you back. Maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at yours.
Running into challenges with employee engagement, turnover, and retention? At Sonus Benefits, we’ve got ideas to help you address these issues and more. There’s so much more to employee benefits than policies and premiums. Are you confident your policies and processes are doing what they need to ensure that your company—and your employees— are healthy and productive?