There are many reasons for this, and in general people tend to be change-averse. This is why it’s key to introduce change in the workplace with careful consideration. In other words, you’ll need a process for process change. The steps for introducing a process include:

1. Collecting employee opinions and feedback on what the process should look like
2. Clearly and openly communicating why a process change is needed
3. Providing the right training
4. Providing a clear and realistic timeline for when the change should be followed by everyone
5. Measuring the process and impact

Why might workplace teams be averse to process?

It’s not that people dislike process changes; it’s more likely that they’ll resist process changes they feel are not in their best interest or are coming from the top down without any employee input. Other reasons teams and employees might oppose change include:

• Mistrust in the person making the process change: If your people don’t trust the person making the change, you’ll likely struggle to have buy-in.
• Fear of failure: Without proper training, people might be worried about failing.
• Poor communication when introducing change: As with all change management, communication is key.
• Unrealistic timelines: It’s important that changes have a well-thought-out timeline.

Below we explore how to introduce new process or process changes, and get employee support and buy-in.

What part of your process has to change?

Before jumping into an entire process revamp, managers must first determine the areas that actually need new process, or process refinement. While some changes might be necessary for managers (vacation policies, for example), other processes are required so employees can perform their jobs better.

So where should you begin? Some places you can first gather insight from include engagement and pulse surveys, and 1-on-1 discussions.

Engagement and pulse surveys

Employee engagement surveys could include questions about how your employees feel about their jobs, the areas they feel require process changes, and what’s working well for them. Some engagement survey questions you can ask include:

• Are you provided with the proper tools, resources, and time to do your job well?
• What areas of your job do you find the most tedious or become a time sink?
• What tasks drain you and which tasks energize you?

Take stock of the tasks that employees report as draining, tedious, or time-intensive.

One-on-one meetings

Another (more informal) way of gathering feedback is simply by asking during your 1-on-1 meetings with your employees. It’s been proven time and time again that when employees speak up, companies benefit, making it critical to encourage employees to share honest feedback. Some ways to do this include:

• Inviting consistent employee feedback (both in writing and verbally)
• Displaying respect, trust, and active listening skills
• Fostering workplace belonging with community and inclusion

How to create and introduce process and process changes

After you’ve determined where the process needs to be introduced or tweaked, there are concrete steps you can take to ensure teams follow and buy into them.

1. Collect employee feedback on what the process should look like

After collecting feedback on any areas that require process, management should solicit the opinions of the people who will be following and implementing it. This is perhaps the most important step when making any changes to how someone’s tasks might change.

Moreover, when change is simply introduced by higher-ups or management, without soliciting the input of the employees doing the work, it can create an environment of mistrust.

Your employees are the ones who know the tools and pain points in and out. They may have useful and practical ideas on how to help improve the process.

Your employees are the ones who know the tools and pain points in and out. They may have useful and practical ideas on how to help improve the process.

If you have an open discussion about why the change is needed, and ask for their feedback, it communicates that you trust them to be part of it. This is heavily tied to the importance of communicating a process change.

For example, many companies have client reports as key deliverables (e.g. monthly or quarterly reports). If your company decides that these deliverables need to be standardized across teams, it’s important to include the employees who create these reports in your decision-making.

As the people executing the work, their first-hand knowledge is incredibly valuable.

2. Clearly and openly communicate why a process change is needed

When a new process is required, there should be a concrete reason that can be communicated to your employees.

For example, many companies require employees to do daily time logs. It’s not uncommon for processes to change around time logging so companies have better data to see how employees are spending their time.

If a process change is needed here, it’s key to communicate the “why.” Simply introducing a change in this case might create mistrust (e.g. “does management not trust that I’m accurately logging my time?”)

A process change can be communicated in the following ways:

1. In meetings (team, company, or department)
2. Via emails
3. On Slack
4. In company-wide documentation

3. Provide the right training

Even if management believes the process change is straightforward, it’s important to provide your people with training. This should be in the form of:

1. A meeting, walking your people through the change.
2. Documentation outlining the change. The documentation can even include a recording of the meeting.

4. Provide a clear and realistic timeline for when a process should be adopted

Change doesn’t happen overnight. As with anything, people need time to adapt, adjust, and make a few mistakes. It’s key to strike the right balance between what your business needs to operate, and what your employees need to get used to a new process.

For example, as your company grows, you might need to change your vacation request policy. In smaller companies, people can typically make informal requests, and vacation lead time can vary.

You might later decide that it makes more sense for everyone to begin following a standardized process for vacation requests. After management determines the most sensible process, your communication plan should also include when this new process will kick in (e.g. “starting January 1st” or “starting at the beginning of the next quarter”).

5. Measure the process change performance and impact

After the process has been implemented, managers should follow up with employees to see if any tweaks are needed, and if the process is working. Some questions to consider include:

1. Does the process accomplish what it was intended to?
2. Are employees facing any friction with this process?
3. Does this process make your people’s lives easier or harder?

Once you’ve gathered feedback, as a team, you can make any necessary adjustments.

Change is hard, but you can work through it!

Even though change is hard, it’s not impossible! There are ways to introduce change, and ensure it has the right impact.

The most important step is including and getting buy-in from the people on the ground. This will help give them the confidence that the process is necessary, and understand why it’s being introduced in the first place. Without gathering their input, it’s likely they’ll feel threatened by this change, and resist it entirely.

By including your employees in the process and its inception, you’ll be more likely to get their buy-in, and more enthusiastic cooperation.

The post How to Create Process for Process-Averse Teams appeared first on Workest.

In the spirit of retaining today’s best employees, small businesses need to find better ways to show their employees that they care. They’re thinking beyond the holidays and remembering they can show their gratitude anytime.

Research has been conducted to determine how small businesses appreciate their employees. American Express recently surveyed a few business owners to get their perspectives on employee appreciation. Here is what these owners and CEOs had to say about their strategies.

Get personal

Many businesses understand that making praise a personal cheer makes employees feel more valued. Generic praise doesn’t give nearly as much satisfaction to an employee as personalized praise.

This means you need to take the time to get to know an employee on a deeper level to understand what makes them feel respected. It could look like:

• Inviting a tech-savvy employee to a software seminar, or
• Giving a dog-lover a 3-month subscription to a dog food delivery service.

A hair restoration business owner says he believes “in acknowledging a job well done by understanding what motivates each individual and creating an environment for the person to excel.”

Managers should show their appreciation loudly, proudly, and as often as possible.

This strategy genuinely shows appreciation for a person’s skill set and drives them into more professional development.

Give praise often

It’s not just enough to give praise every once in a while. Managers should show their appreciation loudly, proudly, and as often as possible. Every little thought matters, and this is a small ask for excellent outcomes.

Showing an employee immediate gratitude motivates others to receive praise as well. This creates a cause-and-effect cycle of appreciation and hard work. Even the founder of a public relations company agrees that perks are not enough. Their business believes “public praise and immediate – and frequent – positive feedback are the best ways to show employee appreciation.”

This doesn’t always have to be in person. Managers can praise employees on their social media or website. This shows customers that their employees are the best of the best. Likewise, it shows the prospective talent that the company values its employees.

Treat employees to events

Employees spend 8 hours a day or more trying to be their best at work. A popular saying is that they spend more time at work than home. Small business owners could invite their team members and families to after-work outings to show appreciation.

When it comes to year-round entertainment, this can be a great way of showing appreciation. Businesses could pay for holiday events, like parades or concerts. They could also sponsor marathon admission. This helps enlist a feeling of fun and lightheadedness after a long day of hard work.

The CEO of a tax company takes his employees on trips to Vegas for sporting events. He says it “keeps morale high in the office by giving everyone something to look forward to in the future.” This makes a lot of sense from an employee’s perspective. They work more efficiently, knowing they will receive a reward in the form of a short vacation.

Use effective communication and active listening skills

One of the easiest ways to show appreciation is simply listening to employees. Knowing they can voice their opinions without backlash helps foster more open communication.

Effective communication skills help build trust and break down walls between employees and management.

A car loan company founder agrees. He declared, “An office where ideas are heard and taken into consideration can prove to be a constructive and progressive workplace.” Employees get to see their ideas come to fruition, which raises their level of satisfaction. This attitude leads to employees who are more invested in their contribution to the business.

Other ways small businesses can show appreciation

Small businesses may be intimidated by the ways other companies show appreciation. Extravagant vacations and expensive dinners may be too much for a small business budget.

Company swag is a great present to give employees to show gratitude.

As companies start to scale, they can find fun and frugal ways to still show their employees that they are valued.

Monetary thanks

There are many ways to show monetary gratitude. Employees could receive gift cards to their favorite restaurants or retailers. Even if the care only holds $20, a gift card shows employees that management listens to them. Their personalized gift card allows them to spend a little free money on the things that make them happy.

Employees could also be thanked with free prizes from the company store. Company swag is a great present to give employees to show gratitude. It helps advertise the business and favors beloved staff at the same time.

Throwing parties

Remembering employee birthdays can be small tokens of care. Small businesses can take this knowledge to the next step and throw parties for their staff. They can go all out decorating their desks and throwing a potluck for employees.

It doesn’t just have to be about birthdays. These in-office events could be because of a:

• New house
• Adoption or new baby
• Promotion

Parties can be as extra or subtle as suits a small company or individual employee. Managers could go all out with balloons and streamers or have an intimate setting with coworkers. This is a great time to give valued employees gift and thank you cards.

Have an employee of the month

Regularly recognizing employees is a great way to keep them engaged. This type of periodic reminder of employee significance could result from naming an employee of the month. It doesn’t always have to be a single employee that gets this praise. Team awards could be delegated to uplift “shining stars” in a group.

Regularly recognizing employees is a great way to keep them engaged.

Employees of the month (EOM) may appreciate the recognition. For starters, a placard with their posted award could be placed in a common area. Recognition as a company EOM could come with some perks as well. This group of employees could receive reserved parking for the month or first access to featured products.

Offering benefits and perks

Benefits packages have become the bottom line for employee appreciation. Workers want to know they can still work and handle their business without repercussions. The least a company can do is offer star employees a few perks for working so hard.

For small businesses, benefits packages may come in small sizes. With correct planning, benefits can spread far and wide to please team members. Benefits could include:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision insurance plans
• Paid vacation days
• Sick leave policies

Benefits like these make employees feel better about coming to work, which diminishes absenteeism.

Conclusion

Employee appreciation is an integral part of any successful business. Small businesses don’t need to be intimidated by massive holiday packages for employees. Instead, they can show their gratitude all year round through small but meaningful methods. The business owners highlighted above prove how beneficial this simple exchange can be.

Small businesses throw small parties. They toughen up their voluntary perks, and they reward people publicly. This is satisfying for everyone in the end. Workers become more responsive, and businesses achieve a healthier working environment.

The post Small Business Owners Share How They Show Employee Appreciation Year Round appeared first on Workest.

• How can I transform my company with the least possible risk?
• Will I keep my business afloat if we change too much?
• How can I keep up with the industry changes without compromising stability, functionality, and profitability?

With those questions in mind, today we will go over 5 lessons you can learn from organizations that managed to go through that transformation and still retain their functionality and profitability — teal organizations.

What is a “teal“ organization?

As defined in Frederic Laloux’s Reinventing Organizations, a teal organization is like a living organism that transcends power and control. It allows the employees to self-organize and self-manage. So let’s see what businesses can learn from teal organizations.

The power of purpose is the strongest teal motivator of them all

150 years ago, Nietzsche said that he who has a why can bear almost any how. And we have seen that this adage rings true, time and time again. It doesn’t matter which era you consider; which culture, period, time, or nation — you will find accuracy in this sentence.

From the horrors of Auschwitz to the heroic era of exploring Antarctica, the people with a strong why overcame almost any how.

“He who has a why can bear almost any how.” ~ Nietzche

This also transfers into the business world — the people with the most profound purpose can stay focused on their ‘why’ to push through any:

• Challenge
• Problem
• Obstacle

This works because they know why they’re suffering and are confident it’s worth it.

That’s the power of purpose, and teal organizations took full advantage of that. The employees in the teal organizations know precisely what their organization stands for (and fights for) in the world, so no matter the obstacle, they will keep plowing until they solve the problem.

One thing organizations can genuinely pick up from teal organizations is the moving power of a purpose and how it can positively affect every employee in the workplace.

To have responsibility for a teal organization, you need to give responsibility

Teal organizations soon realized that if you want responsible employees, you need to give them responsibility. However, there’s a process of leveraging responsibility in the workplace.

When your employees know and uphold the values of the company, then you can give them the responsibility and autonomy over making decisions because you know that they will act in a way that will follow those values.

The first thing is to have a value-based decision-making process in place before giving your employees autonomy over matters. With a value-based decision-making process, you will know that all of your employees will act in a way that will uphold the values of the company and that will improve the business instead of being a detriment.

When your employees know and uphold the values of the company, then you can give them the responsibility and autonomy over making decisions because you know that they will act in a way that will follow those values. With this, you won’t have to spend so much time making decisions for your employees. Instead, you will give them the responsibility to make the decisions that are in the company’s values and best interests.

From the outside, teal organizations can appear disorganized since there doesn’t seem to be a solid hierarchical structure in place. However, it all makes sense internally because everyone knows what they should and shouldn’t do.

You will always have conflict; it’s actually about how you resolve it

Companies that start operating in the teal stage don’t simply run out of problems, challenges, and conflicts in the workplace. They handle them differently.

When it comes to teal organizations, most don’t use a simple seniority structure to resolve matters as a manager or CEO would. Instead, they resolve the conflict based on how aligned each side is with the company’s values and vision.

This, in practice, can look different from company to company. One company might bring up a public caucus of all employees and resolve the problem via a voting system. Other companies might appoint a small group that would serve as arbitrary to the cause.

These are just two examples of how teal organizations can handle conflict in the workplace. Still, they are definitely not the only ones.

Self-management requires discipline

To implement teal practices into your organization, you will need individuals who are self-starters and can actively manage themselves. Even though the management style of companies that implement teal practices gives a lot of employees responsibility and autonomy, the employees will still need to be self-starting individuals who can fulfill those expectations.

Teal management practices bring out a lot of autonomy and responsibility from individuals. Companies can have a trial period where they see how people would react when given more independence to see how they would handle operations, objectives, and goals in the workplace. Still, there will be people who simply won’t be able to work in conditions like these, and you shouldn’t push them to do so.

There will be clear processes, and it will be expected the employees will reach their objectives and goals.

It takes time to adjust to a new way of doing things, but in a couple of months, you can see which individuals will thrive in the new environment, and you should focus on them. Again, from the outside perspective, it would look like everybody is doing their own thing. From the inside, though, there will be clear processes, and it will be expected the employees will reach their objectives and goals. That requires both freedom/autonomy and discipline to deliver the results.

There’s no work-life balance, just work-life integrity

Teal practices all start with the ‘power of purpose,’ and they start with that because it’s the best motivation for people. Those that find organizations that believe in the same things they do will find employees that will love and work for the company for life.

So it’s about the convergence of values and purposes of individual employees and the company. With that, the employees won’t have to create a work-life balance because there won’t be a difference between their work and their lives.

They will live out their life’s purpose while doing their job. An individual whose purpose is to ecologically save the earth and who works for a company that has the same goal won’t have to create a work-life balance; they will integrate their life’s purpose with what they do for a living.

Teal organizations recognized this early on, so they started recruiting people with the same values and vision for the company’s future. That way, the company, and its employees are walking the same path toward a shared goal.

Learn from teal organizations and implement their processes

Teal organizations can help us learn quite a bit about the future of organizations. And businesses that pay attention will be at the forefront of innovation in management practices.

Transforming your business is never easy, and before taking any action, you should first collect all the relevant information. That’s why you should read A Healthy Organization: What It Is and How to Have One on our blog to gain more relevant data about how to transform your company.

The post The Secret Ingredient to Helping Your Company Evolve: 5 Lessons From “Teal” Organizations appeared first on Workest.

Reimbursement for Remote Work Expenses

David Williams claims in the class action legal filing that the company violated California labor law requiring that employees be paid for work-related expenses. Williams said while working remotely, he and other workers used their:

• Personal phones
• Home internet
• Electricity

He said he incurred about $50 to $100 monthly in home office expenses.

The employees could not work at Amazon’s Silicon Valley office but were required to work from home following California’s coronavirus stay-at-home orders in early 2020.

The Judge’s take on the issue

In an order denying Amazon’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Judge Vince Chhabria said Williams had “plausibly stated a claim” under Golden State law to reimburse the expenses.

The judge rejected Amazon’s argument that the expenditures were the result of stay-at-home orders issued by the government rather than a decision by Amazon. Quoting California labor law, the court said that what mattered was whether Williams incurred the expenses as a direct result of the performance of his job or in obedience to his employer.

“That is sufficient to plausibly allege liability, even if Amazon itself was not the but-for cause of the shift to remote work,” the judge wrote.

The court said Williams had successfully alleged that doing the job required using:

• Physical space
• Internet
• Electricity

Amazon also argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because it never knew or had reason to know about the expenses the employee claims to have incurred. Williams hadn’t submitted a request for reimbursement or did anything else to notify Amazon.

Describing Amazon as a “major tech company,” the judge said the company had reason to know that Williams, a senior software development engineer, had incurred the business expenses.

Similar lawsuits

The lawsuit is one of several filed against companies over the expenses incurred by workers while working from home.

Bank of America, Fox Broadcasting Co., IBM Corp., Liberty Mutual Insurance, Oracle Corp., and Wells Fargo reportedly have been sued over the issue. According to reporting by Reuters, several of the cases have settled, with employers agreeing to give remote workers stipends of up to $83 per month.

Some plaintiffs in the lawsuits are asking for reimbursement for the money they might have made had they been able to rent the space rather than use it for work.

Experts have estimated that an employee’s work-from-home expenses can add up to $50 to $200 a month. This figure includes expenses such as:

• Phone and internet services
• Heating and cooling costs

Expenditures for office supplies and furniture can increase the tab.

Some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits are going even further. They are asking for reimbursement for the money they might have made had they been able to rent the space rather than use it for work.

Reimbursement issue for remote worker costs not going away

Many of the restrictions put into place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the “stay-at-home” orders issued by state governors and city leaders, have expired, leading to the gradual return of workers to the office. But worker preference for remote work isn’t expected to subside anytime soon.

Many workers have expressed a preference for either:

• 100% full-time remote work or
• A hybrid work schedule that would involve some days in the office and some days working from home

According to the “2022 Connectivity and Mobile Trends” study from accounting and professional services firm Deloitte, 75% of remote workers and 50% of all employed adults preferred virtual or hybrid work options even after the pandemic ended.

In addition, almost half — 48% — of the 1700 U.S. workers surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said they will “definitely” seek a remote position for their next job.

Some companies, such as Google and Shopify, adopted policies early in the pandemic to address reimbursement of employee work-from-expenses. Both tech companies said they would reimburse employees up to $1,000 for the equipment needed to work from home.

Some employers are adopting reimbursement policies as a worker benefit. Others must do so because of the laws in their jurisdiction.

Federal law on reimbursement of work-from-home expenses

The federal government does not require that firms pay for the costs incurred by employees who work from home. However, there might be liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in some instances.

The FLSA establishes federal minimum wage and overtime pay requirements, among other things. The FLSA doesn’t require that an employer reimburse employees for remote work expenses unless the expenses cause the worker’s pay to drop below the federal minimum wage, according to guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The FLSA doesn’t require that an employer reimburse employees for remote work expenses unless the expenses cause the worker’s pay to drop below the federal minimum wage.

Employee business expense reimbursement is probably not required under federal law. However, several states, the District of Columbia, and the city of Seattle have employee expense reimbursement laws on their books.

State and city requirements for reimbursement of remote worker expenses

Jurisdictions with worker reimbursement requirements:

• California
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• Montana
• New Hampshire
• New York
• North Dakota
• Pennsylvania
• South Dakota
• Washington, D.C.
• Seattle

California and Illinois have been described as having particularly stringent employee business reimbursement requirements.

California law on worker reimbursement

The lawsuit against Amazon was brought under California law. Management-side California employment attorney Mark Spring has described California’s employee reimbursement law as strict but unclear.

Longstanding California labor law requires employers to reimburse employees for “all necessary expenditures or losses” incurred by the employee while performing their job duties or obeying the employer’s direction.

The law is aimed at preventing employers from causing employees to assume part of the business’ operating costs.

Full reimbursement of the costs might not be necessary. Courts have held that employers only have to reimburse a “reasonable percentage” of such costs.

In Amazon’s case, the judge wrote that “Amazon, a major tech company, surely knew or, at the very least, had reason to know that its software development engineers who worked from home during the pandemic were incurring basic costs related to that work.”

Spring wrote on the law firm’s blog that several court cases have indicated that “basic costs” include:

• Reliable access to the internet
• A phone
• A computer

But full reimbursement of the costs might not be necessary. Spring said that in rulings issued before the COVID-19 pandemic, courts have held that employers only have to reimburse a “reasonable percentage” of such costs.

“Based on current trends, California employers can expect to be on the hook for at least the “basic costs” of Internet usage, personal cell phone and laptop usage, and some utilities for workers that the employer requires or encourages to work remotely,” Spring said.

Golden State labor officials have not issued COVID-specific expense reimbursement guidelines.

A remote worker reimbursement policy

Legal experts say the lawsuits result from employers not having clear policies on reimbursing workers for work-related expenses incurred at home.

Employers should have an established written policy that expressly explains the work-from-home expenses for which they offer reimbursement. Employers should explain what equipment the company will provide and which expenses the company will pay, among other things.

Of course, the policy should be compliant with applicable state and local law.

If employers already have such a policy, they should review it to ensure that employees are appropriately reimbursed.

Conclusion

The new twist in business expense reimbursement is one of the many workplace changes created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The post Amazon Loses Bid to End Worker Lawsuit Over Work-from-Home Expenses appeared first on Workest.

Businesses big and small have had to adapt in new, unprecedented ways. As a result, many who were previously unfamiliar with change management have essentially had a crash course in it.

The good part? There are all kinds of benefits that come from getting serious about change management.

Even when times aren’t as turbulent as they have been, businesses are constantly tasked with adapting. This can be adapting to changes in the market, labor laws, technology, or some combination of all of these and more.

Yet, as Harvard Business School explains, roughly 50% of all organizational change efforts are unsuccessful. That’s a lot!

These failures can be small and take the form of simply requiring more effort than originally scoped. But these failures can also be massive and, depending on the situation, as extreme as business-ending.

Many companies might see change management as the sole concern of upper-level management, but Human Resources has a big role to play in this area. Read on to learn more about the important role that HR can play in change management.

What is change management within an organization?

Let’s start with the basics. Change management, as the Harvard Business School blog explains, “refers broadly to the actions a business takes to change or adjust a significant component of its organization. This may include company culture, internal processes, underlying technology or infrastructure, corporate hierarchy, or another critical aspect.”

The author explains that organizational change tends to fall along 2 lines: adaptive and transformational.

Adaptive change refers to smaller, more gradual changes that have more to do with natural evolutions. As your product or service offerings change to meet the evolving needs of your customers, that’s an adaptive change. Pivoting to a work from home arrangement when the pandemic hit is another adaptive change.

Transformational change refers to larger-scale changes that also tend to be more complex. Think launching a whole new arm of your business or expanding into international markets.

These major “departure[s] from the status quo,” as HBS explains, are the hallmarks of transformative changes. They occur and your business is never the same as a result.

Managing the processes that guide both adaptive and transformational change is mission-critical for successful evolutions both big and small.

Managing the processes that guide both adaptive and transformational change is mission-critical for successful evolutions both big and small.

Why is change management important?

Think about changes you’ve made in your personal life. Say you’ve decided to exercise more and eat healthier.

One approach you can take toward making these changes is an organic one. You hold your new goals in your head and make daily decisions based on them.

Every morning you decide whether or not you’re going to work out before work like you planned. At every meal you make a decision to choose something healthier than you otherwise would.

Another approach is a more structured one. You do meal prep on Sundays to make eating healthier throughout the week easier and more accessible. You schedule your workouts ahead of time and organize your work, social, and family demands around that schedule.

Which approach do you think will yield better results? Chances are it’s the 2nd one because it’s more planned, structured, and thought-out.

The same applies to organizational change management. Winging it is one approach. And it’s one that can work in certain settings like a super-small business with just a handful of employees.

But chances are, most business pivots are going to require some foresight and planning in order to make them as successful as possible. This is change management.

What is HR’s role in change management?

No matter which way you slice it, businesses are made up of people. Any business change you make will impact the people who comprise your business. That’s why HR and People Ops have a major role to play when it comes to change management.

Employees who feel like they’re left out, left behind, or simply not well guided through the process of change are likely to feel dissatisfied. When people are dissatisfied with their jobs, their productivity goes down.

If that dissatisfaction lingers, chances are, those people are going to start looking for satisfying work elsewhere. We all know that it costs more to recruit, train, and hire new people than it does to retain the people we already have.

Plus, in a competitive market for talent, you can’t risk losing your best employees right when you’re expanding your business offerings.

The important role that HR and People Ops can play in change management is managing the human side of things.

How can HR support and lead change management?

There’s no one single way that HR can support or lead change management. Change initiatives are going to look different at different businesses.

But in general, these are the broad ways that HR can contribute to change management:

Assess the company’s change readiness

Chances are, someone else has the business side of things handled. It’s up to HR to consider the human side of things.

• How has your workforce been doing since the pandemic?
• Are they thriving working at home or still struggling with their new work arrangement?
• How might these proposed changes hurt or harm recruitment and retention efforts?
• Will the company’s hiring plan be impacted?

These questions and more are all areas where HR should be prepared to lead and deliver answers.

Develop and deliver communication about changes

Communication is absolutely key when it comes to executing change successfully. Any change is prone to confusion.

Plus, once a new plan goes from idea to execution, there’s no way of predicting how people will respond to it and the questions and concerns they’ll have.

One of the best things HR can do to help is by providing clear and consistent communication about the workplace changes afoot throughout the change process. Communication should start before the changes occur and explain why they’re happening.

Communication should lay out the plan for how the change will take place. HR should be available to meet with employees who have questions or concerns about any element of the process.

Provide training on the changes

Of course, this will depend heavily on what the changes are. If your business is going international, the change to current employees could be either major or minor depending on how the new business will run.

If your U.S.-based workers aren’t going to interact with the new business arm much at all, the training required could be very minimal.

But if there’s going to be international travel involved; if teams are going to have to collaborate in new ways and across languages and the like, training will likely have to be much more involved.

It’s up to HR to meet the training needs, either internally or externally, to equip employees to adapt to business changes.

Track the impacts of the changes

No matter how well you plan for change, there will always be unforeseen impacts. These shifts can be positive or negative.

The important element is that all of the impacts of a given change on everything from HR processes to employee happiness are tracked.

The last thing you want is for potential issues to fall through the cracks and go unnoticed. If you know what’s happening as a result of organizational change, you can better harness the benefits and manage any fallout.

Change management can help you get the change you want

Change is rarely smooth sailing. But with a strong focus on change management and HR’s important role in it, you can get more of the change you want and less of the unintended consequences you don’t.

The post HR’s Role in Change Management appeared first on Workest.

Google, for example, was one of the first businesses to introduce napping pods and in-house gyms. It’s now common to see these same perks in many offices around the world.

Times are changing, and the tech industry saw a significant economic shift in 2022. Over the last year, nearly 100,000 people lost their jobs in tech, and many companies have implemented hiring freezes across the board.

These shifts are significant because technology companies are seen as leaders when it comes to culture, benefits, and perks.

So what does this mean for the year ahead, amid a recession? And what should your company keep in mind while hiring, recruiting, and finding ways to keep your people happy?

Below we explore what has changed, and possible trends for the year ahead.

A (brief) recap of the technology industry in 2022

A lot has happened in 2022 in the technology sector. The industry lost a massive $7.4 trillion in just 1 year.

Some reasons for this include overspending on talent (both because of overhiring and inflated salaries), IPOs underperforming, and the rise of the “buy now pay later” model.

A rise in layoffs

Some notable companies that cut jobs include:

• Netflix: The streaming platform laid off 300 people
• Meta: Facebook’s parent company laid off 13% of their staff
• Shopify: The eCommerce giant cut about 10% of its workforce

The tech industry is now correcting and recalibrating. Perhaps the most high-profile layoffs occurred at Twitter, after Elon Musk took over the company. In his first few weeks, he cut 50% of their workforce!

Tech giants want their people back in the office

Another shift this year is tech companies mandating people back to the office. Both Apple and Google are requiring employees to return for 3 days a week.

Amazon mandated that workers return to the office full-time, and then adjusted its policy to also be a 3-day-a-week model. Calling employees back to the office is a notable change, as the tech sector was first to embrace remote work.

What should we expect in tech and related industries in 2023?

There’s sure to be a shift in the year ahead in both tech and related industries. Below we take a look at some changes we’re seeing, and how your company should look to adapt or adjust.

1. Work from home arrangements might see a shift

Many tech companies are now mandating that people return to the office part-time, shifting to a more hybrid work model. Executives worry about productivity and morale and believe the hybrid model is the way forward.

That being said, there is a major disconnect between what executives and employees want: 44% of executives want a full-time return to the office, compared to only 17% of employees!

What this means looking ahead

Should your company follow suit? The answer is: tread lightly.

While executive views about WFH have shifted, workers want to keep working remotely. This request ignores very clear data that people want to keep this flexibility in place, according to Forbes.

In fact, “workers were 22% happier working remotely than in an onsite office environment, leading to longer tenures.”

If retention is top of mind for your company, it may be in your best interest to keep allowing your people to WFH when possible.

2. Hiring will be handled more conservatively

Following a slew of layoffs in the tech industry, companies will be more cautious about hiring. Many tech companies are even mandating a hiring freeze or have seriously scaled down recruitment.

However, amid these hiring freezes, there is still a shortage of IT talent, and companies are still struggling to find experts to fill necessary roles.

What this means looking ahead

So how will companies bridge the gap between scaling down hiring, while still looking for the right people to join their teams?

• Upskilling in-house talent: If your company is currently facing a hiring freeze or slowdown, it might be worth investing in training to fill the knowledge gaps in your workforce.
• Streamlining the hiring process: Hiring is expensive and time-consuming. Tech companies will look to be more efficient when looking to fill positions. This means implementing a faster hiring process and perhaps even using specialized recruitment agencies. You should ensure:

1. Your recruitment process is as lean as possible
2. Your processes get the right people through the door as quickly as possible

• Offshoring and using contractors: Hiring contractors and using offshore agencies has always been part of the tech industry. This is a cost-saving tactic since independent contractors usually aren’t eligible for company benefits, and offshore agencies can be less expensive than hiring in-house. This type of decision would be entirely business-dependent, and you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons.

3. People will be more selective when choosing an employer

While companies will be more selective about what roles to open and fill, candidates will be equally prudent about what companies to join.

The mass layoffs of 2022 have left employees worried about job security. According to 1 study, a mere 9% of workers in the tech industry feel confident in their job security.

That being said, these same workers are often not struggling to find work, typically finding work in a matter of weeks.

What this means is that candidates will be very selective and considerate before accepting their next job. After witnessing layoffs and experiencing a recession, stability will be a top priority for many job seekers.

This is indeed a shift from the last few years. People were (and still are) looking for engaging roles, at a company whose corporate social purpose they respect.

However, job security and stability are now top of mind: 74% of young job seekers say they’re prioritizing job stability over the desire to work for a well-known company (41%).

What this means looking ahead

Given that job security is at the forefront for job seekers, your company should look to do the following:

• Before making someone quit their job, make sure the position you’re hiring them for is mission-critical. Netflix faced heavy criticism after hiring people, only to lay them off a few months later.
• Highlight real training and development opportunities to candidates, so they see how their role can evolve.

4. Spending will be curtailed (where possible)

Facing a recession, companies are expected to cut spending where possible.

For example, Google instructed executives that business travel will be only permitted if it’s critical, and social functions and team offsite meetings would be scaled back.

Meta found a way to save on costs by limiting the window for free office meals, and removed laundry services it used to offer.

That being said, it appears that most tech companies have cut costs mostly through hiring freezes, or by pausing large projects, like Amazon.

What this means looking ahead

Aside from hiring freezes and pausing large projects, it’s unclear what other ways tech companies will go about saving money.

Any cuts to perks and benefits that employees have become accustomed to would likely have an impact on company morale, and low morale can be very expensive.

Any cuts to perks and benefits that employees have become accustomed to would likely have an impact on company morale, and low morale can be very expensive. The goal should be to cut spending where it will be felt the least by your current workforce.

Final thoughts: Some benefits are here to stay

While there have been notable shifts in the tech industry, some benefits aren’t going anywhere.

Working culture has changed since the pandemic began in 2020, and workers are unwilling to go back to being overworked or feeling burned out. Some benefits that will likely stay in place include:

• Flexible working arrangements: While some workers are being asked to return to the office part-time, it will be nearly impossible to demand full-time office presence without losing talent, and demoralizing your team. Workers have been benefiting from the flexibility work from home provides, as well as the cost savings.
• Work-life balance: People still deeply value having balance in their lives.

Times are tough for everyone right now as we face a recession. It’s important to keep your specific company and workforce in mind while making changes and adapting to an evolving economy.

That might mean being selective about what roles you fill in the new year, and perhaps implementing a hiring freeze in order to keep your current staff. It might also mean reconsidering asking people to return to the office if WFH is popular among your employees.

Companies will need to find the right balance between cost savings to protect your workforce, while keeping morale and engagement intact.

The post The Future of the Tech Industry: Practices and Culture appeared first on Workest.

The fact is that taking a vacation and sick leave is already difficult for most employees, but taking time off to care for a family member can be even more challenging.

Workers don’t want to let their team members down by leaving the office. But 61% of employees fail to take their time off because they fear being replaced.

That said, when a worker does muster up the courage to submit a request leave during an emergency, employers can sometimes be confused. Common questions are:

• What counts as a family emergency?
• Is it appropriate to ask for proof?
• Am I legally obligated to approve the request, even if it would leave us in a bind?
• How are emergency leave categories in terms of time off?

In this article, we’ll review how employers can handle requests for family emergency leave.

Can an employer ask for proof of a family emergency?

In short, yes, an employer can ask for proof of a family emergency before providing leave. In most cases, you can also choose to deny them leave, but while that’s technically possible, whether you should or not is another story.

What the law considers proof is a bit more complicated. Employers can’t ask for a doctor’s note, diagnosis, or treatment. You can ask which family member is affected and how they are related to the employee.

The fact is that family emergencies are complicated and sensitive situations, and the last thing you want to do is foster distrust between the organization and your talent.

And while it’s possible to terminate an employee for taking an unauthorized leave, terminating a worker to whom you have granted leave can land you in hot water.

The fact is that family emergencies are complicated and sensitive situations, and the last thing you want to do is foster distrust between the organization and your talent.

Being clear about what constitutes a family emergency and potential options for leave can help you navigate challenging situations.

What are examples of what counts as a family emergency?

Let’s be real: Individuals asking for leave for a family emergency aren’t just asking to go to a party with their cousins. An emergency is often just that — an unexpected, significant life event.

And even if your employee comes to the office, they probably won’t be able to concentrate until the emergency is resolved.

So, what counts as a family emergency? Some examples are:

• Birth of a child, which can be planned or unplanned in case of a premature or late birth
• Finalized adoption
• Car accident of a family member
• Sudden illness or death of a family member
• Family member suffering from a natural disaster

In most cases, family emergencies refer to a significant event that affects an immediate family member. An immediate family member could be a parent, child, sibling, in-law, spouse, or guardian.

That doesn’t mean that an employee won’t consider extended family members in emergency situations. For example, they may be extremely close to an aunt who suddenly passes away.

Consider emergency leave when structuring your time-off policies

It’s important to consider emergency leave when crafting your time-off policies. You’ll want to include a section for the family emergency procedures in your employee handbook and training materials.

And if you manage employee benefits by using an online benefits administration system that includes PTO scheduling, you may want to consider having instructions for scheduling a family emergency.

For example, family emergencies may be covered under PTO, sick leave, or unpaid leave options. Employees covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may be eligible for up to 12 weeks off for family-related illnesses and significant medical events.

However, not every company is required to abide by the FMLA. If you have more than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius, then you are likely required to offer this benefit.

Federal laws aside, HR managers and small business owners should still review local and state laws to ensure that they are completely compliant. For example, Oregon has a paid family leave law and New York offers family leave insurance.

By nature, emergencies can rarely be predicted and you want to have a process that makes requesting and evaluating emergency leave simple for everyone.

You can make it easier to document by creating a simple Leave Notice template. Creating a digital version that an employee just has to modify and sign would make it even easier to receive and evaluate requests quickly, for both parties.

Sample family leave notice template

[Date]

[Employee Name]

[Employee contact phone number and email, accessible during an emergency]

Dear [Supervisor Name]:

I am requesting leave from [Date] to [Date] due to a family emergency, [describe event]. Attached is evidence of the emergency as per company policy.

I will [be working from home / be available for questions / not be available] during this time. I plan to use my [sick leave / PTO leave / FMLA / unpaid leave] for this request.

During my leave, my coworkers will be able to complete my duties. I may be accessible for questions, but I documented my procedures as per normal workflow.

When I return to work on [Date], I will review the progress on current projects and submit another request if more time is needed. You can reach me at the number and email given above.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

[Name and Job Title]

What are steps for employers and HR after approving leave?

Once you receive a request, it’s often the best practice to approve an emergency leave. Employees do have a life outside the office. Preventing them from attending to family crises can create distrust across the workplace.

That said, the organization still has tasks that need to be completed. While your employee may try to delegate tasks before leaving, in many cases, there will still be loose ends.

It’s best to review the sudden leave with the team, without divulging personal details, and set up a short-term workflow.

To streamline work while your employee is on leave, follow these steps:

1. Remind the team of their new responsibilities.
2. Ensure that all workers have appropriate access to documents.
3. Ask employees to keep a running list of questions for the worker on leave, which you can send altogether instead of calling the worker for each instance.
4. If the employee is working part-time from home, ensure they have access to software and resources for essential tasks.

You can also go the extra mile and help your employee with a “support box” from the office. This could include gift cards, toiletries, fruits and vegetables, office supplies, and anything else that might be useful for the employee while they are away.

While you don’t need to know everything about the emergency, putting together a helpful package can cement trust and loyalty, not just with this 1 worker, but with the whole office.

The importance of investing in employee well-being

Choosing to approve family leave may temporarily overload the team, but in the long run, you can foster a more inclusive, more collaborative workforce. Feel free to ask for proof, but it should be for legal documentation, not so much for judging the employee.

Employee well-being doesn’t stop at allowing family leave. Employers can boost their staff’s productivity and retention by using a person-centric approach to HR.

To learn more about how focusing on employee well-being can improve your business operations, check out our guide to People Ops and Employee Well-being.

The post Can an Employer Ask for Proof of a Family Emergency? appeared first on Workest.

The goal is to get the best out of your employees in a way that benefits them and your company. You can achieve this through workforce optimization.

What is workforce optimization?

Workforce optimization (WFO) is the strategic process of driving business success by:

• Improving employee efficiency
• Productivity
• Performance

The focus is on managing and maximizing staff performance so you can foster a productive workforce that meets business demands. Understanding that workforce optimization can help you eliminate or reduce barriers to productivity is essential to your business.

What are the barriers to productivity?

Anything that gets in the way of employees meeting or exceeding their job requirements can be considered a barrier to productivity. These barriers can be work-related or associated with the employee’s personal life.

Once you’ve identified potential obstacles to productivity, you can work on eliminating or mitigating them.

Common barriers to productivity

• Poor working conditions due to a cramped workspace, uncomfortable seating, bad lighting, a noisy office environment, too cold or too warm temperature, etc.
• Inadequate training for new hires or existing employees
• Lack of employee knowledge, skills, and/or abilities
• Ineffective communication (e.g., not correctly explaining tasks to employees)
• Stress that is caused by a heavy workload, long work hours, tight deadlines, monotonous work, financial anxiety, medical problems, family issues, etc.
• Job insecurity, such as fear of being laid off or fired
• Insufficient growth opportunities, which lead to disengagement or career stagnation
• Workplace discrimination, bullying, or harassment
• Employee dissatisfaction with pay or benefits
• Unhealthy relationships between coworkers, including management
• Failure to recognize and reward employees for their accomplishments
• Employees not having access to technology that can make their jobs easier
• Lack of flexible work arrangements, such as remote or hybrid work solutions that can improve work-life balance

That’s a long list, and it represents only some of the most common hurdles to employee productivity. The good news is that once you’ve identified potential obstacles to productivity, you can work on eliminating or mitigating them.

Remember that you cannot solve every employee issue. Certain problems may be out of your control.

Benefits of workforce optimization

The goal of WFO is to identify the ones within your control and find solutions to improve employee performance. These solutions should benefit the employee and your business.

Improved staffing, efficiency, and productivity

Workforce optimization helps you secure the appropriate number of workers to manage business demands at all times. During busy seasons, you can use WFO to determine whether to bring in additional workers, such as through a staffing agency or contingent workforce. What’s more, WFO can reveal inefficiencies that are slowing down productivity and help you decide which technologies to implement to speed up productivity.

Increased savings

Workforce optimization can deliver cost savings through:

• A motivated workforce. By removing or mitigating barriers to productivity, you motivate your employees to perform better than ever. Absenteeism and presenteeism rates will likely decrease as employees will be more driven to come to work and perform well.
• Task automation. Automation streamlines workflows, reduces human administrative errors, and saves employees from the stress of having to do everything manually.
• Improved customer service. Workforce optimization provides insight into employee behavior, including how their performance affects customer decisions and outcomes. It gives you the information you need to strengthen employee service delivery and customer satisfaction.
• Increased retention. By taking the necessary steps to keep your employees engaged and satisfied at work, you give them a compelling reason to stay with your company. This ultimately lowers your turnover rate and costs.

Key aspects of workforce optimization

WFO is about engaging in management practices that enable employees to deliver positive business outcomes. These practices include scheduling, time tracking, performance management, and employee engagement.

Scheduling

Managers should aim to schedule employees in ways that are conducive to both the employee and the company. For example, scheduling an employee for overtime without considering the employee’s ability to work overtime can cause the employee to:

• Not work the overtime hours
• Become burnout
• Feel as though their input doesn’t count.

To optimize performance, managers should hire people capable of working the required hours and ensure those hours are reasonable, to begin with. Employees should know what to do if they cannot come to work or finish their shift because of an emergency. Employers should have contingency staffing measures in place.

Also crucial is adhering to predictive scheduling laws that may apply to your business. These laws require employers to give employees advance notice of their work schedules so employees can achieve better work-life balance.

Time Tracking

Time tracking lets you monitor employees’ attendance, so you can determine whether they are:

• Arriving to work and leaving as scheduled
• Taking their breaks and meal periods at the allotted times
• Clocking in and out as required

In addition, time tracking can help you decide whether to keep employees’ work schedules as is or make adjustments. It can also show weaknesses in your time and attendance system so that you can adopt more advanced solutions.

Performance Management

This is an ongoing process in which you monitor employees’ performance, identify strengths and areas needing improvement, plus implement action plans for enhancing performance. This is a (manager-employee) collaborative process that requires one-on-one meetings and ongoing feedback for optimal results.

Employees should know the consequences of poor performance. However, it’s essential to avoid using performance management as a punitive tool because the goal is to help employees improve, not to punish them.

Disengaged employees are a flight risk, often leading to turnover. Workforce optimization can help you prevent these catastrophes.

Performance management makes it easier to spot an employee’s intention to quit. This allows you to promptly intervene and deploy retention strategies (if you want to keep the employee).

Employee Engagement

When employees are disengaged, their productivity tends to drop. They may also exhibit negative attitudes toward their coworkers, contributing to a toxic work environment. Also, disengaged employees are a flight risk, often leading to turnover. Workforce optimization can help you prevent these catastrophes.

WFO strategies for increasing employee engagement include:

• Competitive pay and benefits
• Recognition and rewards
• Meaningful work
• More challenging projects
• Paid time off
• Career advancement opportunities
• Team-building activities
• Wellness and well-being benefits
• Healthy workplace culture
• Flexible work options
• Employee feedback system
• Employee learning initiatives
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Corporate social responsibility
• Open and transparent communication

Workforce optimization software

Imagine conducting all facets of scheduling, time tracking, performance management, and employee engagement by hand. In this case, you can expect an extremely cumbersome, chaotic, time-consuming, and error-prone process that causes:

• Frustration in your HR team and managers who are responsible for optimizing employee performance
• Compliance mistakes and penalties stemming from manual administration errors
• Violation of employees’ labor rights, such as not complying with overtime laws
• Employees filing lawsuits or leaving the company in a disgruntled state because their employment rights have been breached

You can simplify things by leveraging workforce optimization software, which automates and streamlines WFO processes.

WFO software provides tools for managing:

• Recruiting
• Hiring
• Onboarding
• Scheduling
• Time tracking
• HR administration
• Health and safety
• Compensation
• Benefits administration
• Payroll
• Employee performance
• Employee engagement

For access to these workforce optimization tools and more, check out Zenefits’ people operations platform.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Workforce Optimization appeared first on Workest.

Read on to learn about workforce planning, including the definition, advantages, and steps in the process.

The definition of workforce planning

The Office of Financial Management says, “Workforce planning is grounded in its contribution to organizational performance. It provides management with a way to align the workforce with the business plan and address current and future workforce issues.”

In other words, organizations use workforce planning to analyze their current workforce and determine what steps they should take to meet future staffing demands.

As an employer, you should have a business plan that details your resource requirements, including when it comes to staffing. Workforce planning allows you to meet the staffing goals outlined in your business plan.

Before you start building your workforce plan, it’s essential to understand your business goals.

The main objectives of workforce planning are to:

• Identify the organization’s talent demands based on current and future business goals.
• Pinpoint the appropriate talent, technologies, and employment models for achieving these business goals

So, before you start building your workforce plan, it’s essential to understand your business goals. Once you know your short-term and long-term goals, you’ll be more equipped to develop an effective workforce plan.

Before we get into how to perform workforce planning, let’s look at how it can benefit your organization.

Advantages of workforce planning

Workforce planning allows you to:

• Tie your workforce requirements directly to your business plan and goals
• Identify gaps in your workforce’s current competencies and the competencies needed in the future
• Determine ways to reduce staffing gaps
• Decide how best to structure your organization and distribute your workforce
• Identify potential external and internal obstacles to reaching your workforce goals, and devise solutions to overcome them
• Determine the types of individuals that should make up your workforce now and in the future — e.g., full- and part-time employees, independent contractors, seasonal workers, and temporary personnel
• Focus on both short-term and long-term staffing needs instead of only those that are immediate
• Respond efficiently to impromptu staffing needs, such as partnering with a staffing agency to supply skilled, temporary labor when an employee suddenly quits
• Have a succession plan ready for when key employees leave.
• Adopt the most fitting employment model(s), such as onsite, remote, or hybrid work
• Create a healthy workplace culture
• Budget smartly for current and future workforce requirements, thus keeping your labor costs under control
• Develop job classes, salary ranges, and career development opportunities
• Anticipate and manage workforce risks
• Establish a reporting structure — e.g., executives, managers, supervisors, team leaders, and employees
• Identify your legal obligations as an employer and implement best practices for carrying them out

Workplace planning helps you devise rock-solid talent attraction, engagement, and retention strategies. It gives you a well-thought-out script to follow, making the process smoother.

Workforce planning lets you develop motivation strategies to incentivize productivity and boost job satisfaction.

For example, it helps you create strong recruitment, screening, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and training processes to reduce bad hires and new-hire turnover. Moreover, it lets you develop motivation strategies to incentivize productivity and boost job satisfaction.

Who is responsible for completing this effort?

Workforce planning is a discipline of human resources. Therefore, the HR department is largely responsible for most workforce planning initiatives. That said, the wide-ranging nature of workforce planning demands collaboration with various departments.

At a minimum, members of senior management should be involved in the process. This is critical to gathering reliable data on each department’s current and future staffing needs. In organizations with a C-suite, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Information Officer (CIO), and others will need to weigh in.

Even for small businesses with a minimal reporting structure, HR does not act alone in workforce planning. For instance, they collaborate directly with the business owner and other stakeholders to ensure all grounds are covered in the workforce plan.

Examples of steps in workforce planning

Many models are available from industry experts on how to perform workforce planning. But in the end, the specifics will depend on your unique business factors, including your:

• Industry
• Location
• Job descriptions
• Employment models
• Workforce demographics

As stated, both current and future variables must be considered.

Below we offer 2 examples of how to conduct workforce planning.

Example #1: The Office of Personnel Management’s Model: 5 Steps

1. Establish a strategic direction

Link your workforce planning process to your business plan and the work activities needed to execute your short-term and long-term staffing goals.

2. Analyze your workforce, detect skills gaps, and perform a workforce analysis 

• Determine your current resources and how they will change over time via turnover, business expansion, or downsizing situations.
• Note the types, amount, and locations of workers you need to achieve your business mission and goals.
• Identify the gaps between your current and projected workforce requirements.

3. Build an action plan

Identify strategies for closing staffing gaps, implementing gap-closure measures, and reviewing your progress.

These strategies may include:

• Recruiting
• Hiring employees
• Training and retraining
• Organizational restructuring
• Hiring independent contractors
• Succession planning
• Upgrading your HR technology to facilitate future workforce demands

 4. Implement the action plan

You will need to make sure:

• Your human and financial resources are in place
• Everyone understands their role in the organization
• All relevant marketing, communication, and coordination are happening according to the workforce plan

 5. Monitor, review, and update the plan

• Monitor the workforce plan based on established milestones.
• Review your progress and determine areas of improvement.
• Modify the plan to make improvements and address new workforce concerns.

Example #2: The Society for Human Resource Management: 4 Step process

1. Supply analysis. Also called the “supply model” or “staffing assessment.” This step involves analyzing the organization’s current workforce supply — including the number of employees, their skills, workforce demographics, protected class groups, and projected attrition
2. Demand analysis. Also called the “demand model.” This step requires you to review your future business plans and objectives. The goal is to determine whether labor is readily available to meet future business demands and how you will secure the necessary talent to satisfy these future business needs.
3. Gap analysis. This step compares labor supply and demand differences and identifies skill surpluses and shortages. For example, how many employees already possess the requisite skills for future business demands, and how many might you need to let go because they lack the required skills?
4. Solution analysis. This step shows you how to manage current and future staffing requirements through targeted strategies — such as recruiting, training and retraining, contingent staffing, outsourcing, employee development, and succession planning.

Effective workforce planning requires a deep understanding of the types of workers needed to achieve your organization’s mission and objectives.

Workforce planning is a comprehensive, systematic process

Effective workforce planning requires a deep understanding of your organization’s mission and objectives, plus the types of workers needed to achieve them. It also calls for collaboration with senior management to ensure everyone is on the same page and to avoid poor decision-making.

If you use the right approach, you can build a strong workforce plan that gets you qualified workers, now and in the future.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Workforce Planning appeared first on Workest.

Some adopted a hybrid working model, while others remained either fully virtual or required employees to return to the office.

Although many leaders find it challenging to trust their employees’ productivity in a hybrid environment, workers don’t feel the same.

According to a Society for Human Resources survey conducted last June, 48% of U.S. employees would seek a fully remote position for their next role.

With that said, what can we expect for HR in 2023? Although no one has a crystal ball, the past year has seen its share of interesting trends.

Even with layoffs dominating the headlines, there are bright spots in the market:

• Most workers report feeling happy and satisfied in their jobs.
• The Great Resignation may be waning as the flexible scheduling and compensation strategies are now helping HR professionals retain their employees.

All of this leads to a positive HR outlook in the new year. As more employers take a “people-first” approach to attracting and developing their team, HR professionals are being increasingly called upon to help make strategic business decisions.

Here’s what HR professionals should keep their eyes on for 2023.

What were major HR trends in 2022?

The aftermath of a global pandemic changed the working world as we know it. While 2021 saw over 47 million people quit in the Great Resignation, 2022 had mass layoffs, especially in tech.

Burnout, hustle, and ‘grind’ mentalities are being replaced with a focus on finding balance and a sense of purpose on the job.

All of this has led to a shift in how employers interact with their employees. As the pressure to retain talent in today’s market remains high, companies are increasingly willing to pivot organizational strategy to better suit their workers’ needs. In 2022, this included:

Out-of-the-box compensation

This past year saw companies like Shopify roll out novel methods for compensating their employees. Shopify’s new ‘Flex Comp’ was introduced in September of 2022, and is intended to tie its compensation model to the company’s mission as a whole.

‘Flex Comp’ allows Shopify workers to choose the proportion of their income allocated between base salary and restricted-stock-units (RSUs), with changes to the vesting period and bonuses given for taking on additional equity.

The model gives employees flexibility with how they choose to save and earn, as well as adding more transparency around the stock options they receive.

4-day workweeks

Workers in the UK are trying a new 4-day workweek on for size. In yet another 2022 milestone, 73 UK companies cut back hours to 32 per week while continuing to pay workers their full wage.

The result? The largest trial of a 4-day workweek ever conducted. As a result, 86% of the companies in the program say they’re likely to remain on the new schedule, with additional data from the pilot project set to come out soon.

Expanding benefit classes

Fertility benefits are the new frontier, at least according to major employers like Spotify, Facebook, Starbucks, Pinterest, and Chanel.

These benefits, which include in-vitro fertilization (IVF), donor eggs, and gestational surrogacy, allow couples who have challenges conceiving to access procedures they would otherwise be unable to afford.

It may seem expensive to provide this benefit. However, 97% of companies found that adding fertility benefits did not result in any additional costs, since not every couple will choose to conceive or have challenges doing so.

What are some 2023 HR trends to get excited for?

With so much in flux, it’s hard to predict what will happen in the years to come. However, having navigated the unprecedented shifts and economic upheavals of the last few years, all signs point to HR professionals — and small business owners —- taking these new changes in stride.

Here are some of the biggest shifts we anticipate for 2023.

Recruitment: Advances in AI make hiring technology more accessible to SMBs

Recruitment is one area that will see exciting innovations in 2023, including the expansion of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). These digital hiring tools can seek out and scan through thousands of resumes by using artificial intelligence to filter out the candidates you need.

Recruitment is one area that will see exciting innovations in 2023, including the expansion of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

While these systems have long been vital to recruiters at large organizations (99% of Fortune 500 Companies used an ATS as of 2019) they’ve typically been out of reach for small businesses due to both scope and budgets.

Impact in 2023

In 2023, talent shortages and new technologies can converge to make ATS more affordable (and accessible) to businesses of every size.

In any case, the forecasted 5% increase in enterprise technology spending over the next year means digital recruitment tools are here to stay. AI-powered technologies make the hiring process easier, so it won’t be long before small businesses have their pick when it comes to ATS.

How to begin

Small businesses looking to get a leg up on their hiring tech should keep an eye on ATS tools mentioned in industry magazines, at conferences, or within your network.

Whether your business requires a robust set of screening features or you’re just looking to weed out candidates who aren’t a fit, 2023 could potentially bring more options onto the market to meet your budget and your needs.

Keep in mind that these kinds of tools need to be carefully configured to avoid filtering out candidates you might want to see.

Researchers suggest shifting these programs to ‘affirmative’ categories (i.e., showing all candidates that have a certain degree) vs. negative ones (filtering out all candidates without that degree) are more likely to overcome this kind of bias.

Employee experience: Burnout means DEI initiatives are here to stay

While we’re no longer in the height of the ‘Great Resignation,’ global talent shortages are expected to stretch as far as 2030.

The post-pandemic workforce is increasingly unwilling to settle for being unhappy at work, so efforts to improve employee well-being are more important than ever.

Burnout among employees is at an all-time high.

Burnout among employees is at an all-time high. In 2022, 44% of workers said they had experienced ‘a lot’ of stress during the previous workday.

Experts suggest countering this burnout starts with employee well-being and a culture of respect. Expect to see investment in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies to continue in the coming year.

Impact in 2023

A recent Gallup study suggests 3 in 10 US workers feel burned out, and employees who also felt discriminated against were more than twice as likely to fall into this category.

According to a study by Pew Research, 57% of workers who left a job in 2021 said feeling disrespected in their workplace was part of their reason not to stay.

Employees who feel that they have the same opportunities for advancement as their coworkers are less likely to feel burned out at the end of the day.

For example, a female project manager who knows she has the same chance at a promotion as her male counterpart might be more satisfied at work, even with a heavier workload, than someone in the same position struggling to feel heard.

Respect in the workplace helps employees feel more valued, heard, and satisfied in their roles. Discrimination, harassment, and other ‘toxic’ workplace behavior not only leads to burnout, it can also lower team morale, encourage absenteeism, and make talented employees harder to retain.

How to begin

DEI initiatives can be as simple as deliberately making sure every team member’s voice is heard. Tools such as ‘silent meetings’ level the playing field and contribute to this goal.

In a silent meeting, the facilitator submits notes ahead of time (or poses a question). They do this before giving all attendees a few moments to digest the information and write down their thoughts. At the end of a short review period, written ideas are shared with the group.

Having transparency, consistency, and clarity around how you recognize or promote employees is another way to create an inclusive environment.

Learning & development: Remote work means remote learning

Companies were forced to adopt virtual options for corporate training during the pandemic, and in 2023, these remote learning models are here to stay!

Like with recruitment, the proliferation of virtual learning technology in high-profile companies is paving the way for small businesses to do the same. And when it comes to this kind of learning, employees are enthusiastic.

Impact in 2023

Learning management software, microlearning tools, mobile apps, and digital course offerings are popular and affordable options for training employees.

Most of these employee training tools are also affordable for small businesses, and some, like microlearning, can be done even in short periods of time.

How to begin

Share videos or interesting podcasts, leverage open source learning, host quiz competitions, or turn onboarding facts and product knowledge into a game.

There are plenty of ways to make the most of this trend, but doing things the ‘new’ old fashioned way works too: one-on-one virtual coaching or mentoring sessions can be offered even with a workforce that is fully remote.

Compensation: Salaries will be trending upwards in 2023

Rising inflation and changing employee expectations could make 2023 a “banner year” for salaries. Even with tech layoffs, soaring costs and talent wars suggest wage increases are on the menu if companies want to retain their talent.

Impact in 2023

The 3% salary increases of the past are gone, and employers in 2023 may be looking at 4-7% salary increases in their payroll.

Although small business owners with already slim margins might balk at the cost, trends from 2022 suggest that for many employees, picking a job is no longer all about the money.

With workers willing to take a 20% pay cut to work remotely, smaller organizations may be able to get creative with the budget they already have.

How to begin

Do you offer a robust learning environment? A respectful, inclusive team? Flexible hours? Equity options or other benefits?

As Shopify demonstrated with its plan, employees might be willing to take a different mix of compensation in exchange for a mission they believe in, a job that helps them learn, or growth potential alongside an experienced team.

Fair wages will always be important, but employees have a new “worth it” equation as we move into 2023. Developing your employer brand is one way to showcase your company’s unique benefits and attract (and retain) employees.

Talent management: HR systems include additional tools and options for SMBs

In the years before the pandemic, 70% of businesses with fewer than 50 employees were employing ‘ad hoc’ HR management, with business owners or office managers taking on onboarding and payroll tasks themselves.

However, cloud based human resources information systems (HRIS) are becoming increasingly accessible to businesses of every size.

Impact in 2023

With fewer chances to meet with employees in person, tasks like onboarding, recruitment, or payroll can no longer be done with a spreadsheet or by hand.

Cloud-based HR tools for managing these tasks are rapidly replacing paper filing systems, and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

HR tech spending is projected to increase at a rate of 6% per year, and more market interest will mean more options (and more features) for small businesses to choose from.

Cloud-based HR tools for managing tasks are rapidly replacing paper filing systems, and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

Cloud-based HRIS tools will bring more proactivity into 2023. Preemptive solutions can ‘nudge’ employees to complete tasks by sending reminders through emails, texts, or other communication channels.

Whether it’s forgetting to fill out a time card or incorrectly completing an onboarding form, these high-tech solutions help reduce your HR team’s workload overall.

How to begin

Small businesses can take advantage by replacing paper files with cloud-based HR software, eliminating the ‘ad-hoc HR’ model used pre-pandemic.

Small business owners can also add calendar or text alerts for timesheets or other tasks, or use new technology to make their office easier to access when remote.

Employee relations: Banishing ‘productivity paranoia’ and prioritizing one-on-one time

Microsoft researchers suggest that although 85% of employers find it challenging to feel confident in remote employees productivity, their actual productivity continues to climb.

Last year taught us that remote work is here to stay. So in 2023, correcting this mismatch between employer and employee views is likely to dominate HR’s agenda.

Impact in 2023

Proximity bias happens when employers give unfair treatment to workers who come into the office rather than the ones who work remotely.

HR experts suggest combating this bias is crucial to the future of work, and the Microsoft data proves it.

How to begin

Instead of relying on instinct to gauge someone’s work, small business leaders should focus on gathering metrics to assess employees’:

• Key performance indicators
• Accuracy of reports
• Quality of deliverables

While employers might miss walking through the office halls, employees are more concerned with managing the tasks they have on their plate:

• 81% of employees say it’s important that managers help them prioritize their workload
• 31% of them say they’ve received clear one-on-one guidance.

For small business leaders, making time for these kinds of one-on-one meetings will be an important factor in making sure employees have proper guidance.

HR in 2023: Challenges ahead but plenty to look forward to

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a paradigm shift in how people see the working world. The shift has had an impact on virtually every aspect of how we do business.

Workers are reporting increased happiness and satisfaction. Flexible scheduling and compensation have cooled the impact of the Great Resignation, as trends in technology, inclusion, and remote learning create new pathways for growth.

As the global economy continues to ebb and flow, the results of 2022 suggest that the workforce is learning to roll with the tides. While HR professionals will still face some challenges in the coming years, the future of work looks promising — and there’s plenty to look forward to along the way!

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