Workplace Organization

When we discuss transparency in the workplace, what we're really talking about is trust. Just as consumers expect a level of transparency about the products they purchase, employees also expect transparency from the companies they work for. Lack of trust between employees and business leaders can influence an employee’s decision to leave their position or to seek out alternative employment.

Embracing a culture of transparency and building trusting relationships by showing appreciation, giving constructive feedback and showing mutual respect for one another goes a long way in boosting morale and can foster overall job satisfaction.

In 2018, The Work and Well-Being Survey found that 89% of respondents who said they trusted their employer reported being satisfied with their job and were motivated to do their best work. (This compared to a mere 46% who said they didn’t trust their employers.)

‍So how can we build trust in the workplace and foster a culture of transparency?

By constructing a proper business strategy around recognition that encourages Communication, Feedback, and Achievement.

Building trust with communication

Employers can help build transparency and trust with open, honest, continuous, two-way communication. A program, like Qarrot, can provide the medium in which we build these lines of communication with an open social feed to recognize employees and encourage an open dialogue. This transparent approach to feedback allows managers to comment on the achievements of their staff where everyone can see it. It also offers the opportunity for peer-to-peer feedback and support. When given this opportunity, employees are more likely to foster positive feelings towards their work, and the work of their coworkers resulting in higher levels of performance.

Help employees thrive with continuous feedback

Younger employees have accelerated this demand for continuous feedback. They expect an ongoing relationship with their supervisors, and they demand responses to every inquiry. It’s true! When you think about the fact that this generation has been brought up in a digital age, with extreme connectedness through the use of mobile devices and social media, it’s no surprise that they have these expectations for work as well. For years business owners and management have ignored the requests of these employees. For years we’ve been reading about the 20/20 workforce, and how the millennial workers will surpass existing workplace populations, but here’s a newsflash for you: That day has come and gone. That’s right! The youngest of the supposed, “Millennials” in June of 2019 will be graduating from a 3-year University program, many of which have already finished college, and those that didn’t attend post-secondary education have been in the workforce for a few years already. If you haven’t already given consideration to their requests in the past, it may be time to discuss a new strategy to engage younger employees. Collaborative social feeds and feedback mediums are an excellent place to start.

Give employees goals to meet

People feel comfortable when they know what is expected of them and when they can see what others are working on with an obvious measurement of their performance. By creating goal-based award campaigns for employees and their teams to participate in, you encourage motivation through friendly competition. When people can see the goals others in their office are meeting, and are given the opportunity to support them along their journey, it motivates them to participate and meet their goals as well. An awards program can offer an excellent opportunity to reward employees for these achievements. Making the entire process come full circle in a continuous support loop.

Make it simple for people to participate

If leaders want people to engage with their rewards platform they have to be given a flexible and supportive environment in which to do that. Modern rewards and recognition programs are no longer considered "perks" they are essential elements to encouraging a transparent and trusting workplace.
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Discover how Qarrot can support your culture of transparency - Book a Demo today!

The face of the modern workplace has changed dramatically over the years, primarily where the pursuit of work-life balance is considered. A healthy quality of life is dependent on balancing career, family, health, and wellness. Flexible schedules and the ability to work remotely are 2 ways in which companies are providing these opportunities for their employees.

Recently Gallup published an article that stated, the results of a study they conducted on "benefits and perks" they found that 37% of employees would switch to a job that allows them to work off-site at least part-time.

‍Now before you get the idea that working from home is just a perk that benefits the employee, consider that studies have found financial benefits to the company as well. Global Workplace Analytics released their State of Telecommunicating in the US Employee Workforce findings in 2017 and found that employers saved over $11,000 annually, per employee, who worked remotely part of the time. Savings were found mostly in the areas of real estate, absenteeism, and turnover.

‍Advances in technology have made much of what an employee can do at the office available for them to do anywhere they like; whether it’s at home, at the cottage, or at a local coffee shop. Things like cell phone plans, high-speed availability and cloud-based software have led this revolution, but it's still the desire of the employee that is driving this trend upwards.

Telecommuting amongst full-time employees has increased 140% in a little over a decade! Though this has mostly been the case for companies with more than 500 employees, many small and medium-sized companies are starting to offer this as an option.

‍As if engaging our workforce wasn't difficult enough, engaging a remote, or dispersed, workforce poses its own set of challenges. What we’ve discovered in conversation with business leaders is that they can struggle with employees that may not be as strongly driven by the company's vision, and are more difficult to motivate than others.

If you currently have employees who sometimes work off-site, or are considering offering remote and/or flexi-hours to your workforce, it is critical to think more strategically on how to involve your workforce in engaging activities that make them still feel connected to the organization.

How do we engage our remote workforces? Here are a few suggestions:

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Set up a medium for regular communication

Providing tools in which managers and team members can regularly communicate with each other is key to cultivating a culture of collaboration. We know that a collaborative environment supports employee engagement, and engaged employees provide their best work, no matter where they are located.

Let them create their own schedule

Giving control back to employees to manage their own work schedules lets them fit in the things that matter the most to them. Employees with children, for example, may struggle with pick-up and drop-off schedules for school and sports. Flexible schedules give them the opportunity to balance family and work so they can continue to provide meaningful contributions to the organization.

Recognize their efforts… Publicly!

It's been previously stated that a genuine THANK YOU can go a long way to showing an employee that they are a valued part of the team, but a common problem with employees who aren’t in the office, either regularly, or at all, is their feeling of not “being connected” to their colleagues. This can make recognition difficult or seemingly less effective since there is nobody there to witness it. A modern rewards and recognition program, like Qarrot, can provide the ability to engage and interact with an employee, publicly recognize their efforts, and offer peer-to-peer recognition that is visible in a social feed. This can foster a sense of belonging and create a greater feeling of working together.

Continue to provide learning opportunities

Quite often, simply offering professional training and development can increase an employee’s feeling of importance to a company. When an organization is willing to build the skills and qualifications of their workforce it shows the employee that you truly value their contributions. Modern learning initiatives give management the ability to track what learning content their employees are engaging in, and keeps track of what they accomplish when they are not in the office.

Simplify the process

Qarrot is the all-in-one software solution that makes employee engagement easy, fun and effective with peer-to-peer, milestone, and goal-based recognition. When you use a rewards and recognition program that is visible, transparent, and inclusive, you’ll simplify the process of motivating and engaging your employees, no matter where they are.If you have an established team of telecommuting employees, or are considering offering flexi-schedules, or even if you have a full team of dispersed, remote employees, Qarrot can help eliminate some of the employee engagement challenges.

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Recognize and reward your people on your own terms with Qarrot - book a demo today!

Despite conflicting opinions, employee engagement doesn’t only mean employee happiness. Employee engagement is also the connectedness an employee feels to their job, the understanding of their personal contribution to the process, and the motivation they feel for growth within the company. It all starts with defining your mission, vision and values. For starters, ensure that the “who, what, why” trifecta of your mission statement is answered, your vision statement provides motivation for the future, and your values define your company’s organizational culture and beliefs. Of the three, your company’s values are most connected to employee engagement by being anchored in your company’s culture. This will have a huge effect on productivity and make the most of your mission, vision, and values.

"Your Mission creates FOCUS. Your Vision provides DIRECTION. Your Values define BEHAVIOUR.” ¹

Breaking the Mold with Company Values

Values such as integrity, teamwork, and customer service encompass the top three most common Fortune 100 company values. Nonetheless, they are exactly that, common. These values won’t set your company apart from competitors, nor will they attract and retain top employees. Core company values need to be implemented into everything, especially all processes involving employees. From start to finish, your company values should be the base of every company decision. This can be particularly difficult because strong values are tough and often controversial, but in the end, they will keep the company unified. When implemented properly, strong values will actually cause pain before they do good, as strange as that sounds. This means that some employees will feel cast out or constrained by behavioral boundaries, in fact narrowing the operational freedom of your business. On the bright side, when an employee’s values do align with the company core values, higher employee engagement and productivity will thrive.

Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” answer for this, as every person has a different perspective on values. Creating clear definitions for your company values, whether they’re core values, aspirational values, flexible values, or accidental values, will help clarify the meaning of every term your company stands for. This will avoid confusion and only attract the warrior employees who strongly believe in your company. It’s important to remember that values aren’t about people-pleasing. Rather, they place core beliefs at the forefront of your company. Just as you wouldn’t implement a survey for an overall consensus on financial or strategic issues for your company, the same concept applies to values for them to succeed.

Give Them Culture and Performance Will Follow

A study from 2015 involving automobile sales challenged the question, "Which comes first, organizational culture or performance?" The results strongly proved that if an engaged culture is implemented, more consistent and adaptable performance will result. Categories such as sales and customer satisfaction increased, while absenteeism and employee turnover substantially decreased.

Company culture defines a social order that grounds behavior and clarifies what is accepted or rejected amongst a group of people. Ultimately, it culminates in a shared purpose that energizes a company to help it grow. Depending on your company values, your culture will likely thrive under one of the following eight shared company culture categories:

‍Caring

‍A caring-based culture focuses on helping and supporting one another. Teamwork is highly emphasized, alongside loyalty and positivity.

Authority

‍An authority-based culture emphasizes competition, drive, and personal advantage. Confidence and constructive criticism are highly encouraged.

‍Purpose

‍A purpose-based culture comes together by focusing on global sustainability. They are striving for a greater cause and an ideal world.

Results

‍A results-based culture is goal-oriented and success driven. They strive for accomplishment and winning to get ahead.

‍Learning

‍Creativity, curiosity, and cultivation of new ideas are highly characterized in a learning-based culture. Exploration of new knowledge is made into adventure and open-mindedness is embraced.

Enjoyment‍

Happiness, fun, and excitement are emphasized in an enjoyment-based culture. A sense of humor is welcomed and stimulation is found in play.

‍Order

‍An order-based culture thrives on punctuality, structure, and rules. Employees are cooperative and looking to conform.

‍Safety

‍Planning ahead is a big value for a safety-based culture. Risk-taking is set to a minimum, and thorough preparedness and caution are taken in any business strategies.

A recent Harvard Business Review study showed that the success resulting from a company culture is again not a magic formula. Factors such as region, industry, strategy, leadership, and organizational design all play a part in the calculation of success due to company culture. Therefore, it’s not possible to say that what works for one company will necessarily work for the next, but clarifying which category of company culture your core values align with will help you to make the most of your values. Clear company cultures help employees to feel involved, connected, and supported. Guess what that sounds like? Employee engagement. In fact, it’s a direct domino outcome of clearly defining your company mission, vision, and values.

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Harness the power of appreciation through peer-to-peer recognition - book a demo with Qarrot!

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Sources

• Cmc-canada.ca - Who's on first? Mission or Vision?
• Hbr.org - Make Your Values Mean Something
• Forbes.com - If Culture Comes First Performance Will Follow

A corporate wellness program focuses on creating an initiative to improve the health and well-being of employees. Wellness programs can be implemented in multiple ways, such as:

• On-site fitness centers
• Smoking cessation programs
• Transit options
• Paramedical services
• Drop-in classes such as yoga, social dance, pilates, or Zumba
• Healthy lunch and snack options
• Siesta and recovery areas
• Employee assistance programs
• Outside-of-the-office adventures
• Health challenges

But what are the real reasons to invest in corporate wellness?

Ultimately this investment is going to save your business money on multiple levels, and increase the health, happiness, and loyalty of your employees. What else could you ask for?

Lower health costs

Corporations are the largest influencers in disease prevention, just simply by fluke. Companies would rather be focused on selling their products, but the outcome of a wellness program for their employees is too great to be ignored. Wellness programs change the behavior of your employees and the bottom line of health is behaviour. Bad eating habits, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and drinking are all habits of choice that raise the risk for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression. A wellness program changes those patterns and innately prevents disease. Less disease and health risk means lower health care costs for the company, ultimately providing both hard and soft benefits for the company.

Positive ROI (return on investment)

Your company is going to save much more by implementing a wellness program than the cost of starting one. In fact, the average savings from wellness programs reviewed in 22 studies conducted over a span of 2 years was $3.27 for every $1.00 spent.

Improved productivity

According to a recent study, presenteeism (working while not in optimal health) is more commonly found in people with poor lifestyle choices, such as bad diet habits, a lack of exercise, and poor sleeping patterns. Many links have also been proven between exercise and cognitive increase in memory and focus. A study from 2013 showed that those who participated in their company wellness programs saved 10.3 hrs and an average of $353 in productivity costs per person, annually.

Decreased absenteeism

Absenteeism is a sure way for a business to lose money, so any way to decrease this issue is a plus. It is said that 60% of absences are due to stress. Physical activity can decrease stress, increase energy, and allow for better sleep patterns. Recognizing that healthy employees are happier and more productive is the key to success.

Employee recruitment and retention

‍Wellness programs started out as an employee perk, but have now become commonplace for medium to larger-sized corporations. The better the wellness program, the more likely you are to attract the employees you’re looking for. Top companies such as Google and Microsoft offer extremely generous wellness packages, and other tech companies quickly followed suit. In the end, they are all fighting to recruit and maintain the best of the best, and what better way to do so than with top-notch wellness packages.

Heightened employee morale

‍Healthy employees are happier employees, and after all, employee morale is the make or break of any business.

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Can wellness be incorporated into an employee recognition program?

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Of course!

Show support and encouragement to those employees involved in a marathon, team, or simply dedicated to their fitness. Set your recognition program up in a way that allows for time and activity benefits like gym sessions, meditation moments, or vouchers for massage. Get creative and show your team you value their well-being. Foster a ‘wellness culture’ by having employees recognize each other’s wellness achievements. And of course, if budget allows, award your employees for reaching big goals. If an employee has a weight loss goal or is in training for a competition, reward those efforts with points that can be redeemed for rewards of their choice. Recognition will strengthen your wellness culture and provide additional motivation to your employees to stay on track with their health goals.

Incorporating wellness into your business doesn’t have to be costly or time-consuming, but it can be immensely beneficial to your organization. Whether you choose to implement a wellness program or to simply add wellness options to your existing recognition program, you will show your employees you support their well-being, all the while benefiting from higher productivity, retention, engagement, and positive employee morale.

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Qarrot has the tools you need to drive better performance and engagement - book your demo to learn more!

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Sources

• ‍Risepeople - Workplace Wellness Programs
• ‍Wellsteps.com - Reasons & Benefits to Have a Wellness program

Businesses around the world are reshaping their office culture - literally. Open office spaces are featured in big name companies like Google and Facebook, but are the benefits really worth overhauling your workplace?

We can’t deny it, there are certainly some major benefits to having an open office space.

Boost interaction and collaboration

First and foremost, collaboration and communication between departments and staff are reportedly guaranteed to improve. With little to no barriers between you and the person next to you, it would seem easier than ever to stay in touch with the projects of coworkers and throw ideas back and forth.

Managers also found that by stationing their desks in high-traffic areas, staff felt more comfortable informally stopping to speak with their superiors. This is a two-handed win: management have more insight into their staff’s progress and problems and employees feel more invested in their projects, the company’s overall culture, and mission. The lack of perceived boundaries has been reported by psychologist Matthew Davis to giving employees a more new-age, collaborative perception of the company, inspiring creativity and innovation. ¹

‍On the other hand, a concern of these open spaces is whether they negatively impact overall productivity - all that talking perhaps equals not enough work? A survey report by The Office Group (TOG) revealed that about 80% of employees feel more productive in co-working spaces than in isolated offices. Further statistics from the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine state that workers are significantly less stressed and more active in open space offices than their cubicle-locked counterparts.

Millennial-dominated companies can often be found operating within open office plans, but this has more to do with the company values than growing up in a hyper-connected world.² Now, an estimated 70% of U.S. offices have open space layouts.³ If teamwork and communication are areas you are looking to improve or are ideals the company values, it may be something to give a shot!

Increased stress and interruptions

Before we put the official stamp of approval on open office plans, there is some incriminating evidence to note.

Studies on open office plans are relatively new, but there are enough contradicting outcomes that it is important to consider the potential downsides. Harvard researchers actually found that people who work in open offices are less likely than cubicle dwellers to collaborate or interact with their colleagues.

Another point raised recognizes the individual work rhythms of employees:  When one employee takes their break and wants to socialize, another employee may be in the midst of their most productive time of the day. Noise is an incredibly potent influencer on productivity, and there is proof that as little of three hours of open-office noise can increase adrenaline levels, raising stress levels in employees.

With conflicting evidence, deciding whether an open or closed office space becomes a bit more difficult. Perhaps the deciding factor comes down to the company persona. The physical arrangement of your office projects a certain vibe: what do you want the tone of your business and its offices to be?

‍Workplace plays a major role in setting the right tone for guests in your office as well as employees, who have their own perception of the brand reinforced by the environment they operate in. Open concept offices are known for feeling inclusive, more informal, and let in more light, which—as a bonus—contributes to general well-being. If your company image is fun, approachable, and ‘young,’ open offices certainly portray that persona.

When in doubt, test it out!

If all that stands in your way is rearranging some furniture, a trial period to monitor productivity and employee happiness may be a huge payoff for only a little work.

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Keep your team connected and engaged with Qarrot - book your free demo now!

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Resources

• ‍Smallbusiness.chron.com - Advantages & Disadvantages of Openplan Office Space
• ‍Inc.com - 3 Reasons the Open Office Concept is Good for leaders
• ‍Peoplematters - Are Workspaces of Today Designed to Fuel Aspirations

For 5 days of the week, many of us push our attention spans and cognitive functioning to the limit. We hold on by a thread, driving through our work hours until the weekend brings us a chance to briefly recover.

This lifestyle has not coined the name, “The 9-5 Grind” for no reason: Employees feel the imbalance. For some, work can be a haven, and putting in extra hours on top of a full-time schedule is actually energizing. But, for those who need 8 hours of sleep and derive their relaxation from non-work related activities, the hustle takes a toll.

‍Regular overworking builds up stress, which can bring about a myriad of health concerns including restless sleep, depression, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, and heart disease. These consequences are obviously unpleasant for anyone, but the businesses employing depleted employees will see overwork manifested as absenteeism, high turnover rates, rising health insurance costs and a negatively impacted bottom line.

Wait, there is more.

Jobs which require interpersonal communication, judgment calls and the ability to manage one’s own emotional reactions are particularly impacted by overworking.¹ Unfortunately, those skills are all fundamental in most workplaces today.  What happens when we work ourselves to exhaustion? Studies indicate that when we’re low on energy, we are prone to negatively interpret those around us and react in a combative manner. This means that beyond individual health and company ROI, overworking disturbs workplace relationships and culture.

‍North American businesses, in particular, should concern themselves with the recent studies done on five-day work weeks; With 49% of US staff working over 40 hours a week, Americans work more than any other developed country (an average 47 hours a week) with Canada not far behind them.²Although heavily ingrained in work culture, the five-day work week is finally being questioned. Since its inception, the 9-5 has been socially accepted, but as technology allows employees to work in new ways, employers are adapting to fit the individual needs of their staff.³ The big question: Is it possible to be just as productive with less time in the office?

Improved Work-Life Balance

Rapid advancements in technology have altered the work field; employees are only ever a click away from their office emails and chat platforms, meaning work follows everywhere cell reception can be found. It is harder than ever to disengage from work and work-life balance is suffering as a result. Our brains are not programmed to work efficiently when stress and exhaustion press down.

‍In a trial at the University of Auckland, researchers found that stress levels decreased from 45 percent to 38 percent in a four-day week while work-life balance improved by 24 percent.⁴ These kinds of results are not only seen in tests: Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, implements four-day work weeks for half of the year, noting that, “Better work gets done in four days than in five.” ⁵

‍When employees feel their non-stop laboring is a choice rather than an expectation, they are more likely to be engaged and passionate about their work.⁶ Four-day weeks enable employees to disengage, reset, and ultimately find their work more stimulating upon return to the office.

Improved Engagement

A study conducted by a New Zealand business confirmed a 4-day work week is actually more productive than a 5-day work week. During the course of the trial, not only was full-time job performance across the company maintained in a four-day work week, but some teams even saw an increase.  Engagement levels across areas such as leadership, commitment, stimulation, and empowerment were reportedly higher across the company, as team members needed to identify areas where time was being wasted and work smarter.⁷

‍Again, in a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the same relationship between overworking and productivity was found; Those who worked 55 hours per week performed more poorly on some mental tasks than those who worked 40 hours per week.

When one first sets out as a professional, working evenings and weekends demonstrates commitment and sets you apart from the herd; but this is unsustainable! The social acceptability of overworking is the result of ingrained behaviours, which unfortunately detract from productivity.

‍Advice from businesses that have acted on these findings may help guide you in establishing a work-week structure that fits your company. Research from the Australian National University (ANU) shows the work limit for a healthy life should be set at 39 hours a week instead of the 48-hour limit set internationally- 80 years ago. With technology, telecommuting, and automation, the tools to develop new work systems are more accessible than ever.

Executive Director of The Workforce Institute at Kronos, Joyce Maroney suggests that the answer is not in a longer work week, but rather, "Organizations must help their people eliminate distractions, inefficiencies and administrative work to enable them to work at full capacity." Perhaps the answer really is to end 40 hour work weeks and analyze internal obstacles which can be as “productivity-killing as smoking pot or losing sleep.”

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Replace administrative clutter with streamline automation - learn how Qarrot can benefit your team!

This year, Sky Bet CEO Richard Flint was rated the number one CEO in the UK by the job rating site Glassdoor. Glassdoor’s reviews come from employees, making this award very meaningful and its recipient, a leader businesses around the world ought to take note of.

What is Flint doing that resonates so strongly with his staff? According to him, keeping work culture casual has opened up an invaluable dialogue between all levels of staff.

‍The managerial approach Flint takes to maximize employee engagement is actively creating an informal and collegiate environment.¹

“Be nice, friendly, and approachable […] and you’ll get the best out of your employees every single time...The best way to find out what’s really going on is to talk to people outside of the formal environment. In a formal meeting, people always want to tell you everything is really good.” -Richard Kent

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Operating with a less formal office environment is something more and more businesses are practicing, and it’s not just startups. From open-concept offices to employees working from home, flexible work structures seem to be becoming the new norm.

‍But where should the line be drawn? At what point does a casual work culture impede employee productivity?

‍Here are a couple of guidelines to keep in mind

Constant communication can kill employee productivity

Office chat platforms are incredibly effective tools for keeping staff connected. Different departments and team members can instantly get updates from one another and keep projects moving forward without having to call formal meetings.

The issue is that those message notifications are not always arriving at the ideal time. In the spirit of open communication and in the wake of flexible work hours, employees at all levels are making themselves available much of the time - even outside of regular hours. When chat conversations become relentless, all-day affairs, employee focus and productivity take a hit from repeated interruptions.

Accordingly, management should be aware that employees crave a bit of structure for their chat rooms. A recent survey showed that as much as 81 percent of staff expressed an interest in having guidelines around communication apps. Often, a simple acknowledgment that it is okay to set your status as Do Not Disturb will alleviate any guilt from saying “I’m unavailable” and give your workforce uninterrupted time to focus.

Employee engagement for staff working from home

There are a lot of benefits to working from home - no time or money wasted on transit and a comfortable, quiet work environment to name a few. It’s no surprise that many employees are increasingly negotiating this flexibility into their employment agreements.

With this freedom comes more responsibility. Managers or supervisors need to regularly check in and maintain a connection with those staff working from home in order to prevent employee disengagement.

These meetings don’t have to be formal—you may decide to do check-ins through chat tools, email, or even over coffee—that’s Richard Kent’s preferred approach.

Whatever approach you decide on, these status updates should include general conversation to connect with the employee and most importantly, be done on a weekly basis. By keeping your employees informed on the going-on’s of the office, you reinforce the message that they are still a part of the team and their work matters to the company.²

Concrete boundaries are key

Don’t be afraid to relax your company culture and try out a more informal approach. Trading-in rigid guidelines for a more collaborative, horizontal business structure has proven to work wonders for many organizations.

The employee engagement success of these relaxed atmospheres is dependent on having an awareness of areas where a little can turn into too much. Knowing and managing counterproductive practices that can emerge from an open culture requires an understanding of employee work styles. The more you know about how your staff like to work, the more accurately you can shape a culture that will benefit them.

An “informal and open” work culture is not all about open-space offices. Employees want a work culture that allows them to express their true selves, inspire and be inspired by their teammates, and lets them walk away at the end of the day feeling connected to the success of the business.

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Here at Qarrot, we know that communication is key - learn how we can keep your whole team in the loop!

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Resources

• ‍Peoplematters.in - How HR Can Engage Salespeople To Boost Their Productivity

Why do 27% of North Americans forfeit their lunch break?

‍The answer is not that employees are not given one, but rather that they electively choose to take a shorter lunch or work through it completely. By law, all North American companies are required to allot a lunchtime break for their employees, but only one-third of them are taking this opportunity to recharge. Working through lunch, staying at your desk browsing the Internet, or cutting your break short to get back to work sooner all have a direct correlation to lower engagement and productivity!We feel the effects of working relentlessly with no breaks as fatigue, increased stress, and difficulty focusing. Consider this: ten million working days a year are lost due to work-related stress.

In 2015, only 1 in 5 office employees reported taking an actual lunch away from their desk¹. A workforce that is suffering from these symptoms is undoubtedly going to be less productive.If the point of taking a lunch break is to reset and come back to work more focused, we should all be taking full advantage.

Surveys have found that the top reasons expressed by employees for not taking advantage of lunch breaks are:

1. Having too much work
2. Stress
3. Workplace culture
4. Wanting to appear hard-working to management

In the moment, choosing to continue working seems more productive: we don’t lose our train of thought and the additional work time makes us feel we’re completing our tasks more quickly. Unfortunately, this is an oversight. We don’t see the long-term and more intrinsic effects of this choice.

Kimberly Lesbach, a management professor at UC-Davis specializing in psychology of the workplace, noted that “never taking a break from very careful thought-work actually reduces your ability to be creative².” It’s not just creativity that is affected; psychologist Dr. Janet Scarborough Civitelli says that overall marginal returns are reduced when our brains are required to exert continuous pressure during long shifts. Walking in a quiet park, going for a lunch-time workout or reading a book - anything to divert your mind from its point of focus for 8 hours a day will noticeably increase your ability to engage back in the office.

The recommended approach to decreasing sick days as an employer is to encourage a healthy lifestyle. This means: A higher percentage of employees utilizing their lunch break equals a lower percentage of disengagement and sick days. While implementing breaks throughout the day grants the opportunity to reset one’s mind, encouraging staff to take advantage of their lunch will have the same effect and more.

Time to leave the office and exercise, have a nutritious lunch, or possibly run some errands effectively minimizes stress, increases cognitive function, and just plain makes your staff happy!

As the employer, there are a few different approaches to increasing your workforce lunch-time takers.

‍First, lead by example. If employees see you taking a full lunch break, exercising, or meditating, the will likely feel more comfortable doing the same.

‍Second, actively vocalize to your staff that it is encouraged to take their lunch breaks and do whatever they feel will help them relax and reset. You could even provide healthy snacks or reading materials to entice employees away from their digital screens.

‍Lastly, ensure that your company culture is pro-breaks. Taking 20-minute breaks to practice meditation or mindfulness - even just from your seat - is a proven way to help relax and focus. Staff should take a few minutes to get up, stretch, have a glass of water or a cup of tea a few times a day. This isn’t wasted time, this is invested time.

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Book a demo with Qarrot to learn how recognition can boost productivity (without sacrificing your lunch break!)

Resources

• ‍Peoplematters - How Infeedo is Utilizing AI to Interpret Employees Emotions
• ‍Realbusiness.co - The Importance for Staff to Take Lunch Breaks
• ‍Lifehack.org - The Importance of Breaks at Work
• ‍Psychologytoday.com - Why and How You Should Take Breaks at Work
• ‍Smallbusiness.chron.com - The Importance of Employee Breaks

What Staffup Weekends Can Teach Us About Better Recruitment

The internet provides us with endless articles on the art of the interview:

• Dress according to the vibe of the office
• Mirror your interviewer’s body language
• Be engaged and ask questions
• Don’t mention an interest you have in something that no one else in the office can appreciate—Wait, what?

This last one may seem a bit ridiculous, but it’s true.

Multiple studies have shown us that traditional hiring practices put too much weight on an applicant’s academic pedigree, pre-formulated answers to rigorous questioning, and whether the individual “fits” with the company. Why is this? Human nature.

All human beings are subject to unconscious biases, which can result in certain applicants being passed by for a role they may be well-suited for. Generalizations often play a role in forming our biases. For example, we may perceive that someone with certain interests will be a better fit within our team or that an Ivy-league education correlates to a stronger skill set.

‍Companies around the world are noticing the effect of biases within flawed hiring processes: Its effect on employee turnover and the costs of hiring and training is significant. In 2012, consulting firm Leadership IQ revealed that from 20,000 new hires, 46% of them had failed within 18 months. In 2013, Google also discovered the inconsistency between acing interviews and job performance:

“We looked at tens of thousands of interviews, and everyone who had done the interviews and what they scored the candidate, and how that person ultimately performed in their job. We found zero relationships. It’s a complete random mess.”

— Laszlo Bock, Senior Vice President for Google’s People Operations

How do we combat biases that we aren’t consciously unaware of? What can we do differently?

Enter Staffup Weekends

Brooke Allen launched Staffup Weekends with the hope that the event might help companies hire in a less biased, more effective and more humane way. Allen advocates that the solution to hiring resides in a call-to-adventure, not an advertisement: Bring together all job-seekers for a hands-on, skill-testing weekend so they can show their skills, not just talk about them.

‍At the end of the 48-hour adventure, not all who first walked through the doors will remain. Many simply can’t hack it: their degrees, the name of their university, and their extra-curricular interests won’t help them conceptualize and complete the project. Those who do have the opportunity to present the product of their weekend efforts in small teams to potential hiring managers in the room.

For hiring managers, this is a chance to see what a person can do, how they think, what their work style, strengths, and weaknesses are, without anyone having to convince them. Instead of talking about their qualifications, the applicants demonstrate them firsthand! The weekends also allow recruiters to scope out candidates at a fraction of the cost of traditional recruiting.

“The fact that people stayed for 48 hours to work on something put them head and shoulders above the thousands of applications we receive because the participants are people who show up and see things through.”

— Chris Nicholson, Head of communications and Recruitment for FutureAdvisor

At this point, the idea of Staffup Weekends is new and not commonly used, but there is a lesson from innovative hiring practices here: “Seeing is believing.”

This is good news for you and your potential hire: You get to see that your candidate is capable of what their resume boasts they can do, and your new employee feels confident stepping in to work on their first day because they know you already believe in them and value their skills.

‍If employee engagement is heavily based on keeping your team feeling valued, this shift in hiring strategies is gold. Think of the energy your recruits are bringing into the company! Gone is the pressure to prove themselves and, in its place, is an invaluable confidence knowing they bring something needed to the team.

That sense of value is going to translate into greater creativity, better communication, and higher work quality earlier on.

This shift in hiring practices could be a platform for initiating powerful relationships between companies and their employees. You no longer need to wait for your recruits to start work to confirm that they can deliver or work well with your staff: find a way, whether it be through a Staffup Weekend, or another hands-on approach, to put applicant skills to the test. Get to know them, chat with them, work alongside them, and be more confident in your recruiting process than ever before.

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Effortless onboarding is just one way Qarrot can streamline your recognition process - book your free demo here!

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Resources

• ‍Wired.com - The way we hire is all wrong
• ‍News.ycombinator.com
• ‍Linkedin.com - Unconventional recruitment methods that actually work
• ‍Ascendantrecruitment.co.uk - Four unconventional recruitment methods that get results