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Tag: Employee Experience & Recruiting

  • Why High-Performance Culture Is Critical to Business Success in 2023

    Why High-Performance Culture Is Critical to Business Success in 2023

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    With 2023 business planning underway, business leaders are setting priorities for the next year and beyond. For some, the focus may emphasize productivity or roll back certain benefits like flexible working schedules.

    A high-performance culture improves productivity, bringing higher profits and happier employees, improving talent retention and continuing a growth cycle. A cornerstone of 2023 growth should be building or maintaining a high-performance culture for all businesses. Refraining or forgetting about culture in 2023 is a mistake, as it plays a critical role in company performance.

    Related: How to Create a Work Culture That Can Survive Anything

    Understanding the importance of high-performance culture

    A high-performance culture allows an organization to succeed and grow. This type of structure is good for business and for each employee. Not every high-performance culture will look the same, yet every organization with a high-performance culture values workers and holds their trust in return.

    Employees may come to work partly for a paycheck, yet evidence suggests they crave meaning from work and are more productive when they get it. Like everyone, workers want to feel a sense of purpose and mission in their daily lives and enjoying the same at work is only natural.

    The best cultures embed their mission throughout the employee experience, honoring and furthering these values daily. These cultures also offer their employees interesting and engaging projects which drive their sense of belonging to the organization. A recent survey by McKinsey showed workers across all levels of income believed having an interesting job was as important as earning a solid income.

    Related: How to Develop a Company Vision and Values That Employees Buy Into

    Workers feel fulfilled by purpose-driven work. Unfortunately, many employers ignore culture in favor of focusing on profits. Workers need clarification and connection in these types of work environments. In a survey from Gallup, only four in 10 employees strongly agreed they knew what their company stands for and what differentiates their company from competitors. Even for organizations that articulate their values often, management could be viewed poorly if employees do not see the connection between the values and the organization’s actions.

    When leaders grow nervous about their businesses’ future, it can feel tempting to ignore culture at the expense of profit. In fact, culture becomes even more important in times of economic uncertainties. In these moments, employees will look to management to set the tone. Without a culture fostering engagement and collaboration, workers could lose productivity to stress and conflict.

    Related: Why Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurs Focus on the Bigger Picture

    How to build a high-performance culture

    To build a high-performance culture, first, understand how your culture functions. Employees usually understand culture best simply by judging their own level of satisfaction. Their daily experiences are typically defined by coworkers and frontline managers more than company management. Leaders who do not work with frontline managers daily will likely need to speak with employees to understand their experiences.

    Signs of an underperforming culture could include low employee retention, low productivity and frequent workplace conflicts. Not every employee will be satisfied, even in the highest-performing cultures, but consistently unhappy employees reflect serious problems. Direct, private conversations between employees and HR can offer insight. If employees seem reluctant to speak candidly, much-needed feedback via surveys can provide ways to track improvement.

    After gathering information about employee experiences, HR may wish to prepare a report assessing culture as it stands. Strong cultures should clearly understand which policies contribute to the culture and how to continue them. Doing so will help preserve civilization in the face of future business difficulties or leadership changes.

    On the other hand, struggling cultures need to identify the most negative factors of their culture to begin changing. High-performance cultures feature strong leaders, actively engaged employees, ongoing workforce development, strong communication and adaptability. If employees are disengaged, find out whether imbalanced workloads, micromanaging, lack of flexibility or absence of trust could contribute.

    During this process, employees also feel their input is genuinely welcomed, which it should be. Psychologically, employees accustomed to a toxic culture may fear expressing their true thoughts, mainly if their frontline managers previously engaged in verbal abuse or insults. Build this trust by taking accountability to admit that culture has not met the mark and protect employees who voice their concerns from retaliation.

    Each leadership level, from the C-suite to frontline managers, plays an integral role in rebuilding a company’s culture. The positive vision set forth at the top needs to be actionable. Once the vision has more tangible attributes, through structure and processes, each level of leadership can provide the necessary training and easily communicate these goals on how they translate into the fabric of the company.

    A high-performance culture is often viewed as optional. That cannot be further from the truth. A high-performance culture is the backbone of an organization, providing a strong framework for business growth. Moving into 2023, culture should be central to every successful business strategy.

    Steve Arizpe

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  • 9 Lessons Entrepreneurship Will Teach You

    9 Lessons Entrepreneurship Will Teach You

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Once upon a time, my wife Jenna and I and our three kids under ten moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, had another baby, and bought our first house together. This, we thought, is the perfect time to quit our jobs and start a business! [eyeroll]

    The idea of our company, Be Courageous, was born during the facilitation of a client session when the team was at odds with each other while exploring the future of their business. This quote from George Prince was on the wall: “Another word for creativity is courage.”

    I realized many of us stay trapped in old thinking and actions when we lack the conditions to be creative and courageous.

    A question emerged for me, “What would a world with an abundance of courage look like? How can I help create it?”

    With my experience in marketing, strategy and facilitation, and Jenna’s in psychology, human resources and operations, we founded our business consultancy, Be Courageous. Every year we’ve grown. Every year our impact has expanded. Every year we’ve learned.

    Here are some of our biggest learnings for those of you on your entrepreneurial journey.

    Related: The 7 Business Lessons You Should Learn by 30

    9 lessons from five years of learning

    As any reader here knows, starting and running a business is a piece of cake. Ha!

    For real, here is what we learned, having grown our U.S. business of two to a worldwide organization with dozens of clients and 35+ network partners while positively impacting nearly 1 million people in 82 countries.

    1. Agility

    One of our most in-demand programs with Fortune 500 companies this year has been our training on agile leadership. When you own your own business — the unexpected will happen. A successful entrepreneur adapts to new challenges and situations and creates lemonade from lemons.

    We have created programs we never thought we would in response to what the world has needed from us.

    Have a solid plan, but be flexible.

    Related: These Are the Core Elements Needed to Successfully Pivot Your Business

    2. Purpose

    We aim to activate courage in companies worldwide and align them with a planet-beneficial future. Yours might be to improve humanity’s mental health or lessen people’s stress by building an easier-to-use product. Whatever your purpose is, make sure you’re deeply passionate about it and that it fuels your actions.

    Use the strength of your purpose to courage through challenges.

    3. Superpowers (and kryptonite)

    We found more success when we identified and focused on our greatest strengths. We aligned our strengths with our values and the services we wanted to provide to our clients to solve a problem they faced.

    For example, my superpower is guiding businesses to realize their potential and future. My kryptonite is getting tripped up in the micro-details of spreadsheets. That’s where Jenna comes in. She leads operations with her superpower of keeping our company financially stable, growing and on the ground. I’m the visionary, and she makes it possible.

    Align your superpowers with your business goals and values. Find people who have superpowers you lack.

    Related: Find Your Flow Through Deep Work and Unlock Your Superpower

    4. Curiosity

    In an exponentially-changing world, having an open mind is the key to running a successful business. Be curious about skills you don’t have and new ways to solve problems. Challenges will arise, but if your curiosity remains peaked, you’ll always get to the solution positively. Ask, “What is the courage needed in this situation?”

    Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it feeds company growth. (We’re a dog company, anyway, no offense to cats.)

    5. Healthy company culture

    Create a team that feels safe, strong, empowered and able to share and receive ideas. When you foster personal connections with your team and your clients (yes, business is personal), you will thrive beyond competitors who are only in it for the buck.

    Develop a positive company culture to unlock the full potential of your team.

    Related: 4 Ways Leaders Can Create Award-Winning Corporate Culture

    6. Operational foundation

    While you don’t want to get bogged down in systems and processes, your business won’t thrive without a solid operational foundation. Get an understanding of legal, financial and team infrastructure.

    Stay pragmatic and, as we like to say, “aggressively conservative.” We make leaps, but only with a net.

    Develop systems to streamline your business, so you can focus on serving your customers.

    7. Integrity

    Many people make empty promises, which erodes trust over time. It’s far better to over-deliver on your word. Pay what you say you will, earlier than you say you will. We’ve established deep, trusting relationships with our clients. We foster community.

    We get callbacks five years after doing one program with a client because we don’t burn bridges; we build them.

    Show up with your heart, don’t be a jerk, and honor your word.

    Related: Understanding the Burden of Trust for Business Leaders

    8. Optimism

    Never doubt what you can achieve, yet don’t be disillusioned. Approach everyone you can as a holistic human being, putting aside bias. Presume positive intent and look for positive solutions. Expect people to be their best until proven otherwise. And even then, be graceful about terminating any relationships.

    Work and live from a place of abundance, not scarcity.

    9. Mindful hiring

    Be thoughtful about who you bring into your organization.

    We hire a type of person — not only for the exact level of expertise we need. We hire people in love with our vision. A person who can be adaptive and learn with us. Who is willing to put in the work for a shared purpose.

    Hire the right puzzle piece for your vision, not just how they look on paper.

    Related: Why Kindness Should Be Part of Your Hiring Process

    Bottom line

    Owning your own business isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s an ebb and flow of successes and learnings. But 20 years from now, if you look back, would you regret not doing something about your big and burning idea?

    Fear will never go away, but when the desire to fulfill your purpose outweighs the fear of risks involved, that’s when you know you’re made to be an entrepreneur.

    Kyle Hermans

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  • 19 Best Skills to Put On a Resume That Employers Will Love

    19 Best Skills to Put On a Resume That Employers Will Love

    The best resumes have comprehensive lists of desirable key skills to make employers look twice and choose one candidate over another.

    If you want to ace your next job interview and make your job application stand out from other candidates, you need to put the best details possible on your resume to impress a prospective employer right from the get-go.

    But what job skills should you write down? This article will break down 19 of the best skills for a resume that any hiring manager will love.

    Soft skills employers love to see

    So-called “soft skills” are usually people-focused, generalized or applicable to various industries and situations. Nevertheless, employers like to see plenty of soft skills in their candidates.

    Related: How to Make a Resume That Gets You the Job

    Leadership skills

    Leadership skills have always been in demand, and that’s even truer today. Anyone can be a good worker, but only a few employees can successfully run and manage teams, especially when the time comes to knock out complex projects.

    If you have successfully led teams in the past, note those experiences on your resume and explain what exactly you did, your responsibilities and other relevant factors.

    The more leadership skills you can mark down on your resume in the skills section, the more attractive a candidate you will be, even if you aren’t expected to lead anyone soon. This is true even if a job description requests more technical skills.

    Leadership skills make you a better choice for potential management positions or promotions in the future. Because many companies hire long-term candidates, not just short-term workers, listing leadership skills can make you stand out relative to your competition in a big way.

    Communication skills

    Communication skills are also critical. You need to be able to communicate with your fellow team members and workers to get along well at your new company. This might seem like a waste of space to put down, but don’t discount it.

    Noting that you have communication skills tells your employer two things:

    • You are confident about your ability to be a team player, which says a lot about your personality.
    • You know that employers are looking for this skill, which means it’s something you think about.

    Both can indicate that you are an excellent potential hire for an open position. Good interpersonal skills, like demonstrated emotional intelligence or active listening skills, are even more critical if you apply for an administrative or management job posting.

    Sometimes, they’re better than computer skills or other specific skills, such as graphic design.

    Related: 9 Best Practices to Improve Your Communication Skills and Become a More Effective Leader

    Writing skills

    Writing skills are an essential subcategory of communication skills, which are in demand for many new jobs.

    Specific jobs in marketing and communications value writing skills highly, and (an added plus) you can explicitly demonstrate your capabilities in your resume writing. Using polished, engaging and succinct language in your resume will support your inclusion of writing in your list of skills.

    Problem-solving experience

    General problem-solving skills can also be good to put down on any resume. In most jobs, you’ll need to solve complex problems at one point or another, either because you run into an unexpected situation or because employer policies and procedures don’t cover all possibilities.

    Good problem-solving, therefore, is seen as a must-have skill for many organizations and industries. Be sure to put this on your resume no matter the job or industry you apply.

    It shows that you can think critically (and critical thinking skills are just as essential) and that you’re not afraid to face a challenge. It’s also an indicator of adaptability: another relevant skill ideal for any job search.

    Try not to put down problem-solving and critical thinking skills simultaneously. There’s a lot of overlap between these two types of skill sets, so just put one or the other.

    Organizational skills

    Organizational skills reflect your ability to handle lots of resources and moving pieces. It’s an important skill to put on your resume when applying for a leadership or management position, but it’s good to put it down regardless just because it shows you are a hard worker and won’t be overwhelmed by many things on your plate.

    Time management skills

    Time management skills are wise to put on your resume, whether you are applying for an entry-level or management position.

    Good time management is a much rarer skill than you may think, particularly in this day and age where there are ample digital distractions in people’s pockets at all times.

    By them noting that you have good time management skills, your employer will feel more confident about letting you work on your own and unsupervised. This is important since it means they can focus on other aspects of running a business instead of worrying about your productivity.

    Teamwork skills

    Solid teamwork skills are must-haves for most positions and workers these days. Being able to work with others is crucial if you are to become a part of any new team, so be sure to note that you have strong teamwork skills regardless of your prior work experiences.

    If you need to be specific, write down some anecdotes about how you were an excellent team member on your cover letter. You should tie that experience into a moment when you overcame a challenge or solved a problem.

    Add people skills to your resume skills section, and you’ll be a more successful job seeker overall.

    Related: How to Acquire Soft Skills and Measure Them Successfully

    Customer service skills

    Good customer service skills are necessary for any industry — especially if you apply to a service industry or entry-level position. Basically, if your job requires you to interact with the general public frequently, you must have good customer service skills.

    Mention any specific skills or tools you may have used to this effect.

    For instance, if you previously worked at a call center, note that your customer service skills came from learning to speak to dozens or hundreds of people over the phone and provide meaningful assistance, no matter their problems.

    Marketing skills

    It is also wise to put down any marketing skills on your resume. Good marketing skills are highly desirable for specific marketing positions and general employees.

    Marketing skills can involve using particular tools or tactics or just understanding how to phrase things to make products seem more appealing to customers.

    This is closely related to sales experience; put down either sales experience or marketing experience if you are applying to a sales or commission-based job.

    Related: 5 Skills Every Marketer Should Have on Their Resume When Applying to Startups

    Hard skills employers seek

    Hard skills are technical, specific and usually related to a specific skill or talent instead of being generalized. Here are some of the most in-demand hard skills to consider putting on your resume.

    Related: Technical Skills Interviewers are Looking for in Job Candidates

    Project management skills

    Project management skills are incredibly in demand and closely tied to leadership skills. Many organizations have complex projects they need to be headed by talented individuals.

    If you can accurately claim that you have successfully led other projects through your management style, you’ll be well-positioned to take open job positions from other candidates.

    Project management skills can be particular and reflect proficiency in specific programs and processes. For instance, scrum project management may make you a perfect choice for an IT company.

    Data analysis skills

    Data analysis skills are also highly in demand these days and for good reason. Many companies must analyze the data they collect from their customers and clients.

    You’ll be a desirable candidate for many industries and companies if you can do this, both generally and with specific programs and equations.

    Be sure to reference specific data analysis experience and techniques you are familiar with when listing this on your resume. The more specific you can get, the better; most hirers and recruiters will know what exactly to look for if they are trying to fill a data management or data analyst spot.

    Enterprise resource planning skills

    Enterprise resource planning skills, or ESP skills, are good to put on any resume, especially if you’re applying for a closely related position. ERP is crucial for large-scale organizations to not waste valuable equipment, time, people or other resources.

    As with many other hard skills, be specific regarding your prior work experience and whether you know certain tactics, tools or techniques.

    Computer proficiency

    Generalized computer proficiency is now expected in a majority of positions. After all, everyone should know how to use computers to a basic degree.

    However, you can take this a step further and break down other types of computer proficiencies, such as

    • Programming proficiency
    • Computer repair or hardware maintenance proficiency

    This skill can be beneficial both in non-computer-related industries and in the computer industry itself.

    Related: Coding in the Classroom: Learning the Future Language of Business

    However, keep in mind that mere computer proficiency will only be desirable to employers in the IT industry if you can get more specific about what exactly you do and the value you can provide to a company.

    Program proficiency

    Program proficiency is any proficiency you can list with a specific program. Don’t be humble or think too little of yourself; even proficiency with Microsoft Office 365 is valuable, particularly when many people don’t know how to use those collected programs to their maximum effectiveness.

    If you are applying to a job that requires the use of specific programs, such as AWS, mention that. Be clear about your proficiency and mention times when you have used the tool or program effectively for business goals.

    Programming language proficiency

    Also nice to put on your resume are programming language proficiencies in languages like C++, CSS, Python and HTML.

    The more language proficiencies you can list, the better positioned you’ll be to take a job in the IT or programming and web development industries. It may be wise to research what programming languages are most in demand for a specific position before listing them on your resume.

    SEO proficiency

    SEO or search engine optimization proficiency is highly valued in many professions, especially social media and marketing managers.

    Note that this proficiency doesn’t just mean you understand what SEO is or how it works. It also means you know how to use related SEM tools, like SEMrush, to research keywords and understand how to leverage them for maximum content effectiveness.

    Related: 7 Reasons Why SEO Matters for Every Startup

    CRM proficiency

    Customer relationship management (CRM) software proficiency means you’re proficient in using popular CRM software platforms like Salesforce. This skill is most desirable and essential for marketing and customer relationship positions or fields.

    Budgeting experience

    If you have experience using budgeting software or running budget teams — mention it, and, as always, be specific about the kinds of tools or software platforms you previously used to get the job done.

    Bookkeeping skills

    Like the above, if you have bookkeeping skills using programs like FreshBooks, QuickBooks and similar platforms, mention that on your resume.

    Note any educational accounting experience or licenses you may have acquired, like certificates or degrees. You can list these experiences and certifications in a dedicated section, usually toward the bottom of your resume. This is most important if you apply for a financial or accounting-related position.

    Related: Why Skills Shouldn’t Be Just a P.S. on a Resume

    Web development skills

    Specific web development skills, such as using web development tools to outline pages, make frames and place widgets, are vital for many jobs in the IT sector.

    However, it’s desirable in any field because most companies have online sites. They may want to know whether you can help them improve those websites and experiences for their customers.

    Summary

    Now you have 19 top skills to put on your resume, provided you have the real-life aptitude to back them up. Remember to tweak the description of each skill based on the job or industry you’re applying for to make them seem as relevant as possible.

    Check out Entrepreneur’s other articles to present yourself as effectively as possible the next time you sit for an interview

    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • 5 Ways You Can Build a Strong Leadership Team

    5 Ways You Can Build a Strong Leadership Team

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Laying the foundation for a powerful leadership team starts with a business assessment and a self-assessment. What does the business need to achieve, and how can our leadership teams get us there?

    I tend to look at things globally, but while I can see things in a micro way to determine the next steps, I like to lean on my teams to dig down into the details as they come up with a knock-out marketing and sales strategy, stellar creative, rock-solid and accurate financials and innovative thinking that are all informed by five guiding tips.

    Related: 22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader

    1. Determine what goals and priorities the business needs to focus on

    When determining the base needs of the business, you have to look at who’s already on your team. Here’s a good example. I have a person in a manager’s seat right now, but I’m mentoring him to be a director because what I’ve identified in him are many of the key personality qualities that a leader and a leadership team need.

    Intelligence is key. I refer not only to business intelligence but also to emotional intelligence. This includes understanding how to interact with people and the business requirements. They are two different things, but both are required of a leader. You need to be organized, and you need to have really good communication skills.

    You also need to be able to say no. I want my leadership team to be strong enough to know the difference between what we should say yes to and what we should say no to because I’m relying on them to run their parts of the business and then report to me. Therefore, I need to have trust that they understand what it means to say no — and they can only know that if they understand the business as a complete operation.

    For example, if there’s a need for someone to jump in the warehouse and pack boxes, then so be it. The fact that my warehouse leader was packing orders on a Monday shows the rest of his team and me that he’s not going to ask anyone to do something that he’s not willing to do himself.

    Related: Setting Measurable Goals Is Critical to Your Strategic Plan (and Your Success). Here’s Why.

    2. Never forget the importance of “right people, right seats.”

    Do they get it? Do they want it? Do they have the capacity to do it? And then there are measurables that give us an idea if they are meeting those criteria. We’re a little obsessed about this, but it’s important.

    One thing that guides a strong leadership team foundation is the establishment of core values. What does the business stand for, and what are those values?

    In our business, one of the things that we really believe in is customer relationships built on trust. Another one is minding the small details. Little things matter. This can be the little nuances of contract manufacturing or providing more service to our customers.

    You want to go out and find a leadership team that lives the core values every minute of every day that they are in the building, hybrid or remote — because it is through their leadership, their belief in those values, and how they exemplify them that provides the blueprint of how an employee should act.

    Remember that every employee, not just leaders, builds a company’s reputation and goodwill.

    Related: As a Leader: Never Compromise Your Core Values

    3. Leaders should be able to pivot, make adjustments and change course

    If you’re going to be in business and think things are going to stay the same, you’re not in the right field and should do something else. There’s an excellent quote that I read recently from Jeff Bezos, where he said that “every day needs to be day one.”

    He said that day one is when you’re entirely customer-obsessed and constantly looking to grow the business. On day one of a business, you’re asking what we can do to wow our customers. How can we provide value? You never want to leave day one because, once it becomes day two, it’s now on a path to stagnation.

    I agree with that. Part of day one thinking is understanding that things change. It’s being resilient enough to change course, evaluating things on the fly, knowing what’s working and rapidly driving resources to what’s working.

    How do you bring the best out in your teams? In baseball, it’s catchers that have a unique perspective. They’re managing the pitcher and see the game from a perspective only they can see.

    They’re watching the game unfold in front of them. Nine innings, 162 games a year for 20 years, or however long they’re behind the plate. They’re great leaders in the sport because they understand the game at a level that other players can’t.

    I think that that’s a big part of when you’re looking to develop a quality leadership team. Those are the kind of skills that you want to see.

    Be like a catcher.

    4. Knowing that honest mistakes, smart risk and bold action are often needed

    What I believe in is that you want to give people smart authority. You want to let them understand the guardrails within their sphere and encourage people to own things. You give people a chance to accept responsibility, take full responsibility for something and give them goals for what you want them to accomplish. Then set them free to go out and do it.

    When they make mistakes, they learn something. It’s through honest mistakes that real learning happens. We grow up in a culture where everything has to be mistake-free and perfect. In reality, however, the best and most successful entrepreneurs are founded out of risk. If you remove the risk from your business as you’re operating it, how can you ever grow? How can you ever move to the next level?

    You want to allow your team and leaders to grow and make what I call “smart mistakes” — honest mistakes that are not due to carelessness or recklessness. It’s okay to make a mistake when you’ve gone through the process of making a good decision.

    I also believe in “smart risk,” — where you think more outside the box. Smart risk is, for example, taking a reasonable chance on a well-thought-out opportunity.

    In marketing, there’s the whole theory of test and rest. Try something, give it a time frame, and look at the results. Did it work? Yes, then throw more at it. If not, what did we learn, why didn’t it work and what could we tweak?

    Related: 7 Mistakes Leaders Make When Managing a Remote Team

    5. Blending diverse talents can create a force multiplier effect

    The best example that I can give is a hockey team. There are usually four lines on a hockey team, and traditionally, you have the top six that score. You have two lines of forwards that go out there, and their job is to generate offense and control the puck in the other team’s zone. But if you have four lines like that, then who’s playing defense?

    So, you complement those lines with somebody who’s maybe a bit more physical, somebody who likes to agitate. While you certainly need to score goals, you also need the passers, the players who keep the team spirits up, and the enforcers where necessary.

    Same thing in business. You have to have a leadership team that’s not an echo chamber. In echo chambers, there are no divergent views or solutions. When you look at things like marketing and sales, you want different opinions so you have the best chance to make a decision that helps the business move forward.

    Related: Ensuring Diversity Is Not a Distraction to Leaders

    While values can be shared, talents should be unique. People should be able to work together and respect each other’s aptitudes and viewpoints because I believe that creates a high tide in which all boats can float.

    My feedback about our vice president of sales from her employees is that “She is the best manager I ever worked for because she empowers me to own things and do the best job I can.”

    That’s what I call great leadership.

    Vincent Tricarico

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  • How This Entrepreneur Went From Broke to $2.3 Million in Sales

    How This Entrepreneur Went From Broke to $2.3 Million in Sales

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Three things must fall into place to retrain your brain for wealth and change the trajectory of your life. This entrepreneur used the “3 E Method” to turn around a failing business in a few short months.

    Ben Angel

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  • 78% of Employers Are Using Remote Work Tools to Spy on You

    78% of Employers Are Using Remote Work Tools to Spy on You

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    78% of employers use software to spy on employees. But the research — and common sense — shows that this tempting practice does far more harm than good. And 83% of employers acknowledge that it’s ethically questionable. When you spy on your people, you trade trust, culture and morale for sketchy data and productivity theater.

    Work-from-home and hybrid models are here to stay. Companies everywhere are investing millions in digital employee experience (DEX), which reduces IT friction and makes employees happier and more productive. Separately, the same remote and hybrid shift has encouraged companies to deploy so-called productivity surveillance technologies. These have the opposite effect and even punish those who allegedly waste company time.

    DEX and productivity surveillance are very different. DEX helps employees and their companies, while surveillance harms both. What’s more, data from productivity surveillance is, ironically, a terrible measure of productivity. Many companies have good justifications for specific, security and compliance monitoring practices. But we shouldn’t let productivity surveillance hide in the shadow of necessary measures that prevent disasters like data breaches.

    What’s productivity surveillance, and what does it measure?

    Leaders are worried about productivity. 85% blame hybrid work for obscuring whether employees are being productive, even though 87% of employees report they’re more productive working from home.

    Productivity surveillance includes things like taking screenshots throughout the day, logging keystrokes and clicks, analyzing message frequency and length and tracking website usage. All in order to measure, safeguard and (managers hope) increase worker productivity.

    Companies implement productivity surveillance to police how employees are spending their time. But, the proxy measures they use are extremely problematic. Screenshots, keyloggers, mouse trackers and message frequency logs don’t capture the important work that takes place away from company devices. Social workers, for example, have been penalized for visiting clients. Companies have docked pay for routine bathroom breaks. And none of these intrusions measure true productivity, like outcomes, work quality or goal attainment.

    This technology is doing real harm to people who don’t deserve it. And for what?

    Related: Can Employee Monitoring Be Done Ethically?

    The not-so-hidden harm and unbearable cost of surveillance

    Productivity surveillance damages the relationship between workers and companies and makes employees more likely to lie, cheat, steal, pretend to work and quit.

    43% of remote workers feel employee surveillance violates their trust; 59% feel anxiety; 26% feel resentment, and 28% feel underappreciated when subjected to such technologies. Tracked employees are nearly two times more likely to fake work and they spend over an hour extra online every day on average just to be seen by colleagues and managers.

    The authors of two 2021 studies discovered many paradoxical effects of employee surveillance. Monitored workers are “substantially more likely” to engage in myriad negative behaviors, including damaging and stealing workplace property, taking unapproved breaks, disregarding instructions and cheating, working at a purposefully slow pace and blaming others for their actions.

    During the pandemic, people took stock of their priorities. Millions have quit jobs because of poor working conditions and bad work-life balance and productivity surveillance decays both. Nearly 60% of tech workers said they would reject a job offer if they were surveilled by audio or video to enforce productivity. Roughly half would leave a job if their employers used audio and/or video surveillance, facial recognition, keystroke tracking or screenshots.

    Related: Your Boss is Watching You. Here’s Why Monitoring Workers Can Be …

    DEX vs. productivity surveillance

    DEX, on the other hand, is a category of technology and strategies to empower — not punish — workers. DEX tools find and fix IT issues before they cause delays and frustration, and track employee sentiment about IT experiences to continuously improve them behind the scenes.

    DEX is distinct from productivity surveillance because it scrutinizes things, not people: device performance, network speed, application crashes and the like. Companies use this data to enhance the technology experience for workers, not to evaluate productivity or punish them. This is precisely what employees want: 90% say their company’s digital experience has room for improvement, 82% say the delayed resolution of IT issues slows employees down and 68% say DEX has a high or critical level of influence on revenue.

    Related: How to Effectively Measure and Track Employee Productivity

    The contrast couldn’t be clearer. DEX makes workers more productive, makes the workday more enjoyable and makes companies more money. Policing productivity with surveillance makes your employees feel demoralized, untrusted and eager to find a better job. For leaders, it’s time to take a hard look at your so-called productivity surveillance technologies, practices and data. It’s also a moment for introspection. Let’s end this misguided trend before it goes any further.

    Mark Banfield

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  • If You’re Struggling to Find Diverse Talent, Look at These 5 Areas

    If You’re Struggling to Find Diverse Talent, Look at These 5 Areas

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Recruiting and retaining talented employees from various backgrounds is important for many reasons. Diverse teams are likely to outperform their competitors in profitability. As well, your organization can better cater to diverse consumer needs while enhancing workforce innovation.

    Unfortunately, many organizations today experience difficulties in filling up their talent pipeline with talents of diverse backgrounds. This means that they are not able to meet their representation objectives nor experience the benefits of having a diverse and inclusive workforce.

    If your organization is facing a pipeline problem when it comes to hiring more diverse talents, it is essential to take corrective steps to resolve this issue. This article will discuss five areas to help you troubleshoot what might be causing the pipeline problem, and strategies to mitigate this.

    Related: Unconventional Ways to Source Diverse Talent

    1. Barriers and goals

    What is the representation goal for your organization? Perhaps your company may want to increase the percentage of women leaders within the C suite by a certain percentage or are looking to have more talents from under-represented backgrounds occupying senior leadership positions. The goal can be either quantitative or qualitative. Whatever your vision may be, the vision must be clear and have specific metrics associated with it.

    Once the company goal is clear, then move on to the individual experience. Underrepresented talents experience various barriers in their careers. Identify what barriers exist for your target groups. This could show up in ways such as not feeling supported by colleagues or opportunity gaps.

    Consider how these individual barriers will affect their career trajectory. Identifying any existing processes in the company can help to mitigate these barriers in the short term.

    Related: 4 Criteria Diverse Talents Use to Evaluate Their Prospective Employers

    2. Reconsider your talent-sourcing strategies

    What do your current talent-sourcing strategies look like? If you’re looking at your existing talent pipeline, where are your talents currently coming from? Do you feel that that is meeting the representation goal that you have at the organizational level? If you’re looking to have a different result and increase representation in your organization, you may need to reconsider your talent-sourcing strategies.

    If the company is not meeting its representation goals and are looking for more talents of under-represented backgrounds, then you can’t be doing the same thing that you have been doing before. There has to be some sort of a shift. Whether you are innovating the existing strategy jobs that are working very well or you’re trying something completely different, you have to be doing something different. This is not an exception when looking at your talent-sourcing strategy.

    So what does the sourcing strategy look like? It is imperative to understand that you cannot expect a different result if you’re doing the same thing as you have been doing before, so make sure that your sourcing strategy reflects that change somehow.

    Related: Struggling With Hiring Right Now? It’s Time To Go All-In on Diversity

    3. Interpretation of assessment criteria

    How are you currently evaluating and assessing candidates? You may already have a set method on how you evaluate and assess the candidates. But what if it is hindering your underrepresented talents from even applying? While the criteria stay the same when it comes to skills or experience, the interpretation will have to change.

    For example, when evaluating cultural fit, many companies evaluate the cultural fit based on shared personal interests. This can turn away talents coming from different backgrounds. So instead of similar personal interests, focus on evaluating from the shared professional values.

    If you are looking for diverse candidates, your criteria may have to shift to assess candidates from different perspectives. For example, instead of assessing cultural fit from shared interests, consider evaluating their professional values. Rather than focusing on specific tiered schools or grades, consider keeping it to a certain educational level or equivalent amount of professional experience in a specific business function.

    By shifting the interpretation of the assessment criteria itself, your recruitment team will be able to start evaluating diverse talents based on additional strengths they can bring to the table, rather than how similar they are to everyone else. This, in turn, will help with the number of applications that make it through the initial rounds of recruitment stages.

    Related: Hire Like a Diversity Expert: 5 Key Qualities of Inclusive Employees

    4. Interview to offer ratio

    Are people from diverse backgrounds even being interviewed in the first place? If the answer is no, the first three areas in this blog can be useful to troubleshoot this. However, if diverse candidates are being interviewed but no offers are being extended, that might be a symptom of a deeper issue.

    Consider recording the interviews for both training and transparency purposes. When you go back to the recordings, you will see things that stand out. Maybe a candidate may have been asked a question, even as an icebreaker, that wasn’t asked to other candidates. It could have been a different setting, or a candidate not being provided the accommodation that they requested.

    This is going to help you to pinpoint possibly why some of these talents were not even able to get to the final offer stage and determine from the strategic level, where the problem could be coming from.

    Related: Diversity and Inclusion Best Practices for Your Workforce

    5. Career trajectory

    Perhaps you have everything absolutely nailed down in terms of the strategic direction, sourcing strategies, a great interview-to-offer ratio and the candidates accepting the offer. However, retention or representation at the leadership levels could use more improvement. If this is the case, career trajectory should be examined.

    This is a long-term strategy where you will need to collect over the years to examine the trend. For example, if entry-level employees are leaving the company for another company that gave them a higher-level role, this could mean that they did not see the opportunity for growth. While if a senior team member comes in as a new leader and they depart, it may be that they were not feeling set up for success.

    Once you identify a clear pattern, go further into the records. What concerns did they bring up with their managers? Did anyone else who was managed by that manager experience a similar issue? Were there any indications? Use the data to better shape the career trajectory and experience.

    Clair Kim

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  • Why Do You Want to Work Here? Here’s How You Can Ace the Question Every Time

    Why Do You Want to Work Here? Here’s How You Can Ace the Question Every Time

    Job interviews are not exactly everyone’s idea of a good time. They can bring about stress, anxiety and a bit of nerves. However, stress often comes from a sense of being unprepared. So what if you discovered that being as prepared as possible could reduce your stress on the big day?

    Whether you’re a brand new job seeker or a seasoned professional, this article will walk you through the interview process, help you show potential employers why you want to work for their company and how to ace their questions every time.

    One of the toughest questions you’ll get is also probably the most obvious. Why do you want this job? Why are you interested? However straightforward the question seems, it can be surprisingly challenging to come up with a good answer.

    Should you focus on your career path and aspects of the company’s mission and business practices that resonate with your goals, such as eco-friendly products or community service initiatives? Or should you talk about something else entirely?

    There isn’t a cookie-cutter answer here. However, we will review tips to help you navigate the murky waters of the dreaded “why do you want to work for this company?” question.

    Related: Interviews Are a 2-Way Street: How to Make the Most of Them for Mutual Success

    Applying for the right position

    Before learning how to ace common interview questions, you should know how to apply for a job opening that is right for you.

    Work-life balance has been a hot topic lately, and a big part of that has to do with actually feeling fulfilled in your job. Applying for jobs that genuinely interest you is important because it will come through in the interview, and working in a job you enjoy does wonders for your mental health.

    Here are five points to consider when assessing if you’re applying for the proper position.

    1. Motive

    Money is essential. However, it should not be your sole reason for applying for a job.

    When you are solely driven by money, you may quickly feel unfulfilled with your work. When browsing job boards, look for jobs with a healthy balance of salary and something you genuinely find interesting.

    Related: How to Be Authentic in an Interview

    2. Passion

    Passion and motive go hand-in-hand. To determine whether or not you’re passionate about this potential position, ask yourself:

    • Will you look forward to telling your friends and family about this job?
    • Will you look forward to doing this job each day?
    • Do you care about the work you are doing?
    • Will the work stimulate you?

    3. Work-life balance

    The need for work-life balance varies from person to person. When applying for jobs, it is vital that you know yourself and what level of work-life balance you require.

    Most job descriptions will tell you the required hours and whether nights, weekends or untraditional hours are required. Keep those details in mind when making your decision.

    4. Work environment

    The work environment is another aspect that varies from person to person. As you consider what kind of work environment you’d like to experience, ask yourself:

    • Do you want an in-person, hybrid or remote job?
    • Do you prefer solo work or collaborative work with team members?
    • What kind of workload are you prepared to take on?
    • Does company culture matter to you? If so, does this company culture match your core values?

    You should answer these questions for yourself, but you can also ask more specific questions on this topic during your interview process. In addition, complete your due diligence by researching the job and company via sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, where you can find job postings, salary calculations, company reviews and other relevant information.

    Related: How to Master Virtual Job Interviews

    5. Opportunities for growth

    Whether you are applying for a job at a small or large company, if your career goals involve growing with that business, you need to make sure there are opportunities. Sometimes, this can be difficult to tell simply by the job description, so you’ll have to ask follow-up questions in your interview.

    Some of the best questions to ask to find out if there are growth opportunities include the following:

    • What kind of mentorship opportunities, formal or informal, does the company provide?
    • Are there available opportunities for career development and skill development through this position?
    • What qualifications are required for promotion opportunities, and how can you work toward acquiring said qualifications in this position?
    • Could you provide an example of a senior role, its qualities and required skills?
    • What improvements would you like to see in your industry and at your current company?

    But one easy way to tell is by the job title. For example, if you are applying for a position called “assistant manager,” there is likely a position above it called “manager.” Look for hints during the job search to clue you in on growth opportunities.

    How to prepare for a job interview

    Once you’ve applied to a great job and scored an interview, it’s time to prep.

    Take a look at these tips and tricks to bring your A-game.

    Related: Job Interview Preparation Checklist

    1. Know the job

    At this point, you should know the job you want. “Knowing the job” includes in-depth research about the day-to-day responsibilities of the position, the characteristics of successful employees working that role and how you align with those work habits and personality traits.

    However, once you’ve secured an interview, you should take your knowledge of the job description one step further.

    The job description will likely guide the hiring manager’s questions, so you should be prepared to demonstrate how you can perform the job duties or show your performance history of similar previous job functions.

    Be prepared to answer situational questions about how you would react to a situation or examples of how you have handled similar scenarios.

    Situational questions: Examples and sample answers

    1. Describe a situation where you went above and beyond at a previous job.

    Answer: My boss was on vacation, and my team got an order for 500 additional shipments of XYZ. I regrouped and helped motivate the team, and we fulfilled the order ahead of schedule. The client then signed on to purchase more XYZ in the following year.

    2. Talk about a time you had to collaborate with a difficult coworker.

    Answer: One of my co-editors had a very different work style from my own. She was much laxer, whereas I preferred to follow the procedures to a tee. We collaborated to develop a new editorial protocol, which allowed us to turn around 50% more articles per week.

    In these questions, the best practice is to keep in mind a simple answer formula: problem, solution and benefit. If you can articulate how your work addressed the problem and the impact of your actions, you are more likely to impress interviewers.

    2. Know the company

    This is part of preparing for the big question. You’ll need to study and grow your knowledge of the company, including:

    • You should know the company’s story, background and founders.
    • You should understand the company’s mission statement and purpose.
    • You should have some general knowledge about the company, such as work examples or campaign history.

    This is a considerable part of preparedness. The company will want to know that you chose them on purpose, so be ready to show them you did.

    3. Know yourself

    During your interview, you must show confidence in your answers (even if you’re forcing your confidence through a layer of anxiety at that moment). The following are some aspects of yourself that you should be ready to share:

    • The specific personality traits and attributes that distinguish you from other candidates.
    • Your work history, track record and any gaps in your background.
    • Your particular work style.
    • Any strengths and weaknesses relevant to the position.

    Practice going over sample answers with yourself for job interview questions you might be asked.

    A good practice for discussing your strengths and weaknesses is another simple formula: mention a strength/weakness, then provide a story for context.

    Here are a few examples:

    • I’m a strong public speaker. My last position required me to give presentations at conferences such as X, Y and Z, and at each of these conferences, we closed sales contracts with multiple clients in attendance. I received multiple internal shout-outs while at my previous company and was chosen to serve as our media spokesperson for the XYZ product rollout.
    • One of my greatest weaknesses is that I don’t always express myself, even when I have strong feelings about a subject. However, I’ve recognized this limitation, and I’m working to grow. I’ve joined a local public speaking group to overcome my hesitancy to voice my thoughts, and I’m becoming more confident in expressing myself to others.

    4. Create questions

    Even though most of the interview will be about you, it’s essential to ask your interviewer about themselves and the company. You can certainly ask follow-up questions about anything you have learned during the interview, but you should also go in prepared.

    Consider questions like:

    • What are some expectations of this role, and what projects might I take on?
    • What are some challenges I might face in the role?
    • Can you tell me more about how the team functions and the chain of command?
    • What are some opportunities for growth?
    • What is your favorite part about working at this company?
    • What are you excited about for this company’s future?

    Related: 15 Interview Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer This Month

    5. Send a thank you note

    Even though this won’t happen until after the interview, you should go in knowing that you’ll need to send a thank you note after. In the email, you should include the following:

    • Include an introduction.
    • Include three things you enjoyed or learned during the interview.
    • Include a call to action.
    • Include a sign-off.

    The big interview question: Why do you want to work here?

    You’ve snagged the job interview and prepared as much as possible, and now the time has come — interview day.

    The interview will likely start with questions like:

    • What can you tell me about yourself?
    • Can you tell us about your skill set?
    • Why should we hire you?
    • Can you tell us about a time when…?

    But the most critical question is one that is more about their company than you.

    Why do you want to work here?

    All of your preparation will pay off at this moment. Companies want to know that you have done your research by:

    • Look at the company’s website.
    • View company social media accounts.
    • Understand their mission and company values.

    Demonstrating your knowledge of their company shows that you care and have a genuine interest in the position. To show you have done your research, you should answer the question as precisely as possible.

    For example, don’t just say, “I love your company’s mission and think I’d be a great fit because I align with it.” Instead, get specific. Tell a relevant short story or give an example or give an exact answer about why their mission matters to you.

    Be specific by answering with something like:

    “I saw the campaign you did about X. That is something very near to my heart, and I would love to be a part of a company that values Y. I want to help continue the mission of X by Z.”

    Relate their mission to your values. Show them the connection between their company and you. If you can tell a story and create a relationship, you will ace the question every time.

    Bottom line? Interviews are tough. The market is full of competitive job candidates, and the process can be stressful. The best way to tackle interviews is to be as prepared as possible.

    When entering into an interview process, remember:

    1. Apply to the proper position for you.
    2. Prepare for the interview by doing your research.
    3. Know why that company matters to you, and show them.

    Now that you’ve got the rundown, it’s time to put yourself out there and snag a job offer.

    Looking for more advice to support your professional growth? Explore all of Entrepreneur’s vast and ever-growing wealth of helpful articles here

    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • 7 Ways to Retain Employees

    7 Ways to Retain Employees

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Employees are the backbone of any successful business. Replacing an employee can be a painful experience, especially for small businesses and entrepreneurs that have small teams. Employee turnover can result in the loss of valuable knowledge and expertise, damage customer relationships and cost thousands of dollars to find and train a replacement. The cost to hire and train a single mid-level manager is nearly $30,000. Each year, employee turnover costs U.S. businesses about $1 trillion. Here are some ways businesses can reduce turnover rates and improve employee retention.

    1. Start with compensation and benefits

    Employees expect to be compensated well for the work they perform. Companies that fail to remain competitive will struggle to retain their top talent. Although wages and bonuses are important factors in compensation, businesses should also explore opportunities to enhance other forms of compensation such as health insurance, life insurance, vacation policies and 401k contributions. Even non-monetary perks such as having an on-site gym or time off for volunteer activities can boost employee satisfaction and retention.

    Related Article: 7 Tips for Making Quality Business Decisions

    2. Employee recognition and praise

    Employees want to be recognized for their contributions. Business owners should take the time to reward and recognize the members of their team who are bringing their best. Different forms of recognition are effective, from sending a personalized note thanking them for their work on a special project or giving a gift card for helping another department. Public praise can also be effective such as giving out awards during a company meeting.

    3. Provide career development opportunities

    Career development is a critical part of employee retention. Employees who consistently feel challenged will be more likely to stay with a company. Find ways to give your top performers stretch assignments and promotions. Training such as educational courses and mentorship programs can provide an opportunity to enhance your existing staff while preparing them for their next opportunity.

    Related: This Is How to Boost Employee Retention With Lifelong Learning

    4. Provide the right resources and tools

    Employers are responsible for making sure that their employees have everything they need to be successful in their jobs. Skimping on these resources can leave employees feeling underappreciated, burned out and frustrated. Resources come in many forms, from hiring the appropriate number of employees to support the work to updating technology and improving processes.

    5. Promote healthy work-life balance

    Work-life balance is extremely important to most employees and can impact turnover. According to the Pew Research Center, 45% of employees left their jobs because of not enough flexibility in their work schedule, and 39% left because they were working too many hours. Giving employees the ability to balance work and their home lives reduces stress and allows them to take care of personal issues that would otherwise distract them from their work.

    Businesses can help support healthier work-life balance by permitting employees to work remotely (either full-time or part-time), create flexible work schedules and have more sick or personal time available.

    Related Article: How to Regain Work-Life Balance

    6. Hire the right people the first time

    Although this might seem like common sense, this is easier said than done. Rapid changes in the economy and workforce can leave companies desperate to fill open positions. It might be tempting to just hire any halfway qualified candidate. Unfortunately, this can increase turnover for both new and existing employees. New employees may leave quickly when they aren’t able to keep up with the demands of the job. Existing employees may also become burned out from constantly training new hires over and over.

    Instead, try to hold out for the best possible candidate for your open position. Also, being clear about expectations upfront can help reduce the number of employees who accept the position only to quit shortly after because the job wasn’t what they were expecting.

    Related Article: How Entrepreneurs Can Find Great Talent Despite a Labor Shortage

    7. Get feedback from your team

    Employees leave companies for a wide variety of reasons. One of the best ways to reduce turnover is by getting feedback directly from employees on how they feel about working for the company. Too many companies gather this type of information in exit interviews. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help because the employee has already chosen to leave. Instead, conduct stay interviews with top performers to find out what would keep them from looking outside the company for new opportunities. Anonymous employee satisfaction surveys can also provide a wealth of information to help business owners make retention decisions.

    Nicholas Leighton

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  • 7 Ways to Thank Your Employees This Holiday Season

    7 Ways to Thank Your Employees This Holiday Season

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Christmas is around the corner, and the holiday season is in full swing. I like to “wow” my employees with a little holiday cheer every year. As small business owners, it’s easy to forget the important things. That’s where I come in…I simply can’t forget!

    I focus on employee satisfaction all year long, from handing out awards to planning Halloween celebrations. But towards the end of the year, it always feels like the floodgates open up, and I want to give my employees a little more than normal. But where do you start? How do you top yourself every year? Well, don’t worry. My gift to you is this list of seven simple ways to thank your employees this holiday season.

    1. Give a handwritten thank you with a box of chocolates and cookies

    This is the ultimate classic way to say thanks — and it’s still one of the best. This is it if you want something that’s not too flashy but will show how much you appreciate your employees’ hard work. A handwritten thank you letter accompanied by a box of chocolates and cookies. Although this might seem like a small gesture, it will greatly impact your employees. Showing them that you care about what they do and appreciate their hard work will help build trust and loyalty in the company.

    Related: 4 Seasonal Side Hustles to Keep Your Pockets Jingling

    2. Schedule a vacation to the favorite destination for everyone on your team

    I know this sounds like a dream come true, but it’s doable.

    Planning a vacation for your employees is a great way to show them you appreciate them.

    It can be their favorite place in the world or somewhere nearby — whatever makes them happy will do. If you don’t have the budget to send everyone on a trip, consider sending your top-performing or most deserving employees and their families. This way, you can ensure that everyone has a great time without breaking the bank or stressing out about how much money you’re spending.

    3. Do a gift exchange

    A secret Santa or white elephant gift exchange is a fun way to get your employees excited and involved in the holiday spirit. Everyone gets the same amount of money to spend on each other, and they can choose funny, thoughtful or just plain silly gifts.

    It’s also a great opportunity to get some insight into what your employees want — and what they might not have thought to ask for themselves.

    Related: Why Giving Back Is Good for You and Your Business This Season (and All Year Long)

    4. Give personalized gifts

    A gift can be an excellent starting point for developing strong relationships. Giving is great, but giving thoughtful presents is even better.

    Personalized gifts are the perfect way to show your employees that you appreciate them. And when your employees feel appreciated, they will be more motivated and productive at work.

    Plus, personalized gifts are easy on your wallet: You don’t have to spend a ton of money on expensive presents for everyone in your office. Just a little imagination and patience will do.

    For example, if you give your employees a nice bottle of wine but don’t make a big deal out of it, they will think it wasn’t much of a gift. But if you add some personal touches and make the process more thoughtful, your employees will feel much more appreciated.

    A family portrait is my favorite personalized gift.

    5. Hand out bonuses

    The holiday season is a time for giving, and that’s exactly what your employees deserve. A nice, fat bonus will help lift their spirits and show them how much you appreciate their hard work all year.

    Bonus time is an opportunity to show your employees how much you appreciate them and the work they put in this year. If you already have a bonus system, consider adding extra cash to your employees’ paychecks this year. Even if you don’t have a formal policy, consider giving something small as a token of appreciation.

    Although this might seem like a small gesture, it can go a long way toward building relationships with your team members — which is positive for everyone in the long run.

    Related: The Truth Behind The Holiday Slowdown and How to Avoid It

    6. Buy them a present from their wishlist

    This is the easiest way to show appreciation for your employees. It’s also most meaningful because you give them exactly what they want. It’s guaranteed to be something they’ll love and use.

    If you don’t know what they want, look at their social media profiles and see if there are any hints about their hobbies or interests. If not, ask them. Be sure to ask early enough so you can get them something in time for the holidays.

    7. Give employees access to exclusive discounts

    Sometimes an extravagant gift isn’t within your budget. However, you can still make an impact by giving your employees exclusive discounts on items they would love to buy. For example, if you have an employee who runs frequently and loves running apparel, consider giving them a coupon code for 20% off at Nike. This will let them get something they want without paying full price (and it will also make them feel appreciated).

    When it comes to saying thanks, big gestures and impressive gifts are always fun. But simple acts go a long way too. I’m taking these to heart this holiday season because it takes some thoughtfulness on our part to show gratitude and create an atmosphere of appreciation for the hard-working people on our teams.

    Related: These Teens Went on ‘Shark Tank’ With a Product That Will Change the Way You Decorate Your Christmas Tree. Now, It’s a Multi-Million-Dollar Business.

    Chris Kille

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  • You Can’t Stop Quiet Quitting, But Here’s How You Can Prevent It

    You Can’t Stop Quiet Quitting, But Here’s How You Can Prevent It

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The new workplace trend known as quiet quitting has left office managers and employers up in arms over what to do to keep employees engaged and enchanted — just as companies were able to rebound from the tumultuous conditions brought on by the Great Resignation, which saw nearly 19 million employees quit their jobs.

    But even as employees left their jobs in droves last year in hopes of changing their careers or landing a more purposeful job somewhere else, quiet quitting has become the workplace trend that just doesn’t want to quit.

    Unlike the Great Resignation, which simply meant employees were leaving their jobs because they felt burned out, stressed and anxious — quiet quitting resembles an attitude of setting boundaries and not taking work too seriously.

    It’s a workplace trend that has inspired millions of workers to “act their wage,” leaving them to only do what is required of them and not go above and beyond.

    Related: Employers Should Fear The Truth Behind Quiet Quitting. Here’s Why.

    It’s more than just quitting

    After years of reconfiguring the workplace environment due to the pandemic and the onset of remote work, employees still seem to be quitting their jobs despite economic and financial uncertainty looming.

    The Talkspace and The Harris Poll Employee Stress Check 2022 Report found that employees ages 18 to 34 years are most likely to experience high levels of stress and anxiety in their jobs leading to factors such as feeling burned out. At the same time, a Gallup study found that those employees born after 1989 (55%) are less likely to be engaged in their jobs.

    There’s evidence of employees quitting their jobs in the hopes of finding something more worthwhile and meaningful — around 40% according to McKinsey research. For others, quiet quitting in the office has become a major headache for managers, human resource staff and employers alike.

    It’s not completely possible to stop quiet quitting in its tracks or control it from spreading across the office like wildfire. There is, however, room for proactive ways to overcome quiet quitting in the office.

    Talk to employees

    Any employee can become disengaged at work, and it’s even harder to assume someone is quietly quitting based on their performance. Various factors can influence performance from the workload to the workplace environment.

    Executive personnel should take the time and effort to talk to employees to get a better view and understanding of their possible disengagement at work. Seek to monitor employee stress levels and their current workload. This will help to understand whether an employee is simply overworked, or actively quiet quitting.

    Make an effort to invest in employee well-being — not only for the sake of improving office morale or company loyalty, but to better understand where possible workplace challenges are causing employees to do the bare minimum.

    Related: Quiet Quitting Is Taking Over the Workforce. Here’s How to Fix It.

    Understand employee needs

    Often and more than usual, employees who exhort feelings of quiet quitting will do so to get back at their employer or manager simply because they feel overworked and underappreciated.

    In this case, it’s the ideal time to start promoting employee engagement through active conversations. The idea is not to simply talk about any workplace-related pains, but actively look to resolve the issues with workable solutions.

    Research shows that how employers and managers treat their subordinates will make a big difference in whether people will remain loyal to the company or start resembling traits of quiet quitting. Furthermore, employees who feel emotionally and psychologically disengaged from their employers are less likely to speak out about possible grievances.

    The best and easiest solution, in this case, is to promote employee dialogue among those experiencing high levels of stress and burnout, sooner rather than later.

    Advocate employee recognition

    Often, employees start to become disinterested and disengaged in their work due to a lack of recognition. This helps to kindle quiet quitting even more.

    Employees who feel their efforts are being recognized, either by their boss, manager or team members, will see value in doing more than what is expected of them. Yet, in the same breath, it’s not easy for those in power to monitor recognition-worth progress among a large team of workers.

    It’s important to consider the type of contribution certain employees are making, and what they are bringing to the table during projects and team meetings. Employees that are disconnecting themselves from projects and other teamwork will have an affect on other workers, as well as the overall team performance.

    As a rule, employers and managers, and in some cases HR, should understand the impact employees are making and how they are actively contributing to the overall success of the company.

    Related: From the Great Resignation to Quiet Quitting, Here’s Why Good People are Really Leaving and How to Keep Them.

    Mentor employees in their careers

    Quiet quitting is often about making a career change or taking on a new job without quite knowing how to do it successfully. In most instances, it’s common for employees to change their jobs every so often. But for those that are looking to commit to a career change, without the right guidance, they can often feel overwhelmed and anxious doing so.

    Knowing that employees are willing to make a career shift, or have come to terms with finding a new job, it should be a time when employers or managers can help to offer career management advice. For many employees, leaping into something unknown is a thought riddled with anxiety. To prevent quiet quitters from slowing progress and performance in the office, employers need to help employees better manage their careers and prospects within the company.

    Finishing off

    Quiet quitting isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s not possible to stop it dead in its tracks before it comes into your office. There will come a time when employers and managers will need to step in to help assess employee well-being and performance based on their workload, engagement and company loyalty.

    Head-hunting quiet quitters is not the right way to deal with the situation. Yet it is possible to effectively communicate with employees about their current working conditions and help promote a healthy work-life balance. Make sure to be a leader more than a boss, and advocate employee well-being. It’s better to help employees, rather than leave them to hurt your company’s bottom line.

    Pierre Raymond

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  • The Value of Digital Credentials vs. Degree Programs

    The Value of Digital Credentials vs. Degree Programs

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Pre-pandemic trends have shown S&P organizations losing standing to new disruptive market competitors, making it difficult to continue doing business the same way for long periods of time. Disruption is here to stay. For employees, the challenge becomes adapting to new processes and techniques faster than ever before to remain relevant. Lifelong learning is not just a quotable personal pursuit, but a requirement of the working world.

    In 2022, the median tenure for salaried employees is just 4.1 years. When combining employee tenure with the average S&P 500 company tenure on the list trending down to just 12 years, it’s clear that the same experts and expertise your business relies on today are unlikely to be there tomorrow.

    To stay at the top, great organizations will innovate to capture the market, while simultaneously acquiring new skills to execute in the next market. Designing and delivery of great training is a coveted core competency.

    Related: 5 Innovative Ways to Create Growth Opportunities for Your Employees

    Resisting change

    Becoming comfortable with the discomfort of change is a core competency managers and employees will also need to embrace. Our natural inclination is to not change, even when we know changing our behavior will have lasting positive effects. A few of the most common fears and anxieties associated with change include:

    • Losing control

    • Removal of safety and certainty

    • Peers no longer viewing you as the expert

    • Dreading the extra effort to learn something new

    Our experiences shape our beliefs. For managers in charge of change initiatives, there are two levels of beliefs to focus in on:

    1. Everyone is wary of change. Past changes have undoubtedly been painful for every employee, whether at work or in their personal lives. No matter what, there will be an existing level of resistance amongst your team.

    2. Success or failure in the first change initiative you manage will build important beliefs for the second change initiative. Successful teams will thrive during consecutive change initiatives, building the belief they can tackle any change together.

    Related: 3 Keys to Successful Change Management

    Driving business outcomes with digital credentials

    Digital credentials provide a verifiable means to honor individual skills acquisition and to measure both the organization’s and the market’s investment in change. In years past, an employee’s journey through prescribed training has been owned and kept secret in the employer’s learning management system. Ownership of acquired skills is valuable to both organizations and individuals. In vogue, skills have real market value. Things like statistical process control, Lean/Six Sigma, account-based marketing, value selling, scrum and servant leadership are not just owned by the organization — they’re owned by the employee as well.

    For business leaders, using digital credentials to track internal competency levels and/or market penetration of your brand skills training provides extraordinary value:

    • Certifying third-party technicians gives customers confidence in hiring service providers and broadens the marketing reach of a brand name.

    • Certifying contractors gives employers the flexibility to keep 1099 talent sticky to a brand, while also managing the ebbs and flows of business.

    • Certifying employees on future in-demand skills provides motivation for employee tenure as they master new skills. They become interested in recruiting new potential employees who also value professional development opportunities from employers.

    • Certifying employees on today’s in-demand skills motivates employees to increase their value at the organization and embrace change head-on.

    Related: What Business Leaders Can Offer to Keep and Develop Employees

    Digital credentials are an HR hiring manager’s best friend

    As organizations observe tenures of employees shrinking, it’s easy to believe that many stakeholders will still view training as a cost center. The alternative view is that training, no matter what organization has delivered it, is valuable. Using a digital credentialing strategy allows an organization to track not only course completion but skill trends internally and externally.

    Look no further than the immense value HR hiring managers gain from digital credentials. Unlike CVs of the past, with just a few clicks, stakeholders can see when, where and how an individual gained new skills. Using platforms, like Pearson’s Credly, gives hiring managers a searchable database of individuals with key skills. Earners who have added or shared their digital credentials on LinkedIn provide a transparent record of verifiable skills.

    Digital credentials, especially when tied to professional development or industry certification, can show an individual’s growth over shorter periods of time than a diploma. Moreover, when stacked together over time, they may well be indicating an individual has become comfortable with adapting to change in general. As businesses are faced with the need to innovate at a faster pace, why wouldn’t candidates who demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning, comfort with change and willingness to invest in themselves provide the greatest organizational value?

    Christopher Allen

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  • Attracting and Retaining Customers and Employees Comes Down to These Two Skills

    Attracting and Retaining Customers and Employees Comes Down to These Two Skills

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Ever heard a business owner say they’re in “the people business?” I hear it all the time. I make a living giving presentations to franchise systems, associations and corporations. I like to ask audience members to share with me what business they believe they’re in. Most people describe the thing they sell: “We’re in the automotive repair business” or “we provide software solutions.” Eventually, someone in the audience anticipates the answer they believe I’m looking for: “We’re in the people business.” Many will nod their head in agreement.

    It’s a better answer, but still not good enough. Because what does that even mean?

    Unlike computer networks that are driven by data, markets are driven by feelings. These feelings influence everything we do. How we spend money, where we spend money, how we work, how well we perform — all human behavior is informed by emotion. We still need stuff. We still need information. But it’s our feelings that most influence our choices. Behavioral economics is a whole field of study devoted to understanding this.

    Related: Every Business is a People’s Business Including a Venture Fund

    A typical business trades its offerings for money and considers the transaction complete. A “people business” works to make the transaction extra satisfying. That additional value breeds loyalty and retention. We like to be in business with others who make us feel good. Two types of skills are necessary to do this well:

    Hard skills

    These are the “how-to’s” of the business. We need tactics and tools. We need to continuously improve our products, processes and profitability. We need to increase our knowledge and ability to perform all the functions of the business. These are essential to operate and remain competitive.

    What I’ve learned from my clients is that hard skills alone aren’t enough. In every system I work with, I meet some operators who are thriving and others barely surviving — all running the same or similar business. Many mistakenly chalk up the difference to location. But invariably the struggling locations give up and sell to higher performers who quickly turn the struggling locations around. Others think higher performers have better sales tactics or are doing more marketing. These hard-skills strategies make a difference, but they’re not the true difference-maker.

    Soft skills

    What does distinguish the higher performers is their soft skills? They manage themselves as well as they manage the business. They control their thoughts. They check their emotions. They communicate well. They understand that they’re in a people business, and they’re one of the people. I wrote a whole book about the differences between typical franchisees and whom I call “wealthy franchisees.” The best franchisees work hard and have decent locations, but it’s their mastery of soft skills infused into their daily operations that gives them their edge. I’ve observed this same dynamic among association members and even personnel within the same companies. Those with stronger soft skills combined with good hard skills will always outperform those with hard skills alone.

    Among the many important soft skills needed for business excellence is resilience. This is one’s ability to continue marching forward when it feels like the universe is pushing back. Business is tough. Business owners need to be tougher. Resilience will also make it easier to discover new opportunities buried beneath the unpleasantness. It took a global pandemic to get some restaurants to pivot more toward delivery and digital ordering. For many, these new offerings have yielded recording-breaking revenue. Resilience reveals both solutions and opportunities. (See my recent TEDx talk about the connection between adversity and opportunity.)

    With a stronger set of soft skills, you’ll be able to understand how your customers and employees — who are also part of “the people business” — need help at two similar levels.

    Hard needs

    These are the needs people have on the surface. They’re the things people consciously pursue. For consumers, it’s the products or services they seek, such as an oil change or a new point-of-sale system. It’s the food they order from a restaurant. It’s the adjustment they get from a chiropractor. Hard needs are tangible items exchanged in a marketplace. It’s what people consume.

    For employees, hard needs are their compensation. That includes a salary, benefits, discounts and other perks. In times like these when most employers are desperate for more help, most are attempting to lure and keep employees by offering more hard-needs compensation, such as increased wages and signing bonuses.

    But just as hard skills aren’t enough to drive high performance, fulfilling hard needs alone isn’t enough to satisfy customers and retain employees. They need something more.

    Soft needs

    These are the emotions we humans want to feel as we satisfy our hard needs. A true people business never forgets the human aspect of the operation. An exchange of goods is a transaction. When people are involved, there’s an interaction. That human encounter is where feelings are most impacted, one way or another.

    Customers don’t usually request help with their soft needs. But deep down there’s always a subconscious desire, something they want to feel when they patronize a business. A group of teens going out for pizza probably wants to have fun. A couple celebrating an anniversary at a fancy restaurant probably wants to feel pampered. Consider what you want to feel when you go to a mechanic (trust), a hair salon (confidence), or a rock concert (excitement/community). Often, it’s a very small, subtle thing. But every business can find nuanced ways to make customers feel just a little better. People businesses pay attention to what matters to their customers emotionally and find ways to satisfy those emotions. Because customers remember less what they get (hard needs) and more about how they feel (soft needs).

    Related: How to Develop the Soft Skills of the Successful Entrepreneur

    This is also true for your team members. The biggest current pain point for my clients is staffing. And not just finding workers but understanding them. Every generation is different, but today’s young workforce is like no other that has come before. Their values, their expectations, and their behavior have got employers scratching their heads. I’m constantly hearing about ghosting, entitlement, and a lack of loyalty.

    No one is certain about what the solution is to the current labor shortage. But I’m certain it’s going to take more than a hard needs approach. For better or worse, employers are going to have to understand and accommodate the workforce’s soft needs. Because they don’t just want more money. They also want to feel appreciated. They want to feel connected to co-workers. They want life balance and flexibility. They’ve wanted these things for a while. And not just today’s young workers.

    Organizations such as Gallup have been reporting slumps in employee engagement long before the pandemic. According to their most recent survey, “fewer than one in four of U.S. employees felt strongly that their organization cares about their wellbeing. This is the lowest percentage reported in nearly a decade.” As hard needs compensation has increased in the workplace, there’s been a decrease in the fulfillment of soft needs.

    Some of my audience members roll their eyes when I discuss the soft needs of today’s employees. They literally say, “They seem so soft!” I can understand their observation and frustration. And I don’t necessarily disagree. But at some point, to have a constructive conversation about being in the people business in today’s climate, we need to temper that frustration (which requires soft skills) and replace it with open-mindedness and a willingness to adapt. For better or worse, the workplace of the future must be less judgmental and more accommodating. Employers will have to meet the soft needs of the people they intend to employ. If not, they won’t be able to employ anyone.

    Perhaps this will be good. I’m a parent of two teenagers who’ll be in the workforce before too long. It encourages me to think that maybe work won’t have to be something they endure. I want them to feel excited by what they do, to feel safe in the workplace, to respect and be respected. I want them to like working. And if they, as a generation, through their own soft ways, force employers to create better, safer, more pleasant work environments, then good on them for making that happen. I don’t want to have to loan my kids money, but I also want them to be happy. I hope they work (or start) true people businesses that meet both their hard and soft needs.

    Related: In The Era Of “The Great Resignation,” Entrepreneurs And Business Leaders Need To Add Soft Skills To Their Arsenal

    I’m also trying to help them understand that employers also have soft needs. They want to feel stable and secure. They want teams they can rely on. They need dependability and follow-through. Everyone deserves to have their soft needs met. To advance in their careers, workers will have to understand this. They, too, will have to work to elevate the emotions of those who rely upon them. I hope my kids play their part. They better — because while I’ll always be there to help with their soft needs when it comes to hard needs (i.e., money), I’ve already done my part. They better bring value to the workplace or they’ve got rough times ahead. Soft needs are important, but so are paying rent and eating.

    Being in the “people business” means you’re in the feelings business. Everything you do must elevate the emotions of everyone your business touches, including yourself. It’s difficult when you’re busy. But investing a little more energy in the emotional payoff of your business might be the best way to achieve a financial one.

    Scott Greenberg

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  • How to Attract and Retain Employees in the New Age of Work

    How to Attract and Retain Employees in the New Age of Work

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    You’ve undoubtedly heard about the so-called “anti-work” movement if you’re a business owner or entrepreneur. According to a slew of media outlets, nobody wants to work anymore. Even worse, those businesses that can find people to hire have trouble retaining talent amid outrageous demands, quiet quitting, and worse.

    Indeed, there is a growing rift between employers and employees. But if you look closely, it’s nothing new nor indicative of some “anti-work” movement. The idea of business owners lamenting “no one wants to work anymore” is so old you could likely find it carved on the pyramids.

    The truth is this: workers have more options than ever before. If you, as an employer, are not making your business a desirable workplace, you’ll need help attracting and retaining employees. You might recognize this as less of a “crisis of work ethic” and more of a failure of employers to keep up with changing needs.

    Related: Happy Employees Create Happy Customers

    Attraction starts with finding out what employees want

    If you own a business, you should have at least some knowledge of basic capitalism. If so, you might recognize that the entire system relies on choice. Your clients choose your products and not your competitors’ because you incentivize them in some way. Well, the same is true of employees. As with your customers, you need to find out what employees want — and what they want changes over time.

    Unfortunately, many “old school” employers are too inflexible to consider this. To them, the mere offering of a job should be enough to inspire not only action but loyalty. But that doesn’t work in a world where employees can merely join the app-based gig economy (Fiverr, DoorDash, Lyft) if they don’t like their current job. Sure, the pay is variable, and the benefits are nonexistent, but such jobs offer flexibility, which is in high demand among modern workers.

    So if you want to figure out what employees want, that’s your first stop. According to this Pew Research Study, most workers who quit their jobs cite low pay, few opportunities for advancement and a general feeling of being “disrespected” as reasons for leaving. Other reasons included “not enough flexibility” and “too many” or “too few” hours.

    You might recognize these as perfectly valid reasons to leave a job. While the media may make it seem like all employees are demanding to work from home, get free childcare or have an on-site brewery, today’s employees want what employees have always wanted. They want to be paid fairly, treated well and have a chance to climb the ladder.

    Related: Improve Employee Retention By Taking a People-First Approach

    Retention is about finding the “them” in the team

    Every year, magazines put out their list of “Best Companies to Work For.” But rather than cite the companies with trampolines in their meeting rooms and corporate retreats to Bali, the top-ranked positions are typically occupied by companies that treat their employees respectfully and pay attention to their needs.

    The standout criteria for why employees loved working for top companies were as follows:

    • 98% — I can take time off from work when I think it’s necessary.
    • 98% — When you join the company, you are made to feel welcome.
    • 97% — Management is honest and ethical in its business practices.
    • 97% — I’m proud to tell others I work here.
    • 97% — People care about each other here.

    Every single item on that list is personal. It’s something that the company provides its employees, either literally or emotionally. There’s nothing about “sky-high salaries” or “office perks,” just references to how working at the company makes them feel.

    Of course, most employers already know this but either choose to forget it or prefer to imagine the problem as a lack of work ethic. The truth is that attracting and retaining employees comes down to treating them like part of the team from day one. It’s about making them feel important and valued. The companies that top that “Best Places to Work” list see their employees as assets, not indentured servants who should feel lucky to have a job.

    Returning to the discussion about what employees want, it’s crucial to consider the “upward mobility” factor. Many employers lose perfectly good, perfectly happy employees because they don’t have a chance for advancement. With nowhere to grow in their current job, the employees have no choice but to look elsewhere.

    That’s why it’s so important to provide a “light at the end of the tunnel.” Educate your team members so that they can move up the ladder. Moreover, reward them financially when they do. And if your business isn’t big enough to provide them a place to go, invest in them anyway so they can continue their career elsewhere.

    Related: Google’s CEO Is Asking Employees 3 Simple Questions to Boost Productivity

    Employers need to be more than just “job givers”

    In the end, attracting and retaining employees is about making them feel like they’re a part of something greater than just a 9-5 job. Of course, there are dozens — perhaps hundreds — of ways to do this.

    Some of the best strategies include making custom plans for each employee’s future and following through when they fulfill their side of the agreement. You might view their job as an opportunity for you to help them rather than for them to help you. You might learn to welcome feedback, avoid micromanagement and recognize and reward outstanding performances.

    Despite what some news outlets say, there is no “anti-work” movement. If anything, hiring and retaining talent issues result from employers failing to recognize what potential employees want or provide what they promise. As with the last 100+ years, all it takes to get good employees is to stop treating them like a number and treat them like valuable team members.

    Larry Jones

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  • What is Staff Augmentation? 3 Reasons It is Vital For Your Business

    What is Staff Augmentation? 3 Reasons It is Vital For Your Business

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Recruiting and retaining exceptional talent is challenging and takes a lot of time, especially when companies in the tech space demand experienced developers and engineers.

    Moreover, filling in the gaps due to a lack of resources or specialists can be challenging and time-consuming at the same time, especially for high-tech roles like iOS developers or machine learning engineers, for which the demands have been escalating since the great resignation.

    This is where the model of staff augmentation comes into play! In this article, we will discuss the concept of staff augmentation, its increasing demand and why enterprises need to focus on in-house team expansion for quick hiring.

    Related: 10 Strategies for Hiring and Retaining New Employees

    Staff augmentation

    Staff augmentation is a type of cooperation model where businesses, from startups to corporate enterprises, source talent via staffing agencies to work with them temporarily to fill the talent gaps promptly.

    Today, staff augmentation has turned mainstream, with nearly $500 billion annual spending on global IT staffing services alone.

    Businesses now prefer partnering with staff augmentation service providers to boost the competency of their internal teams and accelerate the development process rather than spending weeks prospecting ideal candidates, conducting interviews and shortlisting candidates to fill an immediate talent gap.

    Related: 6 Ways to Effectively Navigate Market Turbulence in the IT World

    Why is staff augmentation surging in popularity?

    The staff augmentation model has been successful over recent years due to the following three reasons:

    1. It is suited for a hybrid work environment

    People willing to switch to low-paying remote jobs rather than continuing on-prem work in their previous settings indicate that the future of work is remote. Remote work is the new normal, especially in the technology and digital transformation sectors.

    Staff augmentation services are suited to cater to the needs of a remote-first global economy that still needs to prepare to let go of all the advantages of on-prem work. With this setting, businesses can extend support to their internal teams by partnering with staff augmentation service providers to cater to bridge talent gaps and meet deadlines faster.

    2. It is low risk compared to other outsourcing models

    The staff augmentation model triumphs over all the outsourcing models regarding flexibility, affordability and quality. Compared to other outsourcing models, the risks involved with staff augmentation services are zero to none due to constant collaboration with the internal teams.

    The augmented team or resource operates either as mere extensions of the internal teams or under the supervision of the in-house managers. Uninterrupted collaboration and seamless integrations of both teams eliminate any possibility of errors.

    Thus, the risk involved in this model is considerably lower than the other project outsourcing models like offshoring or managed services.

    3. Staff augmentation is flexible to scale without compromising sustainability

    As the global recession started knocking on the doors, the results of aggressive hiring and fierce spending started becoming more evident. Consequently, most businesses either stopped or at least cut-down spending on scaling by considerable margins.

    This phenomenon has kept thousands of global entrepreneurs from putting all the stakes in and investing aggressively in scaling their businesses. However, things have started to take quite an exciting turn as IT staffing, and resource augmentation services became mainstream.

    With IT staff augmentation, businesses no longer remain prone to compromising sustainability, as they can end contracts with external teams if things start going south.

    This model enables entrepreneurs to fuel their desires to achieve exponential growth and scalability without worrying about laying off permanent employees or (in the worst case scenario) signing up for bankruptcy.

    Related: 6 Ways to Effectively Navigate Market Turbulence in the IT World

    Why you need to start implementing the staff augmentation model

    The following facts and figures are clear evidence that the staff augmentation model is here to stay:

    1. The great resignation and the wake-up call

    The quiet quitting culture has been disturbing the workflow of organizations since the epidemic. Even amidst the global recession session, where companies like Meta and Amazon are forced to lay off a considerable part of their workforce, the culture of quiet quitting has not stopped.

    People silently leave their well-paying jobs due to a lack of serenity, toxic work environments, pay disparity or other reasons. As an entrepreneur, you should be prepared to deal with such cases within your organization.

    Although you must prioritize fostering a culture of collaboration and encouragement, you should also be prepared to fill in talent gaps in case a team member resigns on short notice rather than compromising on the resource quality to fill the gaps.

    2. Going above and beyond to fill talent gaps

    The onshore, offshore and nearshore markets could provide more diversity in IT skills and expertise your company needs, depending on your location. With staff augmentation services, you can access a broader universal talent pool, including from regions acknowledged for having the finest IT talents, such as Europe and Asia.

    Building external teams to bridge the talent gap using staff augmentation services can also help you save the time and cost of setting up dedicated workspaces and recruiting highly-skilled teams.

    3. Increasing cyber attacks

    As businesses switch to fully remote and hybrid working models, they become prone to cyber-attacks and data breaches. According to Statista, the data breaches in the third quarter of 2022 were at the all-time highest, with businesses reporting approximately 15 million data breaches.

    Although businesses are now setting up dedicated networking teams to safeguard confidential information from hackers and intruders, not all of them can afford it. Thus, they eventually recruit network engineers via an augmented staffing model to stay protected from potential cyber threats and data breaches.

    Related: 4 Best Practices When Choosing a Staffing Agency

    Final thoughts

    Using staff augmentation to address the talent gaps instead of outsourcing or managed services models let business owners keep the charge of the project. As a business owner, you get to choose the talent you deem fit for the role and maintain authority over the project to get things done your way.

    With staffing services, you not only eliminate the recruitment time and cost but also access a global talent of highly-skilled developers and engineers to work alongside your in-house teams to optimize overall competencies and boost productivity.

    Asim Rais Siddiqui

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  • Free Guide: Investing in Health Pays Back

    Free Guide: Investing in Health Pays Back

    Hear from leaders prioritizing people-first places.

    While the benefits of people-first practices have long been established in public health and building science research, recent studies show organizations that make strategic investments in health see strong economic returns.

    We summarized the research to inform better decisions for your business.

    IWBI’s research review examines the business case for investing in health. Whether you are interested in how healthy buildings can strengthen your real estate returns or want to dive into the science behind improved productivity and performance ⁠— the review has something for everybody.

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  • 6 Values That Define a Healthy Workplace Culture

    6 Values That Define a Healthy Workplace Culture

    Here are six values that I use to cultivate a healthy culture in the workplace.

    Justin A Staples

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  • The 4-Day Workweek Could Make Burnout Worse

    The 4-Day Workweek Could Make Burnout Worse

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The clamor for a shorter workweek is probably something you’ve read about in countless articles by now. There’s even a running list of companies provided by Newsweek that have incorporated this as part of their work model.

    “With staff wellbeing at the forefront of our minds, we have been experimenting with a more modern approach to work focusing entirely on outcomes rather than a more traditional input measurement,” Adam Ross, Awin’s chief operating officer, explained in 2021.

    Aytekin Tank

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  • You Can’t Return to The Office Without Defeating These Four Major Battles

    You Can’t Return to The Office Without Defeating These Four Major Battles

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As increasing numbers of companies are requiring employees to return to the office for 3 to 5 days per week this fall, they’re running into the buzzsaw of what one of my clients called the “Four Horsemen of the Required Return to Office” challenges: resistance, attrition, quiet quitting and diversity.

    The Four Horsemen stem from the fact that workers who are capable of working remotely prefer to do so most or all of the time. For example, an August 2022 Gallup survey of remote-capable workers shows that 34% of respondents want to work full-time remotely, 60% want to work a flexible hybrid schedule and only 6% want to work in a traditional office-centric setting. A June 2022 McKinsey survey of all workers, remote-capable and not, provides further context on preferences for hybrid work. It found that 32% of respondents want to work full-time remotely, 10% want to work remotely four days a week, 16% three days a week, 18% two days a week, 13% one day a week, and 13% prefer full-time in-office work. Thus over half of all respondents want to work less than half the time in the office. And a September 2022 survey from the School of Politics and Economics at King’s College reported that 25% of respondents would quit if forced to return to the office full-time.

    Related: Want Your Employees Back in the Office? Here’s How to Make It a Place They Want to Be.

    No wonder workers facing return-to-office mandates show resistance, the first of the Four Horsemen. For example, the leadership of Apple required its employees to come to the office three days a week. While Apple employees are not known for stirring trouble, in this case, 1,000 employees signed a petition requesting more flexibility. GM announced in a message on Friday, September 23 that all salaried employees would have to return to the office three days a week. The message sparked intense employee backlash, leading to GM walking back its requirements and delaying any required return to the office to next year.

    In a September 2022 survey, Gartner found that only 3% of companies would fire non-compliant employees, and only 30% would have HR talk to those who don’t show up. No wonder large U.S. banks trying to force employees back to the office are meeting with high rates of noncompliance of up to 50%. And many other employees are showing up for a part of the workday, from 10 to 2 pm. The Labor Day return-to-office mandates resulted in a rise in office occupancy in early September, reaching 47.5% during the week ending September 14 in 10 major cities tracked by Kastle Systems, a security access card provider. Yet the office occupancy declined to 47.3% by the end of the week ending September 21 and to 47.2% the following week.

    Given this resistance, some workers simply quit, joining the Great Resignation, making attrition the second of the Four Horsemen. That includes top-level executives: Ian Goodfellow, who led machine learning at Apple, quit in protest over Apple’s mandated return to office of three days a week. It also includes many rank-and-file staff, with publications featuring the stories of employees who quit rather than return to the office for 3 to 5 days per week. Or consider a National Bureau of Economic Research paper about a study at Trip.com, one of the largest travel agencies in the world. It randomly assigned some engineers, marketing workers, and finance workers to work some of their time remotely and others in the same roles to full-time in-office work. Those who worked on a hybrid schedule had 35% better retention.

    Even finance, the industry leading the charge for returning to the office, suffered significant churn. European banks, which offer more flexible hybrid work policies, are using these to hire talented staff from the less flexible U.S. banks. Smaller and more flexible financial planning firms are headhunting financial planners in larger and less flexible companies. Even bankers at the top banks, like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, are leaving due to the return to office requirements.

    Perhaps even more dangerous than resistance and attrition is the third of the Four Horsemen, quiet quitting. That term refers to employees psychologically disengaging from their work and doing just enough to get by without getting in trouble. Quiet quitting can be worse than the much more obvious resistance or attrition since quiet quitting rots a company’s culture from within.

    Related: Quiet Quitting Is Dividing the Workforce. Here’s How to Bring Everyone Back Together.

    A September 2022 survey by Gallup found that such quiet quitters make up about half of the U.S. workforce. Forcing employees to come to the office under the threat of discipline leads to disengagement, fear, and distrust, according to Ben Wigert, director of research and strategy for workplace management at Gallup. Indeed, Gallup found that if people are required to come to the office for more time than they prefer, “employees experience significantly lower engagement, significantly lower well-being, significantly higher intent to leave [and] significantly higher levels of burnout.” By contrast, employees feel gratitude to companies that give them more flexibility and show trust: as one such employee said, “if my company is going to come in and give me this flexibility, then I’m going to be the first to give them 100%.”

    Indeed, research by Stanford University even before the pandemic found that workers who spent 4 days a week working remotely were 9% more engaged than in-office staff. Gallup finds that “the optimal engagement boost occurs when employees spend 60% to 80% of their time — or three to four days in a five-day workweek — working off-site.” A June 2022 Citrix survey finds that 56% of fully-remote workers feel engaged, but only 51% of in-office employees do so. The evidence is backed up by a CNBC survey from June 2022, which found that 52% of fully remote workers say they are very satisfied with their jobs, compared with 47% of workers working full-time in the office. No wonder, then, that mandates forcing employees to come to the office results in quiet quitting.

    Related: Is Remote Work Responsible for Quiet Quitting? This Behavioral Economist Reveals What He Tells His Clients — and How to Fix It.

    The final of the Four Horsemen relates to the serious loss of diversity associated with the mandated office return. A Future Forum survey found that 21% of all white knowledge workers wanted a return to full-time in-office work, but only 3% of all Black knowledge workers wanted the same. That’s a huge difference. Another Future Forum survey found that 38% of Black men wanted a fully flexible schedule, but only 26% of white men felt the same. The Society for Human Resource Management found that half of all Black office workers wanted to work from home permanently, while only 39% of white workers did so.

    Why do we see this difference? It’s because Black professionals still suffer from discrimination and microaggressions in the office, and are less vulnerable to harassment in remote work. Similar findings apply to other underrepresented groups.

    Evidence shows that underrepresented groups are leaving employers who mandate a return to the office and are fleeing to more flexible companies. For example, Meta Platforms offers permanent fully-remote work options. By doing so, Meta found, according to Sandra Altiné, Meta’s VP of Workforce Diversity and Inclusion, that “embracing remote work and being distributed-first has allowed Meta to become a more diverse company.” For example, in 2019, Meta committed to a five-year goal of doubling the number of Black and Hispanic workers in the US and the number of women in its global workforce. Thanks to remote work, Meta’s 2022 Diversity Report shows that it attained and even outperformed its 2019 five-year goals for diversity two years ahead of its original plans.

    While Meta’s diversity goals are benefitting from remote work, other companies that offer less flexibility have DEI staff ringing alarm bells about how the desire for remote work among underrepresented groups threatens diversity goals. After all, the workers who are going to Meta are coming from somewhere, right? Underrepresented groups are joining the Great Resignation in greater numbers in the context of the mandated office returns.

    In working with my clients who wish to bring their employees back to the office to slay the Four Horsemen, I find a combination of strategies to be crucial. Before launching an office return, we consider compensation policies. A June 2022 survey by the Society for Human Resources reports that 48% of survey respondents will “definitely” look for a full-time work-from-home job in their next search. To get them to stay at a full-time job with a 30-minute commute, they would need a 20% pay raise. For a hybrid job with the same commute, they would need a pay raise of 10%. A September 2022 survey by Goodhire found that 73% of workers believe companies should pay in-office workers more than remote workers. Indeed, research by Owl Labs suggests that it costs an average of $863 per month for the average office worker to commute to work versus staying at home, which is about $432 per month for utilities, office supplies and so on.

    That data helped my clients develop a fair compensation plan that paid staff a higher salary if they spent more time in the office. Doing so helped address the first two Horsemen, resistance and attrition. Some of my clients even used that policy as a simple yet effective incentive to nudge most of their staff to return to the office in a way that minimized resistance and attrition, while saving significantly on the payroll for the small minority who chose to work remotely.

    Addressing quiet quitting required a range of techniques. One involved working on improving culture and belonging, such as retreats with fun team-building exercises. Another is centered on helping staff address burnout, such as by providing mental health benefits. Finally, it helps if employees feel you care about their professional development: upskilling pays off.

    To help prevent diversity losses, as well as facilitate underrepresented groups getting promoted, it’s valuable to create a formal mentoring program with a special focus on underprivileged staff. That means providing minority staff with two mentors, one from the same minority group and one representing the majority population. Doing so offers the minority mentee a diverse network of connections and experiences to draw on among both minority and majority staff. It provides mentees with the implicit knowledge and relationships they will need to advance, while the fact that each mentee has two mentors lightens the load on each mentor and makes the workload manageable.

    So if you are committed to returning to a mostly or fully in-person workforce, remember that you need to watch out for — and defeat — the Four Horsemen. Make a plan in advance, and determine how you will overcome these problems before they threaten the success of your return-to-office plan.

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  • Offering This Benefit Can Help You Attract and Retain Key Talent — But Here’s What You Should Know First

    Offering This Benefit Can Help You Attract and Retain Key Talent — But Here’s What You Should Know First

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan is a great way for employers to attract and retain key talent. It also represents a potentially massive tax savings opportunity for highly compensated employees. There is a lot that you need to know about these plans before deciding to participate in one, however. So, let’s get into the basics.

    A nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan allows employees to earn their pay, potential bonuses and other forms of compensation in one year but receive those earnings in a future year. This also defers the income tax on the compensation. It helps provide income for the future, and there’s a possibility for a reduced amount of income tax payable if the employee is in a lower tax bracket at the time of the deferred payment.

    It’s worth noting that tax law requires these NQDC plans to be in writing. There needs to be documentation about the amount being paid, the payment schedule and what the future triggering event will be for compensation to be paid out. There also needs to be an assertion from the employee of their intent to defer the compensation beyond the year.

    Related: Is Your Business Approaching 409A Valuations the Right Way?

    Retirement planning

    A NQDC plan is a contractual fringe benefit often included as part of an overall compensation package for key executives. It can serve as an important supplement to traditional retirement savings tools, such as individual retirement accounts — IRA and 401(k) plans.

    Like a 401(k), you can defer compensation into the plan, defer taxes on any earnings until you make withdrawals in the future and designate beneficiaries. Unlike a 401(k) plan or traditional IRA, there are no contribution limits for an NQDC — although your employer can set its own limits. Therefore, you can potentially defer up to all your annual bonuses to supplement your retirement. We have seen companies allow you to defer as much as 25-50% of your base salary as well.

    Employers: Take note

    NQDC plans carry some benefits for employers as well. The plans are a low-cost endeavor. After initial legal and accounting fees, there are no annual payments required. There are no unnecessary filings with government agencies like the Internal Revenue Service.

    Since the plans are not qualified, they are not covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). This provides a greater amount of flexibility for both employers and employees. Employers can offer NQDC plans to select executives and employees who would benefit the most from them.

    Companies can customize plans toward valued members of their workforce, creating incentives for these employees to remain with the company. For example, an employee’s deferred benefits could be rendered forfeit if said employee decides to leave the company before retirement. We call this strategy a “golden handcuffs” approach.

    Related: Why Good Employees Leave — and What You Can do About It

    Employees: Take note

    For highly compensated employees, social security and 401(k) can only replace so much of your income in retirement. You could potentially build up the bulk of your retirement savings with your NQDC plan. There’s also the bonus of reducing your annual taxable income by deferring your compensation. This brings into play the idea of being in a lower tax bracket, decreasing the amount of taxes you would need to pay. Many employers even incentivize this, offering a match of some kind.

    Timing of payment

    The timing of when you take NQDC distributions is important since you’ll need to project your potential cash flow needs and tax liabilities far into the future.

    Deferred compensation plans require you to make an upfront election of when you will receive the funds. For example, you might time the payments to come at retirement or when a child is entering college. In addition, the funds could come all at once or in a series of payments. There is tremendous flexibility often in these plans.

    Taking a lump-sum payment gives you immediate access to your money upon the distributable event (often retirement or separation of service). While you will be free to invest or spend the money as you wish, you will owe regular income taxes on the entire lump sum and lose the benefit of tax-deferred compounding. If you elect to take the money in installments, the remainder can continue to grow tax-deferred, and you’ll spread out your tax bill over several years.

    Related: Best Retirement Plans – Broken Down By Rankings

    Risks

    An NQDC plan does come with some risks. When you participate in a qualified plan, your assets are segregated from company assets, and 100% of your contributions belong to you. Because a Section 409A plan is nonqualified, your assets are tied to your employer’s general assets. In case of bankruptcy, employees with deferrals become unsecured creditors of the company and must line up behind secured creditors in the hopes of getting paid.

    Thus, you should consider how much of your wealth — including salary, bonus, stock options and restricted stock — is already tied to the future health and success of one company. Adding deferred compensation exposure may cause you to take on more risk than is appropriate for your personal situation.

    Before you choose to participate in an NQDC plan, you should speak with both your financial advisor and your tax professional. You really want to model out how and when you will receive these disbursements. Ideally, you are planning with enough foresight that you will offset this income tax event in retirement with withdrawals from a brokerage account or a Roth IRA or 401(k). You will also want to pay attention to the impact of high income with the taxation of Medicare Part B — if you think there are a lot of moving parts here, you are right! When executed properly, you can truly develop a unique plan that is customized to your exact living situation and future goals.

    Any discussion of taxes is for general informational purposes only, does not purport to be complete or cover every situation, and should not be construed as legal, tax or accounting advice. Clients should confer with their qualified legal, tax and accounting advisors as appropriate.

    Chris Kampitsis

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