Author Archives: kate

Dec20

Working Parents Work From Home Support Tips

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Working Parents Work From Home Support Tips

We’re days away from Christmas and probably winding down for the holidays. During the days leading up to Christmas, a lot of us are tying up loose ends at work or maybe doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. Some may be traveling or making travel arrangements to make it home for the holidays. Overall, it’s a busy week for all adults out there.

Do you know what else can compound the challenges of this mad rush to the holidays? Being a parent. Being a parent working from home is not at all easy. You have to contend with child care, online school arrangements, and internet use schedules. On top of that, you have to set rules for noise-free times. There’s also the challenge of sharing your workspace.

While a lot of us are still doing remote work or hybrid work, employers and colleagues alike should extend their support and understanding to Work From Home parents. Here are three ways to provide support for Work From Home parents:

Communicate.

Encourage Work From Home parents to be transparent about the challenges they are facing. They should not feel that they have to make up an excuse in order to be able to look after a child. Open lines of communication will enable the team to understand the situation and be able to fill the gaps at work. Transparency will enable teams to support each other and work around challenges.

Focus on output and not work hours.

Some companies mandate a traditional 8 to 5 schedule. However, if your company could offer flexible schedules, that would greatly help Work From Home parents. Flexible work schedules would give Work From Home parents the ability to take care of parental duties and still get their work done. One typical scenario is when a Work From Home parent has a child who is doing remote learning classes that normally happen during traditional work hours. A flexible schedule would enable a Work From Home parent to stop working during online classes and resume work after. You can offer this benefit to Work From Home parents under certain conditions like: work deliverables should be completed, and the 8 hours required have been fulfilled.

Create a “parents” group.

Creating a parents group can serve as a resource for Work From Home parents to share experiences, challenges, tips, and parenting hacks. It is where Work From Home parents can go for support and camaraderie. They can use this forum to get tips like where to get baby clothes or learning materials. They can get child care recommendations or even swap toys or old strollers and cribs.

No. This is not about Work From Home parents getting preferential treatment. This is about creating a supportive environment and an inclusive work culture. This trains teams to work around hurdles, work together, and be more agile. What are your Work From Home parenting tips? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Dec13

How To Keep Your Employees From Resigning

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How To Keep Your Employees From Resigning

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many employees to rec-consider their employment situation. Many have realized that there are multiple options as to how and where they can get work done. Employees now prioritize their health and safety as well as their family’s. Among the top considerations for employment is having the opportunity for a healthy work-life balance and the option of remote work. This shift in priorities resulted in a record 4 million people quitting their jobs in April this year. An event the U.S. called “The Great Resignation.”

To understand how employers can turn resignation into retention, here are some insights as to why employees resign:

  • Employees have had a taste of working from home during the pandemic. They realize the benefits of having a work system that fits their choice of where to work and/or having the ability to set their own work hours to maximize productivity during their workday.
  • As a result of the health crisis, people pay more attention to self-care. They prioritize looking after their health and will take measures to reduce the risk of exposing their loved ones to the COVID-19 virus.
  • The lockdowns also prompted people to think about how their values align with the company culture. If the employees strongly share the same corporate values, they are more likely to stay.
  • Employees have more time to ponder career development opportunities, compensation, benefits, and recognition given for their work. 

With those in mind, here are some tips to retain your seasoned employees:

1. Encourage a healthy work-life balance.

It is mandated that employers provide a safe working environment for their employees. Stringent measures are taken to ensure that the risk of getting infected by the COVID-19 virus is mitigated by enforcing safety protocols. However, taking care of your employee’s physical health is not enough. The pandemic poses unique challenges that have affected mental health as well. Allow your employees to decompress by offering stress management programs, better health services, and improved health protocols at work.

2. Provide job security.

Paying fair wages should be a standard. Having benefits available, such as paid time off and flexible scheduling, can go a long way to making your employees feel well rewarded for their work. Employers should also look into supporting a workforce education program to provide employees with opportunities to upskill. This move alone improves employee retention by up to 80%, proving that investing in people strengthens the company.

3. Cultivate a good relationship.

As the saying goes: “People don’t leave their jobs, they leave their boss.” Don’t be that boss. Cultivate good relationships with your direct reports. Give credit and recognition where it is due. Celebrate their wins publicly. Keep lines of communication open and let them know they are listened to. Make time for regular check-ins and catch-ups to make sure that your goals are aligned. 

The pandemic has shifted our priorities and made us look more closely at the things that matter more to us. To encourage your seasoned employees to stay, make them feel that they are an integral part of the business. What are your employee retention tips? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Dec6

How To Climb Up The Career Ladder

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How To Climb Up The Career Ladder

When getting started – in a career or a new company – most people start from an entry-level position. A lot of professionals think that it is best to skip this stage, but this is actually the perfect position to learn about the key insights of the industry, the inner workings of the company, and where you want to go in your career.

At some point in your career, you would feel that you have gained enough knowledge in order to advance to a higher role. What steps should you take in order to advance up the career ladder?

Gain clarity on how you want to advance in your career.

A promotion for the sake of career advancement is not a sustainable model for success. You might find out too late that you are not fit for the role or that you are on a career path that is not aligned with your goals. For example, a promotion to Operations Team Leader is not going to fit with a career goal of becoming a Training director. So, when you start planning your career path, you should be crystal clear about how you want to advance. Ask yourself what roles and responsibilities you enjoy working on. What are the other things you want to explore, career-wise? What does career advancement in that direction look like? Career advancement is unique to every company. Different leaders will look for different things. So, enlist the help of your manager or boss and ask for some pointers on what you can do to advance your career. What skills and capabilities do they think are important to being successful within the organization? Ask the people who have the power to help you advance your career about what they are looking for and work on developing those skills. The clearer your path to progress is, the easier it is to take the steps towards career advancement.

Build your network.

Build a network within and outside your organization. This will ensure that you won’t miss any opportunities for advancement. Your network will keep you informed about openings, industry insider information, and company news that might help you advance in the career ladder. Cultivate a healthy network.

Go beyond what is expected.

Doing the bare minimum when you want to progress in your career won’t cut it. You have to shine in your current role in order for management to notice you and open up doors to career advancement. Do this with a positive attitude and a happy outlook. Management is more likely to promote people who show enthusiasm for their work. When you consistently perform well and exceed expectations, you are ensuring that your name will come up on the list of people who can be counted on for more responsibilities and, therefore, ready for a more senior position.  

Do you have any career advancement tips? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Nov29

How To Become More FulFilled and Productive

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How To Become More FulFilled and Productive

When the work from home movement first started, everyone was excited. We didn’t have to contend with long hours of commute and being stuck in terrible traffic. We could prepare a healthy breakfast at home instead of grabbing a 500 calorie bagel and overpriced designed coffee on our way to work. It takes all of 15 minutes to go from “just woke up” to “virtual meeting ready.” We loved the idea of being able to reclaim our time back while social distancing.

However, work demands are now going back to normal. Some of us have started going back to the office. Some of us have retained the ability to work from home. And some of us get to enjoy the best of both worlds with a hybrid work set-up – some days going to the office and some days working from home. 

However, the threat of the virus has not waned. Just recently, Europe has seen another spike in their COVID-19 cases making it the onset of the 4th wave of the pandemic. This means that our worries are far from over and it’s taking a toll on a lot of employees. 

There’s been a lot on our minds lately, from keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe, to worrying about work and responsibilities. It doesn’t help that because of digital technology, most of our workdays are spent jumping from one virtual meeting to the next. This is why a lot of employees report burnout and depleted energy levels. 

If you think of your energy levels as a rechargeable battery, they only last so long before they need to be recharged. It doesn’t help that energy-depleting behaviors like worrying, consuming bad news, having health risks, focusing on negative thoughts, and having a bleak outlook abound in this pandemic era. 

Some simple changes to our daily routine can help recharge our depleted batteries. Here are some examples:

  • Getting enough sleep
  • Incorporating movement into your day
  • Eating a balanced diet
  • Taking breaks
  • Staying away from the news
  • Looking for good news
  • Focusing on one task at a time
  • Meditating
  • Journaling
  • Spending time with loved ones
  • Reading
  • Practicing gratitude

Among these tips, the most helpful in recharging your batteries is spending time with loved ones. An often-quoted “75-Year Harvard Study” shows that the secret to leading a fulfilling life is having quality relationships. It’s not about having 20,000 friends on Facebook. It is the quality of your close relationships that matters. Simply put, good relationships keep us happier and healthier.

If you’re facing burnout or if you find yourself being overwhelmed with worry and negative thoughts that are affecting your work and wellbeing, take time off and spend it with loved ones. If you can only do one thing to improve the quality of your life, it is this. So, find ways to strengthen and improve your relationships and create a tribe that will support you and helps you thrive.

What tips do you have to become more fulfilled and productive? Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Nov22

Micromanagement and Working From Home

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Micromanagement and Working From Home

Remote working or working from home was supposed to be a short-term solution to the threat of COVID-19. It allows employees to work remotely in order to reduce travel and congregation thus, reducing the spread of the virus and the risk of contracting the disease. Back in March, when the pandemic sent us all into lockdown and the work from home experiment started, businesses and organizations had no idea if the move would be successful. Fast-forward to today, remote work has turned into a long-term solution and a possible work option.

Still a lot of employers struggle to adapt to the fact that they are no longer able to walk over to an employee to check in and see how tasks are progressing. Here are some tips to help better manage remote workers:

  1. Offer trust and flexibility – in this context, trust is about making sure that you give your direct reports the resources (such as tools, information, access, and guidance) that they need to get their work done – and then, be able to get out of their way. The best way to offer them trust is to allow them the flexibility to choose when and how they want to get the job done.
  2. Give them autonomy – allow your direct reports to be able to direct their own lives. Giving direct reports autonomy over their projects not only encourages them to see the project through to completion, but also encourages them to give their best because they have ownership and accountability. You hired them, after all. So, assume that they are competent to deliver while encouraging excellence. Trust that they will be able to get the job done.
  3. Be an example – don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk. If your company is big on work-life balance as stated in your mission-vision, you have to lead by example. Show your employees that you value and even encourage time off. And don’t just preach about it, you have to actually take time off yourself. Be public when you do it as well so that employees can see that you have a work-life balance, and it’s not just platitudes.
  4. Communicate well and often – too many one-on-ones can feel like micromanagement, but too little can also be a problem, too. Without proper communication, remote workers are left to assume that they are on the right track and won’t be able to course-correct until it’s too late. So provide regular feedback. Schedule regular check-in calls and make it a video call – not a phone call. So many things will be missed if you are unable to see facial expressions and body language. Use your regular catch-ups to check in on how they’re doing and also chat about non-work related things that aren’t too personal. It’s a way to build rapport and also get feedback on what’s going well or if they have pressing concerns.

Do you have tips to better manage remote workers? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!