Month: December 2017

Alex Langshur, host of Google Partners Podcasts, has launched the podcast Google HR secrets: identifying & developing great managers, interviewing Sarah Calderon, People Development at Google, on how Google selects, trains, and develops their managers.

Quoting a former manager of his, Langshur said that “A great manager will make a tough job challenging and rewarding, … but a bad manager will make a great job just so-so, and will make a tough job so crushing,” emphasizing the need to choose the manager, not the job, when looking for a new professional adventure. In his interview with Sarah Calderon, they discussed how Google, a company with over 70,000 employees and several thousands of managers at different levels, finds, manages and nurtures managers.

Calderon mentioned five lessons learned while teaching managers at Google:

High-performing employees don’t necessarily make good managers. To manage people requires a different skill set. It is not enough to be technically good in a certain field. Not everyone is fit to be a manager, even if they’re a great individual contributor. To find great managers, observe how they work with other employees. Notice if they show flexibility and accept change in their work style. Are they drawing clear roles and responsibilities for others? Is the feedback provided to their team useful?

To discover if someone is fit for the job, give them mini-assignments, for example, an intern to look after, or the leadership role in a small project. Evaluate them after a while to see if they like it, and if they were successful at it.

The best time to train new managers is a few months into the job. Calderon recommends not to wait too long, to avoid the forming of bad habits, but to wait long enough so they actually start to understand what the management job is. At Google, the waiting time is usually three months.
She also said not to train new managers before taking the job or immediately after taking it, but rather let them practice it for a few months, giving them enough time to understand what their job is and encounter some challenges. When training comes, it is not just a theoretical exercise but something that has real, practical meaning to new managers.

Don’t overwhelm new managers. When a new manager starts working, they should not be told everything they need to know as managers, but enough to go for their first six months, practice what they learned and add more to it later.

Things useful to teach them in the beginning are: how to provide feedback and how to be a good coach. Also, some of the things to learn are developing a culture of learning and developing emotional intelligence – how to be aware of oneself and the team managed. To be able to manage others one needs to be able to manager oneself.

Training isn’t the only way to support managers. Managers can learn from other managers. They should be encouraged to talk to each other and learn from one another. Also, tools for collecting feedback are a good asset for them.

Give managers the feedback they need to get better. Calderon mentioned Google’s custom to collect data from employees once a year, asking them to fill out a survey on their manager’s performance. This information is used to provide feedback to managers, helping them to evaluate themselves and grow. Determine first what a great manager is for the organization and guide them to achieve that. Google’s list of qualities of a great manager can be found in this guide, and they also suggest a feedback form.

Among the behaviors a manager should have, Calderon mentioned: be inclusive, don’t micromanage, support employees’ career development, being a good coach and communicator, having a clear vision and strategy for the team, being productive and results oriented, the ability to collaborate across organization, being a strong decision maker, and having key technical skills to advise the team when necessary.

Source: https://www.infoq.com/news/2017/12/google-managers

It’s not about doing the right thing, making others think you’re good people or keeping up with your competitors. Doing diversity right is about getting superior results.

Intent does not equal impact. Time and again I see organizations with good intentions embark on an enthusiastic endeavor to increase diversity in their workplace.

Time and time again I also see their nonexistent to negative impacts, from failure to create lasting positive change to crash-and-burn disasters rife with unproductive conflict. Often it’s because they didn’t follow one or more of these five proven strategies for diversity and inclusion success – the “new school” way. The good news is it’s never too late to learn and regroup, and a new year presents ripe opportunity for fresh starts!

Strategy No. 5: Hire an Excellent Training Partner. If you’ve invested lots of money in training but seen low to no meaningful results, or you’ve received feedback that D&I training has led to confusion or increased problems, you may have selected a training partner that was inadequate, or not a good fit for your organization’s culture. Not all diversity training or trainers are high quality, especially now that D&I is more common and sought-after than ever before. Engaging an inadequate training partner wastes scarce resources, and undermines the credibility of D&I efforts. Ensure you’re set up for success before making a game-changing investment by asking: (1) Do we need training? Sometimes leadership coaching, systems change, or data collection is a more appropriate intervention, and a true D&I professional will help you figure this out. (2) Do we need it now? Training usually yields a higher ROI after proper assessment or other interventions. (3) Who do we already have internally with expertise in organizational development, adult learning, instructional design and facilitation? Ask potential internal and external training partners strategic questions to determine expertise and fit.

Strategy No. 4: Measure the Meaningful Impact of Training … and Reinforce It. If your D&I training got rave reviews, but you’ve seen no-to-low meaningful outcomes in your culture, systems, or leadership, you may not have set training up for success back in the workplace. Not creating a robust plan for implementation and systems change following D&I training wastes resources. It’s a false belief, even among some training professionals, that the effects of training can’t be measured. This belief undermines the credibility of D&I, and reflects poor stewardship of an organization’s trust and investment of budget, time and talent. Before investing in training, ensure you’re set up for success by asking: (1) What are the specific goals or learning objectives for the training? (2) What is our baseline? In other words, where are we now in relation to our training goals? (3) How will we know whether this training was a success? What metrics will we track, and how will we measure it?

Strategy No. 3: Identify and Measure Meaningful Goals. If you don’t have D&I goals, or your goals are only to start employee resource groups or recruit/hire/promote more people of color or women, stop what you’re doing and focus here. Launching D&I efforts with no clear goals, or old-school goals that are limited to focusing on numbers devoid of meaningful strategy is the best way to ensure D&I stalls, fizzles or disappears. You can’t produce meaningful, measurable business-critical results without meaningful goals, and if you’re not producing meaningful, measurable results, you’re wasting time and money. Meaningful D&I goals address a current, pressing problem or take your organization from good to great. Tackling D&I without them adds tasks and stress to leaders’ and employees’ already-overflowing plates (thus reducing buy-in), and damages the credibility of D&I efforts.

Approaching your D&I initiative like a checklist of best practices from elsewhere without a solid business imperative that’s relevant and urgent to your organization’s success is just as ineffective as approaching any other strategic priority that way. Your goals, challenges and needs may not be the same as your competitors’, or the rest of your industry. You must do adequate assessment and gap analysis before taking action to get better-than-OK results. Start by asking: (1) How will a successful D&I initiative alleviate our existing pain points? (2) How will a successful D&I initiative move us from good to great in critical areas we already care about? (3) How will a successful D&I initiative help us avoid potential future pain points?

Strategy #2: Address Your Culture’s Toxicity to Excellence, Change and Inclusiveness. If you have meaningful, business-critical D&I goals, but you’re seeing low to no desired change or experiencing poor employee engagement, your organization may be too toxic for D&I to take healthy root. Also, if you don’t assess employee engagement in any formal, consistent way, haven’t reviewed your data for over three years or don’t cut your (engagement, turnover, promotion, hiring) data by strategic demographic groups, you’re flying blind. Your training program will fall flat and your investment is wasted if your culture doesn’t support healthy change, equity, inclusion or general excellence. Your core issue might not be about diversity and inclusiveness at all, but rather lack of accountability or effective leadership, which are creating or exacerbating diversity issues

Strategy #1: “Do Diversity” for the Results (Not Just Because It’s the Right Thing to Do). “Rightness and “goodness” are beliefs based on certain values. One’s beliefs and values may be precious but they aren’t facts or universal truth. They may not provide value, results or profit, which are important to organizations. Also, not everyone shares the same values. Expecting that everyone does is naïve, and believing everyone should actually reduces diversity and silences those who challenge or raise questions. Doing diversity based on notions of rightness is also unsustainable, because initiatives based only on beliefs and values are often viewed as nice-to-haves that get cut when leadership priorities shift, or resources become scarce. Believing that doing diversity is right or good isn’t required for it to work. Just as one doesn’t need to believe in internal combustion or the laws of physics to drive a car, the principles of diversity and inclusiveness work regardless of the belief systems of those involved.

Diversity plus inclusiveness gets superior results, as shown by multiple studies including from hard sciences like mathematics and economics. Doing diversity right isn’t about helping “them” (women, people of color, LGBT, people with disabilities, etc.). It’s not about doing the right thing, making others think you’re good people or keeping up with your competitors. Doing diversity right is about getting superior results in whatever critical, strategic priorities you already have. It’s about solving an urgent problem or going from good to great. That’s it. Diversity plus inclusiveness is an excellence multiplier. Don’t treat it as anything less by not implementing these five proven strategies to produce results that matter!

Source:http://www.workforce.com/2017/12/13/5-proven-strategies-guarantee-diversity-initiative-produces-results/

It’s no secret that companies worldwide are looking to boost employee engagement. A Gallup report found that just 15 percent of employees globally are engaged at work. While there are a myriad of factors that contribute to that number, the lack of effective development is a major issue.

A survey found that professional growth and development was the top factor for retaining Millennials. And because the group now comprises the majority of the workforce, that’s an issue worthy of attention. But it’s not just Millennials who are suffering from lack of employee engagement. Nearly 70 percent of non-Millennial workers rate development opportunities as an important factor in job satisfaction.

Many companies are meeting those needs, with managers taking ownership of employee development and performance management, where they become coaches instead of traditional bosses. This type of development is built on regular employee feedback and conversations that help managers elicit the best performance from their employees.

At the core of any conversation are questions. Before I was in my current role, I spent years as a facilitator and executive coach. I learned that questions are key tools to not only obtain information but also induce deep inquiry about yourself personally and professionally.

Questions spark curiosity, and curiosity can lead to creativity, innovation, and problem solving. In the context of employee engagement and development, the questions you ask can unlock the type of development an individual needs to reach their potential and obtain their personal goals for work.

In my organization, I’ve earned the moniker Question Master for my penchant for poignant inquiries. Here are some questions we like to ask our team to help support their growth and spark work motivation.

What New Thing Did You Learn This Week?
They say that effective CEOs read 60 books per year. That’s more than a book a week! You don’t have to expect your employees to burn out their Kindles reading, but exposing yourself to new ideas in this way can greatly enhance innovation and employee performance. By asking this feedback question, you let employees know that you value learning and development, and it may entice them to increase their knowledge.

Have You Taken Any Risks Lately? What Did You Learn?
There’s a saying in Silicon Valley that could apply to the entire business world: “Move fast and break things.” Risk taking often leads to innovation and personal growth. But encouraging calculated risk taking only works if you don’t come down hard on people when they fail.

Employees will be less likely to step out on a limb if they’re ostracized when a project goes south. Get curious about the innovation and iteration process, and bring it full circle by cataloging what you and your employees have learned. It is during this time, too, that you can offer examples of constructive feedback to help improve employee performance.

Are We Providing Enough Growth Opportunities for Your Role? If Not, What’s Missing?

There’s a common saying in the business world: “People don’t leave their jobs; they leave their managers.” While it’s true that your direct manager is responsible for creating a positive employee experience and work culture, research suggests that many people leave companies not over relationships, but because they think they’ve stopped growing.
A Deloitte study found that 71 percent of Millennials expect to leave their jobs within two years because they’re dissatisfied with how their leadership skills are being developed. Want to stop your talent from looking at the exit door? Ask them this feedback question to determine what’s missing.

What New Skill Do You Want to Have by This Time Next Year?
Sometimes employees have a desire to grow their skill sets (whether personally or professionally), but they don’t know how to get there. They also may not have the resources.
The first step of an effective employee satisfaction survey is to ask them how they want to grow. You, as a leader, may be able to allocate resources, make a connection, or otherwise support their continued growth and boost employee performance.

What’s One Project You’d Love to Focus on for an Entire Week but Don’t Have Time to Accomplish?
Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World , says deep work is when you focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. But in today’s world, it seems nearly impossible to carve out time amid distractions like email, Slack, and meetings.
Research shows that staying focused and getting into flow states greatly increases productivity. Three hours in flow is far more productive than six half-hour work sessions. Every time you come out of flow for something and ramp back up afterward, you lose, well, your flow. Finding out what an employee wants to focus on and helping them get there aids their growth and work motivation.

While this is just a sample of general, open-ended feedback questions, there are an infinite number of queries you can use to probe your employees. The idea is to get your employees’ wheels turning to uncover their deep needs and desires. Asking questions about employee performance and mindset not only gives you a better understanding of them, but also helps you become a better leader by gathering information and strengthening relationships.

Source:https://www.td.org/insights/4-unexpected-ways-a-mentor-can-be-your-career-development-ally

Career Partners International (CPI), a global management consulting firm, offers advice on dealing with major organizational changes. Mark Saddic, of CPI Philadelphia, demonstrates the need for a comprehensive plan for introducing changes in a business.

Initiating a change within a workplace can be a difficult and overwhelming process. Here is some key advice for enacting change in an organization: develop a clear vision as to why the change is necessary and how it impacts employees, select a leader or team to execute the process, allow that leader or team to freely enact change, use a SWOT analysis or a similar tool to identify problems, gather sound research on these problems, ease any difficulties with those affected by change, provide an open source of communication, and provide measurables to guide your success and meet your goals.

By approaching a major change with steps detailed and a clear end-goal, businesses can successfully preform changes within their workforce. Career Partners International can help you with this process from beginning to end. Our consultants are skilled at developing a strategy for change and helping your workforce overcome the challenges that may come.

“Change in a workplace can be disastrous, but it doesn’t have to be,” says Doug Matthews, President & CEO of Career Partners International. “We can help you every step of the way.”

You can find the original article through this link.

Career Partners International’s global network of offices and experts guarantees excellent, personalized services with cutting-edge technology whether in a local market or cross-continental business. To learn more about Career Partners International’s wide range of business-evolving offerings, visit CPI World.

About Career Partners International
Founded in 1987, Career Partners International is a leading provider of Outplacement, Career Management, Executive Coaching and Leadership Development services from more than 300 offices in over 45 countries. Employers around the world trust Career Partners International’s local market experts to provide the best possible outcomes for employees across Canada, the United States, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific regions.

Source:https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/17/12/p10913218/become-a-catalyst-for-change-in-your-workplace

BEING ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE STRENGTHS OF OTHERS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF BEING A MANAGER, BUT BEING ABLE TO SPOT YOUR OWN STRENGTHS IS A GAME-CHANGER
David Guile

The ‘Dynamics of Potential’ consists of four key parts – the Four P’s: perspective, purpose, performance and progress.

Each part is important in its own right yet integral to the whole to ensure ongoing success and fulfilment.

For the Four Ps of Potential to be effectively realised I have identified three critical success factors that will prove fundamental to successful implementation. They are each important yet can be life-changing and can potentially transform the performance of your team and business if they are consistently applied in equal measure. These critical success factors of Positivity, Balance and Environment are regular themes throughout the book and are key to each part of the model.

The first P within the Dynamics of Potential model, perspective, focuses on identifying and embracing your strengths to discover and maximise upon your untapped potential.

When it comes to developing your potential it’s not enough to focus on improving your weaknesses – maximum impact is gained by leveraging your strengths.

When thinking about your potential and developing it, there is a tendency to focus on what’s not going well, or on your weaknesses. However, there is more to be gained by focusing on and identifying your strengths, and making them stronger.

Focusing on areas of non-performance and weakness can diminish resources, drain energy and reduce motivation, whereas if you focus on strengths it motivates, inspires and creates energy and excitement.

The impact that it has can be significant, as by focusing on identifying, practising and refining your strengths you become more productive, more fulfilled and more successful in the things that matter most.

Accepting that we are all different, have different strengths and that weaknesses are part of everyone’s character allows you to grow and develop. Think about it, how realistic is it to turn every weakness you have into a strength? Is it even possible?

If you focus on your strengths, what works for you, what motivates you, what inspires you, you’ll be coming from a more positive approach. Focus on what you’re good at and what you can do, rather than what doesn’t work and what you’re not so good at.

You may not be aware of your own personal strengths, or you may be aware of some but have conditioned your thinking to exclude or limit others.

If you are not fully aware of your personal strengths you might not utilise them and, as a result, limit the potential within you, missing out on greater opportunity both personally and professionally.

Remember, before you can build on your strengths you have to identify them.

STEPS TO DISCOVERING YOUR OWN PERSONAL STRENGTHS
Articulate your personal strengths by making a list. What qualities do you see in yourself? When you believe you can find no more, challenge yourself to find some more. List a minimum of ten strengths and reflect upon and acknowledge each one.

Ask others. Ask people both inside and outside of work who know you well and whose judgement you respect and trust. Some of their answers may not have been included in your initial list.

Learn from others. What strengths do your admire in others? Perhaps you have a role model or a mentor? Look at their strengths and then think about whether you demonstrate any of those strengths yourself.
Focus on the activities that you enjoy and that bring you the most satisfaction. What strengths are you using that come naturally?

Notice what you do differently than everyone else. In a situation where you are truly using your strengths you will stand out from a crowd. Your approach will be unique. To name your strengths, you want to identify those moments and note how you are different.

Figure out what comes naturally to you. Break these strengths down to identify what skills you are using.

Work with a coach. A strengths based coaching approach will support you to clearly articulate your strengths and to build up on them.

 

Source: http://www.managers.org.uk/insights/news/2017/december/the-five-minute-management-idea-instant-talent-spotting

Agile thinking, while not commonplace in UK boardrooms today, is expected to become the basis of the management practice of tomorrow.

The approach is already being taught on a number of management training courses. But outside academic spheres, it is also referred to under various other monikers ranging from customer centricity to faster, smarter and leaner.

This is about responding in a swift and imaginative way to the accelerating business change being brought about by technology and digitisation. But to do so frequently involves behaving in counter-intuitive and counter-cultural ways.

For example, in a fast-moving world, agile thinking means abandoning the traditional annual plan, with its reassuring key performance indicators, to create small, quick-and-dirty projects that deliver often imperfect products instead. These products can be killed if they do not work, but also have the potential to deliver rapid benefits.

At the heart of this approach, however, is what Simon Hayward, chief executive of leadership development consultancy Cirrus, describes as the “agile leadership paradox”.

“Being able to respond to change is vital, but the paradox is that you have to be willing to be a disruptor and almost undermine your own thinking by challenging it and looking at how it could be knocked sideways,” he says. “The point is you’re either going to be on the front foot changing the way your industry operates and creating competitive advantage or you’re going to be responding to that.”

Some pioneering organisations beyond the rarefied world of technology startups have already embraced agile thinking and applied this philosophy across the enterprise. But the majority are still either in the process of working out how to do it or have introduced the approach into their IT and digital departments only, which is simply not enough.

Vikram Jain, managing director of agile management consultancy JCURV, explains: “The problem is you end up with a two-speed business. So an internal customer will say they want something; IT designs, develops and tests it in an agile way and other departments, like marketing and legal, use a traditional waterfall approach to launch the solution, which means it gets stuck in a bottleneck.”

What is required instead are cross-functional teams that are “co-located and empowered to solve problems and ‘fail fast’ without hierarchies getting in the way”, he says. Failing fast is about cutting your losses when something is not working and quickly trying something else.

But the challenge involved in going down this route is that most large organisations still operate under a command-and-control style of management, which is based on a “fundamental belief that you can’t trust people to do the right thing”, says Mr Jain.

Other barriers to agile ways of working include company silos that inhibit collaboration, deferential and bureaucratic processes, and an inability to prioritise, all of which slow change down.

One of the central principles of agile is that teams get on with it and self-manage

“At the heart of all this is control,” Mr Hayward points out. “One of the central principles of agile is that teams get on with it and self-manage. Most senior leaders find it difficult to cede control to others, especially if they’re trying to drive change, but if they can devolve decision-making to the lowest level, it’s very empowering.”

A key challenge here though is the majority of senior leaders employ management techniques that have proved successful in the past, but are largely unsuitable for addressing today’s problems. But because they do not know how to change, they end up focusing too much time and effort on the wrong things.

“The biggest barriers to agile are cultural and behavioural, and it starts from the top,” Mr Jain says. “If you don’t appreciate that ways of working need to change, you’ll put up barriers to others doing it too.”

Put another way, to adopt agile thinking, it is vital that senior executives change their own belief system and attitudes. Mr Hayward explains: “It’s about rethinking your beliefs and developing ‘learning agility’ to create a climate where people can operate effectively. This means not blaming them if things go wrong, but encouraging them to learn from their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions.”

Although it is widely acknowledged that changing attitudes is one of the hardest things to do, there are various possible options that can help. Management training organisations and tertiary education institutions, such as the University of Central Lancashire, offer a range of programmes, for instance, and there are also plenty of books on the subject.

But another useful approach is for senior leaders to spend time with peers at companies that have already gone down this route, or even with members of their own IT department, to see for themselves what this new way of working looks and feels like.

As Nicolas Minvielle, head of Masters in marketing, design and creation at the Audencia Nantes School of Management, says: “You need to spend time with people who know about it. Otherwise it’s just a story and won’t mean much; you certainly won’t change your behaviour as a result. So you need to go out into the field and live it to truly understand it.”

But this change in behaviour from the top is crucial if agile thinking is to become embedded throughout the organisation. On the one hand, it is up to leaders to create a safe environment that enables team members to work in an agile fashion despite pushback from elsewhere.

On the other, says Mr Jain: “Leaders need to start leading again, which means two things in practice: defining the vision and shouting about it, and then, as their teams become more empowered, stepping back and spending time removing any impediments to their success and effectiveness.”

While small benefits should make themselves felt quickly, embedding agile thinking into how the organisation operates is likely to be a 12 to 24-month process.

“It’s not a short-term fix,” Mr Hayward concludes. “The thing with agile is that it takes time; it’s such a different way of working and requires such a different mindset because it flies in the face of much traditional management practice and culture.”

Source: https://www.raconteur.net/business/business-leaders-must-learn-to-let-go-and-give-staff-power

Good performance management practices could drive higher employee engagement levels, indicates new research conducted by HR.com in partnership with BambooHR, HR technology solutions provider.

The research report, The Impact of Performance Management on Engagement, is based on responses from 880 HR professionals participating in a survey fielded earlier this year.

The study found that many employers suffer from low levels of employee engagement, especially when engagement is defined as a willingness to give discretionary effort. Fewer than half (46%) of the participants agreed their employees give discretionary effort (that is, go above and beyond the minimum effort required), and a mere 6% strongly agreed.

The research confirmed previous studies showing a link between engagement and employee/manager relationships. Fewer than a tenth of the participants described their organization’s manager/employee relationship as “dynamic,” and these companies reported nearly three times the level of engagement and discretionary effort compared to other organizations.

The study also examined whether performance management systems impact engagement. There were two major findings. First, there appears to be a link between frequency of feedback and engagement. Sixty nine percent of respondents said their employees were highly engaged when performance reviews occurred quarterly or more often, compared to just 28% when reviews occurred less frequently than once a year or never at all.

Second, the study suggests that the reasons for performance reviews may influence engagement. It found that when positive, proactive reasons motivated performance reviews, employees tended to be more engaged and willing to give discretionary effort.

“We can’t definitively say that performance management practices drive engagement,” said Debbie McGrath, Chief Instigator and CEO of HR.com, “but the data suggest some kind of relationship. I think a lot of employees, and even some HR professionals, are cynical about annual performance appraisals if those reviews feel like unpleasant confrontations rather than good and productive conversations. If organizations are having those kinds of challenges, they might want to try experimenting with more frequent performance conversations motivated by the desire to help employees learn and grow. Then those firms could see if this has a positive impact on employee engagement and discretionary effort.”

The study also examined which types of technologies employers typically used to operate performance management systems.

Source: http://labusinessjournal.com/news/2017/dec/19/human-resources-staffing-employment-good-performan/

With the new year approaching, HR managers are shifting their focus to benefit planning for the 2019 plan year. While questions loom about what direction healthcare benefits will take, the stability of voluntary benefits continue to be top of mind for many employers . Savvy benefit planners recognize that these programs round out compensation packages and contribute to their employees’ financial wellness.

Understanding potential gaps in medical plans, HR managers are working to decrease out-of-pocket expenses for employees by offering worksite benefits that complement the core medical plan. Employers are also using voluntary benefits to enhance their benefits offerings to attract and retain competitive talent.

Here are three voluntary benefits offerings that gained traction in 2017 and we expect will continue the momentum into the coming year. When properly communicated, these benefits, can add tremendous value to your employees and drive overall engagement within your workforce.

1. Student Loan Assistance:

The trend is becoming more common for employees to look to their employers for contributions to their overall financial well-being, over and above traditional 401-k matching programs. The newest population of employees entering the workforce on average have record high student loan debt and are therefore less financially secure. According to an ORC International survey commissioned by PadillaCRT1, one in four millennials owe more than $30,000 in college debt and think it will take more than 20 years to pay off their student loans.

Employers are attracting and retaining the latest working generation by helping employees manage their student loan debt through employer-sponsored programs. Here are three solutions to consider:

Refinancing Options: Many lenders specializing in student loan debt will allow employees to refinance and consolidate existing student loan debt. Just a word of caution, if you have a federally backed student loan, ensure that there are appropriate communications advising the employee of the potential consequences of refinancing.
Employer Contribution: Employer-sponsored match programs can help employees pay back their loans faster. There are various plan designs for consideration such as fixed contribution, contributions based on tenure, etc.
Debt Management Resources: Student loan refinancing programs often provide guidance and technology tools to help employees manage their existing debt and create a realistic repayment plan.

2. Worksite Benefits:

To confront the challenges of the cost shift in core medical plans from employers to employees, voluntary benefits are designed to help employees cover the out-of-pocket costs from unexpected medical issues. The most widely provided programs tend to be critical illness insurance, accident insurance and hospital indemnity insurance. These programs generally pay a cash benefit directly to the employee regardless of existing insurance for a covered accident or hospitalization.

Additional features of these worksite benefits are that they are usually portable for the employee if they leave their current employer. They can be payroll deducted and do not generally cost the employer to provide the programs.

As a starting point to offer the right mix of worksite benefits, employers should closely examine the core medical plan for any financial gaps for employees. Employers should also consider the demographics of their workforce. For example, employees with young children would benefit from an accident plan that can help pay for costs associated with a broken bone, while an older population may be more interested in a critical illness plan that can help cover expenses related to illnesses, such as heart attack, stroke and cancer.

Worksite benefits like accident insurance, critical illness insurance and hospital indemnity insurance are traditionally only offered during Annual Enrollment. In order for these programs to be successful, HR managers should communicate these alongside the core medical programs and emphasize how they complement the core medical offering.

3. Employee Purchase Programs:

The right voluntary benefit programs can help employees save time and worry less! We’ve started to see an increasing number of employers offer employee purchase programs to help employees pay for items that they may need, such as a new washer and dryer or new computer for a child going to college. Cash-strapped employees may not have sufficient credit to buy the products they need without avoiding a high-interest loan program. Employee purchase programs generally allow employees to spread out the payments on the products they have purchased over a period of time through payroll deduction. Young employees, who are trying to establish credit and manage student loan repayments may especially benefit from an employee purchase programs. Discerning benefit managers understand the benefit of employee purchase programs because they provide an alternative to employees taking loans from their 401(k) plans for these types of purchases. Employees can then focus on 401(k) plans as a dedicated retirement vehicle which is what they are intended to be.

As healthcare benefits evolve and the workforce changes, the flexibility of voluntary benefits will continue to play a role in employers’ overall benefit packages. Voluntary benefits are the weapon that employers can use to differentiate themselves and attract and retain an engaged workforce . Financial wellness will be more achievable for employees with a well thought out voluntary benefits strategy.

Source: https://www.hrtechnologist.com/articles/employee-benefits/emerging-workplace-benefits-heading-into-2018/

The FINANCIAL — The potential of technology to generate more “fractured and distant” relationships in the workplace is examined in a report from the Work and Equalities Institute at Alliance MBS.

The report, commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), concludes that for many people work relationships are broken and their opportunities to influence matters are fragmented.

The report, authored by Tony Dundon, Miguel Martinez Lucio, Debra Howcroft, Emma Hughes, Arjan Keizer and Roger Walden, cites the example of crowdworking via websites which employ people to undertake mainly low-level repetitive tasks as just one example of how the boundaries between employer and employee have become blurred, particularly as human and social dialogue is replaced by algorithmic forms of management control.

“The experience of work may be more isolated given an increasing dependence on technology,” the report says. “Workers are isolated from one another and disconnected from their manager, as social relationships are regulated by the platform rather than by the people interface.”

People and technology

The research recommends there is now a need for HR professionals to better understand the ‘people-technology interface’. “They need to understand how impersonal relationships are reconfiguring working experiences in different sectors, industries and occupational roles, including emerging gig economy jobs. The dialogue between workers and customers is also changing through new communication and information technologies,” it says.

The report also discusses the argument that the balance of power has been shifting towards employers and away from workers. “This poses important questions around the forces driving change and what channels employees have to influence their working lives.”

The report reviews academic and research evidence to establish an authoritative account of the shifting power dynamics within the employment relationship. It focuses on the channels, structures, systems and processes of employee influence.

Bargaining power

Tony Dundon, Professor of Human Resource Management and Employment Relations at Alliance MBS, says all these trends are accentuated by technology. “In the report we note how the job market differentiates between insiders – established workers with more bargaining power – and outsiders, such as the young or those working in the gig economy with less access to voice or the ability to influence.”

He says that although non-union voice has grown across many organisational settings, relative to union bargaining it appears “shallow in terms of depth and light on power”. “From this research several important priority areas emerge for employers, the HR profession and multiple external bodies.”