Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® has been referenced over many years.  First published in 1989, it’s been reissued multiple times since then, and has been adapted / spun out in to targeted versions, for example focussing on teenagers, families, journals, workbooks and card decks.  He continued to release books up to a year before he passed away in 2012, leaving a legacy of effective leadership principles.

What’s it about?

Covey seems to have had a genuine wish to help others and lead by example by closely following the principles of the habits himself. He provides practical advice, which requires us to look inside ourselves.  Reading the habits, we may already find that we’re on the right track.

What are the 7 habits?

There’s much more to the habits in the book, however here is a flavour of the 7 habits:

Habit 1: Be Proactive®

Take responsibility for your life. This habit encourages us to move away from blaming external factors and responding to them in a reactive way. We should use proactive language; I will, I can etc.  and our energy should be focussed on things we can control.  The first step is to build awareness of where we expend our energy now, so we can develop into a more proactive approach.

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind®

We will not feel successful, if we achieve things which are not where we wanted to end up.  We need to focus on what we want, and how we want to live, and then use the 1^st Habit of proactivity to get there.

Habit 3: Put First Things First®

This is where the 1^st and 2^nd Habits come together, and we can make decisions about what we will and won’t do.  We don’t have to do everything, it’s about choosing proactively what you will do, and prioritising accordingly. These decisions will be made based on our purpose, values and role, with the end in mind.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win®

Be co-operative and collaborative.  It’s a mindset which means that we seek mutual benefit with our solutions.  Covey identifies 3 character traits; Integrity, Maturity and Abundance Mentality (believing there is plenty for everyone). It doesn’t have to be either / or, both parties can ‘win’. Further character traits identified are empathy, confidence, consideration, sensitivity and bravery, which all underpin real Maturity.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood®

Communication is key, but this Habit is more focussed on listening, and really understanding others.  We all want to get our point across, but in doing so we may not listen to the other person properly.  This means we may miss their meaning or make assumptions, based on our own point of view.

Habit 6: Synergize®

This is about teamwork, being openminded and finding new solutions. This is best done with multiple contributors who all bring different insights and experiences.  The principle of ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ is in play here.  Valuing differences is important to achieve synergy. It might feel uncomfortable initially, as there may be disagreements, but the outcome will be more interesting and successful.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw®

This means preserving and enhancing ourselves in 4 different areas of life: physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual.  We need to grow in each of these areas, for example through healthy lifestyle choices, making social connections, reading, learning, spending time in the natural world, music and art. By growing in these areas we become more able to deal with challenges, grow and continue to build on the other 6 Habits.

Although a lot of focus of adopting the 7 Habits has been on implementing these principles in leadership and management, they can apply to all of us.  After all, the title of the book is simply to make us highly effective people, whether you’re a junior executive or business owner.  If you’re new to a leadership role, read one of our previous blogs to get some practical leadership tips.

As a small business you might ask ‘why do I need HR?’ if you have a small headcount and everything seems to be going well.  An HR Consultant is often engaged to support and advise when there are employee related issues or problems. That might be a situation involving redundancy, a disciplinary, grievance or dismissal.  Of course, ensuring that these situations are dealt with correctly is very important.  We do our job, help you to resolve the issue and that’s that.  All good.  But there IS more to HR than troubleshooting of this kind, and it’s important even (or I would argue especially) for small businesses. The way your people are managed will have a direct impact on their success, and by implication the the success of your business.  In a small business where the headcount is under 50, each employee has a greater proportional impact on the working environment, the team, the success of the business and how well it functions.

What do I need to know about HR?

The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), states that Human Resources Management (HRM) is:

“…the function within an organisation that focuses on the recruitment, management, and direction of the people who work in the organisation. HRM can also be performed by line managers.”

There are multiple stages in an employment relationship, some of which are included in the definition above.  If we look at this in more detail, the stages are:

Employees experience these activities during their journey with you, their employer. But you won’t positively impact the success of your people and your business without considering the ‘how’ in each of these areas. Let’s look at each stage in more detail:

Attraction

What skills, knowledge and experience do you need, and how will you attract these people in a competitive recruitment market?

Recruitment

What are your recruitment methods, and do they successfully identify if the candidates have the skills, knowledge and experience you need?  How many of your new starters leave before they finish their probationary period with you?

Onboarding

How can you ensure effective onboarding of someone into their job and the company, enabling them to become productive quickly and begin making a positive impact on your business?

Development

How do you develop your onboarded employees? What development and progression can you provide so that your people become better and better at their jobs and become the experts, managers or leaders of the future?  Or do people leave to get that development and progression?

Retention

How do you treat your employees while they’re with you? What can you offer them that will keep them loyal and engaged?  Or might they always be on the lookout for the next opportunity elsewhere?  How do you make sure you keep all the knowledge, skill and experience you have supported and developed from walking out of the door, reducing your ROI, and increasing your costs?

Separation

How do you treat leavers? Does that change depending on whether they’re a voluntary or involuntary leaver? What do your current employee population observe when others leave, and does that process feel dignified, respectful and make them feel glad they still work there?  Could your leavers be employees of the future, once they’ve gained other experiences, and would they want to return to you?

And the cycle continues…..

What should I do?

In short, the first stage would be to look at what you currently do.  Ask yourself and selected others 5(ish!) key questions:

1. Are your people processes efficient and effective for the business and your people?
2. What kinds of experiences do your employees have at the various stages of the employee lifecycle?
3. What kinds of behaviours do you value? Do you see these demonstrated by your managers and employees consistently in their interactions with each other?
4. What kind of employer do you want to be?  How does that link in with your brand marketing and PR?
5. How high is your employee turnover? How successful are your attempts to recruit new talent?

This is just the start of the process, and it will lead to further conversations and questions, no doubt.  Maybe this next year is the year you start to take a strategic approach to your people management practices?

If you’re asking yourself “Why do I need HR?” and you’d like more information, or if you would like support to look at any or all of these areas to make your business even more successful, get in touch.

The Covid-19 pandemic had an undeniable impact on everyone’s lives.  During that time, the requirement to work flexibly created a new landscape, which employers are still having to navigate.

For some employees, that switch to remote, flexible working appears to have resulted in the ‘always-on’ phenomenon. There’s no real boundary between work time and personal time. This means that employees can work around other personal commitments or activities, if they wish. However some people find it difficult to switch off, in some cases leading to a culture of presenteeism.

What is Presenteeism?

The CIPD states that presenteeism occurs when people work when in suboptimal health.  Your employees are attending work when they are unwell, and are therefore unable to be productive.  Absenteeism has a huge cost implication for employers.  But interestingly, the CIPD also reports that presenteeism has a much bigger cost (according to research by Deloitte).

Why is it a problem?

Unless addressed, presenteeism can lead to a culture where presence indicates commitment and success. I.e., if you turn up early and leave late you’re doing a great job, you will be more valued, and potentially rewarded accordingly.  What it doesn’t do is lead to an increase in productivity and it can cause a toxic culture. These things will drive away talent, further decreasing productivity.

There are also other effects, for example:

• Employees come to the workplace with contagious illnesses, which spread through the workforce, increasing absence and / or presenteeism.
• Employees won’t take the rest from work they need to recover, therefore stay unwell for longer, or their health deteriorates further.
• Employees working while unwell will understandably demonstrate less enthusiasm and motivation, leading to low morale. This low morale may be contagious within the workforce, even in your healthy employees.
• Depending on the sector, employees who are unwell are more likely to have workplace accidents, putting themselves and others at risk.
• Presenteeism means that employees aren’t giving their full commitment to their work, and therefore will not progress and develop, which may lead to further demotivation and disengagement.
• The quality of work produced is less likely to be as high as it might otherwise be, if the employee was healthy. This may have a knock-on effect on colleagues, for example causing frustration, or blockages and delays in systems and processes.

What can you do about it in your business?

Leaders need to be proactive in changing the narrative about the behaviours that are valued in their business. They need to move away from a ‘bums on seats’ approach (i.e. presenteeism), and instead focus on outputs and achievements. One of the first things they can do is lead by example. Create those work and home time boundaries. For example, only respond to emails during working hours, or as close as you can get (unless it’s business critical). Encourage employees to leave work, or if remote, switch off at the end of their contracted hours.

Tips to reduce presenteeism

• Find out why people are behaving this way, either through focus groups or an anonymous survey, and find out about their concerns around taking time off ill, and blurred work / home boundaries.
• Look at your sickness absence policy. Will employees suffer significantly financially every time they take a day off sick?  Do you have a fair sickness absence review policy which is consistent, reasonable and supportive?  And if you make changes to your policy, ensure these changes are communicated. Create clear messaging that supports taking time off if it’s needed, so people can fully recover and then return to work.
• Consider what you could do to promote a healthy working environment that supports mental and physical wellbeing.  For example discounted gym membership, walking meetings, cycle to work schemes, wellbeing apps, mental health first aiders and training for all employees.
• If you use zero hours contracts, consider if this is a factor. Review your resourcing model to establish if you could reduce these and create more stability for your workforce.
• Improve manager / staff communication, so that managers are familiar with their employees and have positive working relationships. Employees may then feel the can share any health concerns with confidence, and managers will spot warning signs of any health or wellness issues.

If you’ve noticed your employees seem to be working when they are clearly unwell, and you want to find out why, or need support to change those habits, get in touch.

In the workplace, managers and colleagues give feedback to others as part of their normal management and team practices.  Feedback should be constructive, and it’s a valuable process, aimed at improving skills, communication, relationships and success (individual and organisational).

In a study by Christine Porath[1], she found that higher levels of feedback were associated with 89% greater thriving at work, 63% more engagement and 79% higher job satisfaction.  She also found that giving honest, careful feedback and creating a ‘feedback loop’, (where team members provided feedback to each other), created stronger connections, and better relationships at work.  Adding recognition and / or reward in to the mix lead to employees becoming happier and more engaged.

The good and the bad

Provided the feedback is truly constructive, there’s no such thing as ‘bad’ feedback as all feedback of this nature will be valuable.

But if that feedback is not constructive, or not delivered in an appropriate way, I think we can probably call it ‘bad’ feedback, as it will often have the opposite effect of what is desired. i.e., it resulted in a disengaged, demotivated employee, and ultimately damage their success and potentially that of the team.

How to give good feedback

For many years there was a well-known saying linked to giving feedback which was referred to as the ‘**** sandwich’ i.e., say something nice, say something negative and then distract the person with something positive again. It seems this doesn’t work because the ‘negative’ points get lost, with people, understandably, clinging to the positive messages.

Here are our top tips for preparing and providing good quality feedback.

Preparation:

• Be clear what you’re providing feedback about and consider what you want the outcome to be
• Allocate enough time to the feedback session and make sure it’s in a confidential setting without interruptions
• Be factual, specific, kind and objective – describe behaviour / actions / outcomes, not personality, attitude or character
• Provide the context and describe what you noticed.  E.g., “I noticed that your reports have been submitted 2-3 days late on a couple of occasions lately”
• Outline the impact and why it’s a problem
• Write down the key points you want to get across.

The meeting:

• Present your prepared observations
• Be mindful of your body language and tone.  Keep it calm and respectful
• Ask for their perspective of your observations
• Encourage them to explore alternatives – ways to improve next time
• Present feedback as a positive opportunity, not a threat, and include a balance of feedback (i.e., if some things went well, say so)
• Listen actively, show empathy and demonstrate you’re listening – paraphrase and reflect what you’ve heard
• Acknowledge their feelings
• Reaffirm that your intention is to offer feedback to help them improve their performance, and help them progress, develop, grow in their role and the organisation.

Feedback should be given as close to an issue arising to ensure it’s relevant, and to demonstrate that it’s important.  Don’t wait for your next scheduled monthly or quarterly 1-1 to share the feedback.

If you need to give difficult feedback to an employee and you’re not sure how, get in touch.

 

[1] Mastering Community: The Surprising Ways Coming Together Moves us from Surviving to Thriving by Christine Porath 2022

What is unconscious bias?

Unconscious bias is a term which is commonly used in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  In this blog post we try to demystify unconscious bias and explain what it really means.

Unconscious bias is an unconscious inclination or prejudice.  It can be referred to in the context of a ‘gut’ feeling, or instinct feeling people have. These feelings will be informed by experiences and influences during their lives.  There is usually no ill will, but it is nevertheless seen as an issue in workplaces.  This bias can influence business decisions, and can compromise an employer’s ability to be an inclusive and equal workplace.

From a legal perspective, the areas to be aware of are around certain criteria, which could be covered under the description of a ‘protected characteristic’ most commonly related to age, gender, race, religion/belief, disability, sexuality and marital/partnership status.

Unconscious bias around gender, for example is the way someone might assume that a pink clothing item is appropriate for a little girl, or that little boys play with trucks while girls will want a dolly to play with.  Or age bias might be that an older person is overqualified for a junior role they’ve applied for.

We’re all human, and our decisions are informed by our own experiences.  So if it’s just about being human, why is it a problem?

What’s the problem?

Put simply, not tackling unconscious bias, means that those experiences and influences informing our decisions will continue to harm certain groups or individuals, unchecked.  Being aware of our natural bias, means that we are more likely to look beyond the assumptions we may instinctively make about an individual or group, and prevent us from treating those people differently.   Ultimately if they are treated differently, or they suffer a detriment as a result, they may have a claim for (indirect or direct) discrimination.

Over time, employees who think they are treated differently due to unconscious bias, develop feelings of isolation and alienation, and feel uncomfortable being themselves. This would take its toll on anyone, and may also affect the organisation’s performance overall.  Employees who experience bias and prejudice often actively disengage and reduce their contributions, and ultimately seek a role elsewhere.

What are the benefits of tackling unconscious bias?

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is seen as an increasingly important part of what a business has to offer.  To be an inclusive employer means that employees feel welcome, valued and included. This in turn means team members will stay longer and be more engaged and productive.

Diversity in the workplace is a serious competitive advantage with immediate and tangible benefits. It ensures a variety of different perspectives and a variety of different skills and experiences.  It gives organisations access to a greater range of talent, potentially increasing creativity and innovation.

The best way to overcome unconscious bias, is to ensure people become more self-aware (and self-critical) about their decisions and behaviours.  This can be done via training in a variety of formats. Alternatively, you could develop some supporting systems and processes, to ensure decision makers at all levels are challenged in a safe setting.

You can find out more about the benefits of tackling unconscious bias and what approach works here.  And if you’d like some advice about EDI issues in your business, please do get in touch.

Obviously, employers are always keen to make successful hiring decisions. However it is common for a new hire to be unsuccessful in probation. This is often because it transpires that they don’t actually have the skills and experience needed for the job.

Why does this happen?

There are two potential answers to this question:

• The criteria for the job was not correctly defined at the start, and / or
• The questions during the selection process did not successfully establish the skills and experience of the candidate.

A great deal of management time and effort (and often direct cost) goes in to recruiting and onboarding a new employee, so when it doesn’t work out, more management time goes in to dealing with the problem. There are often direct costs in paying notice in lieu and untaken holiday when the leaver is processed.  You then end up doubling the recruitment costs and time for filling that role, when you repeat the process to recruit a better replacement.  So, getting the selection process right, makes business sense.

Tips for making successful hiring decisions:

• REALLY think about the job you need to fill. Consider the skills and experience that person needs to have.
• Create a job ad and job description which clearly articulates the qualifications, skills and experience you’re looking for. This will enable potential applicants without the skills you need to self-select out of the process.
• Involve more than one person in the shortlisting and interviewing process and spend time preparing together.
• Devise interview questions which are open and based on the candidates’ experiences. Plan to have a two-way conversation with them about it, so you can assess them against what’s required.
• Probe the candidate on their experience to ‘drill down’ in to the detail.  This will eliminate any potential embellishments, assumptions or misunderstandings about the experiences they have actually had.
• Ensure all candidates are interviewed in the same robust way, regardless of whether they are recommended by a contact, or you have worked with them before.
• Ensure one of the interviewers is taking notes of the candidate’s responses (the content, not their opinion about it). This will serve as an accurate reminder about the candidates, so you can discuss your thoughts about them effectively afterwards.
• If you’re in doubt about a candidate, ask them back, or meet them for coffee so you can ask them more about the areas where you feel less convinced. Or involve a third interviewer to do this – prepping with them about the areas of focus/concern.
• Do not appoint someone just because they are the best in an unsatisfactory group of candidates. If they do not have the essential skills and experience, and these areas cannot easily be developed or trained upon joining, do not appoint them.

Not everyone has a natural ability to interview well, but training or coaching can help your managers run an effective selection process, so they can find the right person for the job.

If you or your team need support in making more successful hiring decisions, get in touch.

Over the last 6 months mental health and wellbeing support has become a hot topic, as data emerges about anxiety and stress levels in the context of returning to work and to the workplace.

What do we know?

Some key statistics regarding mental health and wellbeing are coming to light:

• 72% or employers are planning to bring teams back to the office by mid-October ¹
• 33% of UK workers don’t have faith in their colleagues when it comes to hygiene protocols ¹
• 44% of workers are worried about sharing equipment ¹
• By end May 2020 calls to the UK’s national domestic abuse helpline had increased by 66% ²
• The number of adults experiencing depression has doubled during the pandemic ³
• 37% of people in the UK are suffering from high anxiety ³
• 22% of those with no pre-existing mental health issues now report having ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ mental health ⁴
• 65% of those with pre-existing mental health issues report that those issues are now worse ⁴

In the context of these statistics, fears of a mental health crisis seem well founded.

What does this mean for employers?

There are potentially many ways in which the mental health crisis will affect employees, as people will have had very different experiences of the pandemic. Here are some of the issues your employees may be having:

• Job security – as more and more businesses announce job losses, anxiety about impending unemployment will be high
• Isolation – for some remote working has left them feeling isolated and de-motivated
• Mental and physical exhaustion – for many who had to balance work and childcare and/or home-schooling it has been extremely stressful and tiring, creating what could manifest itself as ‘burn-out’
• Personal relationship stress – spending such a long time in close proximity with partners may have put a strain on relationships
• PTSD and bereavement – for anyone who contracted the virus, there are reports of potential longer term mental and physical issues; and those who have lost loved ones may still be dealing with grief and feelings of guilt

Employees may find it difficult to focus, concentrate and  stay motivated and engaged. For those who are working from home for the foreseeable future, the feeling of being disconnected from their colleagues may continue. Without interventions, these issues could result in both a downturn in productivity and difficult and sensitive employee relations issues to manage.

Pro-active employers will definitely be on the front-foot if they can support employees through the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

Why should employers focus on mental health and wellbeing?

As well as the ethical and moral arguments for supporting employees who are struggling, there is evidence to suggest that wellbeing could increase productivity by 12% and that unhappy staff could be 10% less effective. ⁵

If employers do provide support for their employees, they would undoubtedly become more resilient. If issues arise at any point in the future those employees will be able to manage more successfully, leading to less employee absence.

Employers will also find that how they treat people during this time will define them and their brand. Being supportive will drive both loyalty and make them a more attractive employer for the best talent in the longer term.

From a practical perspective, if employers ‘catch people’ before they fall, they will avoid difficult employee absence issues which can be time-consuming and expensive to manage.

There is also the issue of the duty of care employers have for employees. Employers have a duty to minimise risk of health and safety issues, and this includes the risk of mental health issues. Risk assessments should be done, steps taken to minimise risk and these should both be communicated to employees to ensure employers don’t breach of health and safety regulations.

In addition, as mental health issues can be regarded as a disability, employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate and support those with mental health issues.

What can employers do?

There is a plethora of solutions to address the mental health and wellbeing. Here are some ideas:

Communication: Make people feel connected and find out how people are feeling.

• Conduct regular group and individual check-ins
• Hold virtual team meetings – peer or manager lead
• Create virtual ‘pub’ meet ups over video conference
• Appoint ‘check-in’ champions in each team who can re-create the ‘water cooler’ catch up moments

Line manager proactivity: Create a supportive environment.

• Be a sympathetic ear – not just focussing on work / outputs
• Train managers as Mental Health First Aiders
• Ensure managers are keeping up to date with how individuals in their team are coping
• If returning to workplaces is causing anxiety, ensure managers are discussing options and solutions to help address those anxieties
• Communicate with employees to reassure them about what the company is doing to minimise risks

Update or create a Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy

Re-visit your existing policy and update it to account for issues created by the coronavirus pandemic and different norms relating to work and workplaces. This will create the framework within which the business will function in this area, and create consistency.

Research, propose and implement a variety of support ideas to tackle the variety of issues people may be experiencing, to cover physical health, diet, financial health as well as mental health and wellbeing. All of these factors play a part in keeping employees healthy in body and mind.

If you would like to discuss support you could put in place for your employees, get in touch with Helpful HR here.

References:

1 – Solopress Survey via HR Review: https://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/workers-fear-returning-to-work-due-to-colleagues-lack-of-hygiene/126356?utm_source=Gatormail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HR+Daily+Friday+-+17-07-2020&utm_term=Government+bury+its+%27head+in+the+sand%27+in+response+to+House+of+Lords+IR35+report&utm_content=108317&gator_td=o3G5kc7rW2VpP8pLbvvPKX8i65b%2blZYHTpgu38q3MGha0tK5Q3sXgBaP1prmh6Uahsujuoe2CuGf6B3yFqphtXubssiphNgkvdH1KnKkAGx3lvuNf7CA%2bu8sK%2bvpNvjxNCLDEd8aOmaV9F4yS%2bf%2f2pCjx64K0MeyKpb1VszBRbl53pQV6Ng3a%2fnLQ8Dir5b9XfQusRxJpXxh1CL8mZhbHg%3d%3d

2 – Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/domestic-abuse-lockdown-reports-school-reopen-coronavirus-a9703926.html

3 – Office of National Statistics via People Management: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/experts/legal/supporting-workers-mental-health-during-covid?utm_source=mc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=pm_daily_03092020.Employment+law%3a+Supporting+workers’+mental+health+during+Covid&utm_campaign=7295441&utm_term=1115500

https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/voices/comment/employers-must-act-restore-workforce-mental-health?utm_source=mc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=pm_daily_24072020.Opinion%3a+Employers+must+act+to+restore+their+workforce’s+mental+wellbeing&utm_campaign=7295441&utm_term=1115500

4 – Mind via People Management: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/voices/comment/employers-must-act-restore-workforce-mental-health?utm_source=mc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=pm_daily_24072020.Opinion%3a+Employers+must+act+to+restore+their+workforce’s+mental+wellbeing&utm_campaign=7295441&utm_term=1115500

5 – University of Warwick study in 2015: https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/new_study_shows/

 

Many companies have furloughed employees due to the significant impact of the coronavirus. We’re not going to attempt to advise on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for the purposes of this blog, but if you do need support on this click here, for information provided by the government. Instead this blog post is about supporting through furlough with regular communication.

Why?

While your employees are furloughed you need to consider how you can keep them engaged with the business. There’s a danger of them being out of sight and out of mind. If this is how they feel, it will undermine your relationship with them. Any lack of proactivity in communicating with your furloughed employees could have a detrimental impact when they return to work.  Negative feelings about how they were treated during furlough could translate into a lack of motivation and productivity. Good levels of productivity when your employees return to work will undoubtedly be essential in keeping the business going, so anything you can do now to keep them engaged can only be a good thing.

How?

For small businesses with a handful of furloughed employees it may be easier to stay in touch on a 1-1 basis. A regular individual phone / video call or email may suffice and be manageable. If you’re a larger employer with more than 10 furloughed employees it may be more challenging. It might take a whole day to call or email each employee individually. Employee communication is important and individual contact will be appreciated, but currently that might not be the best use of your time. You will need to ensure you spend time on the operational aspects of the business and adapting to the industry landscape. Employee communication should not be to the detriment of the business. If time is an issue, this individual communication is likely to happen less frequently, and that may leave your furloughed employees feeling forgotten and disengaged.

Top tips for keeping in touch

If you do have a larger number of furloughed employees, here are some ideas for communicating with your furloughed employees:

• Weekly update emails, outlining what’s happening in the business commercially. In addition you could communicate any further changes that have occurred as a result of coronavirus. You will also want to remind employees that if they have concerns they can contact you directly.
• Regular Zoom meetings for teams to help them feel connected. No work should be done during these meetings, but there’s no reason why you can’t enable colleagues to catch-up.
• Create a WhatsApp group which is available for everyone to engage in.  It can be used for chat and also for sharing any business information.
• Create a Facebook group for employees. It can be a group for all employees, so that furloughed employees can engage with working employees.
• Set up some online training sessions for furloughed employees which will enable them to keep their skills up-to-date.
• Create a wellbeing communication channel. This should be separate to the business updates. You could send out emails with useful links, or create a Facebook page so employees can share resources to keep them healthy in body and mind during furlough.

These are just a few examples of what you can do. Whatever you decide to do, it’s important to monitor what your employees are saying so if there are any posts or messages of concern, you can address them proactively.

If you need any support in supporting through furlough, please do get in touch

Coming soon: More on managing through COVID-19

Congratulations! You have achieved that long yearned for appointment or promotion in to a leadership role. The joy of your success may be palpable, and rightly so. However, an element of apprehension may make an appearance at some point.

Here are some top tips for any newly appointed leaders out there, to make sure you’re set for success.

Identify some quick wins

The first 100 days is a typical gauge of success, so speak to key people to identify some quick wins and find the right people to deliver them. Motivate, monitor and measure their progress, provide support and celebrate the successes. Make sure that the delivery of the quick wins sets the tone of your leadership style and be consistent.

Meet people and listen

Your success is dependent on other people, both in and outside of the business.  Make a commitment to meet:

• your direct reports and key people in their teams
• other leaders in the business (if you’re part of a senior leadership team)
• key partners in other business areas, with whom you can share knowledge
• key customers and suppliers

When you meet with them, ask questions about how things are going and what could be better. Listen to their thoughts and opinions and make notes.

Create a long-term plan

Whilst the quick wins serve a purpose, you also need to think long-term. Use the information from your initial meetings to identify the long-term priorities. Ensure you communicate to your team about these priorities and your reasoning. Ask for feedback, listen, then make a final decisive plan, identifying the ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘who’ and ‘when’ for each of your priorities.

Overcommunicate

Be visible and accessible. Arrange and stick to regular meetings with peers and direct reports, as well as key project leaders. Share information with them and ensure they share their progress with you.  Involve your direct reports in defining the ‘how’ in your plan. Your success is dependent on how it is delivered, as well as the ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘who’ and ‘when’.

There are many other things you could do, and there are many articles about successful leadership if you look for them. But these tips should help to send you off in the right direction. If you need support in a new leadership role, get in touch with Helpful HR.

Parents and carers were given the legal right to make a flexible working request in 2002. From 2014 any employee with over 26 weeks’ continuous employment with their employer has the right to request flexible working. However according to a recent CIPD report, Megatrends: Flexible Working, the number of employees working flexibly has flat-lined since 2010.

Why not be flexible?

Apprehension and at times downright negativity about flexible working is not unusual. Requests to work fewer hours, compressed hours and/or working from home often provoke this response. This is particularly the case if the employee making the request manages other employees. Employee visibility is the issue and managers think if they can’t see their staff, they don’t know they’re working. Managers question their employee’s honesty, convinced they will be ‘out shopping, or walking the dog when they should be working’.

Where does this lack of trust come from? Employers need consider if they expect employees to deal with work outside of their contractual working hours. If they expect flexibility but don’t reciprocate due to a lack of trust, employee goodwill will wane.

Reciprocal flexibility works

Perhaps this is a bit extreme, but trusted flexibility can work both ways to the benefit of everyone. It just requires a bit of extra thought about how it can work. If employees want flexibility and their employer gives it to them, their engagement, loyalty and commitment will increase. If employers refuse requests, employees will ask why they should go the extra mile when the company isn’t prepared to do the same for them. They will be less motivated and may begin to ‘work to rule’ or look for a job elsewhere. I don’t think any employer would want that outcome, especially at a time when the ‘war for talent’ seems tougher than ever.

Managing flexible employees

It’s a reality that some jobs really can’t be done flexibly, but every requests need to be considered properly, to see if it can be accommodated. Managers are often concerned about managing less visible employees. But if outcome-based objectives are set, it should be easy to identify and address a dip in performance levels. It’s entirely possible that managers feel overstretched and feel they don’t have the time or energy to consider how it might work. But companies that provide flexibility will benefit from increased talent retention, engagement and productivity. At a time when there are reported skills shortages, surely it’s worth the effort?

If you would like help managing flexible working in your company, or support in dealing with a request, please do get in touch.