Let’s look at the 17 main takeaways from these employers:

1. Treat your employees as people

There’s plenty of cynicism about your colleagues being your so-called “family”, but for many of the employers we heard from, that approach is the right one. The difference being: asking employees to be part of the “family” is the wrong way around.

Rather, it’s about you, the employer, treating them as you would treat your own family. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that calls for respect and support in both directions. That same spirit applies in the workplace.

Tom Monson of Minnesota-based Monson Lawn & Landscaping says exactly that. “In 2022, I learned that making your employees feel like family can help keep them around.”

Tim Connon, the founder of ParamountQuote Insurance Advisors in Chattanooga, Tennessee, found that supporting his employees through the tough moments was his biggest accomplishment from 2022.

“I did this by having them write out affirmations and keeping those affirmations at their desk to reference throughout the day while they dial leads,” Tim says. “This led to their mindsets completely changing and they were able to eliminate common frustrations from their work days.”

Mutually assured success

For Jim Trevors, the Head of Operations at online tire review site We Review Tires, the biggest lesson was that treating his employees as equals rather than subjects can have great results.

“In 2022, my biggest challenge with managing my team was having the confidence to know that I could have that authority,” Jim confesses. “I try to practice humility and not be too full of myself, and I was worried that I would come off as being too aggressive with my leadership or that the team wouldn’t like me. However, I’ve learned the balance, and I have a great team because of it.”

Founder Rinal Patel of Philadelphia-based real estate agency Suburb Realtor also considered the ability to improve engagement through supporting employee happiness to be his biggest accomplishment as a business owner and leader.

“It’s just as the ancient proverb would say, you can force the horse to the stream, but never to drink. Having employees who are happy to participate and are committed to contributing to the growth of the company, has increased the level of our productive efficiency as a company, this has been one of my primary concerns as a leader.”

Be kind

Tom found that being kind to his people in his landscaping company paid huge dividends.

“Times were tight for a lot of the year but I’ve been good to my employees over the years and this year they repaid me by working harder than I’ve ever seen them work for me,” he says. “Even when I expressed to them that if things kept going the way they were going, holiday bonuses might be quite a bit lighter this year, they never wavered.”

For Tom, this reaped rewards for both employer and employee.

“We didn’t have a single employee leave for greener pastures and with inflation starting to cool over the last few months, I’m happy to say I was able to once again reward my employees with the bonuses they deserved.”

2. Survive, not thrive

There are times for growth, and there are times where you just focus on pure survival. Josh Wright says that was the advice he’d have given himself in his capacity as CEO of cellphone service company CellPhoneDeal for surviving 2022.

“With rapid inflation, my customers saw their dollars going less and less far. Couple that with the continued chip shortages through much of the year and prices on technology continued to increase,” explains Josh, who works out of Atlanta, Georgia.

He adds that, in 2022, even the cheapest options were becoming more expensive and more and more customers were staying with what they already had rather than upgrading to a new phone.

“I had hoped that 2022 would be the year where I hired on a few new hands and expanded what we offered into laptops and tablets, but it became pretty clear early on in the year that simply staying at the size we started would be a victory in and of itself.”

3. Be ready for the worst

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst, as the adage goes. Jim could have penned that himself in running his tire review company.

“If I could meet with myself and my team back in December 2021, I would say that they should be prepared because things will be rocky at first, but everything will turn out just fine. Just have some patience and grace.”

Shawn Richards, who organizes expeditions for the guide service Ultimate Kilimanjaro, would also tell himself the same thing in preparing for 2022.

“I’d tell myself to have more faith. A lot of the challenges and preparations were a result of uncertainty, so telling myself to just believe in my gut would have helped a lot.”

Executive Kimberley Tyler-Smith of Resume Worded, an AI-powered career tech platform, echoes this sentiment. For her, persistence is the key.

“If I could meet with myself back in December 2021, I would tell myself that it’s okay if things don’t go exactly as planned – just keep trying until things do go according to plan!”

4. Be agile as a business …

Drawing out business plans for the upcoming year is crucial, but anyone who has attended business school knows the importance of having three financial plans – the optimistic plan, the realistic plan, and the pessimistic plan. While this means being ready for what comes, as above, it also means that you need to be nimble in your work and be able to turn things quickly as needed.

Diell, who didn’t share his last name, highlighted the importance of agility at Ukraine-based video interview startup Playhunt.

“What happened in 2022 was an eye-opener on the importance of adaptation. Business won’t always go your way and follow your terms, so you need to always have a backup plan for possible risks and adapt to change,” says Diell, Playhunt’s CEO.

“That’s what I’m planning to put more focus on in 2023, so when things are about to happen, the business is ready for survival.”

Flex your hiring

VPN Helpers co-founder and CEO Ankit Bhardwaj highlighted the importance of adaptation as well, but in terms of hiring people.

“My single biggest challenge in terms of managing my workforce in 2022 was adapting to a highly fluctuating job market,” he says of running his online privacy resource site. “This included changing regulations and quickly pivoting to find the best way to create flexible yet reliable positions that could easily transition as needed.”

Ankit ultimately subscribes to that philosophy across the board.

“While planning can help us stay one step ahead of any issues, ultimately having contingency plans ready and having employees who are well-versed in multiple skill sets are some important factors for a successful 2023 workforce strategy.”

Bend, don’t break

Kimberley also highlighted the importance of being resilient in the face of challenge – and ultimately, that means teamwork.

“In 2022, the single biggest accomplishment in my ability to manage my workforce was the ability to push through a lot of challenges in order to get the job done. It’s important to remember that when you’re working with people who are not just your team members but also your colleagues,” she says.

“You need to be able to work together and communicate effectively. You also need to be able to anticipate potential problems and develop solutions while also being open to feedback from others.”

Ankit would give the same advice to himself a year earlier.

“If I were to meet with myself and members of my team back in December 2021, I would tell them to be prepared for anything when it comes to the workforce and hiring process – both internally and externally – because flexibility will be key,” he says.

“We should focus on creating an environment that allows for innovation so that we can continue learning as we go.“

Manchester, England-based entrepreneur Julian Goldie anticipates his biggest challenge in 2023 to be navigating the post-pandemic economy and its effects on his business and workers.

“I will need to be prepared for possible changes in consumer behavior and market conditions, and be ready to adapt and adjust my business strategy accordingly.”

Plan, but be quick

The war in Ukraine posed a huge financial challenge for Diell as much of his business was in that country. He had to make some tough calls when managing his company of 12 employees.

“A strategic decision was vital in order to save the business. I made the difficult decision to temporarily reduce our workforce in order to cut costs and maintain financial stability. In line with this, I invested the same saved money in online marketing in order to attract global markets and keep the balance sheet positive.”

That agile thinking led to a turnaround in Diell’s business.

“We started getting traction so our customer base grew, and when the profit margins started increasing, I was able to quickly and efficiently re-hire many of the employees who we had let go. So my biggest accomplishment was that I wasn’t only able to survive in a difficult situation but also thrive and re-hire our previous employees.”

Diell plans to invest in online exposure and has big plans for 2023.

“The biggest accomplishment I’m hoping for in 2023 is turning from a small-sized business to a medium one by getting more business and hiring new people to help with our vision.”

Ankit, meanwhile, plans to, well, plan ahead and be proactive.

“My single biggest challenge will most likely revolve around dealing with the ever-changing job market again – how do we anticipate potential changes or issues ahead of time? And if/when something does happen, how do we remain agile enough to pivot quickly?” he hypothesizes.

He’s also thinking about it from a group perspective.

“When talking about 2023 plans with members of my team right now, I’m mostly focusing on staying informed on current trends so that we can prepare ourselves better. We need to continuously evaluate where the labor market is going so that we’re ahead of the game when it comes time for making decisions regarding our future hiring needs.”

5. … and teach your people those agile skills as well

Being nimble and rolling with the punches is not only for business operational success – it also applies to worker success as well.

The humane approach

CEO & founder Joshua Rich of international location marketing strategy service Bullseye touched on the importance of human skills.

“One thing I would highly recommend to my employees and the rest of the staff If I could go back in time would be to pay emphasis on soft skills and stick true to their inherent values,” says Joshua, whose company has offices in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Guatemala.

“These are things that help teams remain cohesive and individuals to be resilient in the face of difficult economic climates.”

Just get it done

At Sojourning Scholar, founder Chuky Ofoegbu subscribes to the ‘done is better than perfect’ mentality, even if it doesn’t have the hoped-for result. Chuky’s company provides support and resources to international students in the United States.

“If I could give myself and my team advice in 2021, it would be not to be afraid to experiment and try new things instead of waiting for the perfect solution to materialize. I now understand the importance of failing fast instead of endlessly procrastinating.”

The flexibility of the working culture at Swiss-based cannabis and CBD producer Formula Swiss has mutual benefits, according to founder and CEO Robin Roy Krigslund-Hansen.

“In 2023, I want to make sure that the culture of our company stays balanced and flexible. That would be my biggest accomplishment so far in terms of managing our employees. I’d love to see them satisfied with how the company respects their personal preferences at work, so employee engagement and retention would be a lot higher than this year.”

6. Give your employees skin in the game

People are more motivated when they’re financially invested in the success of their employer. This means bonuses, rewards, incentives – anything that means when the company prospers, employees prosper with it.

United Medical Education CEO and founder Brian Clark highlighted a huge success from 2022 which was the addition of seven new employees despite inflation and decreased consumer activity at his Utah-based company.

How did Brian do that? By giving his existing team incentives.

“Out of those seven employees, five came from a new employee referral bonus program I implemented early in 2022. I am super proud of the employee referral initiative. I committed to paying out a large bonus for any hire through referral, no matter if it was a junior marketer or CFO,” Brian says.

Giving what he called an “active stake” in building the company culture ultimately led to greater team unity.

“We are mostly a remote company, so being able to involve my team in the hiring process went a long way for the grinding atmosphere we have at United Medical Education. We work hard for each other and for our mission to provide free and low-cost emergency medical information.”

Chuky utilized clear-cut KPIs in his engagement strategy.

“My biggest accomplishment was instituting performance management metrics that accurately assess employee productivity and potential. This has helped me identify and reward our high-performing employees in addition to giving them more responsibility.*

7. Reward loyalty

A part of the ‘skin in the game’ conversation is rewarding employees for sticking around and continuing to do a good job.

Netherlands-based Amy Bos, the co-founder and COO of psychic medium website Mediumchat Group, includes that incentive as part of her overall compensation package, which she considers her big win for 2022.

“Our biggest achievement has been creating a benefits menu that covers all the bases,” she says. “It’s points-based and our employees can select the benefits that suit them as long as they stay within their allocated points. Your points grow according to length of service and grade, which helps significantly with employee retention.”

Meanwhile, Rinal plans the same for his employees in 2023 at his real estate agency to highlight the importance of employee commitment.

“As one who is knowledgeable on the effect of incentives in the bid to incite employees’ commitment, I would improve the quality and percentage of bonuses.”

8. Give your employees a north star

Mission and vision statements are crucial to business – they help everyone pull their forces together into a common goal and singular objective.

Tyler Guffey learned that right away in 2022 as the CEO of internet resource site SycamoreNet. He recognized the need for change right away at the start of the year.

“This meant revisiting the organization’s core values, redefining the culture in such a way that employees can connect to the mission and goals,” he says. “We want a thriving team, one that will be independent, proactive and make decisions that don’t compromise the organization’s core values. When employees are better equipped to make decisions, what you have is a thriving team.”

Angus Chang subscribes to the same dictum at his e-commerce store Iupilon – with the additional importance of transparency.

“Make your employees a part of the big picture,” he says. “The best benefit a company can provide to their employees is the opportunity to make a difference through their work and show their skills. Clear and frequent communication about company happenings, individual and departmental direction and big-picture company direction makes all the difference in employee happiness.”

9. Open up the communication channels

On the topic of transparency – this means increased communications throughout the company.

Kimberley found this to be a big learning experience in her career tech company in 2022:

“The single biggest challenge that I had in managing my workforce was one of communication: keeping everyone on the same page, making sure they understood what their role was, and making sure that there were no misunderstandings about what needed to happen for us all to achieve success together as a team.”

Talk and listen

That’s the reality for CEO and co-founder Omer Usanmaz of mentorship software company Qooper as well.

“My current priority is to improve our internal communication so that we can become a more effective team. I have always been a firm believer of internal communication and I firmly believe it is the key to success.”

In Ukraine, Diell highlights communication as a huge key in business success – but that all changed in the shift to remote from 2020 onwards.

”So,” he says, “the challenge going into 2023 will without doubt be improving the communication between our team while working remotely.”

It goes both ways

Life Grows Green CEO Chad Price values the two-way street at his California-based hemp production company.

“Our meetings will be more feedback-oriented as we are searching for suggestions and insights from our employees,” he says. “We want to construct activities that are beneficial to everyone and our employees know what they are looking for. We also want to get an idea of everyone’s professional and personal goals, that way we can help our employees grow.”

Brandon Wilkes, the marketing manager at The Big Phone Store in England, also noted his own role in improving communications.

“First, I’ll need to get everyone on the same page in terms of what our goals are and what we need to do to achieve them. This will require some serious team-building and communication skills on my part,” Brandon says.

“Once we’re all on the same page, I’ll need to make sure everyone is working together efficiently and effectively. This will be a challenge, but I’m up for it.”

Know what your employees want

Lead attorney David Aylor of David Aylor Law Offices in South Carolina found that open communication and engagement led to his biggest triumph for 2022 in the face of the global talent crisis and the struggles of filling open positions – or “winning the talent war”, in his own words.

“We have responded by building a winning employer brand that reliably attracts high-caliber candidates. In addition, we have worked on improving every aspect of our employee experience, covering recruitment, onboarding, engagement, and retention,” David says.

“We have found success in recruitment by listening to what employees really want and making sure we are able to deliver.”

10. Trust your people and let them grow

Sometimes a business thrives on good management – other times, a company succeeds because they trust their best people to carry out the job.

Tyler found this to be the case in his Washington-based company. While he found he still needed team leaders to coordinate and guide employees, he wanted to teach that the whole process required a careful balance.

“The coaching process required high discipline because you don’t want to stand in their way and find yourself doing what you expect them to do. You are only providing support and guidance. Listening to them and asking them focused questions can help you know their thinking,” Tyler explains.

“I remained disciplined by not compromising myself to give them solutions to the problem on ground. I just permeate them through questioning and help them see.”

Tyler added that if leaders and managers find themselves giving the answers and solutions all the time, then employees lose their independence and opportunity to grow and learn.

“When employees are better equipped and prepared towards performing roles that sit beyond their normal tasks, the organizational culture is set in motion. So when new employees come in, we let our existing already-trained team leaders take them through the process of introducing them to our system of operation.”

Don’t micromanage

Susan Anderson, the lead editor of the e-commerce resource The Worthy Goods, admits that micromanagement is a flaw of hers and that it was a learning experience for 2022.

“If I could go back and have a meeting with my team members in December 2021, I’d ask them for more feedback. How did I interact with them? Did I help them grow professionally? Did I listen more or talk more? Did they feel that they were making progress?” she says.

“Micromanaging can sometimes get in the way of this dynamic. I would remember that my team members are intelligent and can figure things out.”

Failure is an option

Omer at Qooper finds that failure can be a great teacher.

“The single biggest accomplishment in managing my workforce was to give them the freedom to make decisions and accept responsibility for the outcomes of these decisions, even when these outcomes did not produce favorable results,” says Omer.

“The staff members might have had to struggle a bit in the beginning of their careers, but they learned to be more responsible, which resulted in a better work quality and productivity.”

11. Ask your team for help

Running a business and managing teams is hard work. WIth that, it’s crucial to be able to step back and ask for your team’s help.

Jim found that giving himself permission to ask for help was his biggest accomplishment for 2022 when managing his workforce at We Review Tires.

“It’s so easy to get so deep into the business that you forget that you can reach out to others for advice and assistance,” Jim says. ”I can’t do everything, and I shouldn’t do everything. Everything came together when that finally clicked, and I got the help I needed.”

Tyler takes a similar approach as CEO of his business.

“I have become more of a facilitator than involving myself in the day to day activities. We have team heads that monitor activities. And that has greatly reduced my workload as CEO,” Tyler says.

“We made sure our employees were kept active and involved. We delegate problems and not just tasks and trust them to come up with solutions. This is inclusiveness.”

12. Find your balance between in-person and remote

Workable’s 2022 survey report on the New World of Work found that most businesses were settling into a hybrid work model after oscillating between in-office and remote work settings since COVID-19 hit.

This was a learning experience for Shawn throughout 2022 when working at his expedition company.

“I think my biggest accomplishment was managing more remote and hybrid workers than before,” he says, adding that it was a struggle during the pandemic as much of the work relied on people being physically present.

“This year though, we managed to find a great balance that works out even better for us.”

Change can be stressful

Brian also called the shift from remote to hybrid his biggest challenge at United Medical Education in 2022.

“COVID was extremely difficult, and I think it made a lot of us sensitive to shifts in the workplace,” he says. “We needed to get back in the office part time for collaboration purposes, and it ended up being a challenge to get everyone motivated for another life adjustment in schedules and workplace life.”

Brian, whose company employs roughly 50 full-time employees, adds: “I am proud to say we didn’t lose anyone, but there were times where I thought we were going to be out several employees. For any small business leader, employee turnover sucks and is expensive.

“When you are dealing with an important work environment shift, the thought of having to replace people who are not on board is very stressful.”

Adaptation is key

Ankit also highlighted the struggles of adjusting to new environments – in his own case, moving some operations to a digital plane at VPN Helpers.

“In 2022, my single biggest accomplishment in terms of managing my workforce and especially, adding to or subtracting from my workforce was the successful integration of a virtual workforce into our business model,” he says.

“It took a lot of hard work and perseverance to adjust our traditional methods and learn new tools, but we ultimately achieved success by leveraging technology and new ideas.”

Amy has accepted this new world of work as the norm going forward.

“If I could travel back to December 2021, I’d tell myself and my team that remote work is here to stay and is no longer a benefit,” Amy says.

“My business was working remotely long before the pandemic and that had made us very attractive for top talent. Now it’s the norm we have to get creative to retain our appeal.”

Julian in Manchester highlighted the importance of adaptability to the remote work model.

“If I could go back and talk to myself in December 2021, I would tell myself to be prepared for the challenges of remote work and to be flexible and adaptable in managing my team. I would also advise myself to invest in the right tools and technologies to support remote work, such as virtual meeting platforms and collaboration software.”

Evolve your engagement

Anthony Martin, the founder and CEO of life insurance company Choice Mutual in Nevada, learned he had to get creative to overcome the challenges of operating as a remote-first company – especially in the lack of face-to-face interaction.

“Our biggest challenge was ensuring that remote workers felt valued and not overworked. Since we moved to a fully remote model, that challenge is knowing what our employees think when we can’t see them,” he says. “There’s no body language in emails or messages, and the tone can be difficult to read. Therefore it can be hard to tell if someone is dissatisfied with their work and if they want to stay at the company.”

Anthony’s company opened up communication throughout 2022 and now takes a proactive approach to employee engagement and morale, including more video meetings where colleagues can check in with each other regularly.

“We also ask for anonymous feedback; we feel that employees are more likely to be honest about their true feelings and have a better gauge of what changes we need to make. We want to see the signs of stress before they happen, even remotely, and make sure our employees don’t burn out,” he says.

“This has definitely improved employee morale and satisfaction.”

Sometimes you have to negotiate

Chad’s own big win for 2022 was the opposite – getting his team back into the physical workplace.

“I know this might seem a simple task, but it was difficult for some of my employees as they had changed their lifestyles to suit remote working. We had to have negotiations and allow more flexibility for it to work for both parties.”

As the director of Internet Advisor, Sean Nguyen expects that workplace flexibility will be the biggest challenge going into 2023 – especially in managing employee expectations in his company which employs 25 full-time workers in Los Angeles

“As a remote company, we’re already pretty flexible. But our employees are starting to want even more flexibility and that means that we’re going to need to make a number of changes to our business and various processes.”

The ‘balance’ in this case for Sean is finding a way to keep his people engaged while still maintaining the bottom line.

“We want to ensure that our employees appreciate the workplace, but we also want to create a workplace that inspires productivity and collaboration. That can be especially difficult if all of our employees are working at different points in time throughout each day,” he says.

“We’ve been testing a variety of different setups. Some are working quite well and our employees are communicating effectively, but others have fallen flat. This isn’t a decision that we’ll be able to make quickly and I don’t doubt that, after we implement the changes that we decide on, there will be even more challenges that we’ll need to deal with in order to keep our employees happy and productive.”

Sean’s still going to try and make it work in any case.

“I think more flexibility will be excellent for our workplace – especially since it’s clearly one of our top employee expectations. It’s just a matter of implementing it correctly.”

13. Expand your horizons

Sometimes solving problems and addressing challenges means taking a different approach with an open mind. This is also the case when it comes to building teams especially during a year where job quits were through the roof.

Jenna Carson, the director of HR at online music resource center Music Grotto, said as much about her own work in hiring strategy.

“In 2022, our single biggest accomplishment in managing our workforce came from expanding our recruiting efforts and successfully hiring and onboarding talented employees outside of our region of the United States.”

Jenna confessed that this solution created a new predicament.

“This brought with it the challenge of remotely onboarding employees who were capable and comfortable working primarily independently in time zones where the business day may not coincide with ours on the west coast of the U.S.,” she says from Portland.

“We had long considered expanding our recruitment efforts to outside our local area to increase the size and diversity of our hiring pool but had hesitated due to the added challenge of training and developing new staff and keeping them engaged.”

Talent is universal

Shawn at Ultimate Kilimanjaro also opened up his recruiting efforts to other locations.

“I often look for local talent, but the pandemic opened my eyes to all the skilled people around the world. Because of this, the majority of our hires this year worked remotely in other countries.”

Diell in Ukraine says that’s the advice he would have given himself in the past in the face of another crisis.

“If I could go back in time I would definitely tell my team members to start thinking about ways of entering new markets and practice taking some working shifts at home in a remote setting,” he says. “It was difficult to let go of employees and start adapting to working from home when the situation in Ukraine shifted dramatically for the worse.”

Growth strategy manager Eva Tian, who works at single-family rental investment company Mynd, found that the global job market posed new problems for her company.

“We were competing with companies from all over the world for the best and brightest workers. This made it difficult to attract and retain top talent, as employees had more options and were willing to switch jobs for better opportunities.”

She took a more agile attitude as a result.

“We had to constantly evaluate our recruitment and retention strategies and make adjustments to stay competitive. Overall, managing and adding to our workforce in 2022 was a constant challenge and required a proactive and flexible approach.”

Joshua Haley, the founder of relocation service Moving Astute, also struggled to fill positions in 2022, and reassessed his talent identification strategy as a result.

“My solution to this challenge was to look for candidates who were different than the ones that I had typically hired in the past,” Joshua says.

“This included expanding my search parameters and actively seeking out underrepresented populations such as women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and veterans. By doing this, I was able to find talented people who could bring fresh perspectives and different skill sets to my organization.”

DEI is important, especially, for Joshua.

“I would stress the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. This means actively recruiting candidates from underrepresented populations, creating an equitable work environment, and ensuring that everyone on our team feels included and valued.”

14. Establish a well-thought-out candidate evaluation process

The recruitment process is core to business success. This includes every step of the process.

David says as much in the advice he’d give to the 2021 version of himself, highlighting the importance of candidate experience when hiring for his legal service:

“Analyze the candidate’s journey,” he says. “The candidate journey, from job descriptions and applications to interviews and onboarding, is a crucial aspect of your employer brand. It is well worth the investment to look closely at the entire journey to ensure every interaction is accessible, fair, and inclusive.

“To attract the very best candidates, you must optimize your interactions with them at every stage of the recruiting process.”

See where their passion lies

The Great Resignation posed a huge challenge for Carla Diaz in terms of candidate evaluation at Broadband Search, a website that helps consumers choose their ideal internet provider.

“This made it harder for us to identify candidates who were looking for a more serious position in our industry instead of looking for something that would just pass the time. When we hire employees we want to make sure that they’re in it for the long run,” says Carla.

“We want people to start working for us who are truly interested and who value the act of trying to help people get connected. If that’s something that they’re truly passionate about, we know that they’ll probably be a good fit in our company.”

This was a major learning experience for Carla, whose company employs 21 full-time employees.

“Our hiring process is set up to help us identify this type of passion, but it was a lot more difficult to do so in 2022 and we had a few instances where people came in and left shortly after finding a different job that they were looking for the whole time. We’ve now refined the hiring process even further to help us better identify these types of candidates and it seems to be working well so far.”

Culture fit is fitting

Health and fitness entrepreneur Michael Perry anticipates that he’ll have to start recruiting people again once he recalls all his staff to his FitnessFixedGear.com office in Los Angeles.

“The strategy is still the same – to prioritize fit and culture. We’ve been working so well because we jive together. Everyone improved a lot because the work atmosphere was lively, cheerful, supportive, and positive.”

This, of course, means evaluating for those kinds of attitudes – even ahead of hard skills.

“The primary goal is to identify the traits and qualities you want to spread in your workplace. Then find key people who exude them. It doesn’t matter if they are less skilled; they will quickly learn all those. It’s much harder to ask people to change their attitude!”

Culture fit is very important to Logan Mallory, a VP at employee recognition software company Motivosity, which employs 65 people in Utah. He is even willing to wait – to the point that it became a problem of sorts in 2022.

“Our biggest challenge in terms of adding to our workforce *was maintaining company culture during periods of growth. It was important to us that when we were hiring, we were focusing on finding the right culture fit, rather than rushing to simply hire to fill a position,” he says.

“This meant that it took us a bit longer to fill a couple of open roles, but by taking the time to find the right person for a specific position, we were able to ensure that they’d succeed in that role and be able to fit in well with the rest of the team.”

Joshua also highlighted the importance of culture fit when looking at potential new employees for his relocation company – plus, hiring those who could bring value to his teams right away.

More so, onboarding was key to success for Joshua in 2022.

“I made sure that all of my new hires were fully onboarded and trained properly so that they could be productive from day one,” Joshua says. “By taking these measures, I was able to not only find great employees but also make sure that they were set up for success from the start. This helped me ensure that my team remained productive and efficient throughout 2022.”

15. Invest in your people

Businesses are not the only ones that need to shift and change and grow with the times. Employees need to too, and they also want to.

Amy recognizes the value of that in terms of employee engagement at Mediumchat.

“We’re having meetings with our team over the next month to discuss their personal training and growth plans. As a business we believe in nurturing our employees and helping them reach their career goals through tailored plans.”

Eva recognizes the importance of that not only for employee engagement at Mynd, but for staying competitive as a business as well.

“With the rise of artificial intelligence and automation, many traditional job roles were becoming obsolete, and it was crucial for my company to adapt and stay ahead of the curve by constantly updating our skill sets and offering training opportunities for our employees.”

L&D doesn’t have to be expensive

Robin found that training and development programs are key to retaining talent at his Swiss cannabis company – but the cost and resources for that became his biggest challenge in 2022.

He found a solution that worked.

“After several trials and errors, we decided to take a leap of faith and give our new employees a reasonable budget so they could take the right classes taught by the right people. With this step, we saw positive results and were planning to continue giving them opportunities for growth going forward.”

Chad is worried about tracking team productivity and boosting motivation throughout 2023 in his own cannabis company in California – and his hoped-for antidote to that is, of course, L&D.

“Sometimes tasks begin slipping through the cracks and motivation seems low, but that’s a challenge that we will overcome. Ideally, we’d like to add learning and development activities to our weekly regimen.”

Fran Haasch Law Group personal injury attorney Francoise M. Haasch in Florida acknowledges that 2022 was a year of uncertainty – but knowing what he could count on was a huge win for the year.

“It has been challenging to predict what is going to happen in the world and the economy. Against all odds, however, we were able to face this uncertainty and embrace all the challenges that came our way. While we couldn’t predict the state of the economy, we could focus on investing in ourselves, and I believe that is our greatest accomplishment.”

16. Incorporate technology

Digital transformation is, of course, one of the biggest – ahem – workplace transformations coming out of the pandemic. It was in fact one of the paradigm shifts that turned out to be true according to our 2022 New World of Work survey, with more than half of all businesses saying digitization of operations becoming a permanent strategy.

And this is continuing, for people like Ankit.

“In 2023, my single biggest accomplishment in terms of managing my workforce and especially, adding to or subtracting from it will likely involve implementing even more efficient processes that take advantage of available technology.”

David also considers DX a major shift in his attorney practice.

“Digitization is rapidly transforming the working landscape, and employees will be needing new skills and opportunities to develop their careers. A lack of training opportunities is fast becoming one of the main reasons people quit their jobs,” he says.

“As a forward-looking employer, we will be investing heavily in career growth and development in 2023 to ensure our employees stay engaged and continue to be productive.”

Play the numbers game

Aaron Davis, the CEO of Business Frame, says he’s completed the digital transformation of his Tennessee-based accounting firm – with data and analytics at its core.

“We even have AI working for us now. We’ve truly revolutionized the operations department. And now, it’s time to bring HR into the future. Finding things in the dark, looking for signs, and trusting your gut feeling are all obsolete,” he says.

“Everything should now be based on scientific principles. A data-driven business decision is more effective than anything else.”

And his advice for businesses? Capitalize on all this readily accessible information – and don’t forget the importance of being human in it all.

“Train HR teams in using people analytics and how to create a strategy based on the results: The more experience they gain, the better they become,” Aaron says.

“To help you even more, ensure that listening is prioritized: You can maximize the return on your people analytics investment in two ways: by being transparent in your communications and getting the entire business’s support for continuous listening.”

17. And finally: be kind to yourself

We’re in a wild world right now. We may be returning to a semblance of normal in some ways, but we’re also moving to a new kind of normal – whether that’s the “next” normal or the “never” normal, we’ll only know in hindsight.

In all of this, it’s important to be kind to yourself, celebrate the small wins, and pay attention to the positives.

Medical education entrepreneur Brian Clark says it best:

“Something my dad said to me once comes to my mind. I would tell them what he told me during a rough period in my life. This is just a season of your life, work is what you do, not who you are.

“That is tough to accept, especially when you are passionate about what you do, but knowing this would have taken a lot of stress out of the challenges and allowed for my joy in reflection of the accomplishments and the journey to get where we are today.”

The post Employers’ top wins and lessons of 2022 – and what they’re planning for 2023 appeared first on Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better.

With layoffs happening across the spectrum – especially in the tech space, most recently with Microsoft announcing 11,000 layoffs and Alphabet (Google) letting go of 12,000 – it’s a question many employers are asking.

In short – no employer likes to go through a period of layoffs. It’s worse for those affected – they come into work one fair Monday morning, and are brought into HR and given their walking papers, and they’re back home in time for lunch but without a job. It can be a real blow to anyone’s ego and confidence.

Those being let go will talk among their peers; those who remain will be wondering how they can carry on or if they’re next on the chopping block. It’s your duty to support them as an employer. Empathy can only go so far.

There’s no “good” way to conduct layoffs, but there are ways in which you can ease the damage it’ll cause for both those who were let go and those who are remaining.

Here are 8 ways in which you can best support your workers after letting them go:

1. Offer severance pay and benefits

When you lay off a worker, you’re basically cutting a core means of survival via their income and benefits. Offering severance pay and benefits to your laid-off workers is a common strategy for many companies – with some severance packages extending to a full year or more.

Severance can be a single lump sum payment, extended health insurance coverage, or ongoing paychecks for a set period as above. Some companies even guarantee pay up to the point the laid-off employee secures a new job.

And Google itself offered a healthy severance package in its round of layoffs, as CEO Sundar Pichai described in an open letter to employees – in short, the package includes 16 weeks of pay plus two for every additional year at Google, plus full 2022 bonuses and remaining vacation time, and six months of healthcare, job placement, and immigration services to those affected in the US.

2. Connect them with outplacement services

Outplacement services are designed to support laid-off employees in finding new employment. These services typically include career counseling, resume writing, and job search assistance. Some companies may even provide outplacement services on-site, which can be more convenient for your employees.

The owner of product review site GadNets.com, Andre Flynn, champions this approach.

“Offering an outplacement service that helps a departing employee transition to a new job or career is a critical component that ought to be included in mass layoffs,” Andre says.

“The majority of the time, outplacement services guarantee a cordial breakup of a working relationship and can be financially and emotionally advantageous for all parties.”

You can likewise provide your laid-off workers with job search resources including job boards, career counseling services, headhunters, job fairs, and more.

Be sure to package all this information beforehand and encourage them to take advantage so they can land on their feet as quickly as possible.

3. Be honest and transparent

When your employees – both past and present – can see the reasoning behind layoffs, it does help. Be honest and transparent about why you’re letting them go, and what steps you’ve taken to mitigate the situation.

This not only alleviates negative feelings and helps protect your company’s reputation in the long run, it also builds trust and understanding among your remaining employees.

Ryan Dunn, the founder and owner of the online custom sticker/apparel venture Custom Stickers, implemented the practice of OBM (Open Book Management) from the beginning, and this has helped in the case of layoffs.

“Every employee kept track of the company’s finances and how to keep up the score. During the financial crisis faced after inflation and due to fewer funding sources, tough decisions had to be taken, like laying off employees,” Ryan explains.

“This matter was discussed […] directly with the employees as they kept track of the finances. Some agreed to be laid off while others accepted a deduction in salary. Laid-off employees were given generous severance pay and the process helped in maintaining the reputation of the company.”

Former HR professional Emily Chipman of Rusman Consulting Solutions also spoke to the value of transparency when layoffs happened at her workplace in the Arizona government in 2007.

“They clearly and succinctly walked through every single step they had taken, how they came to the conclusion that there would have to be layoffs, what options they had considered and weighed, who they had counseled with, etc.,” Emily says.

“The Auditor General spoke with heart, compassion, and yet was succinct and clear in sharing what they were legally required to do, what the budget would allow, and all of the options they had tried to consider to save people’s jobs.”

4. Support their mental health and well-being

Job loss is regularly listed alongside breakups and loss of a loved one in lists of the most stressful life events. Not only does it put people in a financially difficult position, the “rejection” aspect of it can be debilitating for many people.

Providing mental health and well-being support to your employees in the form of counseling services, support groups, gym memberships, and even apps can help alleviate the stress and anxiety of being laid off and help employees move forward to their next chapter with greater confidence and ease.

This also applies to those who are still at your company – they’ve lost their friends and colleagues and may be feeling uncertain about their own professional future with you. This can be mentally challenging when they have work to do. They’ll need your support here as well.

5. Keep in touch

Keeping in touch with your former employees sends a powerful message to them – it tells them that you care about their well-being and that you have valued their contributions to your company.

Inform them of any job opportunities that may come up in your industry or even in your own company in the future, check in regularly with them to see if there’s any way you can help them get back on their feet, and ultimately, make it clear that you are available and accessible as an employer.

6. Give professional references

Layoffs don’t happen due to performance issues. So, it makes sense to give those employees references when they apply for new jobs. Explain to them that you’re willing and able to do that for them as needed, whether it’s in the form of a phone call or a letter, to highlight your former employee’s skills and accomplishments with you.

Not only does this help them get ahead more quickly when being evaluated for a new opportunity, it also reflects well on your company as a supportive and responsible employer that values people.

7. Introduce them to job training programs

Sometimes layoffs happen because of redundancy in an industry or a skill set – in which case, a former employee may need to develop new skills and certifications to stay relevant and competitive in the talent market.

You can support them here by arranging job training or education programs to increase their employability, help them find new jobs in related fields or even transition to new industries. Another aspect of this is identifying existing transferable skills that prove valuable in a new position in a different field – for instance, a journalist’s refined skills in story ideation, interviewing, researching and storytelling can apply to a new career in content marketing.

8. Build networking opportunities

You can also support your laid-off employees by arranging events or online platforms where they can connect with other professionals in their field. Everyone knows someone, so to speak.

It’s no accident that those let go post announcements of their newfound availability on LinkedIn and team managers also share details of their laid-off team members to support them in their next venture.

You can do something similar as an employer, and even encourage and train your managers and executives to create similar announcements to distribute via their own networks.

Support your people

Ideally, you don’t want to have to lay off employees. But, sometimes, you have to to survive as a business. It’s the nature of the beast.

As an employer, there are many ways in which you can tame that beast, and reduce the damage being done not only for your company but also for those you’ve just let go.

The post Layoffs: how to support your workers after letting them go appeared first on Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better.

Let’s look at the 11 main takeaways:

1. The shakeup of the work environment
2. We’re social animals; we have needs
3. Surviving the Big Quit
4. Healthy minds and bodies mean healthy outputs
5. Look for the silver lining in all of this
6. Think about your employees first
7. Technology will pave the way ahead
8. Work be nimble, work be quick
9. Increase your range of motion
10. Don’t be a manager – be a leader
11. Change in hiring strategy

1. The shakeup of the work environment

Early in the pandemic, we learned via the New World of Work survey that more than 70% consider the shift to remote work to be the biggest paradigm shift as a result of COVID-19. So, it’s really no surprise that one of the biggest lessons of 2021 according to SMB employers continues in this vein: the shift to hybrid, remote, and asynchronous work.

But the real challenge is found in the logistics and feasibility of this shift.

CEO Amy Wampler of Indiana-based HVAC firm Spartan Mechanical found that a hybrid structure was the best way to go for her company, but remained skeptical that a completely remote environment could work.

“I believe that man is a social animal – and does require a level of human interaction rather than slaving behind on a screen.”

Because of that, Amy wants her employees to get the full hybrid experience.

“Therefore, I intend to introduce an efficient hybrid working model, where rotations of staff will be done in order to make sure that all employees get a taste of both types of situations!”

Giving employees a choice

Meanwhile, Lovebox founder and CEO Jean Gregoire is giving employees the choice of where they want to work.

“Right now, 5 of our employees are permanently teleworking from Lyon, Brest, Sydney, Paris, and Barcelonnette while the rest of the team is in Grenoble, France. The Grenoble team members have a comfortable office they can go to, but for the moment there is no obligation.”

But as the top boss at his tech-driven international love note messenger service, Jean does subscribe to Amy’s dictum that there needs to be some in-person exchange.

“We are thinking about setting up one or two mandatory days on site (for those who live near the office) to facilitate exchanges between the different divisions. This is a subject that is being discussed collectively to make sure it does not become a burden for anyone.”

Ultimately, he did find that his employees are happiest when given the choice of how and where they want to work.

The connectivity challenges of hybrid

On the other hand, founder Eden Cheng of software company PeopleFinderFree in Singapore found hybrid to be her top challenge of 2021, due to the management challenges.

“I discovered that managing both in-office and remote teams is a job that requires a significant amount of emotional intelligence, as it’s all about the ability to successfully build interpersonal connections and maintain them.”

It’s something that Eden’s especially mindful of with so many employees quitting during the Great Resignation.

“This meant making an effort to connect with each staff member on a more individual level through frequent dialogue, in order to ensure that they are satisfied with their current work environment and that they have what they need to deliver on the results.”

VP Logan Mallory also considers hybrid to be the biggest challenge faced at Motivosity, a company that helps employees stay engaged both in office and remotely.

“We had to find the right methods of communication to ensure that no one was ever left out of the loop due to their choice of working location,” says Logan, “as well as making sure that we had frequent enough check-ins with our employees.”

Remote work struggles – even now

Devin Schumacher of SEO agency SERP points to the lack of experience of workers in a remote working environment, calling it a relatively new concept for many and therefore the value isn’t readily evident for them.

He says his company, which is fully remote, bears the responsibility to ensure success in remote work.

“I help my new hires grasp the long-term employment possibilities at my company through extensive onboarding procedures and coaching sessions. My goal is to emphasize the full potential of remote work. I explain the handsome compensation package, offer competitive company benefits, and, of course, reassure new hires that they’ll have several career growth opportunities.”

There is a unique value in working from home, however, says CEO Nicholas Vasiliou of health supplement product company BioHealth Nutrition:

“While working at home you often have to find your own solutions, so employees are constantly in a state of innovating whether they realize it or not. Our biggest goal is to further recognize and reward employees because we realize these efforts are not easy.”

Mark Pierce, the CEO of Cloud Peak Law Group in Wyoming, points to added nuances in remote management.

“It took a bit of time to find the right balance of checking in with employees so that they didn’t feel over-managed or like they were being ignored.”

Time is of the essence

One significant challenge of remote work is teams working across different time zones, noted Stefan Ateljevic of PlayToday, an online gambling resource center.

“I think we struggled most with combining asynchronous and synchronous types of communication between team members, in order to function seamlessly.”

That was one lesson tech CEO Nate Tsang wishes he had learned earlier so he could have gotten ahead of the challenges associated with asynchronous work.

“I’d like to have started the conversation around asynchronous work sooner. There was a bit of hesitancy to move away from the 9-5 synchronous model of work, where everyone’s online at the same time of day, more or less,” says Nate, who runs WallStreetZen, a stock research and analysis site.

“Employees know which parts of their work need to be handled this way, but deciding what kinds of work can be staggered is often a process of discovery. You have to be looking for asynchronous opportunities to make them a reality.”

2. We’re social animals; we have needs

Amy at Spartan Mechanical pointed to the importance of social interaction – and we found that many SMB employers would agree.

For instance, Zoku International Co-Founder Hans Meyer in Amsterdam found from his research that the future of work needs human connection.

“Companies must facilitate in-person employee relationships in 2022 in order to keep individual talent and teams engaged, aligned and productive in this new era of remote work.”

This was also John Gardner’s lesson from 2021. He’s co-founder and CEO of Kickoff, a remote personal training platform based out of New York.

“[It’s] the importance of engaging our employees and using strategies to increase effective communication, share company culture and boost employee productivity despite the remoteness of the work.”

John shared one of his company’s tactics to ensure engagement.

“We started implementing a strategy where we create fitness challenges on social media. Each month, one of our trainers starts a fitness challenge video where they choreograph fitness movements to a video. The challenge is that the next person who does the challenge has to add on an extra movement, so the faster you participate, the less you do!”

He found this tactic worked, too.

“The videos are a lot of fun, people and teams do them together when they can and it really encourages employee productivity as well as shares a positive, fun environment and culture at the company.“

3. Surviving the Big Quit

If the mindset of employers could be summed up in one phrase, it would be from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, where one of the Wild Things exclaims to a departing Max: “Oh please don’t go – we’ll eat you up – we love you so!”

That’s the spirit in the Big Quit environment, where employee retention is lauded as one of the biggest accomplishments of 2021 for many SMB employers.

Sally Stevens of FastPeopleSearch.io in Los Angeles is one of those employers – even going so far as to learn from others in the same situation.

“To think of it, the employee retention challenges faced by other companies have been big lessons for our business. We’ve had to change a lot in order to retain our employees. Ending the year with most of the employees we started with is certainly a success for us.”

It was a hard lesson for Sally’s small business, however.

“Lacking an adequate number of hands when you’re growing the business may be debilitating in many instances. That period almost crippled us. We had to hold back on some facets of our scaling process because we simply couldn’t find someone to deal with it.”

Show them you love them

Jeff Johnson, a real estate agent and acquisition manager at Simple Homebuyers in Maryland, resorted to tangible measures to retain employees in his company.

“We had to give out weekly bonuses, paid time off and subscriptions to mental wellness applications. This helped us manage and retain our existing talent.”

“We had to give out weekly bonuses, paid time off and subscriptions to mental wellness applications. This helped us manage and retain our existing talent.”

Steve Anevski’s own experience was not so much mitigation of turnover as it was actual improvement of retention – and this was a result of initiatives implemented prior to 2021.

“In 2021, my biggest accomplishment was increasing my company’s retention rate by a whopping 15%! Throughout 2019 and 2020, the rate was hovering between 70 and 75%, which I felt was relatively low and needed significant improvement. I worked on this and introduced a few attractive perks and benefits in late 2020 to great effect. Throughout 2021, my retention rates remained firmly between 85 and 90%.”

And in his work as CEO and co-founder of staffing platform Upshift, Steve says you have to really think about what your employees expect – and go higher than that.

“My biggest learning from 2021 in terms of employee retention is that if you go above and beyond in meeting the expectations of your employees, they’ll become more loyal to your company. It’s not just the financial rewards that compel employees to stay at an organization; they also seek non-monetary rewards like appreciation, autonomy and career advancement.”

And if the tangible parts of all this cost a lot of money, that’s fine, says CEO and founder Nick Drewe of WeThrift, an e-commerce and coupon site based in California. That’s because the ROI is obvious.

“Overall, it doesn’t matter if I get a bit generous with salaries and company benefits because employee retention still costs less than training new hires,” Nick explains. “They also produce better output. Better quality management ensures that my customers get the service they deserve.”

Keep your workers front of mind

Stefan at PlayToday also pointed to retention as his company’s biggest win in 2021, and that was because they adjusted the working model to be more employee-first.

”We followed their inputs and requests and made sure to make their workday as seamless as possible. This is how we opted for hybrid work and flexible schedules, but also included some perks such as childcare and home office stipends.”

And Logan at Motivosity points to the importance of a healthy, thriving, and inspiring work culture as the reason for his company’s 10% turnover rate.

“Every single one of the employees who left did so on good terms,” he says. “We attribute this to the fact that we truly live our workplace values and make our company a place where everyone is respected, employees are recognized and rewarded for their accomplishments, and flexibility is the norm.”

4. Healthy minds and bodies mean healthy outputs

Ahmed Mir, founder and editor of the self-proclaimed online coffee mecca Sip Coffee House, says one of his biggest plans for 2022 would be to emphasize a healthy interest and curiosity in work – but that overall health always comes first.

“I want my team to be comfortable enough to come to me whenever they feel overwhelmed so that we can find a solution that works for everyone. Nowadays, people often feel the need to overwork themselves, especially those who are working remotely, and I want to help ease them out of that mindset as productivity and the quality of work increases immensely when the people working on them are happy and healthy.”

Rather than looking at the raw math of employee retention as his company’s biggest accomplishment in 2021, co-owner Dan Barrett of Pacific Precious Metals pointed to mental health in employees that enables them to “work efficiently without pressure”.

Dan, who operates a chain of precious metal stores in and around San Francisco, says his biggest challenge “lay in the unpreparedness of the employees to take on challenges and the inability of many to contribute owing to their mental health.”

Gabriel Dungan of Charlotte, NC-based sleep company ViscoSoft aligns his employee health with his company’s product.

“As a company that sells sleep products, we have always encouraged people to take their sleep and self-care seriously, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that we truly realized how important this was for our team as well. This could be anything from weekly check-ins with members of your team, or even a team-wide virtual yoga class.”

5. Look for the silver lining in all of this

Albert Einstein once said: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.”

That was also the mindset for many SMB employers throughout 2021.

Kamyar K.S., the CEO of business consultancy World Consulting Group in Florida, found that the skills gap faced by his business was an opportunity to try something new – such as offering more training and skills development for existing employees rather than simply trying to find new workers.

“In turn, that leads to a bigger pool of candidates with relevant skills and makes it easier for us to find them.*”

Nate at WallStreetZen ensures that new workforce additions have benefits beyond just backfill.

“We want to make sure additions to our workforce really create opportunities for other staff members. If it’s just about reducing workloads and taking tasks off someone’s plate then we can do that more quickly and easily with freelancers,” says Nate.

“When we need new know-how and outside experience to augment a team, that’s when you hire. Knowing the difference is tricky but it’s something we’re trying to improve.”

Dan, meanwhile, says he would have emphasized skills development in his existing worker base if he could do the year over again.

“If I had the chance to meet with my team in 2020, I’d have trained them into becoming a multi-skilled workforce. In addition, I’d have taught them resilience, fearlessness, and the ability to take on change.”

6. Think about your employees first

Notice a trend in what contributes to employee retention? Exactly – it’s the greater emphasis on employee well-being through benefits, compensation, development, and all the other stuff.

NY-based CEO Alex Mastin of the DIY barista resource site, Home Grounds, highlighted the importance of that.

“Try to provide your workers with opportunities for growth,” Alex says. “If they’re happy in their job and they know there are opportunities for advancement, they’re going to be more likely to stay with you.*”

CEO Mike Nemeroff of custom apparel brand Rush Order Tees in Philadelphia will take that employee-first mindset as well going into the next year.

“We’ve been working on a new strategy to help employees feel their importance and that they are the most important asset of our business and it has been working great so far.”

Get them involved

A two-way communication street is at the core of that strategy.

“This is by encouraging employees to share their opinion, propose new strategies and innovative ideas that can help improve the business,” Mike says. “Every month, we invite employees to come up with a new idea or a strategy that can improve our workflow and post it anonymously. During the month, we share these ideas and everyone in the company votes for the idea they think is best.”

And there’s incentive in it as well.

“Whoever wins is in charge of leading a team to implement their idea and give it a shot. This allows employees to feel trusted to be given a chance and trust that the company and employers believe in their skills regardless of their age, position, gender or experience.”

Lisa Richards, CEO and creator of The Candida Diet, which supports individuals with candida, is in the same boat and also plans to invest tangible resources to boost the experience of her team.

“Happy employees contribute to a company’s resilience and adaptability,” she says. “For this reason, a bigger portion of our annual budget will now be going towards maximizing employee satisfaction. It’s also important to ensure that the resources provided are compatible with the direct needs of the employees, so that they have the biggest impact on employee satisfaction, retention, and employee experience.”

Show confidence in your people

Michael Knight is co-founder and top marketing boss at business incorporation service Incorporation Insight in Salt Lake City. His 2022 will also include greater flexibility and a more employee-centric work model because, he says, there are clear benefits.

“An organization that is steadfast in prioritizing its employees’ satisfaction through generous and guilt-free PTOs and complimentary assisted access to mental healthcare is the goal.”

“An organization that is steadfast in prioritizing its employees’ satisfaction through generous and guilt-free PTOs and complimentary assisted access to mental healthcare is the goal.”

Jared Stern, who heads a team of 20 employees at Uplift Legal Funding in Santa Monica, California, also knows the value of employees in a business, highlighting their well-being as crucial.

“Employees are the linchpins of any organization,” says Jared, whose company provides legal loan services to clients. “We have braved through the past year, as we had committed employees. We want that to continue for us. We are taking all measures from our side to ensure they are prepared to tackle any adversity.”

Nate looked at output to identify opportunities to standardize and streamline the work his employees put in – with employee experience front of mind.

“We got serious about data productivity tracking for staff in early 2021. By mid-year we had a much stronger sense of where the gaps were and how to use automations, outsourcing, and freelancers to fill in the slack. Amid highs and lows, lulls and busy periods, our full-time staff have been able to remain steady and avoid burnout. That’s been a huge accomplishment, especially given the state of the world.”

Find out what they need and want

Meanwhile, Nicholas isn’t just taking initiative or planning strategy for employee happiness at BioHealth Nutrition. He’s also asking what employees themselves want.

“We’re currently conducting a survey about our work culture, team structure, and other company initiatives. We will accumulate all of the feedback at the end of the month and share a report with updates we plan to implement in 2022,” Nicholas says.

“We want employees to know that we take their feedback seriously and that their happiness is a priority. It’s really important for companies to embrace this mentality now if they haven’t already.”

Childcare was one of the biggest concerns voiced by employees throughout the pandemic, and Marina Vaamonde heard that as well from most of her employees at HouseCashin, an off-market house marketplace in Houston, Texas.

“Working parents are struggling to find decent and affordable childcare and need my help with it. Without childcare, the labor force will struggle because people will be forced to choose between working and quitting their jobs and staying home.”

7. Technology will pave the way ahead

Digital transformation was a significant development during the pandemic, with the shift to remote requiring more technology to succeed. But there’s more, says Kamyar at World Consulting Group.

“If you’re meeting with members of your team right now in terms of planning your workforce for 2022, this is the time to consider the impact of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation on what will be left for humans to do.”

Kamyar’s not concerned about the so-called rise of the machines, suggesting that it be embraced rather than feared.

“You can’t stop technology. It’s going to happen anyway. What you can do is prepare for it by planning for the time when your company won’t need as many human workers,” says Kamyar.

“What are the jobs that will be replaced? Will they all be replaced? What new positions will emerge? How do you train your workers of the future? How do you prepare them to stay ahead of the curve and avoid being replaced by a computer or a robot or an algorithm? You have to ask these questions now, not wait until 2027 — that’s too late.”

Nicholas highlights the importance of skills development in the workplace to accommodate the trend towards greater digital capabilities.

“Technology use is prime, and people need the internet more than ever. So, getting familiar with the new work approaches is key to success.”

“Technology use is prime, and people need the internet more than ever. So, getting familiar with the new work approaches is key to success.”

But finding the right tech to meet collaboration needs in the digital-first world was the single biggest challenge cited by Ruben Gamez, CEO and founder of SignWell, a B2B SaaS tech company helping businesses with contracts and legally binding e-signatures.

“Initially, we were experimenting with different tools,” says Ruben, who manages a team of 10 employees out of Portland, Oregon. “This led to scattered data. We then used one common tool to integrate all processes. It was very challenging to find the right tool.”

Challenge or not, Michael at Incorporation Insight says tech is core to his business going forward.

“Adopting more updated automation is also an objective that can potentially increase our efficiency both productivity-wise and operating cost-wise.”

And HR will be part of that

And this isn’t just the case for overall business operations and workforce management, according to Lynda Farley, the co-founder of reverse phone number lookup service NumLooker. While AI became accessible in 2021, she says, 2022 onwards will see a lot more of that in HR specifically.

“From 2022 onwards, there will be an increased adoption rate in social HR platforms. The reason for this development is the loss of trust between humans and machines. I’m not saying that AI will become our parents, but it can definitely help us in some aspects of our life. By 2022, there will be a lot more to come as a part of the digital revolution.”

8. Work be nimble, work be quick

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen,” said Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

That quote definitely holds true for the last couple of years especially for SMBs who have had to adapt regularly to a seemingly relentless barrage of unexpected developments during pandemic times.

CEO Ian Sells is clear on the importance of nimbility, as one of the biggest lessons at coupon/cash-back website RebateKey over the last two years.

“What we’ve learned from 2020 is to learn to be flexible and continuously adapt our processes based on what works,” says Ian, who heads up a team of just under 25 workers working full- and part-time, as well as per-project, in Wyoming. “Do not be afraid of changes and transitions.”

And there’s opportunity in that, Ian points out.

“Our team has experienced a lot of transitions and have done well not only to adapt to changes but to thrive in them. Scaling is always difficult, but is a crucial and necessary step for the continuous growth of any business.”

Flexibility took place in a different form for Gregory Rozdeba, president of digital insurance brokerage Dundas Life in Toronto. He called the COVID-affected year the most challenging of his managerial career, having to let go of a leadership team member.

Instead of having to go through that again, Gregory took on a different strategy – including moving some functions to remote and freelance.

And this includes employees too

A more agile approach also means encouraging more adaptability in employees – including tackling sudden and steep learning curves, says Dave Ericksen, the founder of WaterZen.

“Due to the crisis that the pandemic brought, a lot of our best performers were given additional responsibilities to help keep operations going,” says Dave.

That ultimately had a silver lining for his Utah-based company, which promotes awareness and shares information on accessibility to drinking water.

“Later, we discovered that some of them were more fit for their new responsibilities,” he says. “We’re changing our employee structure to give these gifted employees a role and title fit for their skills.”

Prime your people for success

Adjusting onboarding and training processes both for new hires and current employees was the biggest challenge of 2021, especially due to the volatility of the environment, says Gabriel at ViscoSoft.

“The pandemic required a lot of sudden pivots, so consistency in overall operations was kind of thrown out the window. You had to be malleable and adaptable. Because of these, developing any sort of training for your employees was very challenging,” he explains.

“You want to set up new hires for success by clarifying roles and encouraging relationship development, but when a company is dealing with constant shifts and transitions that can be very difficult.”

And forget about thinking back and looking forward, says Jared at Uplift Legal Funding.

“The biggest learning from 2021 was to be in the moment. We made grand plans in 2020, only to watch them fail. We have learned to become more agile and dynamic. We intend to make plans, but we have also known how to pick ourselves up if things go south. We are planning to continue the same in 2022.”

“The biggest learning from 2021 was to be in the moment. We made grand plans in 2020, only to watch them fail. We have learned to become more agile and dynamic. We intend to make plans, but we have also known how to pick ourselves up if things go south. We are planning to continue the same in 2022.”

And that mindset – with teamwork – can get us through it all, he adds.

“I’d say, here’s a chance to think on our feet. Let’s try to be more open-minded and adaptive. Let’s also remember to stick it out for each other. That’s the only way we will get through this madness.”

9. Increase your range of motion

Gregory at Dundas Life pointed to the diversity that comes with the global talent market as a huge bonus for companies.

“Diversity and inclusion is one critical insight in 2022 to manage an employee base. Companies worldwide should learn to diversify their employee retention this year as a workforce with unique skills is invaluable. It makes the potential of growth for each employee scalable, and they can learn new skills from their peers along the way.”

As CEO of secure e-sign service CocoSign, Stephen Curry also found the value of having workers from different decades was a crucial lesson picked up from 2020 and 2021.

“You’re able to capitalize on their unique experiences in different decades and accurately gauge the sorts of issues they’ll help you overcome in whatever decade you’re trying to make your mark,” Stephen says.

It all comes down to experience.

“Say, for example, an eighties employee helps you run a successful business in the nineties. That’s good. But if a fifties employee helps you run a successful business in 2022, that’s even better, because fifties employees have been through all this once before, so they’ll help you steer away from the mistakes of the past and point out things that worked best for them during the first time around.”

Paul Sherman is CMO at auto warranty service Olive, which employs more than 50 people in Chicago. He learned the value of age diversity the hard way.

“Many of my team members retired early in 2020 and 2021. While many companies tend to be ageist and prefer younger employees, I lost a wealth of experience and wisdom through the retirement of these workers.”

10. Don’t be a manager – be a leader

SMBs also took a long hard look at employee management styles, again as a result of developments during the pandemic.

Eden at PeopleFinderFree suggests breaking down the traditional structure of top-down leadership, saying it’s part of “preparing for a long-term eventuality”.

“From a leadership standpoint, it will be best to just get rid of hierarchical structures and instead, focus on implementing multidisciplinary and autonomous teams that are able to operate without micromanagement. In other words, place more of an emphasis on shifting your current management responsibilities and distributing them throughout the organization.”

Gabriel wishes he and his team had taken on a more collaborative approach to work.

“The pandemic has meant having to make constant decisions without really being able to predict the outcome. Having a collaborative and supportive team not only makes for a fantastic workplace culture, but makes those difficult decisions much easier.” Gabriel says. “Remember, there is a way for employees to have autonomy over their work, while still working closely and collaborating with others.”

And the irony is that Gabriel sees this as a top-down initiative.

”I would tell myself that as a leader, it is up to me to set the precedent. A collaborative workplace needs to be fostered.”

”I would tell myself that as a leader, it is up to me to set the precedent. A collaborative workplace needs to be fostered.”

And empathy has huge, huge value

Meanwhile, one of the biggest lessons from 2020 for Sally of FastPeopleSearch.io was the need for empathetic leadership in the workplace – it’s something that can’t be overlooked.

”Quite often, business leaders get lost in the hustle and forfeit the personal connection between them and the employees. This plays a huge role in lowering team morale and decreasing productivity within the workplace.”

Being empathetic also makes her a better manager and enables her to bring more out of her workers.

“Practicing empathetic leadership over the past year has taught me valuable lessons in soft-skill management, and how employee morale plays a crucial role in creating a vibrant culture within the workplace.”

11. Change in hiring strategy

One of the big developments of 2021 is, of course, the Great Resignation. Quit rates are through the roof – and companies have had to adapt quickly to the sudden onslaught of vacancies and need for backfills.

This meant an update in hiring strategy for many businesses, including CEO Dragos Badea of Yarooms, a hybrid work management software.

Dragos’ plan? “Hire for all positions as early as possible, as we’re going to be experiencing a bit of a shortage of qualified personnel!”

The reason being, as the adage goes, ‘done is better than perfect.’

“Even if you hire a specialist that might be working at 50% capacity initially,” says Dragos, “just having more hands on deck when opportunity comes knocking is incredibly valuable.”

Christiaan Huynen’s hiring approach as the CEO of DesignBro is similar.

“Hiring a perfect candidate is like finding a needle in a haystack. Oftentimes, the closest thing that you can find to a needle is a bobby pin and you just have to go with it. Try to keep the candidate pool small and set a technical interview as a prerequisite to avoid unnecessary traffic.”

But there’s a danger in quick backfill for stopgap purposes, as Dave at Waterzen learned.

“One of the biggest challenges we’re going to be facing in 2022 is getting rid of pandemic hires,” says Dave. “The labor supply shortage caused us to hire people who weren’t the best for the job. We were in need of employees and hired those that just fit the bill. In 2022, when the shortage will finally end, we’ll have to let go of staff who cannot meet expectations and rehire for those roles.”

Add new channels to the pipeline

One potential solution is internal mobility, according to Ian at RebateKey.

“We’ve scaled so much as a company this year and required new roles to be filled. However, instead of hiring an outsider, we opted to look for potential applicants from stellar members from our current team, who have at least some working knowledge, interest, and bandwidth to take on new roles.”

Ian, incidentally, also turned to less traditional methods of finding talent when looking outside of his organization.

“Instead of the known job boards, we’ve ventured into using Slack and Discord groups, and more importantly FB niched groups. These places are teeming with potential. Many applicants do not want to use regular job boards because they lowball employees, not to mention having very high competition.”

Jared also turned to these channels as a solution.

“Our single biggest accomplishment was recruiting new employees using social media as one of our primary recruitment channels. We’ve heard about social media recruiting as a strategy, but we were skeptical if it would work. Using multiple channels on a trial and error basis has been the quickest way to employ a diverse pool of talent.”

And Paul at Olive went directly to the source of new talent.

“Our biggest achievement was to partner with the marketing department of a local university. This partnership creates a pipeline of talent from the university by creating internships and permanent positions for graduating students with marketing degrees. This way, we’re less vulnerable to the labor market shocks like those we see with the Great Resignation.”

A deluge of talent

Dan Barba, who provides writing and editing services at DanBarba.com, had the opposite problem – that of too many candidates.

“When I posted job openings throughout 2021, it wasn’t uncommon for me to receive multiple hundreds of applications from people looking for freelance work. With so many applications to sift through, these hiring rounds would take up a lot of my time and pull me away from revenue generating activities,” he says.

And he had a solution: giving candidates the opportunity to screen themselves in or out.

“Through the lens of hiring and human resources, my biggest accomplishment was finding a way to make these applicants ‘pre-qualify’; in other words, making sure that only the top 1% of the talent pool apply.”

To do this, Dan rewrote the job copy he was using.

“My first version was too vague in terms of expectations and day-to-day responsibilities, so I focused on going into greater detail and getting clear on the skills and experience that candidates must have before applying. I didn’t list desirables, just must-haves and deal breakers.”

“My first version was too vague in terms of expectations and day-to-day responsibilities, so I focused on going into greater detail and getting clear on the skills and experience that candidates must have before applying. I didn’t list desirables, just must-haves and deal breakers.”

And it made a difference.

“By giving applicants this kind of context, they were better equipped to evaluate their own ability against the standards that I laid out. As a result, the quality of my hires shot up in Q4, as did their rate of output and productivity.”

Glen Bhimani owns and operates BPS Security, a security firm in San Antonio, Texas. He also pointed to the importance of a well-crafted job ad.

“I have found that thinking through the kind of person we want to hire and crafting job postings that appeal to that kind of person is extremely effective in cutting down the time we have to spend searching for guards,” says Glen, whose firm employs just under 30 employees.

“Different people respond well to different kinds of English [and other languages], so designing a job posting inside the communication style of our ideal employee helps raise the success rate of job postings.”

The digitization of hiring

One huge aspect of recruitment is the incorporation of tech into the process, says Michael.

“Technology played a significant role in helping us efficiently screen candidates and onboard new members without being physically present. It was another milestone to now permanently integrate advanced tech into our hiring process in place of our traditional recruitment practices.”

Jeff at Simple Homebuyers pointed to changes in his recruitment process as his single biggest achievement of 2021.

“Many companies take years to change how they recruit talent, but we were forced to do it overnight. Budget constraints made it hard for us to retain current employees, so we opted to recruit talent worldwide, proving to be significantly cheaper.”

And yes, tech supported this.

“[That] included virtual interviews, global recruitment, and asynchronous working hours. This proved to be vital as we had access to talent worldwide.”

Technology also benefited Logan at Motivosity, who found an innovative solution in identifying the potential of a candidate for a job.

“A hiring hack that’s been helpful for us is: Asking candidates to record an introductory video in lieu of a cover letter. This helps us see a candidate’s personality, and it allows them to share more about themselves than they’d be able to just by writing a cover letter. It also helps us weed out candidates who haven’t fully read the job application.”

You know what to do going into 2022

There you have it. Myriad challenges of 2020 and 2021 being overcome with innovative solutions and strategies – that’s the spirit of entrepreneurship.

And it’s always good to have a well-thought-out strategy going into 2022, but leaving room for quick pivots in that strategy as needed, because who knows what might happen.

Want to share your own story of what you’ve learned over the last couple of years and what you think will happen in 2022? We want to hear it – and share it with our millions of readers. Submit your pitch and you may see your name – and your company’s – in lights!

The post Employers’ top wins and lessons of 2021 – and what they’re planning for 2022 appeared first on Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better.

These days, the line between work life and home life is increasingly blurred by the shift to remote work and an intense social and political environment worldwide (Black Lives Matter, Brexit, the pandemic itself) that ultimately spill over into the workplace, impacting engagement and productivity.

You, as an employer and HR practitioner, need to help your employees. Why? Well, for one, they expect this from you. 75% of Gen Z and half of Millennial employees have left work for mental health reasons according to one study – and turnover is expensive. Untreated mental health costs the US economy $200 billion, according to another study. And untreated depression costs employers an average of $9,450 per employee per year, says a third.

An informal Workable poll on LinkedIn in November 2020 found that 62% of employees say their company doesn’t offer mental health support as part of its benefits:

Finally – the 2021 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report highlights workplace wellbeing as a leading priority in workplace transformation according to employees. That stands in stark contrast to executives, who listed that as only the second-to-last priority in a list of outcomes. The report states: “executives who deprioritize wellbeing as a goal of work transformation are missing a huge opportunity.”

So, as a business, you’re not only morally obliged to support your employees through this deep dark winter – it also makes business sense to do so.

Seven tips for workplace mental health

So, we’re sharing seven insights from the SMB and HR communities to help you and your employees get through this long, difficult winter before the days become brighter and vaccinations start to roll out to more and more people going into 2021. Here they are, all with the end goal of maintaining and even boosting your workplace mental health:

1. Establish an open-door policy

Because mental health can be a sensitive topic – and stigmatized in many cases – many employees are afraid to approach their managers or even human resources to seek support. In fact, one study found that 50% of employees feel “very uncomfortable” discussing mental health with a current or prospective employer, compared with 10% who said the same about discussing it with a friend or family member.

This means you need to open the door for your employees and help them feel comfortable stepping forward with their problem, says Stephen Light, a certified stress management coach and co-owner of Colorado-based Nolah Mattress:

“Ideally, employees should have no apprehensions in sharing their problems with managers and supervisors, primarily if it affects their work performance.”

He found that not only did it help in terms of work performance – it also boosted company morale.

“We noticed that not only did the open-door policy improve the overall mental health of reorganization, but it also developed the relationships of managers and their subordinates. Through their one-on-one conversations, employees’ trust in their managers grew, which established a connection beyond the leader-follow set-up.”

Rick Hoskins, founder of air filter company Filter King in Alabama, also has an open-door strategy in his workplace mental health policy, and that applies to all leaders and managers in his organization as part of a formal setup.

“This means that employees are welcome to come to talk at any point, professionally or personally, without judgement or fear of losing their job,” says Rick.

Note: Download our workplace mental health policy template and customize to your specifications. 

2. Train your managers and employees

To have a truly successful workplace mental health policy, you need to create a holistically supportive work environment in which employees can thrive. That means training and empowering your employees so they’re best set for success.

Matt Bertram, CEO of EWR Digital, makes sure this happens in his Houston-based SEO marketing agency.

“We started a wellness support strategy in September. The aim of our strategy is to empower our employees to take better care of themselves and become more resilient.”

He also took aims to ensure managers followed suit.

“Our managers have been directed to openly show empathy and vulnerability towards our employees. We regularly ask our employees how they are. We find out how they are taking care of their mental health and encourage everyone to share what’s working for them.”

3. Don’t just talk the talk – walk the walk

Making a statement for workplace mental health is noble, but in many cases, it’s not enough; that’s simply performative action as opposed to proactive action, according to Inclucive and Allyship founder and DEI consultant Chikere Igbokwe. You need to step up and implement procedures and activities that your employees can willingly participate in.

One way of doing so is establishing a physically healthy work environment as well as a mentally healthy one. Uphold the spirit of the Latin phrase: Mens sana in corpore sano, loosely translated to English as: “A healthy body means a healthy mind”. While physical health of course is not the sole means of maintaining mental health, it’s helpful and actionable, and creating a work environment that promotes this can be hugely beneficial.

Matt speaks to this as well: “Our employees are directed to prioritize their health and family. We allow for flexibility at work to allow employees to balance work activities with home and wellness responsibilities. Healthy habits like exercise, sleep, nutrition, meditation, and time with loved ones are encouraged.”

There’s more you can do in addition to promoting and enabling healthy habits. CEO Aylon Steinhart’s San Francisco-based vegan ice cream company Eclipse Foods introduced tech tools as part of its mental health policy:

“We have recently added wellness apps such as Headspace to our benefits package to give our employees more tools they may need to get through these tough times.”

Those still working in the office – and those about to return as we head out of the pandemic – can provide healthier, cheaper snacking options in the kitchen. Ethan Taub, CEO of an “online mall” for financial services, Goalry.com, did this in his office in Newport Beach, California:

“One simple practice which I think helps the mental and physical wellbeing is introducing free fruit stations within the office. It helps with snacking but the vitamins have a positive impact on the mind, therefore making your workers more productive whilst helping them with their health.”

When his company went virtual, he took it to another level:

“As things have been more difficult this year, our staff have actually been receiving free fruit hampers directly to their front door on a weekly basis. It helps us to stay in touch with one another but also look after our mental and physical well being through these little gift baskets.“

4. Encourage camaraderie and collaboration

When the days get shorter and shorter and the weather outside gets worse and worse – particularly in northern climes – people will spend more time indoors. Stay-at-home advisories and lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, plus numerous days working out of the home with little to no socialization can take its toll on workplace mental health.

When there isn’t a space for organic interaction between colleagues, you’ll need to step up and establish that environment – even virtually – to keep that spirit alive.

Aylon has taken the steps to make sure that camaraderie and collaboration continue to thrive despite working entirely online:

“From daily team check-ins to weekly virtual happy hours, it’s important that our employees see one another not just as coworkers but as real people who are going through this pandemic with one another,” Aylon says. “We are each other’s support system in these unparalleled times.”

Matt at EWR Digital also points to the collective company goal – including its deeper meaning – as a key to keeping employees motivated.

“We strengthen our group connections by cultivating a shared sense of purpose. Employees are helped to find meaning in their work and understand the importance of their individual contributions. This can make them feel more valued as a part of our team and stave of feelings of isolation or loneliness.”

5. Encourage a positive-thinking environment

The benefits of positive thinking are well documented in science: it helps maintain a strong immune system, reduces anxiety levels, and encourages healthier lifestyles and relationships both at home and in the workplace.

Part of positive thinking comes from within, via new habits such as daily statements of gratification, turning an “impossible” situation into a new and welcome challenge, and even simply smiling more and thinking positively about oneself. But another part of it comes from external sources – people feel more positive if they are appreciated by others.

Ted Sun, the president and CIO of Transcontinental University in Ohio, launched a strategy on empowerment at his school in early November and helped other executives implement the same in their workplace mental health strategy throughout.

“The basis of the strategy is to ensure that people are seen, heard, and feel like they have control,” says Ted. “We’ve implemented this into various systems including performance management systems, motivation systems, and learning systems.”

“Especially as we approached the end of the year, performance management has to be empowering. Hope for a brighter future has to be part of the conversation in the annual reviews.”

Ted adds that this isn’t an individual job – it needs to be a collective effort throughout the company.

“This powerful emotion also has to be in the daily language of all managers within the motivation systems. To do this, managers are getting additional development to master this (part of emotional intelligence development). In the learning systems, employees are getting additional skills to get a sense of control for their future.”

6. Hire a Happiness Coach

When you’re handling a company-wide workplace mental health initiative, someone needs to own that process whether as the leader of a team or as a dedicated director. Brexit Project Managers are commonplace in the United Kingdom, whereas jobs focused on diversity and inclusion are surging, especially in 2020. So why not hire someone to be in charge of increasing workplace morale at your company?

That’s what Rick did in hiring a Happiness Coach when his team shifted to remote work.

“This is a company-wide dedicated employee happiness and wellness coach that was hired from within the current team. […] She is the most empathic of all the staff. Her role is to meet up with the different team members on a regular basis and be available for them to speak with her about their private issues. She conducts 360° surveys so applicable changes can be made in the day-to-day management.”

The benefits of having this in the company led to a much stronger understanding of employee needs and workplace mental health priorities, Rick found:

“Because of this, we were able to understand that people would prefer flexible working hours, and four-day working weeks. This was in the height of the pandemic and completely understandable.”

And of course, once you have that information on hand, you need to carry out on that promise of equipping your employees with what they need in order to do their job well.

7. Track the progress

As in any business, establishing a tracking mechanism is crucial to success when launching a new initiative – be it DEI, a new product release, or expansion into new markets. The executives in your business will of course be interested in the wellbeing of your staff, but if they can have documentation in their hands that point to the real value of what you’re doing, then that’s even better.

This means you need to track your progress in workplace mental health and report on it in a very tangible way.

Ted makes sure to have a tracking mechanism in place as part of the mental health initiative in his workplace.

“All people have emotional intelligence data as we’ve focused on developing the EQ of all staff,” he says. “We regularly track the EQ development with various development activities. Optimism is also another metric we use to ensure people are engaged in a positive way contributing to the ideal outcomes.”

Ted also uses metrics to ensure that people follow through on the promise:

“We have systems in place to hold people accountable to learning and growing their EQ in addition to other intelligences like analytical and systems thinking.”

Rick found that tracking and reporting can be as simple as having a regular cadence in the strategy:

“Having a fixed meeting every six weeks with the Happiness Coach obliges the quieter employees to speak, who often have the best ideas and most hidden emotions. There are others then who are more than happy to have a type of Agony Aunt to vent to.”

A mutually supportive work environment

There is no clear-cut prescription to maintaining workplace mental health throughout the wintertime, particularly during a devastating pandemic and social unrest. However, simply implementing a few of the tips listed above can have a positive impact on your business and on your employees and colleagues, as Matt at EWR Digital found:

“We have an uplift in employee engagement following the implementation of our [wellness support] strategy. This has translated to an increase in productivity across all our projects.”

Rick pointed to a mixture of tangible and intangible benefits to actively supporting employees during 2020:

“I can’t tell you for sure if productivity rose because people had flexible hours, because they were at home, because we have a Happiness Coach, or because of all of the above.

“What I can share with you is that deadlines are being met with ease and there is less of a sense of stress during meetings. We completed year-end goals in August and are able to project higher goals for 2021.”

At the core of it all is this: your employees and your colleagues are human beings, each of whom are experiencing 2020 in different and unique ways. What you can do for them is establish an environment where they can feel safe and supported in the workplace – you want them to want to come to work every day and be their best selves.

Headspace’s 2020 Mental Health Trends report finds that companies and their leaders need to develop a better understanding of their employees’ needs, one of which is more evidence-based mental health tools resources as part of overall support in the workplace. The above-listed tips will be a good first step in getting through the deep dark winter – and beyond.

The post Workplace mental health: Support your employees through the deep dark winter appeared first on Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better.

Onboarding remote employees – in many cases, without having ever met them in person – is no easy task. In Workable’s New World of Work survey, 37.4% cited remote onboarding and training as major issues when hiring in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, while 49.7% said candidate onboarding would be problematic in recruiting in the post-COVID work world.

But Eric isn’t one to be discouraged by those numbers.

“Regular meetings and discussions on Zoom, Hangouts, and Google Duo have helped us in overcoming all the challenges,” he says.

He adds that there are business benefits as well.

“There’s been a reduction in costs because no infrastructure is required in the workplace. Team members are arranging it at their distant locations themselves.”

That’ll be a welcome reassurance to the 26.4% of budget-conscious senior-level executives in the above-mentioned survey who said new hire onboarding would be one of the main overall challenges in the new world of work.

Camaraderie makes the team merry

Eric is just one of the dozens of business owners and managers who responded to our query for tips and tricks on remote onboarding. One lesson was clear from many: while a standardized process is especially important in successful remote onboarding, there’s a lot more to it than that.

Companies thrive on teamsmanship and camaraderie, so you want to build those strong connections from the first day forward if you want the new hire to be set for success.

That’s easier when it’s done face-to-face, as those connections are built via introductions, meetings, and team exercises in a shared physical space. But strengthening work culture and bonding between colleagues is tougher virtually.

“Remote onboarding has been a big challenge because with this we’re not able to introduce the new team members to the culture and environment of the organization,” Eric says.

So, how do you get started on building connections in a remote work world, particularly when onboarding? It’s not easy, but if you follow these best practices from those we heard from, you’ll be able to build those important connections between your new hire and their new colleagues.

Here are four best practices for you to stay ahead of the new trends in remote employee engagement.

1. Be even more hands-on

It’s easy enough for new hires to spontaneously chat with others when in the same physical workspace, but it’s not easy when that new hire is sitting invisibly in front of their computer. They can’t look around and chat with their desk neighbors or take a tour of the office and introduce themselves to people. That can severely impact new hire engagement from day one.

This puts the onus on you to be even more hands-on than you would in a normal onboarding process. This applies not only to HR but to colleagues and managers as well, says Neal Taparia of Solitaired.

“You have to be very hands-on to ensure successful onboarding,” says Neal, the CEO of this new NYC-based company that ties classic games to brain training. “New employees are [more] hesitant to speak up via online channels than they are in person to get an understanding of everything. They don’t want to ask too many questions over Slack, and ask for additional Zoom calls.”

He adds that you also need to check in regularly to ensure that a new hire is headed in the right direction and is on track throughout your new hire onboarding plan.

Involve the hiring manager

The value of inclusive leadership is especially crucial for new hire engagement when working remotely, Neal emphasizes.

“It’s easy for managers to forget to check in on new employees that have started remotely. [At Solitaired], we train our managers on what successful remote onboarding means. Specifically, we have a rule where managers should be checking in at least 10 times through the week to make sure everything is going in the right direction.”

Husam Machlovi is the founder of digital studio With Pulp, which operates fully remotely out of New York state. His company has served notables such as AMC Networks and World Wrestling Entertainment. He also advocates for the active participation of hiring managers in the new hire’s engagement.

“The most effective remote onboarding tool for us is simply to check in with each other,” says Husam. “I like to check in with new hires and ask them how I can support in any way, how things are going, do they have any questions? My goal is to create a space where people feel safe to ask questions.”

Grant Aldrich, CEO/founder of the Los Angeles-based online learning site Online Degree, says the manager or CEO is responsible for making sure everyone feels connected throughout the company, keeping new employee engagement high at this crucial time.

“This goes beyond checking in and extends to starting conversations and asking questions in your communication channels,” he adds.

Michael Alexis, the owner of New York-based Teambuilding, a virtual team cohesion service, emphasizes the importance of active participation by all parties included – both the newly hired and the ones doing the hiring and onboarding.

“Following documents and watching videos alone is boring,” says Michael. “It’s important to us that these early days and weeks for a new team member are as engaging as possible.”

Make yourself available – and ensure the new hire knows it

Dan Bailey of WikiLawn, an online lawn and garden care resource center which lists services all across the United States, notes that it does take more time to onboard someone remotely, as he simply cannot sit next to the new hire and walk them through all the steps of their job. But it’s still important that he and his colleagues are available to the new hire for anything they may need on the spot.

Not only do his teams record videos with instructions and prepare documents to be more detailed, but also set response time as a critical measurement. In fact, he applies customer support standards to ensuring his new hires get what they need quickly.

“We’ve found that new hires often have many questions that can go unanswered for an hour or more if someone isn’t assigned to being available to help them, so that is one way we’ve improved how we manage onboarding,” Dan explains.

“At least one other teammate is available during working hours by messenger, email, and phone so the new hire doesn’t have to waste time and become frustrated waiting on a reply.”

2. Make the employee feel welcome

Austin Heerwagen of Koda Digital, a medical marketing agency operating out of Carrollton, Texas, admits that disconnection was an issue when operating remotely, especially with new hires coming on board.

“Our biggest pain point initially was gaining buy-in from new employees. There is no tour around the office, parking space, elevator ride, or birthday parties – employees can feel like they are a replaceable cog in a machine.”

That makes it even more critical to make your new hire feel welcome and connected.

Caitlin Byrnes can speak firsthand to the value of this. When she was hired as VP at Peppercomm, a public relations firm in NYC, she found that her new company had a great new hire onboarding plan in place, but some things stood out above and beyond HR obligations particularly in a remote work environment.

“For instance, team members carved out time for virtual coffee with me, and gave me a positive ‘shout-out’ in my first all-hands meeting,” Caitlin says.

“These personal touchpoints made me feel more comfortable working with a team I’d never met in person. Even more importantly, it helped me understand who I could go with questions when I couldn’t just pop around the corner.”

Line up meetings with everyone

Shayne Sherman, the CEO of TechLoris, a computer service in Brookline, Massachusetts, highlights that importance in the absence of water cooler conversations and “quick drops by one’s desk”.

“We made sure to make company intros and offer the chance to say a few words at the latest company all-hands meeting. From there, the new hire’s manager would schedule a remote lunch or after-work drinks, via Zoom, to get to know each other and open the chat up to be a bit more informal.”

Greg Hayes, CEO and co-founder of venture-backed office furniture startup Branch in NYC, makes sure the new hire is properly and formally acquainted with their full team right away.

“We ensure that each new team member has a lengthy 1:1 video chat with everybody on our team, to ensure they better understand everyone personally and what their scope of work entails. We also plan a happy hour around each new member’s arrival to welcome them in.”

Tara Lilien, the Chief Talent Officer at Peppercomm, takes it one step further.

“I think giving the new hire an opportunity to lead a meeting, facilitate a staff learning event or shadow a client meeting or call are all great on-the-job moments that will allow for stronger and quicker integration into the team.”

Send them a welcome package

Austin at Koda Digital likes to make sure the new employee receives a gift basket containing company swag and attire, business cards, and gift cards for restaurants near them. He’ll even make sure to include personal gifts based on interview discovery.

“For example, one employee really liked sloths, so we sent her a desk-buddy sloth to let her know that we care about her too – not just her work. In addition, on the employee’s first day, we send out UberEats gift cards to everyone and have a ‘catered’ nice-to-meet-you lunch.”

Kick things off with a friendly, informative email before their first day, setting the tone going forward.

3. Don’t assume everyone knows your tech, because they don’t

When you’re working in a company that utilizes a lot of technologies and has fully jumped on board the digital transformation train, it’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that everyone knows your tech stack. Don’t do that, says Neal at Solitaired.

“Some of us use Google Apps and Microsoft apps so regularly, we assume everyone knows these systems as well as we do. This is definitely not the case.”

He learned this the hard way, too. One time, he hired an employee that had never used the Google productivity suite and they were too embarrassed to admit that. That made onboarding an especially painful process.

Doesn’t matter who’s at fault for it – it’s a negative first experience for the new hire that starts things off on the wrong foot.

Get them acquainted with tech quickly

Get ahead of the problem, Neal recommends. “Take an intake survey beforehand. If someone does not know about Google apps, we ask them to read up on it beforehand, and give them a tutorial on their first and second day of work.”

Amy McWaters, the CEO of Gifts Australia, a souvenir e-commerce company in Sydney, Australia, also finds that tech adoption remains an issue in the remote new hire onboarding plan. Late logons, lost connections, and struggles with tech integrations continue to be a pain point for her company. She recommends taking care of things even before the first day of onboarding or training – effectively preventing a problem before it even occurs.

“Work under the assumption that tech issues will arise, if not on your end, then on the trainees’ end,” Amy says. “Give installation instructions at least three days out.”

Gargi Rajan, general manager of human resources at Mercer / Mettl, an HR technology company operating just outside of New Delhi, India, likes to get several birds with one stone: hackathons. The benefits are multiple: it helps onboarding in a remote manner, gets new hires quickly acquainted with their new colleagues, and puts everyone on a level playing field bonded by a common interest. Tech adoption is a huge, huge bonus.

“Since everyone understands the challenges at hand,” Gargi explains, “they all come together to accept the technological tools and processes as partners in working smoothly and seamlessly.”

But don’t be fazed if you do run into some issues with tech adoption among your existing and new employees. It may seem daunting on the surface, but with a silver lining underneath.

“Every aspect has its limitations,” Eric at Couture Candy says. “Maybe we wouldn’t have known the creativity required in businesses if tech adoption was quick and easy.”

4. Make it a two-way street

Even as an employer who knows your company inside and out, you can’t assume to know everything that the new hire needs. So, establish a two-way street – solicit feedback from your new employees and refine your new hire onboarding plan based on what they’ve shared with you.

Neal at Solitaired is quick to that point, having new employees fill out a daily survey about their onboarding during their first week on the job.

“It became a forum where they could clear up any confusion, and for us to get them back on the right track. It’s simple and effective.”

At Branch, Greg encourages new employees to be “hungry learners” and not to be afraid to ask any questions.

Listen, learn, and improve

Phil Strazzulla, the CEO at the online review site Select Software Reviews, doubles down on collecting feedback from your new colleagues, acknowledging that it is new ground for many companies.

“Ask your new hires for feedback on the [new hire onboarding plan], what worked and what didn’t. Get your HR team as well as your managers together to go over the results and make changes to address them.”

Jitesh Patil, SEO and content specialist at project management software company Toggl Plan in Tallinn, Estonia, also advocates for this measure of successful remote onboarding – and himself works remotely from Maharashtra, India.

“We request regular feedback from new joinees — end of week 1, end week 2, end of the first month, and so on.”

This series of sample questions for your new hire can help you collect valuable feedback on your remote new hire onboarding plan.

Set up an open Q&A channel

Michael at Teambuilding takes a unique approach to the two-way street in his company’s remote onboarding strategy.

“One way we’ve made the onboarding process more engaging is using employee journaling. For each new hire, we create a private channel in Slack where they can share their thoughts and ideas,” Michael explains.

“For example, it might be a note like, ‘I’m a little confused at who these people are’, and then we can chime in with info about team members or organizational structure. The journal also introduces fresh eyes to our systems to help improve. For example, ‘I noticed that XYZ is inefficient, and in previous roles I’ve done it this way that was more efficient’.”

It can also be a morale booster for those doing the actual onboarding, he adds.

“[We] are happy to receive feedback like ‘never felt so welcome in any of my jobs before’ or ‘everyone is so welcoming here’”.

Maximize the connectivity

Nuances are often lost in the remote work world. You can overcome that by getting everyone as involved as possible, ensuring the new hire feels part of the team from day one, staying on top of any potential tech hiccups, and establishing open two-way communication channels. That will set your new hires for success as early in the game as possible.

It also helps your existing employees get better acquainted with each other – including their individual styles and working habits – and fosters a more cohesive team environment, even in a world where few people have actually met but still work together on a daily basis.

And this doesn’t need to be a chore, either, says Eric at Couture Candy.

“Remote onboarding is fun if you enjoy it,” he says with a smile.

Want to read more? Check out our tutorial on reducing new hire turnover in your company.

The post Your remote new hire onboarding plan: Build those connections appeared first on Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better.

But remote onboarding is no longer an unusual part of the job. It may become more the norm than the exception – according to Workable’s survey, 71.1% say remote work and distributed teams will be a major paradigm shift going forward.

It’s also a welcome shift; in the TalentLMS study, 77% of employees say they would accept a job even without a physical visit to their employer’s office, while 73% say they’d accept a job even without meeting any of their new colleagues in person.

If remote is accepted both by employer and employee – the focus then moves to onboarding remote employees. And an effective remote onboarding process is essential if you want your new hires – and your business altogether – to be set for success.

Related: 9 remote onboarding FAQs to level up your process

New jobs are stressful – and can be costly

Onboarding is not only important for business performance – it’s a concern for new hires as well. Starting a new job is a stressful experience. The tips for new employees range from finding support to not being afraid to ask for help – but how do you do that if you can’t even see your work environment or even know who you’re working with? Fast Company recommends designing familiar schedules outside of work and sticking to a regular work routine. Great, but even our non-work activities are severely disrupted by COVID-19. This just adds to the existing challenges of a regular work routine in a remote environment.

If you don’t solve or at least alleviate those stresses in a new hire, the costs to business are clear, both factoring into the cost per hire:

Increased employee turnover

A clumsy onboarding experience can make new hires feel frustrated and lose faith in you as an employer. Culture Amp’s Joshua Bach told us at an event last year: “10% of people [leave] within the first six months of starting a new job. And many people decide if they’re going to leave a job within the first six weeks.“ So, it’s crucial to make that strong first impression as an employer.

Those are important numbers considering that the costs of employee turnover can be a real eye-opener.

Increased time to ramp

When it takes longer for a new hire to know how to do their job properly, be it in utilizing new technologies or fitting into the existing workflow, it causes delays and even breakdowns in operations and processes. You want your new hires operating at full productivity as quickly as possible – and onboarding is a huge factor in that.

A good onboarding process can increase new hire productivity by 70% and employee retention by 82% according to Sapling, an onboarding/offboarding platform. The numbers speak for themselves, including at the bottom line.

People like predictability

Structure. Systems. Clarity. Uniformity. Organization. People trust people – and employers – who are organized ahead of time. If a new hire comes into your company and experiences a clear, well-thought-out process for onboarding remote employees, that’s a powerful first impression, showing them that your company cares about them and that you’ve got their back.

There’s a reason why process standardization is a heavily emphasized necessity in the survival and sustainability of a company: it’s because it works. When you have a clear blueprint that everyone can follow to a T, the benefits are numerous:

• It reduces costly errors and breakdowns in process.
• It ensures higher-quality and quicker execution.
• It enables scalable training when you need to fill numerous positions at once.
• It helps you identify specific areas for change and improvement – and act on them.

Inna Shevchenko, the CMO at iGMS, a short-term rental management SaaS company headquartered in North Vancouver, Canada, says that the most important lesson she’s learned after five years of hiring, training and managing employees remotely is to have a well-established process to follow.

After 12 years in the marketing biz during which she managed and trained remote teams, Inna finds that remote onboarding really isn’t all that different from ‘normal’ onboarding – the core components are the same.

“Creating a well-crafted process and structure, preparing detailed training documentation, and hiring the right person are the secrets to success.”

Business executive Erik Rivera of Thrive Talk, a telehealth platform focusing on mental health, emphasizes the importance of setting up a system beforehand, to increase clarity and reduce cost.

“A premade onboarding process followed by assessment tests helps ensure that employees know the essentials before working. Since the process is entirely automated, it lessens the expenses of the company because it eliminates the need to hire onboarding specialists.”

SuperAwesome’s Nick Yockney highlighted structure as one of his four go-to strategies in successful remote onboarding.

“We have a very, very structured way that anyone joining SuperAwesome comes into the business.” Nick said. “We call it a 30/60/90. And when someone comes in, they will have a list of tasks that they need to do for their first 30 days, and they will be specific to the role that they’re doing, but there’s also a core foundation of exactly what they do.”

Meanwhile, this comprehensive, step-by-step guide on how to build a new employee onboarding process will give you the framework to build on.

On board with us now?

Let’s start with four top tips for standardizing your onboarding process for remote employees:

1. Start with existing templates and tools

Not having an onboarding foundation already in place is a big mistake, says Max Harland, CEO of Dentaly, one of the world’s largest online dental health resources.

“The biggest challenge in remote onboarding is starting from scratch without any robust plans to start,” Max says, pointing to unreliability in the process and cost creep as potential issues. “You might end up creating a structure that is not suitable for remote onboarding and spend resources aimlessly without getting any results.”

Max recommends procuring an existing remote onboarding template from a colleague or investing in a reliable onboarding tool to more quickly set you up for success.

Following up on Max’s point – it’s better to have something in place and build on that. You can customize to your unique needs as they reveal themselves, and identify areas for improvement. Premade onboarding tools such as Rippling or Click Boarding can help you get a head start with your online onboarding until you’re ready to refine the process.

Also, here’s a remote onboarding checklist template you can use.

2. Line up your training materials – and diversify the format

The second point of advice from Inna at iGMS, that of having detailed training documentation to share with the new hire, is also crucial to a standardized process for onboarding remote employees.

“Documenting the processes, steps, training, and related materials make it easier both for the trainer and the new hire.”

She recommends having training materials with easy-to-follow instructions enriched with visuals, creating how-to videos, and recording online training sessions for future reference. And, she adds, it’s better to be short, legible, and to the point.

“In the end, all these materials help build an internal knowledge base and make the process of onboarding smoother.”

Greg Hayes, the CEO/Founder of Branch Furniture, a venture-backed office furniture startup in New York City, also likes to have starting guides for new employees including all the information they need to know about their department, past and ongoing initiatives, and goals to aim for in their first week and first month.

“These guides help give them practical, tangible to-dos so that they can get active on day one,” Greg says.

As above, use templates to get started, and build from there. Be informative and make sure everything’s covered – more so than in a normal onboarding, even. These training materials give new employees a treasure trove of resources they can tap into if they’re feeling uneasy about asking colleagues for tips or guidance.

Keep the resources diversified. A folder with 25 wordy documents is boring – include videos, audio, infographics, and other forms of media. Make it interesting and digestible.

3. Have a handbook ready – packed with information

Similarly to #2 is an employee handbook. It’s the ultimate go-to guide for everything you want the new hire to know about your company. It can include:

• Mission, visions, values, positioning statement, corporate social responsibility statement
• Organizational chart
• Guidelines for work and code of conduct
• Benefits, perks, trainings, programs, incentives, bonuses, etc.
• Performance reviews
• Important dates for reviews, holidays, annual functions, etc.
• All policies as they relate to employment (i.e. parental leave, time off, sabbaticals, etc.)

There’s a lot more that goes into an employee handbook, of course.

Husam Machlovi has seen a lot of success in having a detailed handbook. He’s the founder of digital studio With Pulp, which operates fully remotely out of New York state. His company has served notable clients such as AMC Networks and World Wrestling Entertainment, and he’s found a lot of success hiring remotely.

“Something that’s really helped is sharing the company culture very early on. From the hiring process into day one.” says Husam. “We took a page out of Valve (the game development company) book and designed a fun and casual employee handbook. The goal was to share more about the history of our company, how we work and to inspire new employees.”

Like Husam, Greg has found a larger business benefit to having a ‘user’s manual’ for onboarding remote employees.

“It’s forced us to consider more than we normally would, as everything now must be written down and contextualized in critical detail.”

Think of it as an all-inclusive guide to working at your company and an opportunity to show off your company culture. Create an employee handbook using this tutorial. And you’ll want to check out GitLab’s comprehensive employee handbook which is available for the public to look at. If printed, it would be 7,100+ pages!

4. Have a pre-set schedule – and stick to it

You also want to have a schedule in place for the new hire. Preload a calendar with meetings, training sessions, inaugurations, introductions, 1-1s, and anything else for the new hire so they’re already busy from day one.

CEO Neal Taparia of Solitaired, a new NYC-based company that ties classic games to brain training, speaks to the value of a detailed, well-planned onboarding schedule.

“You don’t want new employees twiddling their thumbs [during] their first week of work. That’s an awful first impression,” says Neal. “Our HR leader with their manager schedules out almost every hour of their day in their first week to make sure they have a productive first week. It sets the precedent that we are serious and thoughtful.”

Tara Lilien, the Chief Talent Officer at Peppercomm, a communications agency located in NYC, San Francisco, and London, transferred her team to a fully remote environment in early March. It was a steep learning curve, but she and her team worked hard to determine the right touchpoints for new remote employees.

“Video introductions, a very solid orientation week 1 schedule, and a ‘buddy’ program allowed us to ensure that we were setting up our new hires for success even if they were remote,” she says, admitting that it was easier to have met new hires in person prior to March before getting to know them via video communication.

That being said, she’s pragmatic about the remote onboarding process:

“We acknowledged early that there would be a longer ramp up period to get to know the agency, our clients and our culture and spent time checking in with our new hires to see how they were doing at the 30-60-90 day period.”

In addition to the aforementioned onboarding softwares, use these calendar tools to organize a schedule in advance of the new hire’s first day.

Success can be standardized

Templates, software, training materials, an employee handbook, a set schedule. It’s really not that different from a normal onboarding process, as Inna says.

But there are some important differences – you’re utilizing tech more often, you’re arming your new hires with the needed tools and information to be able to work autonomously in their new remote job. And, in a remote environment where spontaneous meetings are nearly impossible to come by, you’re laying out a schedule so that those meetings still happen.

Now that you have a system that can familiarize the new hire with the essential components of the job, you need to think about the more nuanced parts of onboarding remote employees: building connections with colleagues, familiarizing the new hire with the company culture, and helping them feel like part of the organization. Yes, they’re the new kid on the block, but if you follow a standardized plan, they won’t feel like it for long.

The post Onboarding remote employees: A standardized process for the win appeared first on Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better.

Kevin Hancock of the Hancock Lumber Company shared one of his favorite quotes with us in terms of business survival planning: “In this life, there will be lessons. Those lessons shall be repeated until they are learned.”

So why not find out the lessons firsthand? We did, and picked up some great insights from those who’ve been at the front lines and lived to tell about it. Here are five major takeaways from what they shared:

1. Act quickly

The worst thing you can do is be idle in the midst of the storm. This is regularly advised by one-time Workable COO Grigoris Kouteris, who himself has been through 2008 in a management capacity. Doing nothing means your ship continues to sink.

Kevin – whose Maine-based family-owned lumber business was hit hard by the housing and mortgage market collapse of 2007-2008 – regrets that he didn’t do enough to keep the boat afloat at the time:

“One of the biggest lessons for me is to manage in real time. As a company, we waited much too long to respond earnestly to that crisis. We kept convincing ourselves that perhaps markets were about to recover. The longer we waited, the bigger the required adjustments became and the more perilous our situation got.”

In hindsight, Kevin realizes waiting it out was not the best approach.

“Any time there is economic risk, it is imperative […] to start making adjustments quickly, in real time.”

John Crossman, a writer and speaker for college students on career planning and growth – and president & former CEO of Florida real estate company Crossman & Company – regretted that he had to lay off people for the first and only time in company history, and acted quickly to mitigate further damage from the crisis:

“Once we restructured, we then pushed very hard into marketing and client relationships. We also got very active with trade associations. We felt that it was important to be as visible as possible. This was in the beginning of the social media era and we became very good at social media.”

Kean Graham, the CEO of MonetizeMore, an ad technology company headquartered in Victoria, Canada, found himself in the tough position of having just started his business in the midst of the downturn. He moved quickly to benefit not only his client base but himself as well:

“Getting my first clients was very difficult! In fact, my first client couldn’t even commit to a retainer. Instead, I convinced them by only getting a percentage of the increased ad revenues my company would earn for them. If I didn’t increase their ad revenues, they wouldn’t have to pay anything.”

Kean’s quick thinking set MonetizeMore on track to becoming an eight-figure company with 100-plus staff all around the world.

In short – even if you’re in a stage of damage control or mitigation, there’s always something you can do to soften the impact on your bottom line. That’s essential in business survival planning.

2. Make many small corrections

Imagine you’re driving an 18-wheeler truck down a highway in wintertime. You hit a patch of ice, and your truck loses its grip on the road. You start skidding to the side. What’s the worst thing you can do? Over-correct by turning the steering wheel too hard to bring the truck back under control.

A common token of advice in maintaining control of that truck is the ‘small correction’. When you’re moving at that kind of speed, even the smallest change in direction will have considerable impact. That’s very hard to do in a state of panic, but do it, you must.

Cass Bailey, CEO of Philadelphia-based marketing and communication firm Slice Communications, recounts that she started making quick changes as soon as she realized clients were being affected by the 2008 downturn. She noticed a decrease in overall marketing spend – a major source of her company’s revenue stream and a leading indicator of upcoming trends.

“Quite often, companies will cut their marketing expenses first, so we were able to act quickly. We made some changes to staffing, eliminated software that was used to make the business more efficient, renegotiated contracts with subcontractors, and reduced our fees. All of these things made us more competitive.”

Her company’s quick thinking in her business’ survival planning meant a rosier future: “We survived and had great years in 2010, 2011, and 2012. We made the hard decisions quickly, kept an eye on cash flow, and were willing to hustle.”

Kevin, who also shared insights on shared leadership in business in his book, The Seventh Power: One CEO’s Journey into the Business of Shared Leadership, attests to this as well in navigating a development that directly impacts your business.

“It’s better to make a hundred small adjustments based on the actual conditions on the ground than to wait, and wait and then a few massive corrections at the end.”

He also emphasizes the importance of everyone being involved in that process to mitigate the overall damage:

“Lots of small sacrifices shared by everyone (including the company) are better than cataclysmic change at the very end.”

The benefit of quick, small corrections and fixes also means that if you’ve made a wrong move, you can act on it right away. It does require greater attention to detail from one day to the next, but in the short-term it’s crucial to your business survival planning.

3. Maintain a healthy cash flow

Money, obviously, is the lifeblood of a business. Without it, there’s not a lot you can do. You must act quickly and make adjustments so you can stay afloat in the midst of the storm.

Wayne Lorgus, partner of Arizona-based advisory and consulting service B2B CFO, recommends thinking about cash flow at the first sign of trouble:

“The first question a business owner needs to answer is: if my customers delay payments, how long can I afford to keep paying my employees, suppliers, and landlord? Knowing that point is critical, and to conserve cash, the business owner may need to contact those suppliers and landlords to notify them they will be paid when business restarts. Employees may need to be furloughed or laid off to preserve cash.

“[…] Cash flow needs to be watched intensively to make sure the business can keep going.”

Wayne also recommended keeping an eye on new developments in government-supplied emergency funding such as the recently passed $2 trillion stimulus package which includes $500 billion for a major corporate liquidity program and $377 billion in small business aid.

Brooklyn-based Marc Prosser, currently CEO and co-founder of Choosing Therapy, a mental health content site connecting people with therapists, lived through the dot-com bust, the housing market collapse, 9-11, and now the COVID-19 crisis as a New York native. He says many small business owners are too slow to make decisions on closing or ramping down business due to the personal and community-based nature of running a small business. He suggests SMBs need to look at the numbers right away and start planning for different scenarios:

“I strongly encourage business owners to map out the financial forecast of their business over the next 3, 6, 9, and 12 month period. What would a 50% drop in revenue look like over this period?”

Wes Guckert, CEO/founder of the traffic engineering and planning consultancy The Traffic Group and an instructor at Harvard University, lamented the pain of having to let employees go in the wake of the savings and loan crisis and subsequent real estate crash in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Vowing never to do that again, he has a different strategy for business survival planning this time around:

“We have put into effect cost-cutting measures, including travel restrictions and, unfortunately, temporarily suspending monthly donations to charities. There is always ‘low hanging fruit’ that can be plucked from monthly budgets. Find it and act.”

Wes also looked at other cost mitigation measures in the spirit of ‘every little bit helps’: “We are contacting our banks to delay payments, we have suspended 401(k) matches, and I have suspended taking a personal salary. We have stopped with auto allowances since driving is limited.”

Money isn’t just a Pink Floyd or ABBA song. There’s a reason why “streamlining” is such a popular term in the business lexicon – it’s about making things less expensive and less wasteful budget-wise. You already have some funds in your account – the key is to live longer off what you’ve got right now because you don’t know when new revenue will start picking up again.

4. Innovate and adapt

Business agility is crucial at a time like this. There are always new opportunities, new sources of revenue, new markets you can pursue. Look for them in your own area of specialty – and capitalize on them.

Paige Arnof-Fenn of Mavens and Moguls, a marketing consultancy based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, saw three six-figure projects get postponed within a few days just as the stock market started to free fall in 2008. She acted quickly in her business survival planning, adding a “Listening Tour” in each city she had scheduled to visit for presentations and board meetings – including NYC, Chicago, the Bay Area, and Boston.

Likening it to what politicians do when on the campaign trail, Paige notes the idea was to not speak, but hear what others had to say. She made a list of big-name players, people she admired, and prospects, and heard them out – and they responded in kind, much to her pleasant surprise.

“With things so slow they were more than happy to get together and tell me what was on their mind,” says Paige.

“If you listen to what they share with you, there will be plenty of opportunities to help them. I did it when business slowed then and picked up several new clients, but you can do it any time.”

Paige picked up some valuable lessons that made her business stronger as a result, noting a shift in the services being offered:

“Our growth rate slowed and we shifted from doing mostly monthly retainer-based work to a project-based approach but, in the end, our clients spent roughly the same with us over the year. It just required us to sell in multiple projects as each one ended versus just sending out a monthly invoice automatically. The listening tour added some new project offerings for us to include which was great.”

She emphasizes that companies can easily do it now with the technology at our fingertips: “It does not cost anything; with social distancing now it is all video & conference calls and virtual coffee meetings anyway and you will get an earful.”

Mark Evans saw his summer camp operation collapse in the midst of the 2008 recession. Looking back, he recognizes where he could have been more adaptable with his existing resources as a part of his business survival planning.

“I could have used my sports fields to host sports leagues which would have really helped with side money. I could have also offered after school activities or even make deals with schools to have field trips to my facilities. If I had done this, I would have at least been able to survive one more summer, and by 2010, things were stable.”

Rick Terrien, a self-declared entrepreneur who has run businesses through multiple recessions, including a regional economic development agency in a rural area in the Midwest in 2008-2009, urged a quick pivot in the business plan as the crisis reared its ugly head:

“We needed to abandon traditional economic development strategies to focus exclusively on entrepreneurship and innovation,” says Rick, whose new book, Ageless Startup: Start a Business at Any Age, is scheduled for general release in late April 2020. “Our own economic development agency lasted until the recovery had fully kicked in and it wasn’t needed on the front lines any longer.”

To that point, Rick highlights the importance of business agility:

“Innovate, innovate, innovate. Launch new products and services. Enter new markets. Launch new businesses. Create new partners. The world will emerge from this but it will need new approaches to most everything.”

You can act quickly – and many of those actions can be positive rather than mitigative.

5. Diversify, diversify, diversify

It’s always interesting to see what kinds of animals would survive if their main source of survival was taken away or if they were moved to a different and unfamiliar environment. Panda bears, for instance, are notoriously fragile because of their limited diet which consists almost exclusively of bamboo stems, leaves, and shoots. If they lose their one source of survival, that’s it.

Raccoons, rats, cockroaches, and yes, humans, are far more adaptable – all survive relatively anywhere because they can eat just about anything. That’s the power of diversifying your sources of survival. Same applies to business survival planning.

Rick focused on helping companies develop and launch new products during the recession so that they’d be ready to grow through new and differentiated products.

He’s now moved to Pittsburgh to continue this work and urges other entrepreneurs to recognize the opportunities in this new crisis:

“The story seems eerily similar. […] Existing companies, especially those in food, need to use this time to develop new, stronger product lines, with more secure and stable supply chains.”

Wes at Traffic Group advises the same:

“Our businesses survived the last recession because we were not tied to a single portion of the real estate and traffic engineering industry. We diversified after 1992. We provided services to both government and the private sector. This became a goal of mine as a result of the 1992 real estate crash caused by the savings and loan crisis.

“Our sales dropped 33% as part of the Great Recession, but we survived because we had been through trying times before and knew what it took to be successful.”

What’s unique about the COVID-19 crisis is the way in which some industries – such as hospitality and events management – have been hit hard while others including supply chains and e-commerce have benefited hugely. If you have a business with a unique niche serving more than one industry, you can survive on the healthier revenue source for the time being. Just don’t be the panda bear.

The ground is always fertile

John F. Kennedy famously said: “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis’. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity.”

In the current crisis – and in previous ones, too – there are many dangers that need to be recognized. This isn’t about hoarding toilet paper and masks and reselling them at a hundred times their value, but rather, being the kind of nimble and agile business that can survive and even thrive in the face of adversity.

Mike Kawula, founder of HelpaTeen.com, a service aimed at supporting teenagers at the start of their career paths, noted that the birth of one of his previous operations stemmed literally from the ashes of the 2008 economy. At the time, he owned and operated a cleaning franchise in South Jersey of 40-plus employees.

“I was bored, saw opportunity and wanted a place to employ my team, should the market impact our cleaning company. I started an online company that week selling cleaning supplies and office supplies via a dropship model and by 2012 we were ranked the 144th fastest growing business by Inc. Magazine and had three warehouses.”

Even at the time, he wasn’t sure if it was a great idea to start a new operation in the midst of the fray. But, he adds:

“I’ve learned that the best times to start and claim your stake is when others aren’t thinking rationally. I know it’s hard for entrepreneurs, but don’t panic. Be nimble, be customer-focused and buckle in during tough times.”

Even if your business collapses altogether, that’s not necessarily the end of days. Mark’s own story is a testament to that. He now operates Summer Camp Hub, a consulting firm for summer camps that sprouted from that collapse:

“On the bright side, with my knowledge of summer camps and with the experience I had built over the years of running them, I ended up creating my consultation firm which has grown to be successful over the years.

“I am in a much better place than I was before the recession occurred, so like I always say, when one door closes another one opens.”

As in life, be nimble and adaptable in your business – and be open to whatever comes. That kind of optimistic yet pragmatic approach coupled with quick thinking and acting, can make all the difference in business survival planning through rough waters ahead.

The post Business survival planning in a crisis: Lessons from the front lines appeared first on Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better.

This call to action can and does trickle down to you in HR. The impact in the workplace is multifold. Office spaces are a hotbed for contamination – whether it’s due to sealed ventilation systems, open-office environments, employees going on work trips and coming into contact with others on a regular basis, and so on.

But guess what? Not everyone realizes this. “While 62.6% of office workers are concerned about COVID-19, it’s also interesting to see that only 41% feel their office will be a hotbed of infection,” says Gabrielle Ayala, principal of Propeller Insights.

However, it’s an inevitability: as the coronavirus crisis continues to grow, your colleagues in your organization – and even your CEO – will be turning to you for direction and support.

This is your time to step up and show that you’ve got this. You need to take leadership in HR and implement a quick coronavirus HR response. It’s also essential to your company’s overall health.

“Perhaps [office worker] awareness and sensitivity to this public health concern will drive proactive measures to keep the virus from entering their work environment,” Ayala continues. “More than 50% say they believe the COVID-19 outbreak will lead to more companies adopting a virtual office environment and are also in favor of using preventative measures [such as face masks], at the office.”

To help you with coronavirus HR response planning, we’ve pulled together the key takeaways on what you need to know and how you can act to build out your own response in your workplace.

1. Stay compliant

First of all, compliance is key. Sure, you’re fine if you address this as a company looking to take care of employees, but as Katie Clarey warns in HR Dive, businesses need to take careful steps to avoid the slippery slope to discrimination. It’s commonly understood that the virus originated in Wuhan, China, and that can lead to dangerous assumptions about people of Chinese origin – a clear rights violation.

Better to be safe in your communications and language, and address actions rather than people – for instance, you can say: if you’ve been to China in the last XX days, then we recommend working from home for a specified number of days as a precaution.

If you’re not sure what to implement, you can look at two federal laws that protect workers in the US: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The key is to not overreact as that could become a compliance issue.

2. Scale your response

Cathy Reisenwitz, head of content at Clockwise, a San Francisco-based calendar SaaS company, told us about three scenarios that their CEO Matt Martin presented during an all-hands meeting:

Level 1: Where we are now

• Wash hands
• Stay home if feeling “off”
• No international travel, etc.

Level 2: If the virus hits around 1,000 people in the area

• No more office visitors
• Cut down on travel to breakout areas
• Plan commutes to outside rush hour, etc.

Level 3: If the virus hits around 5,000 people in the area

• Mandatory work from home across company, etc.

Cryptocurrency trading website Coinbase has publicly released their communications outreach, including a clearly set-out plan for actions in response to specified triggers and benchmarks (at the bottom of the document). Its strategy is similar to that of Clockwise, plus restrictions on meal delivery and contingency plans for managers and teams.

It’s a good idea to outline all this in one place so everyone has the same information and they know what to expect in the short and long term. Having a scaled response plan in place also avoids having to bring out all the stops at once – which could induce unneeded panic in your workforce.

3. Adapt WFH and sick policies

The option to work from home is a common perk offered by businesses. This option can be an especially pertinent tool now. If you don’t yet have a WFH policy, you might want to build one out. Colleagues can also be reminded of the company’s sick-day policy – and especially, the option to work from home if you’re feeling OK to work but not quite well enough to come into the office.

Twitter and Square – among many others – are doing it already. A widely circulated memo from Microsoft has set down clear guidelines for working from home along with other essential information:

David Reischer, CEO of the legal advisory website Legaladvice.com in New York City, is encouraging some of his sales teams to start working from home as a precautionary measure, acknowledging the inevitable spread of COVID-19 in NYC’s large and very transient population.

“We would rather our workers start thinking about the idea of working from home now so that they can transition before the eventuality of the coronavirus arrives,” David told us.

“I think we will be ready when coronavirus becomes more widespread in NYC because of our early preparations.“

Andrew Discolli, HR editor of career service The Corporate Con/noisseur, emphasized loosening up existing WFH policy:

“I would recommend that all employers institute levels of flexibility across their workforce. This means allowing employees to work from home or utilize sick days as needed and in a manner that will maintain the health and level headedness of all staff.”

Simon Hansen, founder of a website dedicated to home brewing and winemaking called Homebrew Advice, adjusted the required hours put in by his colleagues:

“We now have lesser work hours in order to make sure that everyone gets the right amount of rest in order to recharge and strengthen our immune systems.”

Even country governments have stepped in to advise work from home. Authorities in Japan have advised companies to allow working from home to stem the spread of the virus, normally taboo in this notoriously work-conservative culture. Japan has already shut down their schools, followed by Italy, and WFH flexibility will be helpful to parents who have no other option but to stay home with their children.

Meanwhile, HR expert Suzanne Lucas advises taking a good look at your sick leave policy, because an overly regimented system can actually contribute to the outbreak rather than help contain it. She suggests opening up the allowed number of sick days, allowing for greater flexibility, and dumping the “doctor’s note” requirement.

4. Reduce or eliminate travel

A Reservations.com survey found that 43% of those surveyed would definitely cancel an international business trip, and 63% would “probably, very probably, or definitely would cancel” any business trip whether domestic or abroad.

Many employees travel – be it to sales pitches, meetings, other offices, conferences, what have you. Right now, with the emphasis on cutting back on travel, there’s likely to be understandable anxiety around business-trip planning within your workforce. Make it easy on your employees. Don’t put them in the difficult position of having to make that decision for themselves. Put in a clear policy with clear black-and-white decision-making protocols and stick to it.

The same can apply to personal travel either by the colleague in question or someone in their immediate family. The above survey finds that 66% say they’re not likely to cancel a vacation – which heightens the importance of clear policy.

Many companies are doing it. Take it to the next level by outlining clear scenarios, such as the following, to help your colleagues decide:

Scenario 1: I went to Lombardy for work on February 17.
Scenario 2: I’m planning a trip to China in mid-March. It’s for a sale that will be huge for our company.
Scenario 3: My spouse is coming back from a trip to Singapore.
Scenario 4: I booked a trip to visit my family in Tokyo in March. This was months in the planning.

A potential answer to any of these scenarios could be: “Contact your manager and be prepared to work from home for two full weeks on return. No entry to our offices or meeting with colleagues in person until after that.” You’ll also want to include information about absolutely necessary travel tips that apply regardless of whether the trip is for business or pleasure.

Andrew at the Corporate Con/noisseur has adjusted travel policy in his own company: “Unless approved by senior management, all non-essential travel to any location is currently on pause.”

And what if your company’s survival depends on travel? Lauren McAdams, HR manager and recruiter at ResumeCompanion attested to that:

“Our office has a number of employees who regularly travel to China and Taiwan for business trips. While most of these employees haven’t been abroad in the past 15 days, we still want to be as safe as possible. As a result, we’ve requested that anyone who’s recently flown abroad work from home for the following week while they self quarantine.”

5. Enable your employees

Many colleagues – and people in general – will be frustrated with their existing health support system wherever they are. For example, this recent Twitter stream from a physical therapist in Seattle who exhibits all the symptoms of COVID-19 – as of March 5, it was retweeted more than 120,000 times. As she tells it, she’s had to navigate the frustrating bureaucracy of the US healthcare system to not much avail.

You can enable your employees with clear and empathetic messaging on WFH and sick leave (as in #3 above) and allowing for greater flexibility in options and better enable them to seek out healthcare in a situation such as mentioned above. It will go a long way in showing your employees that you care about them.

6. Equip your employees

“The unknown is so much more frightening than the known,” says Canadian medical historian Heather MacDougall in the National Post on the heightened worldwide response to the crisis.

Nothing quells fears better than information. Educate your workforce on what they specifically can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to themselves or others, and you’ll assuage much of the potential panic. It helps to know that this is not an entirely uncontrollable situation.

For instance, encourage vigorous washing of hands. Buy hand sanitizer for every desk. Have a handful of thermometers at the ready (but being sure they’re not shared once used). Share updated information in regular memos via email, online chat channels, and notices posted in prominent locations online and around the office (e.g. the aforementioned Coinbase document).

Atilio Spaccarotella, CEO of travel insurance firm Rene Health in California, told us that at Rene, “we are following the WHO’s guidelines of practicing good respiratory hygiene, like sneezing or coughing into a flexed elbow [the ‘Dracula cough’] and washing your hands regularly with either alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.”

7. Keep your office (even) cleaner

Adam Povlitz, president and CEO of commercial office cleaning service Anago Cleaning Systems offered some best practices on maintaining a clean office space, citing his company’s focus on healthy workspaces around the world – which will help you in your own office sanitation initiatives (as well as those of your employees):

• Read the label of your cleaning supplies so you know what’s in them.
• Check the websites – many cleaning supply companies are updating their sites with information specific to COVID-19.
• Know your cleaning supplies – hydrogen peroxide with a dilution ratio of 7% or more will kill the virus. Most household cleaners are 3%, so you’ll need commercial-grade materials.
• Disinfect and wait. All disinfectants take time to take effect, i.e. left on the surface for a period of time. Spraying and wiping will have no effect. And do not use bleach.
• Time parameters also apply to:
  • Washing hands: 20 seconds or more using soap and water.
  • Alcohol-based hand sanitizer: rub solution in for 30 seconds and even up to 2 minutes to be effective.

You’ll especially want to maintain high sanitation in a sealed office space or an open-office environment or, obviously, both. “Open office spaces are among the worst for COVID-19, particularly if they are sealed office spaces without open ventilation and the air is just recirculated within the building,” says E Hanh Le, M.D., senior director of medical affairs at Healthline.

People are understandably nervous about this – a Bospar survey finds that 50.6% of Americans are worried because they work in an open office.

8. Educate yourself

The aforementioned Bospar survey finds: “A majority of Americans (52%) say the media is overhyping the coronavirus and 60.9% believe the media can help ease fears about the coronavirus by educating members of the public about how they could fight the spread of the disease.”

Andrew at the Corporate Con/noisseur says as much:

“Day-to-day, there appears to be a level of confusion and fear throughout our offices. Our primary concern and focus is on the health and well-being of our employees.“

Since you’re in HR, many people in your company will be turning to you for advice and answers. What you can do to help them is brush up on your real knowledge of the virus, how it spreads, where it’s spreading to, and so on. That way you can sift through the online noise and know what’s real and what’s just hype.

Some pages to get you started:

• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Coronavirus
• World Health Organization Q&A
• World Health Organization public advice
• World Health Organization Coronavirus homepage

9. Tech is your friend

Companies worldwide are understandably nervous about impact on the bottom line in a shutdown scenario. But technology can help you do business as usual – it can continue in a virtual environment.

Computer viruses notwithstanding, it’s impossible to contract sickness via the Internet – so meetings and presentations can still happen via video tools such as Google Hangouts or Microsoft Zoom. Communications can take place via online chat channels and email. Legally sensitive documents can be, at the very minimum, faxed (yes – fax is still a thing). There are also phones, of course.

Bospar’s survey finds that this is understood and expected: “51.4% believe viruses like COVID-19 and the flu will lead to companies adopting virtual offices.”

Michael Alexis, CEO of Teambuilding, talked about how his company launched a new wing of the business in less than 24 hours – enabling team building activities that can be facilitated virtually via online calls. “The expectation is more people will be working remotely, and still need ways to connect and bond,” he says.

Even your own work in recruitment can benefit from technology here. Numerous companies – including Amazon, Facebook, VSCO, Twitter and more – are utilizing video interview tools for candidate interviews.

10. Everyone calm it down

Finally, whatever the level of the situation, panic will not help matters. Staying calm is essential, and because you’re leading the information brigade in your coronavirus HR response, it’s up to you to ensure that everyone feels relatively confident and informed – and safe.

Andrew of The Corporate Con/noisseur, says: “We are looking to remain calm and ensure that our employees have access to the supplies and information they need. Keeping calm and understanding the guidelines of the CDC are our best bet.”

Many notable companies are even going fully transparent with their internal communications and policies in response to the virus. If you want to see what they’ve got, more than 100 company policies have been collected in this crowdsourced Google doc.

People are scared and unsure of what’s going on. This is your chance to help quell those worries with clear policy and clear directives, step by step, with full transparency and uniform messaging and implementation. Your employees – and management – will be grateful.

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