Want to know what your employees are thinking? Ask them…
Employee engagement and retention are particularly hot topics, and businesses are rushing to support it by instituting changes simply because other companies are doing it. But changing company policy on the basis of a trend may not be the best choice for your company.
Consider this example: A lot of companies jumped on the concept of open floor plans in the hopes of encouraging teamwork and collaboration. It didn’t always have the intended results. A 2018 Harvard Business School study found that open offices reduced face-to-face interaction by 70%. That’s far from what companies wanted to happen.
Engage and Retain Employees
Surveying your employees directly is a better way to determine what your company needs to do to engage and retain employees. There’s one caveat to conducting this type of survey: you need to be willing to do something with the results. You don’t have to make all the changes suggested by the survey results, but you do need to make a good faith effort respond. If the results simply go into a metaphorical circular file, they will reinforce any negative perceptions about how your company’s leaders view their employees.
Identify Your Goal
There is a process to conducting an employee survey. First, you need to decide your goal. Suppose you want to find out which perks are most important to your employees. Design survey questions to measure that. It may be best to do several surveys throughout the year with each focusing on one or two topics in areas you are ready to commit to improving.
Next, you need to decide how the survey will be conducted (e.g., SurveyMonkey or company intranet), how long the survey will be, whether anonymous responses will be allowed and whether you want to ask open-ended questions or limit the survey to yes-or-no, sliding-scale or multiple choice answers.
Gather Essential Information
Finally, you need to write questions that provide essential information. This is where the rubber meets the road. Generally, it’s a good idea to (1) limit the number of questions and (2) group your questions into categories. Here are some sample questions:
Culture:
- Is the company is living up to its mission and values?
- Do you and your co-workers all feel protected against discrimination?
- Does the company’s culture align with your personal values?
Job satisfaction:
- Are your work responsibilities clearly defined?
- Is there opportunity to grow in your job?
- Are learning opportunities readily available?
- How transparent are communications with your manager?
- Do you believe your manager treats everyone fairly?
- Do your colleagues communicate openly and freely?
- Are job-related questions treated respectfully?
- Do you get the feedback you need to continue learning and growing?
Workplace satisfaction:
- Are you satisfied with your workspace?
- Do you have the resources you need to perform at your highest level?
- Does this feel like a best place to work?
Benefits and perks:
- Do you have enough vacation time?
- Do you have an adequate number of personal/sick days?
- Rank the company’s benefits in order of preference.
Copyright 2024
Why Atlantic Payroll Partners
The biggest payroll companies probably won’t have time for your business. It’s that simple, you’ll be a number. At Atlantic Payroll Partners, you’ll be the opposite. We’ll know more than your name; we’ll know the names of your children and their birthday’s as well. We will know you.
We’ve been helping Florida business by managing their payroll and providing workers' compensation quotes for ten years. We help keep payroll cost affordable by provided transparent PEO payroll quotes that allow you to plan your budget accordingly. Like the big payroll companies, you can manage your payroll and payroll timekeeping with us, while reaping the benefits of PEO risk management.
Thinking about payroll outsourcing can be scary. Make sure you know what to expect from payroll outsourcing providers; to make the best decision for your business. In addition to offering payroll, and workers' comp quote we offer: Human Resource consultations, Accounting services, and benefits such as, 401ks and Healthcare plans.
Four Steps to Building an Effective Team
Leaders can’t succeed without a strong team behind them. This is true whether your company is a startup with one employee who is relying on a few outside advisers or the CEO of a large company with thousands of employees.
The key to team-building is to leave your ego at the door and accept that some people will be smarter than you. People will have better ideas for moving forward or understand a complex idea you are having trouble grasping. That is, in fact, the concept behind why great leaders intentionally build strong teams: high-performing teams value individual contributions.
Team-building is a process. Whether you are the leader of a large company or a company of one, following are four steps to building an effective team:
1. Hire the Right People
Hiring the right people for the job is critical. Among the questions you should ask yourself is, “Would I be comfortable delegating some of my responsibility to this person?” Trust is hard to define, but it’s a critical element of team-building.
2. Orient New Team Members
When teams first come together, they experience a honeymoon period. They can do anything that is asked of them. Good leaders recognize that this is unrealistic. New teams or existing teams with new members are just coming together. It is the leader’s job to define the scope of work the team is responsible for, set any necessary timelines, describe each team member’s role, identify responsibilities and monitor how the team is performing. The leader must watch for conflicts that can affect how well the team is evolving as a unit.
3. Communicate with the Team
Communicating with and motivating the team is a big part of all leaders’ duties. The leader needs to regularly communicate progress on goals and changes to timelines or responsibilities while simultaneously motivating the team. The best way to motivate the team is by conveying the message that team members are working together on a task. It may be a subtle difference, but this is not the same message as everyone working individually on the same task.
This is the easy part of the communication function. The more difficult part is ensuring that the team is acting in unison. Teams are made up of people, and everyone is different. Some people are confrontational and assertive, whereas others are more inclined to listen than to speak up. Most teams have members in each camp. A good leader is able to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and everyone’s contributions are acknowledged.
In a worst-case scenario, someone may be disgruntled and leave the company. If this happens, the leader has to be straightforward and clear in communicating the reasons to the team. When that person is replaced, the leader must closely monitor how the new person fits in with the other team members.
4. Support Team Growth and Evolution
When the team first gets together, the leader’s focus is on overseeing progress and performance. Everyone on the team is an individual at the beginning, and everyone wants to prove themselves. After a while, this changes. Team members work together more easily as they grow more confident in their roles. They truly begin working as a team. This is what team leaders strive for. It is at this point trust has been established and the leader can confidently delegate responsibility.
We offer Human Resource Solutions and can help you build an effective team for your business.
Copyright 2024
Why Atlantic Payroll Partners
The biggest payroll companies probably won’t have time for your business. It’s that simple, you’ll be a number. At Atlantic Payroll Partners, you’ll be the opposite. We’ll know more than your name; we’ll know the names of your children and their birthday’s as well. We will know you.
We’ve been helping Florida business by managing their payroll and providing workers' compensation quotes for ten years. We help keep payroll cost affordable by provided transparent PEO payroll quotes that allow you to plan your budget accordingly. Like the big payroll companies, you can manage your payroll and payroll timekeeping with us, while reaping the benefits of PEO risk management.
Thinking about payroll outsourcing can be scary. Make sure you know what to expect from payroll outsourcing providers; to make the best decision for your business. In addition to offering payroll, and workers' comp quote we offer: Human Resource consultations, Accounting services, and benefits such as, 401ks and Healthcare plans.