You CAN Get The Staff These Days: Improving Your Hiring Process

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Tired of hiring the wrong people for your company? Improving your hiring process could allow you to find better candidates, allowing you to build a stronger team of employees. Here are five ways that you can improve your hiring process.

Fine-tune your job description

Your job description should be carefully worded to attract as many applicants as possible. Advertise the perks of the job and use a professional sounding job title. Whilst you should detail certain qualities that you’re looking for, try not to make the job sound too demanding as you may scare off applicants – the bad ones and the good ones.

Use social media

There are all kinds of places to advertise job vacancies including job listing sites, newspapers and public bulletins. Social media is fast becoming one of the best places to advertise jobs. It’s also a great means of screening applicants to check that they’re the right fit. LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms for screening applicants as it tells you which previous job people have worked. You may also want to check someone’s Facebook profile – even if it’s set to private, an inappropriate profile picture could be enough to tell you that a certain candidate isn’t right for you.

Create an online tests and quizzes

Online tests and quizzes are great ways of deciding if people are the right fit for your job. This could be a personality test, a decision-based quiz or test of knowledge. Afterwards, you can look at the results and determine which candidates should progress forwards. Online quizzes could save you having a trial shift and could help to weed out applicants that are good blaggers.

Hire a recruiter

To save yourself time and increase the range of your search, you could hire a recruiter. This will cost you extra, but it could help you to find better candidates. Recruiters can be useful when it comes to hard-to-fill vacancies – these may require very niche skills or could simply require gruelling responsibilities.

Leave yourself enough time

The biggest mistake that employers make when hiring new staff is rushing the process. By giving yourself more time to advertise the vacancy, read CVs and interview candidates, you’re more likely to make the right decision. Manage your time effectively so that you’re keeping interviews on schedule and replying to queries from applicants promptly. If you’re struggling to find the time to do this, you may be able to get help from a senior employee of yours or use a recruiter to handle aspects such as interviews. On top of leaving yourself enough time for the hiring process, remember that you’ll also need to pour some time into training this new staff member and taking them through introductory paperwork. Many employees that leave soon after being hired do so because they haven’t been trained properly or haven’t been made to feel welcome – even if you’re hiring someone with ample experience, you company may have a different way of doing things, so help them to adjust.

Tips for Employee Appreciation

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All employees like to feel appreciated but not all managers know how to show gratitude. When employees feel valued, their levels of productivity and happiness increase. Here are some tips that will help you to appreciate your employees:

Notice Daily Contributions

You should not wait for the annual general meeting to tell your staff how much you appreciate their contributions. You can make them feel your gratitude on every day of the week. If possible, you should say thank you to each person that works for you daily.

If this is not possible, you can hold a weekly meeting and thank your employees at the end of it. Staff members can also raise their hands to shout out the coworkers who helped them. Love is contagious and fostering it at your workplace will create a better working environment.

You can even give out small, non-monetary rewards, that reflect team-spirit, hard work, endurance and persistence. Description sounds familiar? Well, the army has already found a very sentimental way to express this gratification using challenge coins. You can find more information about them here.

Invest in Them

You can acknowledge outstanding work by giving your employees a bonus or raise. On the other hand, if you want to recognize a specific contribution, you should give spot bonuses. Moreover, you can reward the staff by offering development opportunities. This refers to opportunities for learning new skills, presenting their work at large team meetings, or taking the lead on big projects.

If you pick employees as a way of acknowledging their contributions, you should tell them why you chose them. This will help them to reinforce what they are doing and increase the efficiency at your workplace.

Be Specific

It is important that you give recognition to your employees in a way that is clear and significant about why it matters to the company. Instead of telling an employee that you like his work, you should consider delving deeper into what you liked about his work. When you are specific about what you like, you will encourage them to keep doing the right thing instead of leaving them wondering.

Ask What They Prefer

Managers usually make the mistake of showing appreciation in the way that they would like to be appreciated. If you do the same, you will have a recipe for disaster on your hands. Instead of making assumptions about people, you should ask them how they want you to be shown appreciation.

Giving shout outs during a company meeting might work for some employees but others might find it embarrassing. Some people prefer text messages to verbal thank yous or small bonuses to vacation days. Each person is different, which means that making assumptions is not right.

Offer Flexibility

You should make it obvious that you want to keep your top employees by giving them the best job arrangements. For instance, if you want to appreciate an employee who is also a mom, you can help her to find the right daycare or giving her a flexible work schedule that works for her. If possible, you should consider allowing your best employees to work remotely for several days a week.

If you track their time using software such as Clockspot, you will know how to assign extra time for rest and relaxation.

Surprise Them

You can choose to surprise your employees with a shortened workday or unexpected treats. You should also opt for activities that benefit the company and its employees: team building activities and fully paid education courses.

Encourage Their Feedback

You should give your employees a survey that allows them to provide anonymous feedback. Ask questions about teamwork, career growth, and leadership to measure movement on all directions.

Appreciating your employees goes a long way towards fostering a good working environment. Moreover, you will notice an improvement in the levels of productivity at your company.

Tips For Managing Retail Staff Effectively

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If you are a retail manager or store owner, then you’re probably already aware of the difficulties in managing staff. However, business success is dependent on doing it properly. Now you don’t need to read up on the latest management techniques. By getting the basics sorted, you will be more prepared to deal with any problems that arise.

Maintain A Professional Attitude At All Times

Everyone is human and powerful emotions can crop up during the workday. When you’re stressed out or just plain annoyed, it’s important to remember that a professional attitude is key. Losing your composure in front of team members (and even worse, customers) can make tense situations worse and lower morale.

If you are required to mediate a dispute between two staff members, then aim to be considerate of their feelings while also adding a touch of authority. Doing so will allow you to resolve the issue quickly and prevent it from cropping up again in the future.

Keep Track Of Staff Information With Excel

The simplest way to keep track of your team is to use an Excel spreadsheet. You should make sure all their information is documented accurately. Remember people’s phone numbers, availability, and other info routinely changes, so make sure you update records when necessary.

Excel is also handy for recording staff holidays and sick leave. If one of your team hasn’t shown up for duty, then you can quickly assess whether they are sick, on holiday, or are, in fact, mysteriously absent.

If your Excel knowledge is a bit dated and you can’t remember an Excel text function, then it may be time to brush up on your skills.

Watch Out For The Common Flu

During winter, the dreaded flu can strike and quickly work its way from staff member to staff member. It is that time of year when you must be prepared for a sudden overload of absences.

To minimize the spread of the virus, try and send home any staff that are showing symptoms. You don’t want your entire workforce getting sick.

Be Doubly Prepared For Christmas

Although Christmas is far away, all business owners should understand that over the holiday period, there will be, of course, increased illness.Your standard team won’t be enough to deal with this influx of customers. Be prepared to bring on new recruits and offer overtime hours to your current staff.

Christmas is the time of year when late staff and unexplained absences can cause chaos. Make it clear to your team that this is the key time to perform.

You should also tell staff to schedule leave for a different time of the year (this may be easier said than done).

Final Thoughts

Retail managers get put under a lot of pressure, and the job isn’t for everyone. However, many people can succeed in this chosen career by being organized, respectful, and determined. Remember, by paying attention to the basics, you will be able to make life easier for yourself and the staff under you. So consider incorporating some of these tips into your professional life.

Making Life Easier For Your Employees With These Simple Suggestions

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Every employer wants happy employees. Not only should you want to care about your employees’ wellbeing, but retaining a loyal, happy workforce will save your business money and increase productivity. While a good salary and benefits are big motivators for your employees, sometimes it’s the smallest things that can make the most difference.

Take a look at some great workplace ideas that will make your employees’ lives easier.

Give them benefits they will actually use

Employee benefits can be a tricky area to navigate, with many possibilities for the types of benefits you could be offering your staff. When it comes to deciding what sort of perks should be available to your employees, why not consult them on what they’d prefer? While you might be trying to offer some cool and contemporary benefit options, you’ll find that better health and dental plans still rank at the top of the list of most desirable employee benefits.

Give them easy access to their pay information

Workers want easy access to their payroll information, so implementing an online system should be a priority for your business. Many simple queries can easily be resolved through an online portal instead of spending time on the phone to an HR or finance worker whose time could be spent doing more important things. Tools like a check stub maker can also benefit your employees – helping them to keep electronic records of their earnings. This can be a useful tool for contractors and freelance employees so that they can manage their tax returns easier.

Update hardware and software regularly

Technology that is ineffective or regularly crashes can be a major source of frustration to an employee. Not only does it waste time, but it could also be costing your business money. Making sure your equipment is updated regularly will help keep your employees happy, avoiding interruptions to their work. One way to cost-effectively benefit from the latest technology is to lease it, something that many businesses do to make sure they always benefit from the latest tech.

Offer flexible working solutions

Flexible working is a something that is becoming more popular within businesses and organizations, particularly those that want to take their example of best working practices from Europe. Flexible working allows workers to plan their working day to suit them, something which can help employees be more productive and ensures they’re more focused when they are in the office. Ideal for parents or those with a lot of other commitments, flexible working can make a great addition to your working conditions policy, while also helping your employees to find a better work/life balance.

Even the smallest changes can make a big difference to your employees, which is why it’s important for you to think about their wishes and the things that will help to motivate them more. Systems and processes that make your employees’ lives easier will motivate them to work hard for your company, leading to positive rewards for all parts of the business.

Encourage Your Employees to Be Their Authentic Selves – And Improve Workplace Morale

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Often people attempt to conceal their personalities at work. This might mean concealing their interests or their passions, but sometimes it goes even deeper. Occasionally, people try and change their accents, or hide their sexual orientation.

Sometimes, employees are concerned that their authentic selves will mark them out as too ‘different’ or ‘quirky’ or ‘airy fairy’ to succeed in the workplace. However, this means that they might be selling themselves short – and in the process, holding back your business.

More Authentic Personalities = Better Business People

People who feel more comfortable in themselves often have greater confidence in their own ability to get the job done. They can be resourceful and quick thinkers who are able to solve problems – because they feel empowered enough to do so. These kinds of individuals are only an asset to a business.

Individuals who are in a role that involves facing clients or closing deals should always present their authentic selves to sell well. Most people can detect fakery and avoid those people, choosing not to spend time with them and trust them in a business relationship.

Fostering an atmosphere of inauthenticity will only impact negatively upon your business. Your staff won’t be happy, productive staff – the kind that are so important to getting a job done well.

Encourage Your Staff to Be Themselves

There are many ways you can encourage your staff to be more authentic in the work place. Mostly it starts by allowing an environment where people feel empowered enough to be their authentic persons, while still being respectful.

It’s mostly about fostering trust between management and colleagues and allowing personalities to shine.

Here are our top tips on how to encourage your staff to be themselves.

1. Get to Know Them

Make sure that you devote some time to each individual member of your staff at least once a month. Ask them what their ambitions are and how they want to get there.

Frequent performance reviews create an environment of trust, so staff feel more empowered to give you honest feedback – something which will only be beneficial for the company.

2. Offer the Training They Want

Staff feel happier and more fulfilled – two elements which are crucial for authentic living – when they feel they’re moving into the future with skills.

If you have ambitious staff, offering them distinct training opportunities to foster their goals and talents. This will help them feel more confident and empowered in the workplace.

3. Don’t Enforce a Strict Corporate Dress Code

You might find a couple of Patrick Bateman weirdos who love wearing a full suit every day, but most modern men and women don’t. Let your employees express their personality in their clothes without judgement.

Most people won’t turn up to the office in sweatpants even if your dress code is more relaxed. People also pick up visual cues off leaders in their environment – if most people dress smart every day, they’ll dress well too.

4. Allow Employees to Personalize Their Workspace

Make sure people feel comfortable personalizing their space in their office. Allowing people to bring in photos of their friends and family, or adding a plant really makes the space more comfortable for them.

If employees have a work phone, let them choose the best phone case for them.

5. Hold Team Idea Meetings

Don’t wait for employees to come to you with ideas. You may never know but there could just be an idea that’s about to revolutionize your company and increase your profit margins in the head of someone sat down in a cubicle in your office.

Foster an environment where people feel comfortable enough to throw out ideas, to help people grow in confidence as they know their opinions are valued.

6. Encourage Structured Growth

To really get the best out of the people you work with, make a plan for each individual’s development. Make sure everyone has a set time each week to do their training or develop their passion projects, for the benefit of the business.

Remember: happier staff can only mean better things for your business.