Employee Relations

How To Handle Conflict At Work

Summary. Conflict is a part of every organization, though not all conflicts are created equal. Conflict can be a starting point for growth and change if it is managed properly. However, if improperly managed, conflict can quickly lead to a toxic work environment. Whether a conflict is personal, structural, or values-based, there are some universal […]

25 Take Your Child To Work Day Ideas (Office + Virtual)

Summary: Take Your Child to Work Day is a national day held on the fourth Thursday in April. It’s meant to be a learning experience that introduces children to different career possibilities. The following ideas can make it more educational, fun, and successful. The fourth Thursday in April is often set aside as Take Your […]

12 Corporate Retreat Ideas Your Team Will Love

Summary. A corporate retreat is an event that takes place outside the office, focused on employee well-being in an effort to boost morale, team-building, and overall company performance. The goal of these retreats is to get teams together in one place to brainstorm, work on a project, or define company roadmaps. Often a multi-day event, […]

23 Ways To Show Employee Appreciation

Summary. There are many easy-to-show employee appreciations, such as offering raises, bonuses, extra PTO, and extensive benefits packages. Additionally, you can publicly recognize effort, invest in their professional development, or simply write a sincere thank you note. If you know your employees work hard and that their efforts help contribute to your organization’s success, but […]

12 Employee Of The Month Ideas To Recognize And Reward Workers

Summary. Great employee of the month ideas include additional bonuses, extra PTO, professional development opportunities, and company outings. It is very important to recognize the effort of hard-working employees, especially those who go above and beyond the responsibilities of their position. That is why many organizations have an employee of the month program. There are […]

Retirement Gift Ideas For Employees

Summary. Retirement is a natural progression for many older adults, and as an employer, you want to ensure you recognize your retiring employees for their years of service. Offering a retirement gift is a great way to celebrate what your retiring employee has done for your company. As many employees age into retirement age, companies […]

Best Ways To Celebrate Boss’s Day

Summary. Ways to celebrate Boss’s Day include giving them a card, bringing in their favorite treat or lunch, and giving them a gift. If you are a virtual employee, ways to celebrate your boss include having one-on-one meetings or playing a boss bingo game. Unless you are the head of the company, everyone has a […]

Morale Booster Quotes For The Workplace

Summary. Sometimes we all need a little pick-me-up, especially when we’re having a difficult or stressful day at work. Utilizing morale-boosting quotes can have a positive impact on you, your teams, and your company. Although morale-boosting quotes might seem a little cheesy at first, you’d be surprised at the potential word they have to transform […]

Administrative Professionals Day: Ideas To Celebrate

Summary. Administrative Professionals Day is held on the Wednesday of the last full week in April each year. This holiday is set aside as a way for businesses to recognize the people that perform administrative duties in their offices. Learn more about what ties Professional Administration Day to Secretaries Day and discover some ways to […]

Types Of Workplace Bias

Summary. Workplace bias can be making an assumption about someone either accidentally or intentionally. This bias can be a conscious or unconscious thing. Common types of biases in the workplace are confirmation bias, appearance bias, and intuition bias. Bias can affect the workplace, especially when it comes to hiring new employees. Knowing and understanding bias […]

What To Do For National Intern Day

Summary. National intern Day was Launched in 2017 by WayUp for employers to show appreciation and thank their interns for the work they do. It is held on the last Thursday in July. Ways to celebrate include offering career advancement opportunities, throwing a party, and taking them to off-site activities such as lunch out. Internships […]

How To Make A Professional Development Plan For Employees

Summary: A professional development plan is a roadmap for an employee’s career. They often include short-term and long-term goals in terms of professional betterment and promotions. Ideally, they’ll coincide with both the employee’s goals and the organization’s goals. Creating individualized professional development plans for your employees can have numerous positive effects on your employees. In […]

How To Create An Employee Reward Program

Summary: An employee reward program is a way to acknowledge and reward hard work on the part of employees. If it’s a program, it will likely have rules and goals to hit to get a reward and will give an idea of what the rewards will be. Employee reward programs are an excellent way to […]

How To Respond To Negative Feedback from Employees

Summary: Responding properly to negative feedback from your employees is an important leadership skill. Feedback is an extremely valuable tool as it helps you to determine what’s working and what isn’t. It’s important to listen and make changes as needed after receiving negative feedback. Many people say that feedback is a gift. While it may […]

Team Building Exercises For The Workplace

Summary. Team building exercises for the workplace include a human knot and two truths, and a lie. These exercises help build trust, improve communication, and can unlock leadership potential in employees. Having a successful team is more than just having the top workers. Team building exercises are the best way to ensure that your team […]

Employee Appreciation Day Ideas

Summary. Employee Appreciation Day is the first Friday of March, and it’s a great opportunity to show your employees how much you value them. Give them a gift, do a group activity, or simply write them a personalized note to demonstrate your appreciation for their hard work. Intentionally showing how much you value your employees […]

How To Give Constructive Employee Feedback

Summary. To give constructive feedback to employees, be timely, meet privately, be clear, be specific, and be objective. You want to focus on the situation and not the person, but it still helps to establish trust and empathy with your employee to make a positive impact. Even the best employees, from time to time, need […]

Guide To Merit Bonuses: Reward Your Top Performers

Summary. A merit bonus can be defined as an incentive offered on an institutional-wide basis that gives all employees the ability to be considered for extra pay in the form of a bonus, increase, or promotion based on work performance. When working in an organization, many leadership teams set company-wide goals that employees are expected […]

Why Is Employee Engagement Important?

Summary. Employee engagement is important because it shows who is committed to their work and who is not. Engaged employees will be happier in their position, and they will be more productive and committed to their work. Employees can range from being highly engaged, moderately engaged, barely engaged, and disengaged. Employee engagement is an important […]

How To Create A Communication Strategy

Summary. A communication strategy is a plan centered on how to communicate desired information to a desired audience. It requires selecting a goal – what needs to be communicated – then a target audience, and then the best way to deliver that message. Such plans also make sure that communications across the company are consistent, […]

Promoting Internally (How To Do It, Benefits, Drawbacks)

Summary. Finding the right person to do a job in your company is a difficult task. It takes time, the ability to read someone, and diligence, and it can be expensive. Once they’re hired, you’re not done with the work yet. Training employees is also a commitment of time and money. Sometimes, promoting internally can […]

Good Feedback Examples For Employees

Being able to give good feedback to employees is an important skill for a manager. A manager’s main job is to bring out the full potential of their employees and make sure they have what they need to do their jobs. That means that being able to encourage them, point them in the right direction, […]

Skills Assessment Test For Employees

Summary. Skill assessment tests are a way for employers to determine an employee’s skill set before hiring them. They are also sometimes used to see how effective a training program is in terms of learning and knowledge retention. They can be either a written exam, a series of questions asked during an interview, or a […]

What Are Employee Evaluations?

Employee evaluations are formal reviews done by a manager on an employee’s performance. In most cases, they’re done on a yearly basis; however, some organizations do them more frequently. There should be a form to fill out when you do a review that allows the employee to see how well they’re meeting expectations, where they […]

What Are Employee Resource Groups?

Summary. Employee resource groups, also known as ERGs, are employee-led groups that connect volunteer members with similar traits or interests to promote diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Your company wants the best workforce possible. You want your employees to be efficient and effective, both as individuals and as a team. Yet sometimes, for your […]

Employee Recognition | Definition, Program Ideas, And Benefits

Summary. Companies need strong employee recognition programs in order to have a productive and healthy workforce. These programs should include social, formal, and informal recognition. The strongest companies have cultures of gratitude and appreciation, and you can foster that in your own organization by implementing employee recognition programs. In this article, we’ll go over what […]

What Is An Employee Value Proposition? (With Examples)

Summary. An employee value proposition (EVP) is a business branding strategy that markets what the organization offers to its employees in order to attract and retain a quality workforce. You want the best candidates and employees, but so do your competitors. When candidates compare job opportunities, they are thinking in terms of more than just […]

Designing Employee Incentive Plans (And Examples)

Summary. Employee incentive plans can help increase employee motivation and further the organization as a whole. These programs often include incentives such as spot bonuses, merit-based raises, and performance bonuses, as well as referral programs and profit sharing. Employee incentive programs are great ways to motivate workers and recognize their efforts. If you’re looking to […]

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) In The Workplace (With Examples)

Every business has goals and objectives that they want to achieve. KPIs are a way to put these down on paper and measure progress toward them. It can also be used to assess employee performance and the performance of the company in general. In short, KPIs are a way to track improvements, changes, and progress […]

How To Write Appreciation Letters To Employees (With Examples)

To write a appreciation letter make sure to include their name to personalize the letter, the reason for recognition, and include any specific examples.

How Much Can Disengaged Employees Cost Your Business? [Infographic]

Check out this great infographic by our friends at Villanova University which demonstrates how disengaged employees can be the downfall of any new startup or well-established business, and how business owners who invest in employee engagement practices will have happier, more successful and more productive staff.

5 Reasons Why Continuous Performance Management is Driving Organizational Change

What exactly is it that makes continuous performance management so agile? And why is it deserving of such a huge organizational change?

5 Reasons Why My Opinion on Performance Reviews Has Changed

I recently attended the Betterworks Goal Summit in San Francisco and during the course of two fantastic sessions, my opinion on the entire performance review process changed dramatically. Here’s why.

Take Care of Your Employees: Pizza Fridays Are Not Enough

Employees want to feel appreciated and valued. If you want to be a great leader to them and push them to achieve the company’s goals, here are nine ways to show your employees that you care.

How to Have Tough and Courageous Conversations With Your Employees

Often the key to managing an employee is to have tough, but fair conversations with them. In this blog entry, Christina Attrah shares her top tips to starting and finishing these conversations.

4 Reasons Employee Stories Are Key To Great Employer Branding

If you aren’t collecting and promoting your employees' stories, here are 4 reasons why you should start immediately to help promote your employer branding .

7 Ways to Tap Into the Collective Power of Your Employees

Even though most companies tend to forget it sometimes, the most valuable asset they have is not their market position nor their brand. It’s not even the quality of their service or product. The most precious resource every business or company has are the people. When your employees are skilled, experienced, and hard-working, it seems […]

6 Tips To Engage Gen Ys At Work

Gen Ys or most commonly known as Millennials, use social media during working hours, they don’t expect to stay with your company for long and they need lots of TLC to keep them happy. Here are six tips to help keep your Gen Y employees engaged and happy while at work. Key Takeaways: Get Gen […]

9 Tips to Ensure You Run an Effective End of Year Performance Review

A comprehensive guide on how to conduct a productive end-of-year performance evaluation for employees, including tips on setting goals, getting ready for the review, and communicating feedback that workers can actually use.

7 Undeniable Reasons to Encourage Fitness in the Workplace

Are you noticing that your employees are becoming more and more lethargic every passing day? Are they getting bigger and heavier? Do you need to boost productivity in the workplace? Then perhaps it is time to encourage your employees to be more active. In today’s highly competitive business environment, corporate leaders are focusing on cutting […]

5 Email Tips for Effective Leadership

An effective leader has to be consistent in their communication with both employees and business partners. Use these 5 email tips to establish effective leadership and correctly depict all your ideas through email communication.

8 Ways A Boss Can Have A Positive Impact On Employees

Here are 8 of my most memorable manager (as opposed to management) moments … some of my fondest memories of my former bosses, which upon reflection, were also some of the pivotal moments of my career.

6 Reasons Why Workplace Group Activities Will Keep A Business Thriving

Workplace group activities can help when it comes to building team motivation and encouraging employees to strive and work harder while maintaining a common goal and objective in mind.

7 Tips To Avoid Being Called A Bully At Work

Why does the term “bullying” get bandied around so much in an era where a focus on performance management, productivity, team harmony, and wellbeing at work seems to influence much corporate HR strategy?

What Does Employee-Owned Mean?

The term ‘employee-owned’ may leave many scratching their heads. The concept of employees owning the company they work for may seem strange, but it’s actually a rare and exciting term that refers to a business having an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP). This means employees own shares in their company. Employee ownership is a broad […]

How To Write A Letter of Recommendation For An Employee (With Examples)

A letter of recommendation is known by many different names, such as a recommendation letter, a letter of reference, a reference letter, or even just a reference. As this is a letter specifically for an employee, it will likely be for another job, which would mean it could also be called an employment reference or […]

How To Write Better Emails To Your Employees

Sending too many internal emails or not paying enough attention to what you’re saying can turn employees off and disengage them. There are better ways to ensure that your emails actually accomplish what you want them to do. Check out this guest post from Susan Guillory.

How to Prepare Managers to Communicate Change

Here are three ways to help managers succeed when the time comes to communicate any form of change in the business.

Are Your Employees Stealing Time?

It is estimated that the average employee ‘steals’ between 4 and 5 hours a week from their employer, which adds up to one full working week every year. This is costing businesses hundreds of billions of dollars a year worldwide.

What Is Employee Relations?

Employee relations is a term that’s used to explain what a company does to maintain a good relationship with employees. Many people falsely assume that employee relations and human resources are the same things. It is true that many companies do task their human resources department with employee relations, but some have an individual or […]

Ways To Improve Employee Happiness And Increase Profit

Here are 10 things you can do immediately to ensure you have happy employees and improve your bottom line.

5 Essential Factors of Successful Employee Evaluations

Employee performance evaluations occur in nearly every organization. Whilst approaches differ within every organization, the goal is often the same - to set and help manage expectations with our workforce. Below are five things you can employ to help in your discussions with your employees about their performance.

How to Increase Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a buzzword in business today, but what is it really, and how do you get it? Read further to understand why engagement is important and discover some tips on how to boost employee engagement in your company. Key Takeaways Employee engagement is not the same as job satisfaction or retention. There are […]

Generation Z Characteristics In The Workplace

Generation Z refers to people who were born between 1995 and 2015. If you’re doing the math, you’ve figured that some of them have already entered the workplace. This might leave you wondering what to expect from Gen Z and what their workplace habits are and will be. Key Takeaways: Generation Z refers to people […]

How To Conduct A Performance Appraisal

Your employees thrive on feedback. Without feedback and constructive criticism, it’s difficult for them to know where they’re succeeding, where they can do better, and what their future at the company might look like. That’s why performance appraisals are such an important tool to utilize in helping your employees thrive. Whether your employee is performing […]

How To Conduct A Performance Review

When you run a business, your employees’ morale is one of the most important things you should focus on maintaining. When your employees are happy and content, they are ultimately more productive in the workplace and provide the company with better work. A great way to ensure employee happiness and productivity is with a performance […]

Employee Appreciation Quotes

Appreciation and recognizing your employees can do more for employee engagement and retention than you imagine. When your staff feels appreciated, they work harder, turnover rates are reduced, they’re more engaged, and it prompts others to perform better. Let’s face it; some people find it difficult to dole out praise or even mutter a simple […]

What Is An Employee Assistance Program?

Life brings a variety of ups and downs. Sometimes negative experiences can fuel an employee’s unhappiness which can carry over to their workplace performance. When employees aren’t thriving, companies can’t, either. If a number of your employees are feeling unmotivated or unhappy, performance and productivity can slip even further. That’s why it’s important to have […]

How to Use AI/Machine Learning to Prevent Internal Communication Losses

AI and machine learning play a significant role in the recruiting process and in customer service. But did you know that AI and machine learning can also save organisations massive losses incurred as a result of poor internal communication?

How to Overcome the Biggest Challenges of Remote L&D

LMS platforms don’t only make remote employees feel included. They also help build a flexible learning environment that nurtures diversity and encourages continual learning and development with engaging elearning techniques.

5 Ways Online Employee Training Can Help You Grow Your Business

Traditional employee training can be very time-consuming and expensive. On the other hand, as guest blogger PJ Taei outlines, online employee training is a great way to make sure that your entire workforce is on the same page.

The Importance of Company Reviews for Enhancing Your Employer Brand

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Audrey Pilcher. Her opinions are her own.  For the past several years, employers in the U.S. have experienced significant skill shortages. In fact, the 2017 U.S. Talent Shortage Survey report by Manpower Group claimed that the percentage of employers reporting talent shortages was 46 percent in 2016 – […]

5 of the Best Strategies to Hook and Hold Millennials

Millennials are a product of this world, a force driving new outcomes and goals, the new social contracts. Let’s just list a few of the major changes you might still be grappling with when dealing with millennial employees. Careers are not centralized- No longer do you see people doing their utmost to do the daily […]

Why Employee Handbooks Lead to Happier Employees

If there was one simple thing you could do to have happier and more productive employees, would you do it? Having a well-written employee handbook, it turns out, can be a wonderful recruitment and retention tool for your business. 1. A handbook smooths out the on-boarding process Starting at a new company can be stressful […]

15 Reasons Why Millennials Have a Problem Setting Professional Goals

Millennials seem challenging to manage as long-term employees. The generation that felt the consequences of the Great Recession firsthand is stuck between setting personal goals and coupling professional life with its expectations and lifestyle. Setting short or long-term professional goals is challenging for this confused generation. Millennials may not always know the hows, whens, and […]

5 Top Public Event Tips for Tech Companies

Modern companies focus mostly on social media and content creation, but you shouldn’t forget that public events still play a major marketing role. As a matter of fact, a study reveals that 95% of marketers agree live events provide attendees with a valuable opportunity to form in-person connections in an increasingly digital world. Lisa Ortiz, […]

8 Savvy Ways to Perk Up Performance Appraisals

The idea of having performance appraisals can make team members feel all sorts of emotions. Some feel fear and anxiety, others may feel neutral or excited, or even entitled. As the time for performance appraisals approaches, here are 8 areas management can review in helping upcoming appraisals to be more valuable, insightful and inspiring. 1. […]

Why Educational Content is Vital to Your Sales Team’s Success

How do you make the most out of your marketing strategy? The most obvious answer is to give your audience something they’re interested in: something that would be useful to them and would benefit them in some way. If that’s the case, then why do so many marketing teams hesitate to include more educational content […]

6 Ways to Scare Your Staff Away During a Performance Review

It’s coming up to that time of the year again – it’s performance review season. And whilst there is plenty of advice out there for employees on how to prepare for their mid-year or annual performance review (depending on where you are in the world), it’s just as important for employers to prepare for the […]

Why It’s Important to Invest in the Employee Experience

Employee experience is something many HR leaders are talking about.  But what exactly should that experience be?  Aon’s 2018 Trends in Global Employee Engagement Report provides some clues. In this report we found that engagement levels amongst employees around the world rebounded to match all-time highs by the end of 2017. However, with 73 percent of employees […]

7 Ways to Deal with Low Employee Morale

Every organization goes through tough days where everything seems to go wrong, but ideally things get back on track quickly. There are also going to be some employees who are simply unhappy. The problem is when those feelings of unhappiness and dissatisfaction are far-reaching and don’t seem to go away. If this seems familiar, you […]

5 Ways to Tackle Workplace Stress and Encourage Employee Efficiency

In any workplace, productivity, innovation and efficiency go hand in hand. If you are an ambitious entrepreneur, you would want to cultivate these factors at your workplace. Fair enough! But is your workforce sufficiently productive and efficient? Consider this: Your employees energetically start their day stay laser-focused and at the end of the day somehow […]

How Business Leaders Can Actively Encourage Workplace Wellness

Thankfully, the days of working long hours in hot, dangerous factories while bosses bark from above are long gone. We’ve come a long way in workplace wellness thanks to past generations and their relentless struggle for better working conditions. But our work is not done just yet. As the jobs we do change, new challenges […]

How To Help Your Employees Get Better Sleep (And Why It Matters)

More often than not, when we talk about sleep we’re talking about whether or not we’re getting enough of it in relation to its impact on our health. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) last Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, approximately 30%, or 40.6 million American adults are sleep deprived. […]

The Basics Of Peer-To-Peer Recognition Programs [Slideshare]

Employers know that good compensation and benefits are great motivators to help ensure they hire the best and the brightest. Yet not as many employers fully understand the value that the recognition of their peers can have for motivating their employees. More and more companies are scrambling to find the employee perks that will set […]

Office Jargon – Can We Get Over It Please?

It happens in meetings; it happens in memos; and it happens in casual conversation in the office. Those trite phrases, often called ‘jargon’, that continue to get bantered around. After a while, they become nothing more than irritants. Some of them are related to projects, tasks, ideas, etc. Some of them are just knee-jerk responses. […]

5 Reasons You Should Have an Annual Employee Communication Plan

What is one thing you can do to set your employee communication efforts up for success? Creating an annual internal communication plan. A well-crafted internal communication plan clearly defines your objectives—the outcomes of your efforts—and maps out when and how you’ll communicate. The best plans also have a measurement strategy, including employee surveys and focus […]

How to Become Unpopular in the Eyes of Your Employees

Unless you’re a newcomer to the workforce, you’ve likely had a boss or two and through your experience have dealt with good bosses and not-so-good bosses. In some cases, maybe your boss was the deciding factor on whether to stay or leave a company. In short, good bosses can be hard to come by and […]

6 Ways to Improve Employee Engagement and Build an Irresistible Organization

Here are 6 ways you can improve employee engagement, build an irresistible organization, and become an employer of choice.

11 Employee Perks to Attract Top Talent [Infographic]

Your ability to demonstrate to potential candidates that you can offer great perks and benefits will help you attract your future top performers.

How to Give Constructive Feedback to Your Employees [Infographic]

You don't have to lose sleep when you need to give constructive feedback to your employees. Doing it well can actually help them to grow.

4 Employee Recognition Tips That Don’t Involve a Paybump

Here are 4 of the most powerful rewards for keeping your employees happy and engaged at work that don't involve a pay rise.

The Importance of Real Conversations When it Comes to Coaching

Coaching is a great example of where we sometimes follow a framework a bit too closely and then miss the key ingredient - the human connection.

4 Reasons to Implement an Employee Referral Program

Every employee is a walking job advertisement. A well designed and operated Employee Referral Program can bring qualified candidates directly to your door.

How to Retain and Motivate Your Scaling Team

Leading a team can sometimes be pretty damn scary. Here is a snapshot from a recent webinar we ran on how to retain and motivate your scaling team.

9 Simple Employee Recognition Ideas for Your Daily Routine

  Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Andre Janus, CEO, Cristaux International in Elk Grove Village/IL. His opinions are his own. We all work harder when we’re happy and when we feel that we’re really valued. The connection between appreciation and effort is primal, and even the most humble folks in your workforce want […]

How to Have a Difficult Conversation With a Team Member

Nick Hedges shares his tips for any business owner having to have a difficult conversation with a poor performing team member or a difficult employee.

How to Deal With Delusional Expectations in the Workplace

The notion of promotion can differ depending on whom you ask. For some it may mean more responsibility. For others it may equate to more seniority and a new title on a business card.

Why Performance Appraisals Could Actually Be Destructive [Infographic]

Here's a really interesting infographic which poses the question around whether employee performance reviews are productive or destructive. You decide.

5 Ways To Launch An Awesome Employee Recognition Program

Fact: Organisations that take the time to reward and recognise their people grow faster, are more profitable and are more pleasurable places to work.

Happy Employees: The Key to Growing Your Business

The secret to a successful business is not only excellent quality of products and services that are offered but also all of the employees within the company. Your workforce is a valuable commodity. They should be nurtured, developed, and also rewarded.

5 Simple Ways to Keep Your Staff Engaged With Video

Video serves as the perfect learning tool, as it is easier to consume than the written word. Here are 5 easy ways to keep your staff engaged through video content in your organisation.

How To Avoid The “Feedback Sandwich” When Evaluating Staff

Giving negative feedback can be stressful for both the giver and the receiver. The sandwich feedback technique tries to fix this by softening the “blow” of negative feedback by sandwiching it between two items of positive feedback. The colloquial term is a “sh*t sandwich" and nobody really wants a "sh*t sandwich" no matter how good the "bread" is.

End of year performance appraisal season is upon us!

Where has 2011 gone? Carols are piping through shopping malls and train stations, it’s almost impossible to get a taxi on any night of the week, people are walking the streets wearing reindeer horns, and you can’t find anything half decent to watch on TV. Yes … it’s that time of the year again. Time for […]