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How To Use Social Media To Benefit Your Company

22/2/2018

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Social media has become more than just a platform for personal use, with it now impacting the world of work in a big way. More companies are starting to realise the value that social media can bring to their workplace to help gain publicity, attract consumers and keep up with competitors. It is also a good way for employers to connect with their employees, here are some ways how:

Create a Social Media Network
When creating a social media network, decide whether it will be a closed system for staff only or an open one. It’s better to create an open network and promote your company publicly on the relevant platforms, this includes LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and blogs. Before signing up to your decided platforms, hold a meeting and explain to all staff that this is a way for all employees to connect with each other whilst encouraging them to share news, comment, give help and congratulate when needed.

There are messaging apps available such as ‘Google Hangouts’ that let all workers speak to each other virtually. Try to encourage employees to exchange news about the company on these different platforms as this will increase your brand awareness.
Keep in mind that some employees may see this as an invitation to use their own social media platforms during working hours. Emphasise that the only social media platforms you want to see on screens are the company ones.

Find New Recruits Fast
C.V.s and cover letters are still used in the recruitment process, but now thanks to social media, there is a faster way to promote job opportunities in your company. Not only can you post job vacancies to many different platforms with the click of a button, you now can reach out to prospective employees directly. LinkedIn enables you to search for potential candidates and contact those who are not even necessarily on the job hunt. Getting employees to spread the word through the company’s social media and then sharing through their personal pages is a great way to make it known the company is hiring.

Training Current and New Employees
Social media has brought a whole new meaning to training in the workplace. The method of someone training staff face to face on a particular day is still used, but the option to train virtually through social media is overtaking the traditional way. Different platforms allow employees and training instructors to discuss knowledge and understanding virtually at a time that suits them. LinkedIn also offers opportunities for you to find tips and advice in your industry and share the information with workers.       

Use Social Media to get Company Feedback
Searching social media platforms for any ‘mentions’ about your company will give you a good understanding of how you’re perceived by the public. You can then give fast support to those having problems with your product or service, making the customer feel valued. Use social media to not only check your company’s image but also those of your competitors. This will help get an insight into what makes customers dissatisfied and helps you to not make the same mistake as your competitors.

Online Surveys
Online polls and surveys are great for finding answers to critical issues, opinions on a new product or service or simply just about your customer's preferred requirements. Use polls and surveys to find out your employee’s thoughts as well as your customers. Emphasise that all opinions will be confidential to allow them to really say what’s on their mind. This will benefit your company as issues can quickly be noted and sorted and your efforts to help employees voice their thoughts will make them feel more valued.
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Social media can be time-consuming, especially when you are busy with other elements of your business. However, the pros do outweigh the cons as it gives you a proper insight into the needs and wants of the consumer and increases publicity, giving more opportunity for your business to grow. It’s a representation of your company values and gives the ability to capture people’s attention within moments. When done right, the social media world can really benefit your business.

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How To Prevent Sexual Harassment Becoming An Issue In Your Workplace

15/2/2018

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​As the leader of your company, you have an obligation to stop the controversial issue of sexual harassment coming into your company. Turning a blind eye to this type of behaviour will cost you in the form of low employee motivation, lawsuits and bad reputation. There are steps you can take to make sure that the office remains a comfortable environment and that your employees are handing in work, instead of harassment complaints.


Create a Sexual Harassment Policy
After establishing this policy, make sure it is clearly heard by your employees. Hold a meeting focused on the topic and start by defining sexual harassment. Follow this by stating that any form of sexual harassment, whether it be offensive words, bodily contact or unwanted flirting will not be tolerated. Emphasise that you will be following up any complaint received and that serious discipline will follow such actions.  

Monitor Employees Closely
After the policy related meeting, it is important to continue checking on employees, which will be appreciated by workers, as they will feel looked after. Chat to them individually about the work atmosphere, letting each one know that their thoughts are completely confidential. As well as speaking to employees, have a look around the office yourself and ensure managers report any potential issues to you regularly. The phrase ‘my door is always open’ needs to be emphasised as communication is key for handling this matter.

Train your Staff
Aim to conduct training for employees every six months. These sessions should focus on the problems that sexual harassment brings to a company and their own career. Teach them how to handle a situation they may be witness to or a victim of. End the sessions with a recap of the company policy and have a Q&A session for any enquiries employees may have. Try to have a separate training session for team managers; this is different to the general employee training as they teach managers how to handle any complaints received, along with the policy review etc.

However, all the tactics taken to develop employee awareness may not stop an incident from happening. You will need to be prepared for a possible sexual harassment claim and be ready to stop the issue quickly and effectively.  It is best for you to have more than one outlet for workers to go and vent their concerns. Once any complaint is given, no matter how big or small, it needs to be acted upon immediately. This can mean external investigation into the issue, as making sure it is an organised and effective investigation is more likely to stop the problem right in its tracks, before being taken to court. 

Once you sort out any harassment claims, you need to call a series of meetings. Start with speaking to team managers and then have a meeting with employees. Repeatedly emphasise that the issue of sexual harassment will not be tolerated and that any behaviour of this kind will have serious repercussions.  

These tactics are time-consuming and will cost money, but are vital for the ‘no tolerance to harassment attitude’ to truly have an impact on staff. It needs to be voiced from you and managers that this isn’t something to simply add into the handbook or to make the company look better. Money spent on training days and time taken to make employees aware is well worth it and is nothing compared to the costs of a sexual harassment case developing in your workplace.

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The Importance of Staff Engagement

8/2/2018

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Low workplace engagement costs the UK £340 billion per year, according to figures from UK PLC. Hence, as a business owner this productivity problem remains high on our HR checklist.
It is believed that one way to curtail the drain on UK businesses is by improving engagement, however a study from the University of Warwick has revealed that happy and engaged staff are 12% more productive, while unhappy staff are 10% less productive,. Another statistic states that worldwide productivity is at a measly 13%. These statistics show not only a problem for engagement in the UK but also globally, and the potential impact on business is enormous.
It may be time to change the way we think about engagement in order to solve the problem that businesses are continually facing. Companies today want to move away from traditional approaches to employee engagement, and so the following steps could give you some insight into what can be done to break the cycle.

1. Engagement is a Simple Choice
One of the biggest factors affecting engagement is the environment provided for employees, which is a leading element in supporting and sustaining employee engagement. Sometimes it is easy to believe that engagement is something that can be imposed upon an employee but this defeats the purpose of productivity. Engagement comes from within and once this is unlocked by your staff, productivity may become endless.

2. Behaviour enforcing Engagement
Normally the attitudes of staff members can be a key focus when it comes to engagement; however behavioural patterns can be an even bigger indication. Key behavioural patterns that are linked to engagement include:
  • Active participation
  • Accountability for work/performance
  • Genuine passion and fun
  • Creative idea cultivation
  • Curiosity and willingness to challenge the norm
  • Exchange of feedback
These behavioural patterns can be linked back to my first point regarding the workplace environment.

3. Rewarding your own Performance through Engagement
It is a well-known fact that the effort put into your work is directly related to your output, and this process is a key factor when it comes to ensuring employee engagement in your company. Whilst good performance is most commonly rewarded financially, it goes without saying that the next best thing is the positive endorphins released from receiving praise from a client. Following this thought process; engagement can be considered a reward in itself, which leads to a positive cycle of creating effective results that will keep employee engagement high. Most employees will feel proud to be able to pass on an example of their outstanding work.

So, how can I better measure and improve engagement?
Employee engagement is a personal responsibility which will hopefully lead to an improvement in staff mentality and a more positive input. Asking questions such as “How can the team collaborate to improve in certain areas?” gives a two level approach to engagement, both personally and as a group.
Engagement can be measured in various ways, including the most obvious responses like work being completed to a higher standard or increasing overall business output. We can also measure staff engagement through surveys that encourage staff to think about their role and responsibilities. This method will also give employees the opportunity to review their position in the company and become more conscious of their next task.
This approach also encourages everyone to get involved, helping employees identify their role in creating and maintaining a high performing team, which in turn creates a united “this is how we do things here” attitude towards work in your company.

Overall the process of engagement needs to become a constant dialogue, exchanging information related to performance between staff and management level. I previously highlighted the concept of feeling more engaged when succeeding and so it is important to remember that if you are succeeding as a manager, your staff will succeeding in their role.  

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​Looking for Ways to Keep your Top Talent? Tips to Ensure your Employees Stick with You

1/2/2018

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​Regardless of what your company builds, invents or sells, you can’t expand without people. Leaders from all over the world know that maintaining a focused and hard-working team is the secret ingredient needed to keep a business moving forward. Here are some ways to make sure this aim becomes a reality for your company:
Build Ownership: It’s important to ensure that your employees feel comfortable in the workplace, so giving your staff responsibility will help them feel valued. Try and make employees feel that they are involved in running the company and not just working there to benefit the boss. A good way to inspire individuals is to have each one become familiar with tasks their team members carry out on a day to day basis. This allows employees to bring their own ideas to the mix and will result in varied inputs across each sector. Depending on the type of company, you could have staff members switch roles occasionally.

Another way to build ownership in the business is to keep employees in the know. As the leader you will have a clearer perspective of what’s happening in your company than your staff do. However, try and not keep everything confined as top secret information as it pays off to share.

People want to look forward to getting back to their place of work on a Monday morning and feel satisfied in their job, so offering weekly or monthly performance feedback sessions is highly beneficial. Praising them whenever needed is a good way to make them view their job in a positive light. It’s also vital for you to be respectful of employees at all times: listen, implement their ideas and encourage them.

Mix It Up: Not many employees feel satisfied doing the same roles over and over again. So try and give them different responsibilities from time to time. This will enable them to develop skills while gaining more confidence. Not only this, but it makes them feel an asset to your company which will increase your rate of employee loyalty. Even though some leaders may feel that allowing their workers to try new things will bring a risk to productivity, it is more of a risk for people to become bored in work, so lessen the chance of them leaving by giving them new tasks.   

Offer Benefits: Offering workers an attractive benefits package will entice them to stay whilst also increasing motivation. Benefit packages usually include flexitime, life insurance and gym memberships. Training is another main attraction for employees as it allows them to increase their skillset and confidence. Offer a variety of training methods, such as training sessions, mentoring, teamwork and presentations.     
Presenting benefits like flexitime enables employees to strike a good work/life balance. This is something that is important for people, especially if they have a family that they will want to spend quality time with. For example, if an employee is constantly working day in and day out, they will not be able to see friends and family. This will result in a stressed and unmotivated worker, so make sure you are giving employees the chance to work flexible hours before they go to another company which does. It’s also a good idea to provide small rewards for a project finished well or if an employee has achieved a set target, as workers will appreciate you rewarding their efforts.

Schedule Regular Meetings: Having meetings on a regular basis with your employees will allow them to get anything off their chest that might be bothering them. A quick morning meeting everyday or weekly will make employees feel more confident in their work and they will appreciate the opportunity to speak out and ask any questions.

As well as meetings, it is a good idea to organise events every so often to help your team get to know each other. Many leaders are aware that having a workforce who are friends as well as colleagues will make them feel happier coming to work every morning, giving a high level of job satisfaction.

​For more helpful HR tips and advice, CLICK HERE to sign up to our newsletter.
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