Time, money, resources – they’re all limited when you work in a small business. Between juggling your need to keep up performance alongside staff job satisfaction, training and professional development has a habit of falling into the background, especially as your small company grows.

But training is a vital component for any business. It’s what keeps staff feeling refreshed, operations ‘on point’, and reputation high on the agenda. Fail to invest in professional and personal development, and you will quickly find both your employees and customers looking elsewhere.

Irish unemployment is at a crucial low of 4.5% - can your company compete for talent? Getting the most out of staff training and investment could be your key.
 
Top HR Department Tips for Staff Training

1. Research, Research, Research

There is nothing worse for a time-strapped employee than being asked to attend a workshop or conference that bears no relevance or key training that will help them with their jobs.

Between the earlier alarm call to catch a train or flight, the stress of finding the location and the boring, overestimated speaker, your employee can be left frustrated with the loss of time and lack of learning. Meanwhile, you have failed to improve employee skills and lost out financially.

Doing your research on the best courses or host associations is key. Implementing a mentoring scheme in work can help senior staff identify what skills their junior colleagues could benefit from, while e-learning courses give employees the option to develop more flexibly, avoiding the dreaded stress of commuting to courses, or juggling family commitments.

By taking the time to understand which skills you need to improve in your employees and the best training options available, you can get the most out of the resources, money and time that you use as a business to develop your workforce.

1. If In Doubt, Ask!

Even in a small business, it can be a struggle to understand what your staff desire; what training they want and what skills or equipment they feel they need to do their jobs better.

While you might have an idea of the needs of the overall organisation, some employees may be more experienced than others in different aspects of their jobs. Some may have received training in previous employment, while others may want to develop some skills associated more closely to their particular job title and role within the company.

As an employer, you can maximise training opportunities by evaluating what the business needs as a whole, as well as ask staff to request training that they are interested in and feel would improve their jobs. Whether it is a certain course or provider they have heard of or taking part in Personal Development Plans during their appraisals to voice their own training goals, your staff can help you to invest efficiently in development, so you can get more bang for your buck.

1. After-Training Feedback

If a training course or conference doesn’t deliver, staff may feel unable to share that with you, conscious of the money & resources you may have used up to send them.

Implementing a process through your HR team, whereby staff can share feedback on the courses they have attended and their recommendations for future training, will give you an insight into the quality of courses or conferences you are investing in, and help you evaluate your choices for future professional development.
 
Train Your Way to the Top
All companies, especially small businesses, struggle to give up the time, money and resources to provide employee development and training. Weeding out the useful from the irrelevant courses, as well as recognising staff training goals will help you to invest in the right training for the right person, at the right time.

​Make sure your resources aren’t wasted – research and use your HR team to ask staff the right questions, before and after you embark on your training journey. 

Irish professionals are taking their career beyond the limits of the 9-5 contract with the side hustle and improving their quality of life in the process.

Known as ‘slashies’ because their job title contains more than one occupation, these workers create a secondary job for themselves by turning a hobby into a second source of income. 

With Generations Y and Z entering the world of work, this multi-faceted professional lifestyle is here to stay as today’s worker becomes more and more professionally multi-faceted.

Employers may think ‘Why should I risk hiring a side hustler?’. Anyone not 100% dedicated to the company is a liability, right?

Wrong.

Having a passion outside of the business doesn’t make workers any less dedicated within the business, it allows them a creative outlet which speaks to who they are.

Against the background of high competition for talented staff, it is vital that employees’ hobbies are accepted and supported especially when they turn it into a side business!

While there are no official Irish statistics, the Independent revealed that almost two-fifths of UK employees have a side hustle and this figure is expected to continue to grow.

Are you ready to find out why these individuals are key to your workplace’s future? 
 
Here are the HR Department’s top 5 reasons why you should encourage your workers get in on the hustle…

1. Passion

Your employees’ passions come in all different forms so it’s important to encourage them to pursue them. Support for their personal interests outside of work will upkeep their passion for their job with you. This zeal will add a quality to employees’ work which is otherwise difficult to manufacture.

Encouraging new lifestyles for your workers to accommodate their outside interests whether through remote working or some other method will drive employee motivation during working hours because their personal needs are being met.

1. Security For You and For Them

With multiple sources of income, your employees will have improved job security and therefore, an improved sense of wellbeing. With less stress about paying for their expenses, employees will be more content with their salary.

This is not to suggest that you shouldn’t promote employees who deserve it but for SMEs who have less to spend on wages, it can be a great way of building profits until you can properly afford raises and other accolades for team members.

1. Highly Employable

One fear of employers is that the side hustle will detract from their primary job which is vastly untrue. In fact, a Forbes study revealed that 48% of side hustlers spend less than five hours a week on their external projects.  

Why are we put off by those who have start-ups or other businesses and yet we ask for self-starters on our job advertisements?

Those who are personally motivated to generate success in their spare time are often the types of individuals who take initiative and are very organised and it is these individuals who bring multiple types of experience which are invaluable to your SME!  

1. A Chance to Infuse Meaning 

Many employers focus on how their employees find meaning from their job but what about the meaning they find in their personal endeavours?

Helping employees find meaning in their life helps employees get into a forward-thinking mindset in which they feel able to create their future.

This boost in personal agency will help them feel more empowered to provide high-quality customer service and to be an integral contributor to the team.

A commitment to your employees’ meaning of life outside of work is going the extra mile for them, a gesture which will likely breed loyalty and emotional connection to your workplace.

1. The Opportunity for a Healthy Employer-Employee Relationship

One of the negative stereotypes about side hustlers is that their daily performance becomes drained by moonlighting.

It’s important to remember that a part-time passion doesn’t mean that their productivity during their full-time hours is necessarily in jeopardy.

Often while their side hustle brings them extra money and fulfilment, employees will want to stay in their fulltime job for the salary, stability and benefits it offers.

Building a give-and-take relationship with those who do other forms of work could unexpectedly boost the health of your business processes.  

An example of how this could be done would be to communicate that their other work can’t be completed during working hours but respect that you have no sway over what they work on in their own time. Boundaries and respect from both parties breed a stronger relationship.
 
Side Hustle in a Nutshell
We need to rewrite the narrative of the fickle side hustler as making passions a reality is key to your employees’ self-actualisation.

Side hustlers who are supported in their passions will feel more fulfilled and can therefore bring something extra to your business as positive company representatives, people with greater job security and unique skills from their wealth of experience.

While multi-faceted careers bring more to think about, it also gives you a greater opportunity to build a meaningful relationship with your employees, one that will last the test of time.

​So, how are you going to show your support of the side hustler today to embrace your workplace’s future? 

Internships have experienced a popular rise in recent years, particularly amongst those career fields such as the arts that lack the funds for full-time, permanent roles.

But it isn’t just the interns that need the experience; businesses are increasing strapped to find the right talent & skills needed. While Ireland remains on the cusp of full employment, this multiple industry skills shortfall isn’t set to disappear any time soon.

Summer is upon us, schools and universities have finished up, and so too are its students & alumni. Why not fill those skills, give young talent an opportunity to develop their experience, and attract your future employees by offering robust and valuable internships? Check out why internships are important for your business, and the pitfalls to avoid.
 
Why An Intern?

• Performance Upkeep

As Summer holidays begin, many of your permanent staff may be looking forward to switching off and catching some rays somewhere for a week. But what about your performance?

While it may only be temporary, if a business is without several team members, productivity can slip and lead to customers or clients becoming unhappy.

Having a trained intern or two already available can help to level off some of this loss, and ensure your business keeps up its performance throughout the Summer period.

• Talent Gaps

On the other hand, Ireland has never been as close to full employment. Compared to 16% when the recession hit hard, unemployment now stands at an all-time-low of 4.4%, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Businesses across the island are finding it increasingly hard to attract talent, with competition driving up wage bills as a result.

Implementing internships can grab great talent early and give your business the opportunity to ‘sell’ and prove itself with these candidates. This will only make it easier to retain this talent permanently in the future.

• Fresh Perspective

Giving a candidate an internship will help them to learn new skills and develop a greater experience in your sector. However, an intern can also provide a fresh perspective and valuable feedback on your organisation from the ground up.

Whether it’s their views on the management model, to the training that they have received, this retrospect will only help improve your business and operations.
 
Pitfalls To Avoid
While internships are great for your business, it is important to tread carefully.

• No Pay, No Way!

Young candidates are growing increasingly weary of poorly paid or unpaid internships as a sign that your business will not offer practical experience, and that you do not care for your interns and the skills that they can bring.

Put simply, people are fed up working for free. In our low-level unemployment environment, young candidates will go elsewhere in their hunt for new skills and fair pay. Offering a reasonably paid internship will reap the best talent and the maximum benefits for your business.

• Poor Preparation

Whether you forget they are coming, fail to have a designated staff member to mentor them, or you haven’t enough tasks for them to work on, an internship can quickly become a boring exercise of administration.

While it might be great to get some tedious databases cleaned up, an intern won’t see it that way. Instead, they will view your business as disorganised and a negative place to work, leading to a poor word-of-mouth reputation when that intern returns to University during the next term.

Poor preparation for an internship will leave you without your skills gaps filled, while the Intern will fail to learn anything new or valuable, resulting in a waste of both time and opportunity.
 
Time for Skills, Time for Interns
The talent crunch is on. It’s time that you use your HR department to address this, seek out the skills that you need and implement robust, valuable internships that will reap these skills and introduce new talent to your business.

​Ensuring internships offer fair pay, a great experience and a valuable opportunity for professional skills development will attract the best candidates that could form part of your future workforce. 

Irish commuting has never been longer. While the average worker now spends half an hour commuting to and from work daily, 1 in 5 workers across Ireland spend over 45 minutes commuting to and from work.

But what impact can commuting, and business travel have on your colleagues? Let’s delve into these risks and how your business can best support your commuting staff.
 
Irish Commuting in 2019
Ireland’s workers are spending copious amounts of time driving and commuting to and from work. On top of this, more workers are now travelling for longer periods of time for work-related purposes.

According to recent research conducted by iCarhireinsurance.ie, an increasing number of workers are travelling more frequently for business, with some reporting that they are willing to travel on trips upwards of 9 hours on average.

So, what is the big deal if these workers are more than willing to travel for business? The answer: workforce health!

In this same study of 1,000 Republic of Ireland road trip travellers, a worrying trend appeared: 75% of road users admitted to taking a caffeinated beverage instead of a proper rest during longer periods of commuting. In fact, only 14% reported taking a nap to overcome tiredness.

Irish commuters and their health are increasingly at risk due to business travel. Is your business taking this into consideration?
 
How to Support Your Commuting Colleagues
In any business, its people that matter. As the old JW Marriott saying goes, “If you take care of your people, they will take care of your customers and your business will take care of itself”; nothing could be truer.

Looking after your colleagues spans across every element of working life, from providing first-class benefits to ensuring all staff enjoy a healthy work-life balance.

The same can be applied to those employees that commute daily, or frequently travel for your business. Here are
just a few steps that your business and its HR team can take to ensure that those colleagues and their health are appreciated:
 

• Share Out Those Miles

Ensuring all relevant colleagues do their share of business travel will keep staff content and ensure that all members work equally.

While business trips can be great experiences for younger colleagues, and a breath of fresh air for the more experienced, they can also become a burden for staff who have family commitments to balance outside of work.

Taking time away for business travel can mean families have to reorganise school runs, or family events, often at the last minute. Sharing out those business miles will go some way in easing the burden for these colleagues and give everyone the opportunity to gain a great work experience.

On the other end of the spectrum, your business can encourage daily commuting colleagues to seek out staff members who live in proximity to themselves and begin to car share. Not only can your business go some way to tackling climate change, but colleagues can share each other’s commuting burden, take the stress out of travel and save on fuel at the same time!
 

• Set Realistic Travel Expectations

Your people, their needs and their health should always come first. Increasing road awareness through training can help colleagues to understand the dangers of driving while tired, and enforce the importance of regular commuting breaks, especially during longer periods of solo car travel.

On the other hand, as a business, ensure you do not set unrealistic travel expectations. Whether it’s a tight arrival time between flights and trains or expecting long-distance daily commuters to come into the office during extreme weather, putting travel pressure on staff can be both unnecessary and harmful to workforce health.
 

• Give Time to Switch Off

Staff can often place perceived expectations on themselves during travel. Despite waking in the early hours to catch a flight or jump on the motorway, colleagues often feel pressured to continue working out of hours.

While your business may need colleagues to respond to some emails or follow up on a missed call, setting aside time to rest during travel will give staff a break from these often intense work days; implementing standards of responsiveness will also clear up any ambiguity and ensure staff are clear of what is expected.
 
Hit Full Throttle on Commuting Support
In 2019, commuting is just another factor in the life of the Irish worker. As Dublin continues to expand, and other regional cities like Cork welcome new companies, commuting from other areas of Ireland will only increase.

​If your business wants to attract new talent and put current colleagues first, monitoring staff commutes, and work-related travel can inform where those staff need support. Whether its scheduling realistic connecting flights or sharing the responsibility of business trips amongst relevant colleagues, your HR team can go a long way in ensuring your commuting colleagues feel valued and supported.  

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
 
A simple Google search for ‘team building in Ireland’ now stirs up over 735 million hits – event companies have begun to specialise in team building activities for a wide variety of workplaces.
 
In today’s world of instant messaging and social media addiction, people are spending increase amounts of time alone; nine hours a day online for Irish teenagers. This behaviour will only enforce habits of isolation in your workplace in the coming years.
 
With this in mind, it’s getting harder to get staff genuinely enthused for team building. The very fact that these work activities are often made compulsory is enough to drain the fun out of it.
 
Team building is about forging connections; team building is about giving staff the freedom to choose their activities and make decisions as a team. Growing such bonds will make a direct impact on your staff’s ability to work together and your overall company performance.
 
Are you ready to rejuvenate your team building strategy? Let’s see why it matters and how your HR team can help.
 
 
Why Does It Matter?
 
It matters because without people, there is no product or service. It matters because any organisation, large or small, relies on the ability of a team to work together cohesively, to trust each other to finish their jobs, and deliver the product or service offered by their company.   
 
British entrepreneur, Richard Branson, has long advocated for an employee-first approach, “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients”. In other words, a well-developed and trusting team will deliver the best performance and results for your business.
 
To run a successful business, one must understand that healthy relationships are what create high-quality work and a positive company culture. 
 
To build healthy relationships, your team building policy must involve an element of ‘letting go’, of allowing your team to negotiate what event they would like to partake in and having the freedom to shape elements of your company culture.  
 
 
So, What’s the Best Method Since You’ve Rejected My Trust Fall Idea?  

To really support meaningful team building, you need to choose the kinds of activities that are going to form bonds for the long-term. Sorry trust fall, you don’t make the grade.

Engaging each member’s individuality through the team building activities you undertake will improve everyone’s emotional intelligence about each other; a major asset to any team.

Below are just some examples:

• Implement Resilience Training

Teaching your staff how to handle difficult circumstances will speak to every person in the room.

While it enhances staff wellbeing, it will also encourage staff to discuss their vulnerabilities. 
Allowing staff to bring out their personal side, when comfortable, can be key to improving professional relationships.

• Communicating Communication Style

 
Each employee comes with their own idiosyncrasies and to work together productively, these unique characteristics need to be accommodated.
 
One effective way of doing so is by openly discussing your preferred communication style.
 
By vocalising whether you prefer to pass on information better verbally or in written form can make hand-offs so much easier while also showcasing staff how unique their colleagues are.
 
Keep it Fun
While more in-depth team building activities could be exactly what your HR policy needs, old-fashioned fun is still key. 
You can shake up the tired format of the traditional ‘ice-breaker’ by taking your team away for a weekend, for an escape rooms experience or even by having a NERF battle in the office!
 
Time for an HR Approach to Team Building

The key to top team building? Choice and a concrete HR strategy!

Regardless of the activity, encouraging staff to choose team building activities will introduce colleagues naturally and enthuse them to take part.

Time invested in team building will improve the quality of relationships in each department, give staff an opportunity to form lasting bonds, and improve your company’s performance and reputation as a result.

​Whether it’s serious resilience training or something a little more fun, get your HR team involved and get a team building strategy in place!

If you’re a HR practitioner, you’ll know that familiar feeling of dread when the sun starts shining and with it, come a flurry of summer holiday requests.
 
Everyone has the same idea of catching some rays in the Costa Del Sol and switching their briefcase for their suitcase.  
 
According to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, each employee is entitled to approximately 4 weeks’ annual leave. 
 
If a lot of your staff take their holidays at once, it will undoubtedly derail productivity, especially if you’re a small business.
 
Regulating the summer holidays is a failsafe way to make your life easier and ensure your employees get the rest they deserve.
 
 
First Come, First Served
 
Sounds pretty simple, right? Wrong.
 
While a first-come, first-served basis is probably the fairest way to manage holiday requests, it is important to inform staff of the periods likely to be the most popular ahead of time.
 
Employees must be informed of alternative break periods available and made aware of the limitations of attaining summer leave so as expectations don’t become too high and be quashed thereafter.
 
Here are 3 top HR tips to ensure your annual leave policy is up to scratch!
 

1. Carrying Over Holiday Leave

 
Sometimes employees will take holidays en masse to ‘use up’ those they have accrued.
This sense of urgency often leads to crossovers between employees’ planned holidays and there’s nothing worse than telling one employee that they can’t jet off because of a clash.
While annual leave is usually taken within that leave year, it’s legal to spend leave within 6 months of the relevant year, with employer’s consent.
By negotiating with upper management about opening a carryover period for employees, you will reduce the perceived pressure on staff to take them while they can.

1. All Hands On Deck

There may be some parts of the summer which will be more popular than others but what will that time be like for your business?
If there is a specific time when you need everyone available to work, you can establish a ‘blackout’ for that period.
Creating a company blackout will ensure your business operations run smoothly during busy periods and will make sure staff know the available windows of time for their holidays.

1. Set Holiday Length to Ensure Everyone Gets Some Sun

Limiting holidays to a standard length will depend upon several variables including company size, number of staff and the frequency of projected busy periods.
Applying a limit will democratise the holiday season and lessen the rush to book vacation time as everyone will have the same chances of securing their summer break. 
Digital applications like WHOSOFF are a great way to help your staff envision the windows of time available to them and can also be used to communicate the tenets of your annual leave policy to staff ahead of time.
 
Note! Be Transparent!  
It is important to agree on a process by which employees are allocated time off.
As HR practitioners are often colleagues of employees in different departments, it is vital that no preferential treatment is given to friends of those who are running operations.
Furthermore, it is vital that all levels and types of staff are treated equally when it comes to leave requests, respective of their contract type and hours.
Share a calendar, either online or on the wall of the office, and update it with the accepted applications you have received.
This will not only communicate that you are treating each staff member fairly but allow you to book cover far in advance and motivate staff to work around each other in the planning of their breaks.
 
 
In Review
Implementing an annual leave policy will level the playing field for employees seeking that well-deserved summer holiday. 

Informing employees of carryover and blackout periods, as well as the maximum time they can take off is vital to ensuring efficient negotiation between HRs and employees.

Making a collective calendar accessible to all staff members will ensure transparency and will enable staff to be informed about their colleagues’ bookings when they submit their application.

In short, we can all go on a summer holiday but just not at once! Negotiation by management and HR is key to keeping staff happy and your business productive during the upcoming summer season.

In Ireland, we’re renowned for our needy relationship with the sun which sees us enjoying the rarity of an Irish summer but unfortunately, it’s often with outrageous sunburn!
 
Last year we were in our element as Met Éireann confirmed the 2018 summer as one of the hottest and driest for decades.
 
At the end of June, for example, a temperature of 32 degrees was recorded at Shannon Airport which was later revealed by forecasters to be the first record-breaking June temperature there since 1976!
 
When we’re not acting the maggot, we’re behind our desks and when the heat cranks up, so too can your employees.
 
While there is no designated maximum temperature in Irish Workplace Law, it is up to your HR department to step in when the sun’s out a bit too much.
 
Not only can a hot office become uncomfortable and distracting, it can affect employee productivity, and your business as a result.
 
This article will delve into some measures you can take to avoid any heatwave hassle and keep your staff cool and collected this summer!
  

Let’s Turn Down the Heat!
 
Adapting your space for a heatwave requires a mix of new additions and reworking existing features.
 
Insulating pipes or shading windows can minimise the heat-generating parts of the office while introducing air conditioning or anti-glare window film can be key additions to summer-proofing your workplace.
 
Further features such as a water cooler can make it easier for employees to stay hydrated and avoid heat-related illnesses like heat stroke and heat exhaustion.
 

Sending the Dress Code on Vacation
 
While differing dress codes exist to help a business exude a certain culture and level of professionalism, they can become a hindrance during Summer.
 
While there is no designation of a maximum temperature for workplaces, you have a duty of care to ensure the wellbeing of employees in times of increased heat.
 
The Health and Safety Authority states that during working hours, a workplace should ensure that:
 
‘the temperature in rooms containing workstations is appropriate for human beings, having regard to the working methods being used and the physical demands placed on the employees.’  
 
Since 37 ˚C is normal body temperature, the TUC has set 27 ˚C (manual workers) and 30 ˚C (sedentary workers) as maximum temperatures.
 
Offering your employees freedom to dress in more lightweight clothing and aiming for the TUC’s recommended room temperatures, you can take a bold step forward towards a better summer policy.
 
 
Sun Smart Guidelines
 
Having your employees’ best interests at heart doesn’t have to end at 5pm. But do you play Baz Luhrmann’s “Sunscreen Song”? Your HR team can offer concrete guidelines and information to individuals on how best to protect themselves from the harmful effects of UV radiation.
 
The Marie Keating Foundation have created a SunSmart Code to equip Irish people with the vital information they need to best protect themselves in the heat.
 
Their SunSmart code is compiled of 5 tenets which would be useful for all employees but especially for those who complete some or all of their workday outdoors:

1. Always wear sunscreen
2. Wear protective clothing, a hat and sunglasses
3. Choose a sunscreen that has good protection against UVA rays as well as a high SPF
4. Never, ever use sunbeds
5.  Avoid the sun between 11am and 3pm
 
To Wrap Up
Weather changes call for policy changes.

To upkeep your standards of employee wellbeing, you’ll need to innovate your office to meet the changing temperatures and humidity levels.

Introducing features like anti-glare window film or insulating office heat-producing features like pipes can significantly improve your employees’ quality of life in the workplace.

Lowering the rigours of the dress code to better accommodate employees’ needs in higher temperatures will help will upkeep productivity while helping people cool off.

​Offering information about precautions to take when in the sun is a further measure that will get your employees excited for sunnier days while inspiring steps to well-being!
 

With the continued growth of awareness about the importance of employee wellbeing and the degenerative effects of poor mental health, organisations are more equipped than ever to lend a helping hand.
 
Sickness absences from SMEs costs Ireland an estimated €1.1 billion each year!
 
Organisations that ignore the opportunity to curate a wellbeing programme risk high levels of absenteeism, lower staff retention, and reduced performance by employees.
 
Wellbeing, however, is not just about streamlining the business process, it’s about adding value to your employee experience and company culture.
 
So how can you help?

 
How to Create Your Very Own Wellbeing Programme
 
With such a tricky subject, the strongest HR campaigns will incorporate both hands-on and hands-off approaches such as:
 

• Therapy Subsidisation & Confidential Screenings

 
While you can plan many aspects of your business, what will happen in the lives of your employees is certainly not one of them.
 
From bereavement to personal crisis, a whole host of issues can arise for your employees and when they do, it’s best not to cross the line between the professional world and the personal unless your employee approaches you.
 
That said, this doesn’t mean you can’t safeguard your employees from afar.
 
Some organisations subsidise a specific number of therapy sessions per employee which can be extended depending on the verdict of the individual’s psychologist.
 
With mental health resources being so difficult to access especially in Ireland and long waiting-lists, providing this safety net for your employees could do as much as save a life.
 
Instituting confidential screenings every so often, perhaps on a quarterly basis, will allow your organisation to boost the wellbeing of your employees without compromising their privacy.
 
Going to the effort of providing these essential resources will also speak volumes about the priorities of your company culture. 

• Workload Regulation

 
The ‘work, work, work’ mentality has become something of an epidemic in Ireland, aptly dubbed as ‘collective insanity’ by journalist Katie Byrne.
 
While Ireland’s employees recently polled the top employees in Europe in terms of productivity, the Irish population also holds the title for the most chronically depressed (12%) in Europe.
 
It cannot be denied that the pursuit of success and the mass culture of presenteeism in the workplace has contributed to this staggering figure.
 
Both concepts have contributed to the belief that stress and productivity are synonymous.
 
Last month, Japan instituted a new law limiting working hours following the suicide of Matsuri Takahashi who worked an extra 100 hours in just one month.
 
While Ireland and Japan cannot be compared like for like, the negative effects of stress are clear. It is up to your HR Dept to limit overtime and encourage employees to take the rest they need.
 
 
Wellness Initiatives
 
The pace of change around us is intense especially in terms of the digital transformation presently afoot.
 
It often takes conscious effort to disconnect from the virtual, online world.
 
While flexi-working is a great way to give your staff increased ability to juggle their own lives with their professional life, you should make it clear that you don’t expect your employees to work out of hours for longer than necessary.
 
Creating wellness initiatives outside of hours can be a great way for employees to bond and will put your wellness programme into practice!
 
Yoga classes, workshops about the importance of dietetics and meditation classes are only some of the activities that can nourish your company culture and make it something which improves the quality of your employees’ lives every day.
 
You can make your wellbeing agenda even more unique by finding a way to incorporate restful moments into your employees’ workdays.
 
What creative ways could you employ to bring wellness to your business through the day?
 
 
To Wrap Up 
 
The world of work is in flux.
 
With the growth of tech in our everyday lives, the digital world is keeping us switched on, connected and drained.
 
While disruptive technology enables remote working, a gift to employees tied to other commitments, it also means there is more temptation to never truly ‘clock out’.
 
Investing in a wellbeing programme will give your staff see that rest is just as important to their performance at work as meeting deadlines is.
 
The HR profession can play a key role in integrating wellbeing initiatives throughout your company culture to ensure real benefit for your employees at all levels.
 
Through a mixture of hands-on and hand-off wellbeing provisions like therapy subsidisation, workload regulation and wellness initiatives in and out of office, you can make wellbeing the heart of your organisation for a healthier and more world-ready business!

With Mental Health Awareness Week just passed, it’s a perfect time to talk about wellbeing and how it can be improved in the workplace.
 
Out of 36 EU countries, Ireland ranked third highest for mental illness according to the OECD annual Health at a Glance report.
 
While in the early 2000s, workplace wellbeing was envisioned as more of a luxury than a necessity, the discourse on employee needs has drastically changed over the last decade.
 
Workplace design has been something traditionally confined to the vagaries of the employer whereas in recent years, its intrinsic link to employee mood has gained wider currency.  
 
Are you willing to create a work environment that catalyses wellbeing in your employees?
 
The Human Element 
As humans, we respond to stimuli in our environment including light, air and noise.

An environment’s impact on our senses directly influences our mood and therefore, your workplace design is a cornerstone of HR which you might just be missing.

o    Light
Some individuals can suffer with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) meaning that reduced hours of light spurs on depressive episodes.

Designers advocate the maximisation of natural lighting in the workplace to combat this and where this is impossible, the use of soft lighting which doesn’t strain eyesight.

You could position furniture in places where natural light falls and limit the use of blinds to when glare becomes an issue.  

The use of LED lighting rather than fluorescent lighting creates a more natural atmosphere and has the bonus of being more environmentally beneficial.

o    Air Quality
Poor ventilation can similarly impact employee comfort and can even cause respiratory issues.

Consciously choosing a HVAC system which has a high-standard code that can be will facilitate cooling efficiency.

Designating a room with a high level of ventilation for machines that emit exhaust like photocopiers or laser printers will significantly improve air quality.

Having plants in your office space will remove toxins from the air and generate oxygen, both of which will make the air in your workspace feel fresh and clean.

o    Acoustics
An excess of noise can also contribute to stress, loss of concentration and fatigue.

A busy work environment is a natural part of the working day which is filled with different activities and people.

This inevitable element of noise which has been referred to as ‘The Open Office Trap’ has been shown to activate the fight-or-flight response in individuals.

This quandary raises an important issue that not only does excessive noise derail productivity, it can spur on a surplus of adrenaline which if unchecked, can lead to higher anxiety levels.
 
Space Management & Creative Design
Creating a well-rounded design that works for both your employees and your company culture requires a mix of creativity and functionality.

• Overcrowding

Overcrowded areas which don’t allow for the choice of personal space have been known to trigger stress in employees.

Creating spaces which allow people to come together (collaboration) as well as part (breakout zones) means that you will have spaces for all types of work be it independent or group effort.

We can see this insightful type of design at work in the world-renowned Google Offices.

Their open-plan layout with additional areas like lounge rooms promotes ‘casual collision’ which promotes organic teamwork rather than a sense that the employee is confined to one space for all types of tasks.  

• Colour Palette

More than just a design preference, neuroscientific research has demonstrated a causal relationship between colours and mood, behaviour and even our physiology! 

When we see light (made up of colours), it changes into electrical impulses which travel to our hypothalamus which oversees our hormones.

Different colours consequently affect the endocrine system in different ways and our mood and stress levels respond in kind.

Not all people respond to colours in the same way and may have a very personal connection to one colour or a strong aversion to another.

Generally speaking, however, greens and blues promote intellectual stimulation and feelings of calm, neutral colours promote comfort while bright colours like reds and yellows can be stimulating but should not be used in spaces frequented each day.

Green is a wonderful colour which promotes a sense of tranquillity and can even reduce eyestrain from computer screen glares.

Plants are a perfect way to inject this beneficial, natural colour into a space so let your millennial intern bring their monstera deliciosa into the office!

Following a colour guide when planning your workplace design and using a variety of colours to allow for your staff’s varying relationships with them is strong step forward! 

Ergonomics 101 in Review
Applying ergonomic knowledge to your workspace will pay dividends for your staff wellbeing in the most natural way possible! 

Through conscious choice of office design, lighting, air quality and colour scheme, you can boost your employees’ moods and enshrine your interest in mental health in your company culture!
 

In the popular American Sitcom New Girl, Schmidt’s character is the go-getter of the friendship group who struggles to maintain a work-life balance.

In Season 5 Episode 19, ‘Dress’, this conflict of interest reaches breaking point when Schmidt has overlooked some of his professional projects in favour of planning his wedding to Cece.

He has even paid the only other male employee of his marketing firm to use a public bathroom so he can convert the male bathroom into a makeshift wedding-planning studio.

While the hilarious quandary is deployed for comic effect, the physical clash of Schmidt’s two lives has a truth underpinning it which is particularly relevant to Irish workers today.

This once glamourised ‘go, go, go’ mentality is undoubtedly waning with the recent upsurge of discourse on the importance of self-care and wellbeing in the workplace.

Last year, 216,000 Irish people opted to work from home in the interests of a better work-life balance.  
While this shows growing interest in the benefits of telecommuting, this is still only 10% of the population.

The Ricoh Ireland 2017 Workstyle Innovation Survey reveals that only 37% of workers have the authorisation and access tools to work remotely which seems to suggest that a chasm exists between employees’ desire for remote working versus those empowered by their employers to do it.

Could you give your employees more freedom to choose?
 
What Does Your Ultradian Rhythm Say About You?
Successful HR will make each individual feel recognised, even in a busy workplace composed of diverse departments.

Often the variables of each person can be overlooked when things get busy and a project becomes an all-hands-on-deck kind of effort.

Everyone’s peaks of creativity and productivity, however, vary based on individual factors, the primary one being the individual’s ultradian rhythm. An ultradian rhythm is a recurrent cycle of energy and attention specific to each individual.

At the beginning of the cycle, we experience an upsurge of energy and focus, and at the end, we may feel distracted or drained.

Since the optimum times of these cycles are specific to everyone, employees know best when their prime times of productivity occur and how best to assign those times to their schedule depending on the amount of focus required to complete different tasks.

Remote working grants people the freedom to arrange their timetable in a way which optimises their productivity.
Having the option of when to work, where to work and in what conditions will drive your employees’ engagement with material, grant autonomy and probably save your business time in the long run.
 
Constant Watch-Checking Begone!
Since Ireland’s landscape is dotted with distinctly ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ regions, commuting is almost a given in the life of the white-collar worker who often lives at a distance from their office.

The Irish morning rush has become such a normative shared experience that it has been dubbed the ‘international commute’ and sees employees travelling for up to five hours each day.

The stress, anxiety and frustration which usually accompany the pressure of a daily commute have been shown to lower life satisfaction in employees and that’s even before they’ve reached their desk!

With research showing that commuting stress is linked to increased negative moods, work absenteeism and lower job satisfaction, remote working is an ideal way to reverse these effects and improve your employees’ work-life balance as well as the quality of their contributions once they reach the office.  
 
The Makings of a Real-Time Company
The days of sacrificing mental health for career conquests are over.

The awareness of the importance of personal wellbeing is growing and is an integral value to the newcomers to the workforce, the Millennials.

Since only 1 in 10 Millennials feel they could open up to their manager about a mental health struggle, this is a key issue with which your HR department can engage to generate a present-day company culture that cares.

With this generation projected to change jobs up to 20 times in their lifetime, instituting remote working as an option will be key, not only to their health and happiness but also to safeguarding future talent.
 
In Short
Your HR department is in a unique position to disrupt the obligations of traditional employment and make way for the increased autonomy of employees.

Remote working is an option which will allow employees to work at times best suited to their work patterns and without the stress of traffic jams and delays.

Extending this freedom is vital to company culture, given today’s pervasive discourse on the importance of mental health.

​The introduction of remote working is set to redefine the limits of the workplace and will be integral to the next generation’s relationship with HR.