Top Companies That Adopted Objectives And Key Results (OKRs)

There are many companies which have successfully adopted OKRs and modified them based on their organizational needs and industry trends. Here’s a list of few companies that adopted OKRs successfully.

Continue reading “Top Companies That Adopted Objectives And Key Results (OKRs)”

Employee Management: 7 Questions Every Manager Should Ask from Unhappy Employees

As a manager, you may have heard the phrase: Happy employees make happy customers. This idea rings true as a pool of joyful and contented employees can serve customers better. Doing so will make customers a happy camper, whether they receive goods or services from your company. Ultimately, employee happiness can translate into a boost in your business.

Unfortunately, some employees in many companies and organizations aren’t happy. This feeling can get attributed to several factors such as unjust compensation, lack of benefits, stagnant career growth, zero-to-minimal employee engagement, poor management, and business burnout.

In most cases, these employees end up tendering their resignations. While some employees quit, others choose to stay to pay their bills. However, they become unhealthy at work, influence colleagues, affect productivity, and hurt the business.

As a manager, you do not only conduct stay interviews with your top performers and loyal employees. It’s imperative to sit down and talk to your unhappy and dissatisfied employees. Find out what critical questions you should carefully ask them.

Why It Pays to Have Happy and Content Employees

recent study showed how happy and engaged employees make customers a priority. 

The researchers used the Glassdoor database consisting of several insights about employment experiences. They studied its data and information about jobs, salaries, business ratings, and customer reviews. Their objective was to understand the impact of employee satisfaction on employee retention and not to mention customer satisfaction.

The results revealed a strong correlation between employee happiness and customer satisfaction. It showed that the happier the employees are, the better they can serve and the more satisfied their customers will be. It’s safe to say that employee happiness can lead to a boost in business.

Also read: 10 Actionable Tips to Boost Workplace Satisfaction

On a more specific note, here’s why it pays to have happy and contented employees:

  • Employee retention: It’s easy for unhappy employees to leave the company or organization. They don’t only hurt your attrition and performance, but they can also cost your business. Look at your applicant tracking system and how hard it was for your recruiters to hire the right people. When these employees leave, they’ll have to start from scratch. Making your employees happy ensures that they’ll stay for the long term.
  • Employee engagement: Happy employees are most likely to engage in various activities in your business. They’ll not only be active but proactive in a handful of ways. They can help contribute to the progress and success of your business.
  • Improved workplace culture: Workplace culture boils down to what the management does and how the employees usually react. If you have happy employees, you can have a positive working environment. You’ll have positive energies resonating within the four walls of your office.
  • Increased productivity: Happy employees in the workplace will always go to work on time. But not only are they punctual and always present, but they can also be very hardworking. You’ll be amazed at how productive they can be almost every day.
  • Quality output: Besides productivity, expect happy employees to deliver quality outputs. They have no time to rant and complain. Instead, they focus more on accomplishing their tasks and giving their best.
  • Customer satisfaction: With increased productivity and quality services your happy employees provide, the receiving end will greatly benefit — your customers. They will always be satisfied with your products or services.
  • Business profitability: All the benefits above, from increased productivity to quality outputs to customer satisfaction, can lead to one thing: A boost in your profits!

How to Deal with Unhappy Employees – Ask These Seven Questions:

Happy and content employees can do a lot for your company or organization. On the other hand, miserable and dissatisfied employees can negatively impact your business. 

As a manager, you must be a keen observer. As soon as you notice negativities looming overhead in the workplace, take concrete action immediately. Schedule a one-on-one dialogue with these unhappy employees. 

Most importantly, make sure to ask the following questions:

1. How are you generally feeling at work?

This question will either confirm or dispel your assumption about whether or not your employee is happy at work. It must be the initial question to ask. 

It’s like asking, “how are you?” However, the question gets framed such that it reveals your employee’s general feelings towards work. However, you have to dig in further with the following question.

Also read: Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire: Best Practices

2. Do you love what you’re doing in the workplace?

This question is a straightforward way of asking if your employee is happy or not. After the subtle initial query, you want to get the answer straight. 

This question will immediately confirm how happy or frustrated your employee is at work. Or chances are, your employee is generally okay but merely has minor issues to be remedied.

3. What do you love the most and least about your work?

This time around, you want to weigh your employee’s level of happiness. So it’s right to ask what they love about their work and what they don’t. 

While some employees are either downright happy or miserable, others have mixed emotions towards their work. 

So never immediately assume the extreme sides of happiness. In some cases, employees merely have a fleeting emotion towards a temporary work issue.

4. How are your working relationships with your colleagues?

Now, you may want to dig in further about the reason for the employee’s unhappiness. For the most, it may have to do with their working relationships with their colleagues that are causing them stress

For instance, they probably have a conflict with another team member. If that’s the case, you can let both meet halfway or put them in different teams.

5. What do you like the most and least about the management?

In most cases, the management makes the employees unhappy. They require employees to work hard to please the clients. These employees become burned out, thus wanting to quit.

As a manager, this scenario is the best time to get actual feedback from your frustrated team members. Have an open dialogue and allow them to express themselves freely. Be sure to collate all their rants and sentiments. 

Ultimately, let them understand what the management does and assure them that you’ll work on some areas of opportunities.

Also read: Continuous Feedback: What Is It and Its Benefits

6. Do you have any requests about your compensation and benefits?

Aside from the management, the salary is the primary culprit employees become unhappy at work. It’s all the more frustrating if they know that they are unpaid. In this case, you can only do so much in motivating your employees to work. 

David Patterson-Cole, the CEO and Co-Founder of Moonchaser said that the best course of action for any salary issue is to refer your employees to HR. 

He said, however, that “As a manager, you can teach your employees how to negotiate if you truly want to help them. Your company probably provides yearly appraisals based on the employees’ performances. You can help them justify their appraisal by providing performance reports.”

7. How can I make things easier for you at work?

The purpose of this one-on-one dialogue isn’t only to know if your employee is happy or not. As a manager, your primary goal is to see what you can do to help them. 

Once you find what area causes their level of unhappiness or dissatisfaction, you can find the right solutions to this. But on the other side of the spectrum, it is also the employee’s responsibility to find their happiness in the workplace. So it’s just right to ask how you can make things easier for them at work.

Keep in mind that workplace happiness entails intrinsic motivation. As a leader, figure this out and see how you can help your employees. In the end, it’s not all about offering extra perks or providing amenities. It’s about recognizing talents and empowering your employees.

Employee Happiness Translates into a Boost in Business

Employees can make or break a business. 

In general, employee happiness can boost a company or organization. As discussed above, it can ensure retention, trigger engagement, and improve workplace culture. It can also increase productivity and yield quality outputs. Ultimately, it can lead to customer satisfaction and business profitability.

But when you have some unhappy and dissatisfied employees, you must take prompt action. Be sure to schedule one-on-one dialogues with these employees individually. While at it, be highly critical in asking the right questions by following those recommended above. 

Once you get valuable insights from them, you can now decide how to help them. As a manager or leader, you have the responsibility to take care of your people. Ultimately, you have the power to make them happy and satisfied!

 


Want to know how Engagedly can help you mange your employees better? Request us for a demo.

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OKR vs. KPI: Differences And Importance

Goals are necessary for any business that wishes to thrive or succeed. And while most organizations do this already, measuring and tracking the progress of these goals is as important as setting them. Considering this truth, companies have come up with ways to measure performance, namely KPIs and OKRs. They are the two most widely used and misunderstood frameworks in the business world. This article will explore the following:

  • What is a KPI
  • KPI Examples
  • What is an OKR
  • OKR Examples
  • OKR vs KPI: What is the Difference?
  • How OKRs and KPIs Work Together? [Analogy]
  • KPI and OKR Best Practices

What is a KPI? 

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator, which helps measure the health of a company. They are measurable numbers that show or point to how effective your strategy is as it moves towards a set target. KPIs can also highlight problems in a business strategy. They help steer management to decide to continue at their current pace, quicken the pace or, if not meeting targets, improve.

Companies can set a KPI daily, weekly, quarterly, or yearly, depending on what indicators the organization wants to measure and how often they choose to measure it. We can set KPIs for individuals, teams, departments, or the entire organization. 

KPI Examples

KPI talks about business-as-usual metrics. In simple terms, it means what employees should be doing as per their job descriptions to achieve organizational targets. The below KPI examples will make it more clear.

Sales KPIs

  • Monthly sales growth is 30%
  • Average profit margin is 15%
  • Lead response time is 1 day
  • Quote-to-close ratio is 30%
  • Monthly calls per sales representative is 2000
  • Average new deal size is $5000

Marketing KPIs

  • Traffic to MQL ratio is 20%
  • Monthly MQL attribution is 100
  • Monthly published blog marketing content is 100
  • Average email click-through-rate is 15%
  • Monthly video impressions are 1 million

Customer Success KPIs

  • Customer churn rate is 5%
  • Monthly recurring revenue is $10,000
  • The average revenue-per-user is $1000
  • Customer satisfaction score- CSAT is 80
  • Customer lifetime value is $100,000

Product Team KPIs

  • Session duration is 2 minutes
  • Bounce rate is 35%
  • The count of weekly-active-users is 5000
  • Average product update delivery is 60 days

What is an OKR?

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. It’s a strategic framework that helps companies improve their performance. The process entails setting objectives in any area of your business you want to improve, then writing key results to reach those objectives.

It is a collaborative methodology that provides a match between the objectives that organizations want to achieve and the key results that help measure their progress. By tying objectives to small and measurable key results, the framework enhances visibility and provides actionable insights into every employee’s contribution and performance.

Unlike other goal-setting frameworks, OKRs are clearly defined, making it easier for managers and employees to track progress. By breaking down objectives into small key results, managers can create milestones that help accomplish challenging goals.

Sales OKRS

Objective:

Attract 50 B2B new customers

Key Results:

Marketing OKRs

Objective:

Increase Community Engagement

Key Results:

  • Create a customer community
  • Reach out to 30 industry experts/ influencers in Q1
  • Get 20% of customers to participate in the community in Q1
  • Interview and launch 10 podcasts from key industry influencers

Customer Success OKRs

Objective:

Improve Customer Satisfaction Index in Q4 by 30%

Key Results:

  • Conduct 50 customer satisfaction surveys every month
  • Conduct monthly interviews with 10 recently churned customers
  • Achieve a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 10.0

The whole concept of OKR is to identify an area that needs improvement, create a goal, which is the Objective, and then state how you should meet that goal, which is the Key Result. The goal is to get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be) by the end of the quarter or year. It’s strategic in its approach because it’s holistic compared to the KPI.

Also read: 10 Actionable Tips To Boost Workplace Satisfaction

Guide to setting okrs at work

OKR vs KPI: What is the Difference?

Let’s understand the differences between OKRs and KPIs through an analogy.

A parent wishing to know their child’s performance at school can do that by checking the child’s grades. Grades on individual subjects can act as a KPI. We can assume the target for each subject is to get a pass.

Imagine now that the student failed one or more of these subjects or didn’t meet the expected target set by their parents. A parent can use OKR by taking the subject of math as an example and then creating an objective to get good at mathematics and subsequently working on creating strategic key results.

The aim is to improve the student’s performance in math. The parent can then set different KPIs for various tests to measure the effectiveness of the OKR strategy.

Check out the below differences between OKRs and KPIs to get an even clearer understanding.

KPI OKR
Key Performance Indicator Objective and Key Results
Business-as-usual metrics to highlight performance Goal-setting methodology that drives higher employee performance
Used for performance measurement Used for performance improvements, enhancement, and engagement
Top-down approach only Mix of top-down and bottom-up approaches
A certain level of performance Strategic improvements in performance through specific initiatives
Ongoing process, usually revised quarterly or yearly Periodically, as and when objectives and key results need adjustment

OKR vs KPI: How They Complement One Another 

Understanding OKR and KPI framework allows you to appreciate them for what they do individually and how they can work together if implemented well. It’s possible to use both together instead of pitting OKR vs. KPI, missing out on both. This section will show examples of how both can work together.

KPIs bring management attention to underperforming areas. The reason companies have KPIs in the first place is to make sure activities are going on smoothly, so when a company misses its targets twice or twice in a row, it needs management intervention. OKRs are perfect for such a case. Identify a clear objective to aim for before brainstorming on the key results you need to achieve the goal.

How OKRs and KPIs Work Together? [Analogy]

OKR and KPI complement each other.  We will use the grades analogy from earlier to showcase the relationship.

In our example, a parent wants to know how well their child is doing at school and uses their grades to measure them. We assume the target is a pass in all their subjects. This example was to demonstrate an example of a KPI. 

We then said if the student failed math, we needed to do something about it. So, the parent would use the OKR framework in this situation. In our example, the objective was for the student to improve in math, and then we drew up key results to achieve this goal.

The key results are to enable the child to be better at math. While the KPI brought our attention to the problem of not getting a pass mark, the objective is to make sure the child doesn’t have a problem with math again. The parent can set a new KPI for the child based on the new objective. The KPI for the next test can be 70%, and the one after that can be 80%, and the one after that can be 90%.

A well-implemented OKR can give birth to new KPIs, and these KPIs will ensure that the key results are effective and produce the desired result.

If the child doesn’t meet the first target of 70% in the first test, let’s say a 67% or so, then the parent can look into it to see if it is a process issue or if they should readjust the next test KPI, which was an 80%, to a 75%.

The example above is a simple illustration of viewing the interrelationship between KPIs and OKRs. Failing any target will lead to the business looking at that area to improve on it. The OKR framework is a suitable tool to use to achieve this goal.

Another scenario where both can work together is if a company wants to step up their current performance because they believe they can do more, and then using the OKR framework can be helpful. After this, KPIs can be derived from the framework to monitor performance. On rare occasions, some companies’ key results are also their KPIs. Although it’s not always the best practice, it’s still possible and unusual.

Also read: The four stages of a performance management cycle

KPI and OKR Best Practices

While setting up your KPI or OKR frameworks, there are some do’s and don’t you should know, and in this section, we will look at some of them.

Best Practices for KPI

  • Be Clear and Specific

KPIs need to be clear to prevent personal interpretations. KPIs should also be specific; for example, increase customers by 25% in Q4.

  • Keep your KPI to the Minimum

This tip is in its name key, meaning that the indicators your company tracks are critical for the sustainability and profitability of your business. Work on creating between 12 and 25 KPIs for the entire company. The idea is the smaller you track, the better.

  • Attainable but Challenging

When targets are unreasonable, it discourages your employees, and if they are too easy, there is little sense of achievement. The secret is to make them challenging as well as reasonable.

  • Frequently Review and Update

You should set KPIs and reset them because they are subject to yearly review and not set and forget them. It’s important that the KPIs stay updated with changing business objectives to reflect the organizational performance.

  • Use Software to Track

Technology has made it easier for us to monitor and track KPIs. Using good software like Engagedly can help you easily keep tabs on the KPIs set for departments and the company.

Best Practices for OKR

  • Be ambitious with it

The objectives of OKR are aspirational. There are objectives that one can look forward to accomplishing in the long run.

  • Don’t have too many objectives.

It’s advisable to have a maximum of three objectives and three key results in order to focus on them and maximize your results. Paying attention to many objectives at once can be counterproductive for the company, and it may also point to the objective not being broad enough.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the OKR vs. KPI war is one that will continue to rage well into the future as different companies and their managements will have varying opinions. The crucial point to note is that both are adequate tools when properly implemented, and if used together, they will make the management job a lot easier.


OKR vs. KPI

All You Need to Know About Virtual Icebreaker Activities

One of the most essential aspects of the onboarding process is helping new recruits to connect with their colleagues and make them feel like a part of the team. This encompasses both occupational training and a process of personal familiarization, trust development, and socializing. Allowing team members to get to know each other fosters comfort and lays the groundwork for collaboration between new recruits and their colleagues.

The icebreaker, a relaxation activity for employees, helps to break the ice between new recruits and existing team members. Icebreakers can also be games or discussions that help you and your team members get to know each other better and spark discussion. Primarily, they are meant to “break the ice” between employees who don’t know each other much. One could get to know a new team member, or it might be used to kick off a training session or a team activity.

However, would this approach work for remote employees as well? Yes, “virtual icebreakers” are an excellent method to overcome one of the most significant obstacles associated with managing a remote workforce. ‍This blog would introduce you to the concept of a virtual icebreaker session; how it strengthens a team; when to use it; how to design one; its benefits, and much more.

Also Read: Onboarding Survey and How to Conduct it

What is an Icebreaker activity?

An icebreaker is a question-based activity, puzzle, or conversation that is designed to familiarize team members with a new team leader, a new team, or a new workplace, and encourage sharing and learning. When it comes to picking the new recruit orientation icebreakers, there are no rules. 

Some are rather straightforward, such as “problem-solving game, “some trivia,” or “Rock-Paper-Scissor game.” Thus, some icebreakers are physical activities or interactive ice breaker games, while others may be intellectual and some are discussions.

Virtual icebreaker process

Virtual ice breakers are identical to conventional ice breakers, but they are done using online mediums (a video call, web chat, or a conference call). They may be helpful to your team in a variety of ways, as outlined below:

  1. Inspire employees to get better acquainted with one another.
  2. Enhance better communication and establish rapport within the team.
  3. Incorporate a sense of fun, competition, and interaction into team meetings and brainstorming sessions.
  4. Assist employees in feeling calmer and more optimistic, as well as in reducing emotions of isolation and loneliness.

A virtual icebreaker: When to use it?

If team members work in different locations and cannot meet in person, virtual icebreaker ideas may assist them in getting to know one another and developing a natural connection. Another instance in which virtual icebreaker activities would be beneficial is when businesses combine or when a company is acquired.

Fun and good ice breaker activities may be an excellent method to introduce new members to a team informally. This will assist new recruits in learning more about their new colleagues (and vice versa), allowing them to create new bonds immediately.

The crucial role of icebreakers in fostering collaboration in a workplace

Icebreaker activities help lighten the mood, foster camaraderie and give an opportunity for team members to express their opinions, likes, dislikes, and distinctive traits in a fun environment. They are often amusing and bring team members together who turn resilient during chaotic times.

Moreover, icebreakers not only boost employee engagement but also turn out to be an effective tool for business growth. 

Well-designed virtual icebreaker activities may assist team leaders and human resources colleagues in gaining useful knowledge about team talent and employees’ skills. This information may be used for a project as when a need pertaining to their skills and talent arises.

Factors to consider while designing virtual icebreaker activities for employees

You can follow the below techniques to design your virtual icebreaker.

Clarity

You need to have clarity on which employees will be part of the icebreaker process. Are you merely introducing employees to one another for the first time, or are you bringing together employees from various levels within your organization? Do you wish to bring together individuals from diverse cultures and backgrounds? You’ll need to navigate these distinctions delicately and ensure that everyone understands and participates in the icebreaker activities.

Breaking the ice with objectives

Are you performing icebreaker exercises in order to resolve project-related issues? Or is your goal more sophisticated, such as you want to inspire participants to think creatively or to address a specific problem?

Your icebreaker will be effective only if everyone feels comfortable taking part in it. Therefore, assist employees in feeling at ease and consider if there are any impediments, such as language or cultural issues.

Timing

Your organization’s employees, based in various locations, may participate in virtual icebreaker activities. Therefore, take into consideration various time zones and their associated degrees of comfort. Besides, regarding activity timing, determine if you want a brief five-minute exercise or something more substantial for your icebreaker activities, depending on your goals.

Process

You’ll need to decide whether the same employee would lead the virtual icebreaker activities or to implement a rotation policy – who gets to choose and lead the activity? Decide if this will be a regular exercise or a onetime activity.

Location and technology matter

Be mindful of where your participants are likely to be when virtual icebreaker activities start. Will they all be at home or traveling? This may influence the time they can devote to the call, as well as their degree of involvement and engagement. 

Ascertain that everyone uses a similar video chat software and is comfortable with its operation prior to the meeting. Additionally, bear in mind that some may have issues with their internet connection.

Last, decide the format of your icebreaker activities. Will employees make use of a webcam or will a voice call suffice?

When are virtual ice breakers ineffective?

If your team works remotely and is already in touch regularly, participants may see the exercise as condescending or pointless.

If employees are under extreme time constraints, ice breakers may not be effective. Spending time on a “fun” activity may certainly distract and irate workers who are working under duress and have a lot on their plate, or who are meeting to handle a crisis or emergency.

When a new member joins an existing team, an ice breaker may help to break down harmful groupings. Such team members may initially oppose the effort, assuming it is a waste of time. If this is the case, explain why you believe it is a smart idea and urge them to participate completely in the activity.

Virtual icebreaker games for remote employees-

Here is an overview of some of the most popular virtual icebreaker games and activities below.

  1. Icebreaker Shoes

This is a very common icebreaker game for virtual team meetings. You might invite participants to take a photograph of their shoes and share them over the intranet with the team members. The photographs must be uploaded prior to the commencement of the meeting.

Once the meeting begins, you might invite each person to talk something about their shoe choice. A fascinating component of discussing shoes is that participants may also bring up their hobbies, behavior, interests, or aspirations. For instance, describing about formal and polished shoes may elicit discussion about an employee’s ambition to be in a leadership role or his habit of achieving perfection in whatever he does.

  1. Make a guess who it is

A guessing game helps employees to get to know one another well. Prior to the meeting, conduct a survey among employees in which they would respond to questions such as “Which is your favorite song?” Later, a song will be played and certain employees will be asked to guess whose favorite song it is.

  1. Riddle contest

A riddle or mental challenge may be an excellent way to start a discussion. Here, you provide a hard yet solvable challenge for your team to consider. For instance:

  1. What is densely packed with holes yet still contains water? (Answer – sponge). 
  2. What stands in front of you, but you cannot see or feel it? (Answer – future).
Also Read: Important Tips to Tackle Teamwork Challenges
  1. Time Travel Machine

Time Machine is a very successful professional tool, serving as a creative virtual icebreaker for distant teams.

The host or meeting organizer invites participants to consider a time in the future or past to which they would want to visit, seated inside a time machine. Once they have determined the time, they must discuss the location they want to travel to and the people they wish to meet. They must provide a rationale for each of their responses.

  1. Personality evaluations

Conduct a personality test or an interesting quiz before a virtual encounter. For instance, if a new movie is released, employees may take a quiz to determine which character they resemble the most. Then, at the meeting, everyone may present their insights.

You may also ask participants to photograph some of the most important objects on their work desk. It might be a souvenir, a present, or a picture stand. Participants might discuss the object’s relevance in their professional and personal lives. This dialogue might give you an idea about a person’s personality.

  1. Culinary Affiliations

Identifying culinary interests is a nice icebreaker activity to play with distant teams. Each participant may talk about his favorite food, either as a recipe or a photograph. Then, other employees will be asked to guess whose favorite food is it.

If your team is spread across different locations, the culinary game is a fantastic way to get familiar with the local eating customs and original cuisines.

  1. Simulated Problems

Present an issue that employees may encounter in the course of their job and encourage them to discuss ways to fix it. Invite team members to propose a solution and justify why they would take certain measures. This icebreaker allows you to see how your team members collaborate.

  1. Expectations and worries

Employees are asked to share hope and fear they always have with the rest of the group. This might serve as a springboard for conversation among employees to allay fears and anxieties.

Benefits of virtual icebreakers for remote teams

As per a Gallup research survey, “virtual team-building activities result in an improvement in employee performance, with a 41% reduction in absenteeism and a 21% gain in profitability.” Various benefits of virtual icebreakers for remote teams include:

Adaptation

Regular virtual icebreaker activities for employees aid in the rapid adaptation of your team to a new remote work environment. 

Community

“Community” in the corporate world refers to an association of employees who have similar goals, ideas, or competencies. However, the community is not limited to those people who congregate in a room. Community building is a process, and the practice of employing icebreaker activities allows employees to get to know one another. 

For instance, when you discover what you have something in common with your colleagues, you will feel more connected to them; will be more supportive, and will cooperate to accomplish goals.

Interaction

Interaction is an integral part of team-building exercises. Even a few minutes of icebreaker activities may elicit laughter; open discussion, or debate. Most significantly, it avoids a compartmentalized work atmosphere, which promotes inefficiency.

Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to see events or circumstances through the eyes of someone else. Empathy is critical for developing a good team because it enables team members to take a step back; consider others’ perspectives, and then cooperate to make choices, or at the very least, decide while considering the effect on others.

When teams lack empathy, they cannot perform successfully because they, in essence, do not care. The icebreaker encourages participants to see their colleagues’ challenges in a new light, allowing them to be more compassionate.

Conclusion:

Virtual icebreakers are an excellent approach to get remote teams to interact and establish rapport. Additionally, they help improve communication; stimulating creative thinking and developing internal networks. It aids in forming a bond between new recruits and their colleagues in a positive, fun, and engaging manner.

Prior to deciding on which virtual icebreaker to utilize, there are many factors to consider. Consider your primary aims and objectives of icebreakers activities; remote employees’ time zones, comfort, and their culture variance, and type of devices used by them. You can create virtual icebreakers to assist new employees in interacting with work colleagues and to strengthen bonds among existing employees while providing a break from the grind.


Want to know how Engagedly can help you mange your hybrid employees better? Request us for a demo.

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The Dos and Don’ts of Giving Negative Performance Reviews

“Caroline, you have failed to meet the deadlines way too many times this quarter, We expect more dedication from you this quarter.” How many of us are ready to face negative reviews about our work like this? Not all employees are usually open to negative performance review. Sometimes, it is demotivating to listen to negative performance reviews and employees also tend to get defensive at times.

Continue reading “The Dos and Don’ts of Giving Negative Performance Reviews”

A Complete Guide to Performance Management Cycle

Unlike the modern organizational culture, we consider performance management to be a forward-looking solution that is based on retrospection. With an evolving work culture, the need for continuous feedback is now felt across offices and technology has brought forward such tools which are highly advanced and need based. Now managers can anticipate problems based on the performance cycle, and initiate course corrections to bring the action plan back on track.

A performance management cycle is a round the year phenomenon and includes planning, monitoring and evaluating employee’s performance. It works in such a way that meets the overall goal of an organization. Here, the success of an employee is aligned with the success of an organization.   

The performance management cycle helps employees improve skills and achieve goals. An effective cycle focuses on employee performance and tries to make necessary changes for his growth in a workplace.

The performance management cycle encompasses four stages:

The management expert, Peter Drucker, designed one of the earliest performance management models. As per his sayings, whatever you can measure, can be managed and whatever you can manage, can be accomplished. Individual and organizational goals should be aligned together. The continuous process includes the following parameters to achieve the targets smoothly.  

1. Planning

Planning is the first step of the performance management cycle and includes three elements:

Defining stage 

Here, the management and HR team have to define jobs, include description and determine targets. Besides, it needs to list objectives, and have clear metrics on how to access and achieve the goals. The point is to make sure goals are lucid and are followed by clear performance standards. 

Giving feedbacks 

Once management completes the defining stage, employees should get the opportunity to give input for the materials. As they are the ones to perform the job, they should have in-depth insight of skills, goals and competencies to help the company achieve milestones easily.  

Approval stage 

In this, both management and employees should agree on roles, goals, and achieving objectives. This is how it is possible to make the first step in the process of collaboration, making the employees understand their engagement in goal setting.

Also read: A Guide to Choosing the Best OKR Software for Your Business

2. Monitoring

Plan meetings 

Try to plan for it in a timely and regular manner, wherein the next step for the management cycle would start. Monitoring and training are important and here, routine meetings can help employees assess their position. 

Provide training and coaching 

Meetings should focus on training and give solutions through mentoring, rather than measures that result in uninspiring performance.

Accountability should be positive and engage employees to be honest to speak on what they are struggling with and what changes can be beneficial. This is where management training plans can help employees effectively.    

Revisit objectives

As the process continues, management needs to revisit objectives to check on improvement and adjustments required. Management should focus on opportunities for employees.

The step reviews overall performance, and how the employees are rewarded in a meaningful manner.  

3. Reviewing

Performance review 

At the end of the annual performance cycle, this review is an integral part which is known as appraisal. Typically, these are once a year thing where an employee’s performance is evaluated over a span of a year.

Management checks records to evaluate the progress of an individual from the previous performance year. However, the monthly check-ins will help employees with problem solving, adjust goals and focus on future tasks. This step is included in the cycle that looks back to assess one’s behavior and potency for coming years.

Review management process

Here, both employees and management should look at how the management cycle is working and identify the areas of improvement. Asking some questions constructs an effective review mechanism:

  •       Try to know whether organizational objectives are met
  •       Challenges employees face and need for training
  •       Help from management feedback and how to work on the process

Review goal completion 

Of course, one important question to ask is whether employees can reach their goals. How well did the team perform to achieve the targets throughout the year? Consider all types of achievements as it helps identify areas where improvement is required.

Give effective feedback 

A key part of reviewing is to provide effective feedback and receive the same. Management should focus on actionable feedback so that employees know where to improve their performance in future.

Employees should be encouraged to give feedback on the process and how it can be better. 

4. Action

Plan rewards and recognition

It is a key step to keep employees motivated. This doesn’t have to be monetary, although this is a better incentive in most cases. Other rewards could be company recognition, responsibility for new projects, time off, and assigning leadership opportunities.    

Set stage for upcoming performance management cycle

The last step gives one last chance to employees and management to review the feedback on the entire year’s process. As feedback is the key to the organization to plan for the next year’s cycle and make it effective.

So, with this, you can have a clear conception on what is performance management process and how it impacts business’s success.

How to Improve the Management cycle?

Do you wish to improve the management cycle of your workplace? Here are some vital questions to bring things back on track.

What workforce looks forward to in the management cycle?

A performance management process can hinder or help the workforce. Before you include a new performance management software, try to analyze what’s working and what’s not. Besides, try to find what employees want from the performance management program. As you discuss with employees, be ready to be surprised when you discover how many were looking forward to an improved process. Subsequently, bring in changes in the organization and improvements as per researched based findings.

Do you follow contentious performance management?

Even when employers want employees to be happy, the latter may seek motivation and recognition of work. A management cycle should deliver value to your employees, and companies can flourish in an increasingly motivated workforce.

 However, to boost motivation, performance management should be frequent along with ongoing conversation on how to achieve goals, how it impacts progress, and how it affects employee’s personal development. Motivation is related to a future focused approach, creating developmental scopes. So, managers must engage with employees on career growth that should be the focus of the organization for its success.

Also read: 5 Powerful CEO Engagement Activities That Are Impactful

Are managers using tools to handle performance management cycles?

Managers are crucial in the management program with engagement, motivation, and development plans. This should ensure that they have proper training to motivate employees and get useful feedback. They should coach employees appropriately in the continuous process.

Before introducing talent management, managers should have adequate training so that employees are comfortable being part of one such program. Use correct technology to support the performance management. It should help managers and HR to introduce and get effective results from continuous processes.    

Why develop a performance management cycle in business?

The reasons behind an effective performance cycle are many, but more often, it focuses on employee productivity as its primary reason. A valuable cycle would include development, execution, and monitoring of effective performance plans. Focus on setting one’s goal and arrange for continuous coaching and it will help to improve employee’s performance automatically. It helps them reach goals easily that directly contribute to the company’s growth.  

Best performance management practices

To ensure success of the management process, and whether it is continuously evolving, try to include the best practices:

Well-planned performance strategy 

The strategy should include how frequently employee evaluation is required. Try to find the type of evaluation analysis trackers that suit the company best and how meetings and surveys can help. An effective approach for feedback conversation can help deploy the best evaluation system. Set the workflow right, include actionable inputs for steady improvements. 

Inculcate a culture of open communication

Continuous monitoring should have effective communication to help discuss employee issues. If communication is transparent, negative feedback or matters of poor performance can be addressed. A culture of communication is widely accepted among people of all hierarchies. Managers should develop a culture of openness, expect honest feedback, allowing employees to remain honest and managers can use the information for required changes.

Transparent communication strategy should include:

  •       Share with the employees what the company expects
  •       Train employees to reach their potential using actionable goals
  •       Give constructive feedbacks
  •       Reward and recognition for successful achievement 

Continuous monitoring process

Sounds like monitoring every move of an employee? Certainly not! It is real-time tracking of employee’s progress and outcomes. It necessitates keeping an eye on employee’s sentiment through open discussion and how managers can help employees deal with it better.    

How can performance management software help?

Having a robust performance management software is beneficial in over one way and employers should be well trained to help teams use it. You can try to use the latest streamlined tool that enhances alignment, engagement and communication with employees. Some other benefits go as below:

Have clear goals

For ease of goal setting and tracking progress, a performance management platform is of great use. The right software elevates the employees and helps them reach the business goals. It helps get real-time results and boost goal alignment and is accountable for overall growth of workforce.

Ease of engagement recognition 

As mentioned earlier, rewarding is an integral part of the performance management cycle and recognition motivates an individual. A beneficial platform helps in peer-to-peer recognition, making an employee feel valued. 

Use of feedback frameworks

No matter what feedback framework or frequency a business follows, it should be continuous to protect high performing and potential candidates. An effective feedback strategy can drive individual, group, and organizational growth correctly.   

Effective talent reviews

Even though reviewing outcomes is tough, try to make it insightful. With constant reviewing, it is easy to identify top performers in the workforce. Uncover the growth perceptions among employees and create performance strategies for the success of both employees and business.

Once leaders are aware of best performing management practices and tools, you should know how to leverage it for the good of employees and organizations. With this, employee productivity and business growth skyrockets. Support individuals and teams with performance strategies that help them reach their potential and to push the business outcomes. 

Performance Management System

Key Features Of An Ideal Performance Management System

Employee performance management is one of the most important management tools that influence employee growth and organizational development significantly.

Continue reading “Key Features Of An Ideal Performance Management System”

Engagedly Partners with BizLibrary to offer industry leading Learning Content via Engagedly Agile LMS

St. Louis, MO, April 22, 2022: Engagedly, a leading solution provider of performance management and employee engagement software, announced their new partnership with Bizlibrary, a dynamic, all-in-one employee learning solution. With this, Engagedly’s users will be able to access /purchase Bizlibrary’s leading courses on HR Compliance, Business Skills, Workplace Safety, Software, Leadership Management, Information Technology, and Software & Service.

“The recent theme we constantly hear is a dire need to upskill and grow our people, to that extent, we are excited partner with Bizlibrary to offer their library of content built for the future of work to our customers on Engagedly’s Agile Learning Management System” said Sri Chellappa, President/Co-Founder of Engagedly

Organizations will now have access to an award-winning microlearning library of 9,000+ titles relevant to the ever-changing needs of the workforce. The BizLibrary Collection helps organizations train on core skills, mitigate risk, develop a culture of continuous development, and provide opportunities for development and career development. BizLibrary makes it easy for organizations to create a dynamic and agile workforce. 

“Our mission to help organizations solve common business challenges aligns seamlessly with Engagedly,” said BizLibrary’s Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances, Shannon Kluczny. “Together, we can further expand our content offerings and support organizations in providing a robust training program that engages and retains their employees.”

Learn more about us at https://engagedly.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.


About Engagedly

Engagedly is a fast-paced growth provider and an award-winning talent management solution provider. Built upon best practices and decades of research, Engagedly’s People + Strategy platform is evolving performance management, development and engagement to drive successful organizational outcomes across the globe. Engagedly’s E3 unified platform combines the power of business strategy execution, talent enablement, and employee engagement with one easy-to-use software solution. To learn more about Engagedly, visit: https://engagedly.com/


About BizLibrary

At BizLibrary, we’re on a mission to elevate employees’ skills, create better places to work, and do our part to build a more compassionate and competent future. We lean into these goals every day by supporting organizations’ learning and development needs through our innovative platforms, best-in-class content, and unrivaled strategic support. With L&D powered by BizLibrary, employees are equipped with the skills they need for the job today and ready to take on new challenges tomorrow. For more information, please visit https://www.bizlibrary.com/.

Goal settings and OKRs

Why These 8 Top Companies Redefined Their Performance Management Systems

Many organizations are now understanding the importance of shifting from traditional performance reviews to more continuous and flexible performance management processes.

Continue reading “Why These 8 Top Companies Redefined Their Performance Management Systems”

Onboarding Survey and How to Conduct it

Employee onboarding is the process of assisting newly recruited employees in adjusting to the social expectations and performance dynamics of a company. This method assists skilled recruits in swiftly adjusting to their new jobs and also in acquiring the required knowledge and abilities to perform productively within the company.

Your onboarding program should be able to provide new hires an opportunity to learn about your organization; your corporate culture; and what role they would play in the organization’s growth. Importantly, employee onboarding should be more than a maze of paperwork for new recruits in the name of the onboarding process.

Companies that fail to appreciate the critical nature of employee onboarding surveys in the modern era may face far-reaching implications. Thus, employee onboarding exercises must be well-thought-out and revised frequently to acquire meaningful insights and avoid being seen as a burdensome endeavour.

Keeping these factors under consideration, well-thought and structured onboarding survey questions would be the best methodology to adopt to ensure a successful onboarding process. Onboarding survey questions help to gather feedback from recruits about their first few weeks of employment, as well as an assessment of the success and efficacy of their onboarding program. Employee onboarding experience survey insights would assist an HR department in identifying areas for improvement in your onboarding programs. Then, accordingly, the HR department can take action to rectify the mistakes it is committing.

We’ll explain what is an onboarding survey; why it is crucial for your company, and how to design your first one in this complete guide. Continue reading to learn what type of questions (open-ended and scale-rating questions) to ask your team’s newest members in an onboarding survey.

Get to know the practices to implement in an onboarding program that ensure your employees have a long, successful career in your organization.

Understanding the process of an onboarding survey

Employee onboarding surveys are conducted systematically as a part of the employee onboarding process for newly hired employees. This feedback given during the survey helps to measure new recruits’ satisfaction with the onboarding process and their overall recruitment experience.

New hire onboarding survey questions help HR management and leadership to optimize and enhance the investment they make in recruiting and training new employees by gathering data from each new hire, including information on:

  • How content they are
  • Their manager’s opinion
  • Orientation processes’ efficacy
  • Possibility of continuing with the company

Even if you believe your business currently does an amazing job of training new employees for long and illustrious careers with your company, onboarding surveys may help you fine-tune your program and ensure you’re offering an unparalleled experience to every recruit. 

After all, new recruits are experiencing your onboarding resources for the first time, and they may pick up on something you overlooked. Their fresh viewpoints, along with their prior onboarding experiences, will offer a lot of knowledge that you can tap into and utilize to enhance your organization’s new recruit experience.

Significance of onboarding survey questions

You may also be shocked to find that, according to Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace Report, just 12% of workers strongly feel their company does an excellent job onboarding new employees. A poorly handled onboarding process not only alienates new workers by making them feel uncomfortable but also creates an irreversible first impression.

New recruits who have an unsatisfactory onboarding and induction experience may mistakenly conclude that the company is poorly managed, and that they made a wrong choice by joining the company. 

In this context, Liz Pavese-Kaplan, Ph.D., Principal Consultant of Employee Experience at Qualtrics, thoughts that onboarding new employees is a make-or-break opportunity for organizations is true to a larger extent. Employee onboarding is a vital step in the employee lifecycle since it lays the groundwork for new recruits’ success in your company.

Employee onboarding survey questions allow you to familiarize new hires with your company’s culture, goal, vision, and fundamental values; thereby, encouraging them to feel immediately connected to the team. The employee onboarding experience survey will provide you with vital insight into the effectiveness of your recruiting strategy, and it reassures employees that their views and feelings about the organization are being heard. Thus, onboarding surveys are indispensable because they enable you to listen to and understand your new recruits’ demands. 

The workforce is continuously evolving, and new hires often have needs that their predecessors did not. Maintaining an open channel of contact with your new hires will help you stay informed of these developments and identify concrete ways to improve your onboarding program.

Also Read: 10 Amazing Employee Onboarding Examples

Benefits of well-designed onboarding survey questions

A survey on employee onboarding experience may provide a business with a plethora of advantages. Several significant advantages of onboarding survey questions include:

Determine what works and what doesn’t:

By conducting an onboarding survey, you may ascertain what works and what doesn’t, what needs to be improved, and possibly, unforeseen factors affecting employee retention that you may not be aware of.

Establishes the tone for the employment experience as a whole:

A strong onboarding process establishes the tone for employee engagement. By focusing on corporate culture, employee development, and regular check-ins, you show to new recruits that your company cares about the employees’ success and growth in terms of knowledge and advancement. 

Extending these key areas beyond the onboarding process ensures your employees are satisfied from the moment they are hired to their retirement.

Productivity: The more effective the onboarding process, the quicker new employees become productive and provide value to the organization.

Endorsement: A more effective onboarding process has been found to improve the possibility that new employees would recommend your organization as a place to work, thereby bringing in top talents.

Higher employee retention:

An effective onboarding program that delivers an exceptional employee experience may go a long way toward not just retaining talents, but also attracting outstanding potential candidates. Once you’ve delivered a world-class onboarding experience, get feedback from new recruits using new hire onboarding survey questions.

What should an onboarding survey must ideally include?

The onboarding survey questions should include both open-ended and scale-rated questions, enabling the collection of both quantitative and qualitative inputs. You may use a number scale, ranging from 1 to 5, to evaluate the preciseness of feedback. 

Alternatively, you can use the Likert Scale, which includes various alternatives, ranging from ‘Strongly Disagree’, ‘Agree’, ‘Neutral’, ‘Disagree’, or ‘Strongly Agree.’

While rating scales make it simpler to gather, evaluate, and improvise on employee inputs from onboarding survey questions, open-ended questions enable you to understand your employees’ views and have a deeper understanding of their thought processes.

Questions to ask new employees during their onboarding process

Given below are new hire survey sample questions. The questions are open-ended employee onboarding survey questions; employee onboarding scale-rated survey questions (on a scale of 1 to 10); and Likert scale-rated survey answers, based on employee satisfaction. 

Open-ended employee onboarding survey questions

The following are some open-ended onboarding survey questions that can be used during an employee’s onboarding process, following his first few weeks on the job. 

  • It has been a few weeks since you started working. Do you have a thorough understanding of what is required of you in this position now?
  • What can we do to assist you in doing your work more effectively?
  • Are you satisfied with your job, career prospects, and does it fulfill what you had expected of it?
  • Do you feel you are able to do an assigned job easily, facing no challenges? 
  • If you had come across any biggest challenges while working, what are they? 
  • Do you believe you have all the tools and resources necessary to do a good job?
  • Is there anything about our onboarding procedure that you dislike?
  • Which aspect of our onboarding process do you like the most?
  • What additional measures should we incorporate according to you to enhance our onboarding process?

Employee onboarding questionnaire, rated on a scale of 1 to 10

On a scale of 1 to 10, the following are some employee onboarding survey questions

  • If you had to rate your onboarding experience, how would you rate it on a scale of 1 to 10?
  • How would you rate the level of reception you have received on a scale from 1 to 10?
  • In your opinion, how valuable do you feel you are at work on a scale of 1 to 10?
  • How pleased are you with your employment so far, on a scale of 1 to 10?
  • On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you believe you fit into our work culture?
  • On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable do you feel as a member of your team?

Likert scale-rated survey answers, based on employee satisfaction

Kindly take a few moments to share your thoughts on your current employment position and organization.

You can check-mark an answer, based on the scale’s responses (1 – Strongly Disagree, 2 – Somewhat Disagree, 3 – Neither Agree Nor Disagree, 4 – Somewhat Agree, 5 – Strongly Agree)

  • I am pleased with the onboarding process.
  • I am confident about my personal and career development and advancement.
  • I am content with my current job prospects.
  • I have access to all the resources necessary to do my work effectively.
  • My objectives are well defined.
  • My team members make me feel at ease.
  • I’m happy with my workplace.
  • I feel as if I am a part of the organization and its work culture
Also Read: 6 Trends That Will Shape HR Strategies In 2023

Best practices for implementing the onboarding process for new employees

It might take months to train a new employee so that they can be acquainted with the necessary knowledge, skills, and behavioral patterns to contribute to the organization’s success. This may last up to a year and it’s very hard to design a precise onboarding agenda, timetable, or template to tune an employee as per the organization’s expectations and goals.

Thus, supplement the onboarding process with the best practices, described below, that will measure the success of the onboarding process.

Best Practice #1: Begin planning the onboarding process for your new recruits before the first day of work.

Best Practice #2: Develop outstanding recruiting and welcoming procedures that will leave an excellent and memorable first impression in the mind of the new recruit.

Best Practice #3: Involve the most important members of your organization, such as team members, managers, senior leaders, and founders in onboarding events to build an engaging business culture.

Best Practice #4: Utilize an onboarding solution, such as Engagedly, which provides employee surveys with extensive analytics and reporting. It offers automated, integrated solutions in an employee’s journey that avoids data input duplication; decrease reliance on paper forms and expedite the entire process. Additionally, they ensure that the onboarding process runs well throughout the crucial first few days and weeks.

Best Practice #5: Establish a living trust agreement with your employee, since trust is the bedrock of every great working relationship, whether it’s among team members or between a management and a team member. It should be cooperatively developed, documented, evaluated, and updated regularly. 

Best Practice #6: Conduct regular one-on-one meetings with team members to build strong and productive relationships.

Best Practice #7: Provide opportunities for new hires to connect with work colleagues by scheduling brief introductory meetings; assigning an existing fellow employee to function as an advisor or buddy to the new recruit; organizing a team lunch or team-building event to foster a more comfortable, informal environment for getting to know one another, and preparing a welcome video for the new hire prior to his first day of work.

Best Practice #8: Give the new recruit the opportunity to describe and express what they need to settle in and provide your feedback. This demonstrates that you value inclusiveness and belonging.

Best Practice #9: Conduct an “offboarding” exercise to determine the most common reason employees leave your company and how you can retain them.

Final Thoughts

Employee onboarding surveys can assist you in improving the onboarding process and retention rate of your organization.

According to Wynhurst group research, employees who undergo organized onboarding are 58 percent more likely to stay with the organization after three years of joining.

To ensure that your onboarding process is engaging and successful, you may consider working with Engagedly software to create, manage, and monitor your onboarding surveys. With Engagedly, you can schedule onboarding survey questions automatically, based on an employee’s start date; customize survey templates, and simply analyze employee responses to identify concrete ways to enhance your onboarding program.

Talent Management Software

10 Ways to Create the Best Employee Onboarding Experience

Providing your new hires with the best employee onboarding experience is one of the surest ways to ensure their long-term productivity and loyalty to the company. Achieving the best employee onboarding experience isn’t easy. Your company will have to put in a lot of work towards making onboarding a more effective process. Luckily for you, our guide on the 10 ways to create the best employee onboarding experience will provide you with the knowledge you need to give your employees the onboarding experience they deserve. 

What is an employee onboarding?

Employee onboarding is the process through which new employees are integrated into an organization. Employee onboarding activities help employees learn about the organization and understand their place in it. Don’t confuse onboarding with orientations. Employee orientations include only basic bureaucratic information, such as the company’s on-paper profile. Onboarding is a more in-depth process that helps employees become active parts of the organization and recognize the company’s values and work culture. Employee onboarding is a very important process because it dictates how effectively your employees become a part of your organization. 

The ideal onboarding experience will transform new hires into instantly committed and motivated individuals who will fully devote themselves to your organization. The benefits of highly motivated and committed employees are fully self-evident. Ideally, you want all your employees to experience the ideal employee onboarding experience. Keep reading if you want to learn how to create the best employee onboarding experience. 

Also read: Guide to select the right Performance Review Software

Why is a good onboarding experience necessary?

The best employee onboarding experience will immensely improve the probability of your new employees remaining long term with the company. Glassdoors completed research that states that providing excellent employee onboarding experience increased retention rates of new employees by 82%. Another study by Kronos found that longer onboarding experiences resulted in better employment engagement. Nearly 57% of participants in Kronos’ study stated that their greatest issue with onboarding was over-tasked managers in insufficient onboarding time. The other leading cause of employee dissatisfaction with employee onboarding was by lack of consistent company-wide application, which was pointed out by 47% of participants. 

What these studies empirically prove is that effective onboarding is vital for successful integration of new employees into your organization. It’s not possible for new employees to become a part of your work culture if they’re not given the proper onboarding experience necessary to familiarize with the company. When you properly onboard your new employees to the company, you’ll have provided them with all the information and knowledge they need to immediately become active participants in your company and act productively. Onboarding removes much of the problems in your new employees’ adjustment period in the company. For those reasons, if you want your company to successfully hire new employees, you need to prioritize providing them with a good employee onboarding experience. 

The 10 ways to create the best employee onboarding experience

Now that you have a good idea of what an outstanding employee onboarding experience looks like, it’s now time to get some practical advice on how you can turn your company to provide good employee onboarding experiences. 

  1. Make your onboarding experience inclusive

We live in a multicultural society, so it’s inevitable that your employees will come from a host of different backgrounds. You need to accommodate new hires from all of these backgrounds by assuring them that your company is only concerned with productivity. You need to encourage employees, especially those from a minority background, that your company is a progressive entity that is fully committed to making everyone a part of the company. The best way to do this is to train your managers to understand diversity and to treat all employees equally, regardless of their background. Your managers should be provided with proper diversity and sensitivity training so that they don’t offend members of minority communities, especially. 

2. Integrate innovative content on your onboarding

Giving conventional presentations and video conferences over applications like PowerPoint and Zoom is a dull approach. While PowerPoint and Zoom work to convey the information you want to your employees, they are not the best ways to do so. You’d be much better off integrating in-person presentations with video-conferencing software. You want your employees to remember your presentations, and you want them to fully appreciate your company’s uniqueness. One of the best ways to personalize these onboarding sessions is to have your CEO or other high-ranking managers personally talk to your new hires. You could also have senior members of your company’s management have small discussion groups and personal sessions with your employees to help them better understand the company and gain inspiration from your best leaders. 

3. Treat your employee like you treat your customers

Your employee onboarding experience should have the same level of concern with quality as you would with customer service experience. Your company needs to ‘market’ itself to your new hires. They need to feel that they’re the ones benefiting from being able to work with you, and not the other way around. There are different ways to achieve this. For example, if your company provides high-end customer service, then you should build your employee onboarding experience around a similar concern with providing new hires the best onboarding experience. You need to design every aspect of your employee onboarding experience towards maximizing employee comfort and interest. Make sure that your new employees have every service and opportunity afforded to them so that they feel important in your organization. 

4. Put new hires in age appropriate or post appropriate groups

One of the best ways to make new hires comfortable in your company is to provide them with socializing opportunities with one another and other employees, like we said above. One of the best ways of doing this is to divide your new hires into small groups of between 3 to 6 people and have them spend a few hours with each other every day before or after work. The benefit of these group exercises is that your employees will understand each other better and develop better social bonds with one another. This tip only works well if your company hired multiple people simultaneously, though.

5. Integrating Physical Activities in onboarding

According to some researchers, the most memorable events for most people involve high-adrenaline experiences. You might make onboarding a high-adrenaline or exciting experience by providing your new hires with physical activities. For example, you could host a company marathon, have a scavenger hunt, or a friendly soccer match. There are many activities you can choose from. Make sure that you choose an activity that your employees actually enjoy doing so that they get the most benefits from it. 

6. Have your onboarding process reflect at the end of the first year

A good employee onboarding experience is an investment that can pay dividends for a very long time. For that reason, it may be desirable for your employee onboarding experience to last for a long duration of time. Also, if your company has a particularly complex or difficult work culture, you could even have the onboarding experience last for an entire year. While this sounds like a long time period, it isn’t unusual for large corporations to have onboarding periods that last this long. Through a long onboarding period, you can provide your new hires with a type of ‘story arc’ that takes them from start to finish in integrating with a new company.

Also read: How to Find a Business Mentor

7. Have them feel celebrated

Human beings naturally like to feel celebrated, and you can take advantage of that fact by providing your employees with celebrations upon joining your company. You want your employees to feel that they’ve done the best possible thing with their lives by joining your company. To achieve this, you could have your company’s existing employees sign digital or real-life welcome cards that are shared with the new hires. These cards are a small, but effective way to welcome the new employees on board your organization. 

8. Encourage Network building

One of the most important goals of new employees, especially those at a lower level, is to build personal links with important people in your organization. One of the best ways to take advantage of this is to provide one-on-one chat opportunities for new employees. Give them the chance to speak with more experienced employees and learn from them. This experience is invaluable for new hires since they’ll learn a lot about your company and benefit from access to new information. 

9. Have clear SOPs and easy accessibility to information

The worst employee onboarding experiences are when employees are provided with disorganized and conflicting information. Your new employees need to feel a sense of comfort and ease from the onboarding process, and that’s only possible when you have them eased into it. For that reason, your employee onboarding experience should be standardized for all employees. Every new hire should have the same positive experience. So create an SOP on how to provide employees with onboarding experiences beforehand to avoid unnecessary drama or problems later on. 

10. Ask for feedback 

Receiving feedback is essential for improving employee onboarding experiences in the future. You need to always ask your employees what they thought of the onboarding experience after it’s concluded. You should survey the new employees after they’ve fully onboarded, and you need to provide them with plentiful opportunities to voice their perspectives on your company. This data should then improve employee onboarding experiences for the future. 

In conclusion, successful employee onboarding experiences are vital for integrating new employees into your company. The best way to improve your company’s onboarding experience is to prioritize employee comfort. Your new hires need to feel appreciated in your company, and you can follow the ten steps we’ve highlighted above to make them feel that way. 


Want to know how Engagedly can help you mange your remote employees better? Request us for a demo.

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One-On-One Questions For Managers and Employees

One on one meeting questions are a great way to encourage frequent and straight-forward conversations between managers and their teams. One-on-ones can be simply defined as a scheduled time for managers to check-in with their direct reports. These meetings can be key in building team relationships and trust.

Continue reading “One-On-One Questions For Managers and Employees”

6 Most Common Reasons Why Performance Management System Fail

A performance management system is one of the most important aspects of an organization. HR managers are usually the ones who carry out the performance management process in an organization.

Most organizations already have a performance management system, but if you are planning to implement a performance management system in your organization or to improve the existing one, here’s a list of common reasons for the failure of the performance management system that you might need to avoid.

Continue reading “6 Most Common Reasons Why Performance Management System Fail”

Tips To Create A Culture Of Frequent Employee Check-ins

Employee check ins are a great way for managers to gain a clear understanding about their employees. They provide an opportunity for managers and team members to ruminate over the important issues and discuss any questions, concerns, or ideas they have.

Continue reading “Tips To Create A Culture Of Frequent Employee Check-ins”

10 Best Employee Retention Strategies to Keep Your Best Talents

How do you retain top talent in your company? Organizations are constantly searching for employee retention strategies to keep their employees in today’s competitive environment.

Employee retention is a challenge for every organization. The cost of replacing employees is high, and the benefits of retaining them are even higher. If you want to keep your best workers, you must take steps to ensure they stay happy and productive.

 An effective employee retention strategy is a critical competitive differentiator. It allows a business to retain its employees, which helps it operate at a higher level. Those who achieve high employee retention rates operate from a position of strength, both in meeting business goals and recruiting new employees.

Here are the Employee Retention Strategies that can Help You:

1. Provide an attractive compensation package

You must ensure a competitive and fair salary throughout the organization. Your job offer should include salary, bonus, stock options, health insurance, vacation time, etc. It would help if you made sure that these things align with what other people at your company earn. 

Factors such as development opportunities, compensation benefits, rewards and recognition, and work culture play a vital role in holding back your employees. If you provide an attractive compensation package, it will entice your best employees to stick around. They know they have plenty to gain by staying with your company. 

Also read: Continuous Feedback: What Is It And Its Benefits

2. Offer flexible work arrangements

When someone leaves a company, there is often a gap between off-boarding and joining the next job. It creates a no income period, though the person still has to spend on gas and food while looking for alternative employment.

To avoid this problem, you should have flexible work hours or working from home. These arrangements allow your employees to continue earning money during this transition period.

3. Recognize that retention starts with recruiting

Retention begins at the very beginning, from when you prepare the job description to when you choose who to interview. It starts by identifying which aspects of culture and strategy are important to you, then finding those qualities in your candidates.

The longer someone is with your company, the better they get at their job. You need to make sure everyone is fully engaged and partakes in the company‘s ongoing success,” says Dan Pickett, Former CEO, Nfrastructure. He followed this approach in his company and was successful in retaining above 97% of their employees, which is an impressive feat to achieve in the IT industry.  

4. Encourage communication.

If you wish to retain your top performers, you need to ‌enhance your communications process. The internal communication about employee growth and development between the employees and management is pivotal for any organization. It not only attracts the top talents but also provides higher job satisfaction to its existing employees.

Effective Communication not only creates a positive work environment by building trust and relationships but also induces the employees to perform better by minimizing the errors. As the employees are well-aware of changes being made within the company, they are more adaptive to these changes because of effective communication.

5. Identify the candidates who will stay long term

How can you select candidates who are most likely to stay? You can tell if they’re qualified by looking at their resume. First, look for employees who have been at their current job for a long time.

Try to look beyond their resume to understand if they will stay. Has the employee ever worked with companies for a longer term? If yes! It shows that the employee has an intention to work long-term and has a high loyalty score. Anyone who has changed 3-4 jobs in 5 years is less likely to stay with any company.  

It would help if you also looked for someone whose hobbies include playing team sports, volunteering, etc. These activities can indicate that they’re invested in a cause, team, or sport and that they’ve got the mindset to stick with things they care about.

6. Recognize their contribution

Employees who feel much appreciated are more likely to stay. According to the Society for Human Resource Management Survey, 68% of HR admitted that appreciation and recognition play a vital role in improving the retention rate for any organization. Yet, many organizations can implement successful retention programs. 

Companies should devise proven recognition programs and encourage the direct managers to recognize their  subordinates’ efforts.. This makes the employees feel valued at different levels. 

7. Help employees to maintain work-life balance

Erratic work schedules and hectic life are common among the people working with private organizations. The flexible schedule and remote work help the employees achieve work-life balance. But, if the employees are overworked and assigned targets that are not achievable, it impacts them adversely. 

The managers must check that only that much work should be assigned that the employees can handle efficiently for the specific time slot. Tasks such as unnecessary meetings and other administrative duties which are counter productive should be cut down drastically. 

8. Improve organizational culture

Do you know that organizational culture is one of the key factors in retaining employees? Strong corporate culture plays a vital role in attracting new talents and keeping existing ones. 

If you want to keep your best talent, you must create a positive work environment where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas, suggestions, and feedback. This way, you’ll get better results from your employees. To achieve a strong corporate culture, the organization should:

  • Have firm commitments to diversity and equity
  • Understanding and supportive leadership.
  • Value the employee’s voice
  • Carry out the clearly articulated values 

9. Flexibility to employees

No one wants to work in an organization with rigid policies. Employees look for flexibility to accommodate their emergencies and other responsibilities in life, such as medical needs, family time, and other miscellaneous tasks. Organizations that give flexible work schedules or the options like compressed workweek deliver higher job satisfaction for employees. 

It is considered an important employee retention strategy that encourages the employees to stay longer with their existing organization.

10. Creating Growth Pathways.

The lack of opportunities often gives employees ample reason to change their current job. Every employee looks for upward mobility in their existing companies. Due to the lack of such opportunities, employees are likely to look outside the organization. With dedicated career pathing, an organization increases employee engagement and assures them that their future is secure, with ample growth opportunities in their existing organization. 

Also read: 4 Creative Team Building Activities

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

1. What is the difference between “Employee Engagement” and “Employee Retention”?

Engagement refers to the level of interest and involvement that an individual has in their job. It means how an employee feels connected to their employer and colleagues. On the contrary, retention refers to the length of service of an employee within an organization. It indicates how long an employee stays with the company after getting hired. Employee Engagement attributes to Employee Retention. 

2. Why do we need to focus on Employee Retention?

Employee retention is essential for any business because if they lose their valuable employees, they will have to spend more money on hiring and training new employees. Also, when there is no employee retention strategy implemented by the organization, they might face problems in achieving their goals.

3. What are some of the most common reasons for Employee Attrition?

  • Pay issues – When employees don’t receive fair compensation for what they do, it can be very difficult to stick around. In a survey of 900 employees, over 35% of the employees admitted they would quit their jobs if they don’t get a raise in their salary.
  • Workload – Too much work without enough resources can lead to burnout and eventually quitting.
  • Lack of recognition – No matter how hard you try, sometimes you won’t succeed at everything you set out to accomplish. Organizations that do not recognize their employees have a higher turnover, up to 31%

Conclusion 

Many factors determine whether someone leaves their job or not. For any organization, employees are the assets. Hence, no organization can afford to lose the best of its talents. But if your organization doesn’t implement any employee retention strategy, you’ll probably lose your best talents.

 


Want to know how Engagedly can help you mange your remote employees better? Request us for a demo.

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How To Conduct Performance Appraisal For Remote Employees

There are many reasons why employees feel more comfortable to work from home than working from office. For some, it is about working without distraction or pressure, for some it is about avoiding traffic and the list goes on.

Continue reading “How To Conduct Performance Appraisal For Remote Employees”

Top 5 Employee Goals And Objectives to Advance Your Career

Setting employee goals and objectives is a common practice among organizations worldwide. To get the most out of your employees, you must give them goals they can work towards. This not only keeps them motivated but also maintains high performance levels. 

Here are the 5 Examples of Professional Goals For Work 2025.

Goal#1: Bring More Creativity To Work

As the corporate world continues to become more competitive, creativity keeps on gaining more significance among employers. Creativity can impact how well your employees can implement their tasks. Because it contributes to the development of the company, organizations are increasingly showing interest in cultivating employees’ creative thinking. And you don’t want to fall behind. So this year, creativity should top the list of your employees’ goals and objectives.

Though creativity is not something that can be taught, few proven practices can make your employees think out of the box. Interestingly, some of the practices are as simple as walking, learning a new instrument, and even just sitting at a place doing nothing at all.

Here is what employees need to do:

  • Go for a 30-minute walk, 3 times a week, after work. Don’t listen to music or be on call while walking. The primary focus would be the surroundings
  • Pick up a new hobby or learn to play a new instrument. Dedicate at least half an hour to it in a day
  • Every day, spend some time away from technology. Read a book or just do nothing

Make sure your employees develop these habits by the end of this quarter.

Remember, everyone is creative in their own ways. So, putting some effort into nurturing your employees’ creativity will eventually pay off.

Goal#2: Learn People Management

Employees goals: Learn people management

Every organization has employees of different age groups, backgrounds, and ideas. That means every employee’s way of working is different. To ensure everyone in a team is collaborative and a team player, organizations must include people management skills in their employees’ individual goals and objectives.

People management skills include strong communication, the ability to motivate others, patience, problem-solving, positivity, and honesty.

Some examples of practicing people management skills are:

  • Provide teammates or peers with feedback at least once a month until the end of Q4
  • Recognize one colleague’s work effort weekly by sending them an encouraging email for the next 6 months
  • Encourage inclusive work culture by involving everyone in a monthly brainstorming session till the end of this year
  • Involve employees in a monthly problem-solving session where every employee will solve one critical problem, given by their team leads or upper management, for the next six months

By improving people management skills in your employees, you build effective future leaders within the workforce.

Also read: Your Guide to Performance Management

Goal#3: Hone Your Negotiation Skills

Negotiation skill is vital for every individual in a business. It helps in reaching common ground in case of any confrontation and improves relationships in the workplace. Negotiation is also important for career growth.

Some of the characteristics of negotiation skills are- knowledge of the subject matter, listening skills, ability to express thought verbally, general intelligence and judgment, and patience.

Developing negotiation skills in employees must be a priority for 2023

To develop this skill, your employees need to:

  • A negotiation course
  • Find a good negotiation coach and have a monthly or biweekly meeting till Q4
  • Every month, keep an hour aside to try out new negotiation skills with a peer, until the end of this year

Coursera provides negotiation skills training “Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills”. In this course, your employees will learn about and practice the 4 steps of negotiation: Prepare (how to plan negotiation strategy), Negotiate (how to use key tactics for success), Close (how to create a contract), and Perform & Evaluate (the end game). Coursera also provides a Course Certificate on the successful completion of the course.

Goal#4: Practice Decision Making

employee goals in 2022/2023

Decision-making is a critical skill for anyone in an authorized position. So having a workforce that can make quick yet good decisions is something that makes an organization stand out. That’s why your employee goals and objectives list for 2025 should have decision-making in it.

Though it is a difficult skill to develop, if your employees actively involve themselves in the process, they can achieve significant long-term results.

What your employees need to do to improve decision-making skills:

  • Invest at least an hour every week to learn some basics of probability. It helps in improving one’s decision-making skills
  • Do not postpone any difficult decision that you are required to make for the next 3 months

Udemy offers an excellent course named “Decision Making: Mistakes, in Probability and Statistics,” which can improve your employees’ decision-making skills. This course is specially built for leaders and managers.

This course offers learnings on- common mistakes made in probability for everyday judgments and decisions, the psychological biases and fallacies that make us conclude wrongly, and how to use probability effectively during decision-making.

Also read: Here’s Why Your Employee Rewards & Recognition Fails

Goal#5.: Focus On Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is one’s capability to recognize, manage, and use their own emotions in positive ways to empathize with others and overcome challenges. It helps you build stronger relationships at work and achieve your career goals. As a result, emotional intelligence becomes a critical skill for collaboration and working effectively in a team. 

The skills involved in emotional intelligence are- self-awareness, motivation, social skills, and empathy.

To improve emotional intelligence, your employees:

  • Need to practice self-awareness thrice a week through self-reflection, noting down feelings and experiences, and reflecting on behavior throughout the year
  • Must practice active listening and pay attention to non-verbal cues when communicating with others
  • Must use an assertive style of communication (communicate opinions and needs without being aggressive) for the next 3 months

Many organizations are now switching to performance management software to automate and enhance setting up of employee goals and objectives. These tools provide real-time data on goals achievement and further help to increase employee accountability and transparency in the system.

Connect the dots across the entire employee experience.
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10 Amazing Employee Onboarding Examples

There are currently more than 157 million employees in the American workforce. Whether you employ a handful of people or hundreds of them, your employees are a vital resource for your company. 

This is why bringing new recruits into your business can help to give it a new lease on life. However, very few people in America now join a company and stay for the long haul. In fact, the average employee will only stay with a company for 4.1 years.

If you are going to hold on to your star employees, your HR teams need to take good care of them, and this starts from the moment you hire them. Good onboarding practices help ensure a smooth introduction of new employees while making them feel welcome.

So, what are the best ways to onboard your staff? Read on to find out ten great onboarding ideas that are used by some of the most successful companies in America!

Also read: Virtual Onboarding: A New Reality

What Is the Goal of the Employee Onboarding Process? 

Employee onboarding is essentially another name given to the process of welcoming new staff to your business after the hiring process. This involves introducing them to:

  • Their role in the company
  • The team members they will be working with
  • The structure of the company

However, the onboarding strategy is also about integrating new employees into the company. So it should help them to understand the company ethos and feel like part of the company.

Why Is Onboarding So Important? 

Successful onboarding benefits both your business and your new employees.

By making your employees feel supported and at home quickly, you improve employee satisfaction. This helps to build their loyalty to your company from day one and lowers your employee turnover. After all, accepting job offers doesn’t mean that your employees are bonded to your company for life!

As a result, you will hold on to great employees and potential employees will be drawn to your positive work environment. So this also helps you to attract high-quality applicants in the future.

On top of this, employees that have been properly onboarded will find it easier to settle into work quickly. Your business will immediately benefit from this process.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at ten great onboarding examples to inspire your HR team. 

1. Buddy Systems

Buddy systems are a popular onboarding strategy. This involves using HR onboarding software to allocate an existing employee as a mentor to new staff. 

During the employee boarding process, each staff member will receive training for their role. Onboarding buddies can provide valuable support for this training and also act as a point of contact for any questions. 

It is a good idea to allocate mentors working in similar areas who will be able to understand your new employees. This helps them to feel more at home and reach out when they need to.

Also read: 5 Benefits of Investing In Employee Recognition Software

2. Onboarding Courses

Speaking of training, onboarding courses are an essential part of any onboarding boot camp. Even if this delays getting your new recruits to their desks, it will pay off over time. 

Netpeak, for example, is a company with more than 500 employees in its books. This company puts all of its new recruits through a two-part course before they start work. 

This helps them to understand: 

  • The company’s mission statement and values
  • Company goals for the future
  • Rules for behavior
  • The company’s structure

This is an efficient way of bringing your new employees up to speed on all the important aspects of your company culture.

When it comes to hiring managers and new employees, the employee onboarding process helps them to settle into a company quickly. Great onboarding also encourages company loyalty, so your employees will stick around. Employee onboarding software, like HR Cloud, can help your HR teams perfect your employee onboarding program. Learn more about them here.

3. Focusing on More Than Just Data

To learn about the company, your new employees need to understand more than the basic rule book. Because of this, staff-led talks about the employee experience at a company are popular with HR teams.

For example, Netpeak also includes a series of talks in their onboarding process, known as Netpeak Pulse. These TED-Talk-style of events give current employees an opportunity to present themselves in a more personal way. 

These talks can cover a whole range of interests and experiences, including: 

  • Tips for creating a healthy work-life balance 
  • Practicing mindfulness 
  • Ways to find happiness 
  • Enriching and inspiring life hobbies or experiences

This is a great way of showing new recruits that your company cares about them as individuals. This fosters a supportive and inclusive environment that helps your new staff do a great job. 

4. Team-Building Days

Team-building days can be a great icebreaker for new employees and give the team an opportunity to get to know one another away from the office.

Taking the focus off work can also help new employees to relax around their coworkers. This also improves communication skills and boosts productivity for your existing teams. 

Some great team-building onboarding activities include escape rooms, laser tag, and scavenger hunts. Or if you want something more focused, why not opt for a crafting activity or team quiz?

Also read: Five Ways To Build Better Teams

5. Social Events For Employee Onboarding

Planning social events for your new recruits also helps them build relationships before they sit down at their desks.

You might want to plan welcome drinks for all of your new employees. Or you put together a social fair for organizations within your company. If your company has any sports teams or minority group representatives, a fair is a great way to introduce them.

It can help to introduce employees to their mentors before these events. That way, if your new recruits are shy, they already have a familiar face in the room.

6. Employee Welcome Kits

Often, employees will have to work out a notice period before they come and join your company. However, you can start welcoming them remotely before their training starts.

Sending an employee welcome kit over is a great way of showing them that you care and are excited to work with them. This is a must-have on your onboarding checklist!

In fact, this is something that global marketing giant Ogilvy and Mather have done for their 10,000+ employees over the years. And they must be doing something right!

A welcome kit can include information about the company, tips on how to find you on social media, and a heartfelt message. But you can also throw in a few treats for them to enjoy, such as a bottle of wine and some nice snacks!

7. Team Dinners

Large company social events are a great way to familiarize employees with your ethos.

However, the most important relationships they will form are with their individual team. After all, these are the people that they will see on a daily basis.

Team dinners or drinks are a must have for any onboarding process. You can do these before an employee starts.

However, it is also nice to organize a dinner towards the end of your employee’s first month. This is something they’ll really be able to enjoy once their feet are on the ground.

8. Sampling the Services and Products

No matter what services or products your company provides, your new employees should have a chance to sample them. 

This helps them to engage really with what they are going to be promoting and working on. It can also spark ideas about new ways to sell or improve new products, which could be invaluable for your company. 

So make sure you set aside time for this when new employees join your teams.

9. Opportunities to Bring New Ideas to the Table

Speaking of coming up with new ideas, Netflix uses a great onboarding technique to encourage new recruits. 

In most businesses, employees feel that they have to work their way up through the ranks before they even get a seat at the ideas table. However, Netflix offers new recruits opportunities to speak up about their ideas and put them into action. 

With a little supervision, this can help you get the best out of your employees from the start. It will also make your employees feel like their ideas are really valued. 

Also read: Why Does Workplace Communication Matter?

10. Develop a Continuous Onboarding Process With Your HR Teams

Having a great onboarding strategy in place for the first few months is a great thing for your company. However, if this suddenly drops away it can leave relatively new employees feeling disappointed. 

Because of this, it is important to have a strategy in place to continue the things that they enjoy from effective onboarding programs. This might include: 

  • Hosting team drinks once a week or month
  • Continuing the buddy system after onboarding is complete 
  • Having open discussions with your employees about their development goals 
  • Identifying ways to support these goals
  • Offering refresher training and support for your staff

All of this will ensure that your staff continues to feel support even after their official onboarding period is over.


Want to know how to effectively manage your employees post onboarding? Request us for a demo.

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Guest Contribution by HR Cloud

This article is written by the marketing team at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is dedicated to providing powerful solutions for your HR teams and creating an exceptional employee experience. Our aim is to help your company improve employee engagement, onboarding, and to save you valuable time!

Top 10 Effective and Trending HR Practices

The worldwide Coronavirus pandemic has brought about a sea change in the way we conduct business today. HR’s role has grown more important than ever, not just in employee management, but also in establishing guidelines on how organizations should function in this new environment.

As businesses struggle to maintain profitability in the face of new work-from-home and social distancing conventions, the following are some recent creative ‘Human Resource practices‘ and trends that businesses of all kinds may adopt and benefit from. 

But before we go into HR best practices for 2022, we need to understand the term ‘best HR practices‘ and learn to distinguish between ‘best fit’ and ‘best practices’ in Human Resource Management (HRM).

What can be regarded as the best HR Practices?

It is a collection of Human Resource actions and principles that are universally effective in achieving a competitive objective, regardless of the organization’s size or industry.

Alternatively, it may be described as a set of strategies, concepts, or ideas that are embraced by businesses for maximizing business performance. This is true regardless of the company, industry, or any field to which it is applied.

Factors that differentiate ‘best fit’ and ‘best practices’ in HRM.

According to Human Resource management studies, there are two distinct strategies for employee management in a company.

The best-fit methodology entails aligning HR policies with corporate strategy in order to maximize profitability. This implies that HR should prioritize both the company’s and its employees’ interests and requirements.

According to the best practice strategy, a set of universal HR activities exists that may assist businesses in achieving a competitive edge regardless of their sector or organizational context. In basic terms, best practice is a method that is universal, while the best fit is a situation-specific approach.

Often, most organizations choose a hybrid approach of best fit and best practices, depending on the circumstances.

Also read: Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire: Best Practices

Are Human Resource Practices and Human Resource Activities synonymous?

It is essential to distinguish between Human Resource practices and Human Resource activities. Without clear knowledge, it is easy to get confused between HR practices and activities. Both are necessary for an HR department to perform at its full capacity and for a company to maximize its human capital investment.

Human resource practices include HR’s strategic operations; they serve as the basis and guiding force for managing the company’s employees and should be aligned with business objectives. 

Several examples of HR practice include:

  • HR department planning, organization, and management.
  • Establishing the HRM department’s purpose and objectives.
  • Developing initiatives to enhance the work environment’s quality.
  • Fostering abilities, potential, and future leadership.

On the other side, Human Resource activities are concerned with the execution of Human Resource practices and other critical planned strategies under the HR department’s objectives.

Human Resource activities may involve: 

  • Recruitment and selection
  • Payroll and market research
  • Education and development
  • Rewards and compensation for employees

HR departments flourish when HR practices and HR activities are integrated as a unit, functioning hand in hand.

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A checklist of 10 HR best practices for 2022

The impact of the coronavirus epidemic on companies, employees, and workplace culture has been huge. Thus, the HR practices for 2022 must reflect these changes to ensure higher employee engagement and retention, and motivated employees. Keeping these aspects under consideration, we have provided a checklist of current HR best practices.

Focusing on employees’ overall health

Employees have experienced severe stress because of their concern for themselves and their loved ones as a consequence of the uncertain conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. To alleviate the employees’ concerns, HR may build programs that target employees’ overall health and wellbeing, including psychological counseling and financial wellness.

Seamless transition to a remote working environment.

Remote working has become the new working model for the near future in the post-pandemic period. In the absence of a conducive work environment, as seen in an office, Human Resources would play a significant role in helping employees to get acclimatized to the work-from-home model, efficiently. This might include novel human resource strategies, such as assisting with the administrative aspects of setting up a home office and fulfilling demands for family care.

The Open-Book Management Approach.

By open-book Management approach, we imply performing business transparently. For the same, it is necessary that an organization communicates corporate developments to its employees as when the developments take place. 

Regarding the same, you may opt to use a product such as ‘Engagedly’s OKR/Goal Alignment platform,’ which enables you to communicate business updates straight from the dashboard. This will drive your employees to strive toward corporate objectives since they will have a long-term perspective. Also, the measure will not only increase your business’s efficiency, but will also ensure that you have fewer concerns about employee engagement and retention.

Employee engagement matters

Fully engaged workers are always more productive than the rest of the workforce and they show a minimal level of absenteeism. Thus, employee engagement has become one of the indispensable factors of current Human Resources practices.

Employee engagement requires open dialogue, transparent communication, and, most crucially, empowerment. Importantly, employees are no longer keen on routine labor that does not provide career opportunities and growth. They are always on the lookout for opportunities to improve their skills and knowledge in order to meet unforeseeable challenges. 

Organizing programs, professional development courses, and seminars enable them to close the skills gap generated by evolving technologies.

Training with smart technologies and methodologies 

The static PowerPoint presentations provided to large audiences in classroom settings have been phased out by new technologies, leaving behind freely available, online, and self-paced education.

Nowadays, through a technique known as microlearning, complex information may be broken down into smaller digestible modules and presented as animation to make comprehension of the concepts easy. 

This enables employees to soak up information quickly and use the pertinent information to complete their job at that moment. Thus, training has become intrinsically linked to the unique demands of both employees and employers. Other advancements, such as gamification, have made professional learning more enjoyable, while virtual reality enables employees to practice their job abilities in real-world scenarios.

Emphasizing the need for work-life balance.

Frequently, remote workers cannot discern the boundary between work and personal life, taking on work outside of normal hours. Human resources may take the lead in promoting the need for a good work-life balance in order to avoid burnout. In this respect, measures such as a cut-off time for work, a weekends-off policy, and flexible workdays policy that prioritize outcomes over several working hours may be a wise HR practice.

Fair compensation

Compensation, bonuses, and rewards all contribute to your employees’ sense of recognition and appreciation. It is one of the significant worldwide HR practices to follow. Outstanding employees deserve exceptional rewards. Fair remuneration encourages individuals to maintain their excellence in the job and even outperform their previous performance.

Your compensation plan should consider the employee’s skills, the value they add to your business, and competitive pressures. By strategizing pay packages that are superior to the ordinary competition, you can retain people and support the organization’s continuing development.

Enhancing workplace diversity

As the world gets more complicated and connected, it’s vital to hear out a variety of perspectives voiced by employees from different cultural backgrounds. Effective practices such as a culturally diverse senior management team and the use of AI to select applicants based on their talents may eradicate recruiting biases that seep into the hiring process.

Also read: Building Diversity and Inclusion In Your Workplace

Integrating HR analytics into decision-making

Data-driven decision-making can transform the efficiency of company processes, and HR is no exception. Investing in human resource software, as offered by Engagedly performance review software, enables the creation of customized performance metrics over time and across departments. It also provides deep insights into trends, such as attrition rate, promotion/transfer rates, and employee mood. This data may be utilized to make efficient recruiting, training, and culture-related choices.

Cultivating an empathetic culture

The epidemic has emphasized more than ever how precarious life is. The approach of doing business as usual is no longer suitable in this context. Human resources may take the lead in building an empathetic culture in which workers are respected and heard as individuals rather than as contributors.

Conclusion

For the year 2022, specific HR practices must be followed in order to simplify workflow and align your workforce with the company’s goal and vision. If an organization focuses on human resource best practices and efficiently implements the aforementioned trending practices, it may cause increased employee retention and happiness.

Engagedly offers a suite of HR tools to assist you in automating global recruiting operations, adhering to applicable rules and regulations, managing employee activities, and regulating worldwide payroll. The best aspect being, these critical operations may now be managed from a single platform.

Employee Engagement Survey

How to Make the Most Out of Your Exit Interview Data

Resignation is part of the employee circle. Watching a valuable employee go can be hard on you and the business. This isn’t just because of the lost productivity and value, but also the reason for leaving. We carry out exit interviews to find out why. Companies carry them out to get valuable exit interview data and act on them. Sadly, most companies carry out exit interviews as a mere ritual, and as for the data, it sits away collecting dust. 

These oversights by companies have led to them losing more valuable employees. And in the long run, they lose a competitive advantage. This article will explain exit interviews, their importance, tips for conducting productive exit interviews, and what to do with exit interview data.

What is an Exit Interview?

It is an interview conducted by an organization after an employee submits their resignation. This interview takes place some weeks or days before the employee mentally checks out. It is typically seen as an HR activity and often conducted by them. However, a mentor or supervising manager can also conduct exit interviews.

Why Conduct An Exit Interview?

There are a lot of reasons to conduct exit interviews and act on their data. One of the popular misconceptions organizations believe is that they can’t get reliable information from the exit interviews of employees. The notion of employees being bitter, biased, or secretive by most top management makes them believe paying attention to the activity and the data isn’t worth it. Unfortunately, this idea doesn’t stand as there are noticeable benefits of conducting an exit interview.

Here are some which we will discuss in this section.

Also Read: How to Accurately Leverage the STAR Interview Method for 2024?
  • Gain Constructive Feedback 

Feedback from exiting employees is valuable. Expect to hear some constructive feedback from them as they have nothing to lose. Probably you will receive some level of criticism. It’s best to listen and take notes of all they are saying, as their perspectives and views are necessary for the improvement and growth of the company. It’s also best not to make them personal and be as objective as possible when asking the questions.

  • Employee Pain Points 

You can also gain insight into those areas that are big turnoffs or problems for employees. Carefully crafting the questions can lead to some insightful revelations about the pressing needs of employees and possible ways of addressing them.

  • Identifying Patterns 

Losing 5-10 percent of your workforce to resignations or transfers in a year is reasonable, but having 30-50 percent of your employees resigning calls for a strategic change from management. Analyzing exit interview data presents useful trends for why employees leave the company. 

Trends may include inadequate compensation compared to the industry benchmark, toxic managers, or limited growth in the firm. It may also be the combination of some or all of the above.

  • Convert Ex-Employees to Ambassadors

If an exit interview is conducted right, it can lead to the employees feeling good about the company. Companies should understand not all resignations have to lead to a bad break-up between employer and employee. It can also be a way of establishing a good relationship, especially if the employee has a lot of potential for continuous growth. Doing this leaves a good lasting impression on the employee, leading to them speaking in a positive light when talking about your organization. And who knows, the person can make a return in the future.

  • A Cheap and Effective Method

Honestly, this method is a cost-effective way of getting valuable insights into how the company operates. Although individual feedback may not mean much, collecting and analyzing them can be a powerful tool when creating strategic plans for the future. And all this information comes at little to no cost.

Also Read: How to Conduct a Value-Based Interview in 2024 – Pro Tips

Tips to Note When Conducting an Exit Interview

As part of an off-boarding process, exit interviews play an important role. And that’s why we must first identify the best practice to get valuable information from outgoing employees.

  • The Exit interview

According to research by Harvard Business Review, 92% of Asian- Pacific companies make their interviews mandatory for all employees, while 64% of Central/South American companies conduct them. This research shows not all companies think mandatory exit interview is necessary. Although some companies interview a subset of employees. These subsets are usually top performers, future talents, or departments with high employee turnover. 

Smaller companies can afford to conduct exit interviews for most of their employees, while large corporations specialize in some or all of the subsets. Where possible, allow all employees to have an exit interview – except in situations they decline to have one.

  • Interview Format

An interviewee should be comfortable during the exit interview. And that will mean choosing the best format for the exit interview. It will help if the employee has the option to pick the interview format they are comfortable with. This gives them a sense of control, makes them relaxed. 

While it’s ideal to aim for a face-to-face conversation, not all employees are ready for that method. And so other options, like using a questionnaire or going by phone call, should be available for the employee. Remember, the aim is to get the employee comfortable enough to get valuable information from them.

  • Interviewer

To get valuable data from the employee, you must choose a competent and experienced interviewer. Organizations have the choice of an internal or external individual to carry out this assignment. The candidate is usually the Human Resource Manager or a 2nd or 3rd level supervisor if picked internally. 

If choosing externally, an expert or an exit interview specialist will suffice. The interviewer must be composed and experienced to get the best from the exit interview. Some companies opt to use both methods to get as much valuable information from the outgoing employee, which brings me to the next point.

  • Frequency

There is a debate on how often an exit interview should take place. Different organizations have different rules. While some prefer to conduct one interview and get it over with, others prefer two or three interviews. It’s best to see which suits the company more. 

Is the HR robust enough to conduct over one interview? Does the company have a reason for hiring an external party for an external interview? How productive will conducting two or more interviews be? Asking these questions can help you decide how many exit interview best suit your company. Although, research has shown that conducting two interviews seems to be the best.

  • Timing

With the frequency comes the timing of the interview. Experts suggest conducting one interview before the employee leaves and another follow-up interview a few months later. According to research by Joel Lefkowitz, employees who did not cite a reason for leaving at an initial exit interview did so several months later when sent a follow-up questionnaire. It is likely because the former employees have settled in their new jobs and have no problem being open about their previous work.

  • Questions

The most important aspect of the exit interview is the questions and the mannerisms in which the interviewer asks those questions. The first thing to note is the questions to avoid.

 They include:

  • Questions relating to particular individuals and company gossip
  • Questions attempting to stop them from leaving
  • Questions requiring them to justify their resignation
  • Questions highlighting they are once to blame for their resignation.

Exit interviews are not a time to show bruised ego but to learn what you are doing right and what you can improve on. Asking questions that won’t bring any valuable information will only prove counterproductive. Mishandling the exit interview will leave the employee feeling unheard, hurt, or angry.

Employers should rather focus on the following subjects:

  • The reason (s) for leaving
  • The Job–Job satisfaction and growth opportunity
  • Compensation–Pay satisfaction, benefits and bonuses, career progression
  • Organization–Culture, ethics, performance
  • Working Environment–Working conditions, work wellbeing
  • People–relationships and morale

An example is asking for advice or recommendations for the organization. If the outgoing employee is open to questions about the new job, ask questions like what attracted them to the new job. Or how did they find the new job? These can help in future recruitment activities.

Also Read: Why Are Exit Interviews Important?

Making the Most Out of Your Exit Interview Data

How companies use the data they collect from the exit interview is crucial. Interviews can be analyzed and metrics created to make strategic decisions for an organization.

We already looked at some benefits earlier and will now look at some practical use of this data.

  • Recruitment

One of the standout benefits of using exit interview metrics is improving the recruiting process. Information on methods and packages from other companies can help your organization improve how they search for candidates and what they can offer to such candidates. If there is also a trend of certain companies taking your employees, you can research more on those companies and see what they are doing well.

  • Employee Retention

The primary goal of conducting an exit interview is to learn how to be better in various ways, including the working conditions of employees. It is important to note if management assumes they know better, they will miss it. According to a study of 19,500 post-exit interviews, 89% of managers wrongly believed their employees left because of money when the actual figure of employees who left for financial gains was 12%. 

It’s best to hear from those who work in the system on how to improve the system. Although an exit interview means the company did not sort the issue out on time, the exit interview data presents the opportunity to right a wrong.

  • Coaching Guide for Managers

No one is perfect, and we all agree on this up to a point. But consistently exposing employees to toxic or incompetent behaviors week in and out will affect their morale. A study on Frontline Leader Project conducted by DDI shows 57% of people leave their jobs because of their managers. An exit interview data analysis can provide a trend of managers who may need more training. The exit interview data can also show what kind of training the company should focus on moving forward.

  • Keeping Track of Progress 

When companies keep exit metrics, companies can review them. Keeping track of the measured metrics is essential, as it shows the effects of the new strategies. Without the records, companies cannot gauge how well their policies work.

Also Read: 10 Best Stay Interview Questions to Ask Your Employees

Conclusion

The data from exit interviews can improve company performance and is an insightful way to get feedback. When a company listens and implements, it saves them from losing more employees in the long run and adapts to the changing working environment.

While exit interview data is helpful for management, they should also consider conducting stay interviews to avoid losing some of their star employees to other organizations.

Talent Management

Getting Started With Real Time Performance Management

As per a study by Gallup, in 2017 only 20% employees reported that they are satisfied with the way organizations manage their performance.

Until recently, half-yearly and annual performance reviews were the only processes that were predominant methods to manage employee performance globally. But over the years, organizations have realized that it is ineffective and have many flaws. Moreover, a onetime performance review proved to be a burden on the HRs and managers conducting it.

Organizations like Adobe, GE, Deloitte, IBM, Gap, and many others have already ditched the concept of annual performance reviews; and are slowly shifting or have shifted to a more modern and effective method of managing employee performance, known as real time performance management. Considering the current situation, where employees have been working from home for months now, it can be very common for them to be disengaged. Real Time Performance Management will help keep them engaged and motivated at all times. It is the responsibility of the head of people to initiate the practice. So if you have not done so yet, now is the time.

In this article, we will guide you on how to get started with real time performance management in your organization. And if you are already practicing it, you will get an idea on how to do it differently. But before we get into the details of how to implement it, let us look at ‘What is Real Time Performance Management?‘. 

Also Read: How Engagedly Can Help You Enhance Employee Engagement?

What is Real Time Performance Management?

Real time performance management is a management strategy that measures employees’ performance in real-time. It helps employees and managers communicate frequently about their performance standards and goals. It also helps in fixing performance issues on the go and ensure business agility.

Employees get to set actionable goals, improve their performance, remain engaged at work, and achieve organization goals. Read on to know how you can implement it successfully in your organization.

Management Support

Real-time performance management software

To implement any new process in an organization, the management and senior leadership must support the same. So the first step in implementing real time business performance management system is to get management and leadership support. Highlight to the management why the transition is necessary and its benefits to employees and the organization. Make use of facts and data on how implementing the system has helped other organizations. Once management gives the nod, it would be easy to get other employees on board. 

Also Read: 5 Best Tips To Reduce Employee Turnover

Communicate Effectively

Effective communication is an integral element to ensure that a business runs smoothly. Make frequent use of the company website, newsletters, meetings, and videos to communicate about it and its importance. Highlight to your employees why it is valuable for them and how it is different from an annual or half-yearly review. This will ensure that everyone is aware of the process by the time it is implemented.

Also Read: The Ultimate Guide To 30 60 90 Day Performance Reviews

Employee Training

Planning and communicating to implement real time performance management is the first step of the process. It can only be effective when people are aware of how to practice it correctly. Proper training should be given to the managers and team leaders on all the aspects of the system. Once trained, they should be equipped to handle real time goal management, share timely positive and constructive feedback, and manage one-on-one discussions. Moreover, they should also be able to recognize and reward their employees in real-time. 

It is recommended to spend a considerable amount of time training managers and team leaders so that they get used to the process and use it effectively.

Also Read: 5 Best Practices For Effective One On One Meetings

Real Time Performance Management Software

In the current scenario, where everyone is working remotely, it is necessary to have a software or tool to manage all the aspects of performance management.

Tools like Engagedly offer the flexibility to share real time feedback, set dynamic goals and OKRs, conduct 360 degree reviews, and also reward and recognize your employees in real time. Moreover, real time performance management software makes the goals more visible and transparent for the organization. It makes easier for each stakeholder to track the progress.

Also Read: 6 Must Have Features Of A Performance Management Software

Follow-Up

Once real time performance management is in practice, request your employees to share their feedback about the process. This will help you identify how well your employees are adapting to the process and work on concerns, if any. This will also help the employees know that the organization values them and is open to their feedback to improve the process. In this way, it will not feel imposed as employees themselves will be a part of the change.

Also Read: Use OKRs In Startups To Measure Success

real time performance management software