Performance Culture Archives • SpriggHR

The Pros and Cons of Paid Time Off

Emily Barr — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 15:17:07 +0000

The Pros and Cons of Paid Time Off

Offering separate paid time off benefits according to an employee’s reason of absence sounds unnecessarily complicated, but it was the norm for employers not too long ago. Today, however, more and more organizations have adopted the newer, more flexible approach to absence benefits by incorporating a paid time off (PTO) system that encompasses all absence policies into one all-inclusive plan.

What is Paid Time Off?

A paid time off policy combines vacation, sick time, and personal time into a single bank for employees to use when they take paid time off from work. In essence, as opposed to having the employer differentiate between various benefits according to the employee’s reason for not being at work, a PTO policy creates a pool of days that the employee uses at their own discretion.

When an employee needs to take time off from work, regardless of the reason, the PTO policy allows for a certain amount of that time off to be paid hours. That way the employee uses their PTO hours is up to them, whether it be saved for doctor’s appointments, kid’s school conferences, childcare, or sick leave. Other examples of PTO can include maternity/paternity leave, jury duty, holiday pay, or disability leave. The key is that the use of the paid time off is no longer the business of the employer.

Is Paid Time Off Different from Regular Vacation Time?

While the terms paid time off and vacation tend to be used interchangeably by employees and employers alike, they are not actually the same thing. PTO describes any time an employee is getting paid while being away from work, meaning it is much more encompassing than “vacation”. Essentially, all vacation is Paid Time Off, but not all Paid Time Off is vacation.

Protecting the Employee and Employer

Before implementing a PTO policy in your workplace, there are a few things you will need to do first to ensure the protection of the company’s workload and customer service quality. Requiring employees to request paid time off with ideally one-week prior notice whenever possible is a good practice, unless the employee is truly sick. Aim to establish any other guidelines as needed, including setting parameters for employee sickness, vacation, and personal time, before adopting a firm PTO policy.

The Pros and Cons of Paid Time Off

The Benefits of a Paid Time Off Policy

Well-constructed PTO policies can offer several benefits to employees and organizations alike. By giving employees flexibility to the use of paid time off at their own discretion, managers are not put in the position of having to police their employees’ usage of their benefit, and employees are not put into disclosing what are sometimes very personal situations. Other key benefits include:

Paid time off gives the employer some control over unscheduled absences, which can become a serious problem not planned for or scheduled properly. When employees schedule their time off in advance through a PTO system, it assists with work coverage costs and planning.
Employees value the flexibility offered to them by a paid time off policy. Rather than having to follow the guidelines of sick leave or vacation leave policies, it provides them the option to use their paid time off for when they most need it.
When a company uses a paid time off policy, employees are much more likely to be transparent about their reason for absence. In the past, they may have been less willing to share about why they needed time off from work because they either wanted to preserve their privacy or were concerned about the optics of their absence. With a PTO system in place, employees can make decisions for themselves, cultivating a more transparent employer/employee relationship.
Employees and the Human Resources department only must track one bank of paid time off hours, as opposed to having to manage separate tracking systems for vacation, sick, and personal days.

When a company incorporates a paid time off policy, it is common for them to start seeing much more vacation time booked from their employees, and much less unplanned sick days in scheduling. This benefits employers significantly. Firstly, employers receive much more notice about scheduled vacations, and can plan for work coverage accordingly and in a timely manner. Second, employees who take vacation time are much more likely to return to work feeling more refreshed and productive, which may in turn reduce the over sick time taken.

The Disadvantages of a Paid Time Off Policy

While the benefits of paid time off policies are numerous, no work policy is immune to downsides. Some disadvantages of adopting a PTO policy can include:

Employers who implement a PTO policy sometimes fall into the trap of giving their employees fewer overall days off than they had previously, and/or new employees start accumulating paid time off days more slowly than longer-term employees.
Employees also run the risk of not distinguishing PTO from vacation and begin treating paid time off as vacation time and come to work even when they are sick. It is possible to discourage this practice by optimizing absenteeism management practices, but it is the employer who is responsible for setting the pace and expectations surrounding PTO and modeling the appropriate behaviour for their employees.
In some regions, accrued paid time off is required to be paid to the employee upon their last day of work at the company, but unused sick and personal time does not have the same regulations. This runs the risk of employees banking up their unused PTO and costing the organization much more upon their separation than if they were to have banked up regular sick and personal time off.

Time Away from Work is Beneficial

Regardless of the vacation, sick, personal, or paid time off policy you implement into your workplace, your primary goal should be to encourage your employees to use it. The benefits of employees taking time off from work are tremendous, and a company culture that supports time off hinges upon its managers leading by example and taking vacation and PTO days themselves. Aim to eliminate the guilt factor that was previously associated from work absences and demonstrate a true interest in how your employees have spent their time off.

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Top 12 Manager Best Practices

Emily Barr — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 14:44:16 +0000

Top 12 Manager Best Practices

Being a great manager is about much more than simply keeping a group of employees engaged. A great leader is someone who knows how to motivate their team, and who can follow the business management best practices in the right way, driving their organization towards success.

Business management can be described as the process by which an organization gets its employees to produce the greatest results while leveraging those skills and talents made available to them. While every corporate culture is based upon a different philosophy and driven by a unique set of goals, beliefs, and core values, there are some universal truths about effective management that any manager can employ into their practices to obtain that ideal optimized workforce. By following the 12 manager best practices listed below, any business leader can transform even the most struggling organization into a streamlined system, in which employees are inspired to produce their best work, and processes work in such a way that ensure long-term, sustainable success.

1. Engage Workers

An alienated or bored worker will not care about performing their job at all, let alone performing it to their highest ability. The very first step to becoming a great leader is identifying how to engage employees in the company’s vision. Engaged workers are not only more enthusiastic about their efforts and productive in their work, but they also become less passive in how they perform their job. They take more responsibility and accountability for their performance and can also help attract fresh talent to the organization.

2. Reward Effort

Recognition of an employee’s effort, and rewards for achievements, makes workers feel much more valued in the organization. While it may seem like an obvious practice to instill into your managerial plan, many business management training programs overlook the positive impact that appreciation can have on a company. Some managers may even feel that being too close and friendly with employees undermines their authority. However, recognition and reward for great work motivates people to work harder and achieve more themselves and helps to build company loyalty.

A good practice for rewarding effort is to give credit and acknowledgement publicly. If recognition is due for outstanding work, everyone should be made aware that their contributions to the organization will be acknowledged if they show the same level of work ethic.

3. Be Vulnerable

When the leader is open and honest about their sentiments regarding business efforts, employees will also feel comfortable speaking openly and sharing their ideas. Transparency affords increased levels of trust and even respect between a leader and their team members.

4. Stay Committed

Distrust within a team drains valuable resources and time, with team members focusing more on avoiding conflict rather than airing their real opinions and working to find a common ground. When distrust is prevalent, it transforms the workplace into a state of permanent ambiguity, meaning clear goals and strategies rarely emerge from group discussions. By staying committed to the organization’s initiative, a manager can foster a work atmosphere where conflict is welcomed, not feared, since differing perspectives can help to shape a clear and robust goal.

5. Practice Consistency

Perhaps one of the most important manager best practices, remaining consistent in how you treat employees is critical for maintaining a productive working environment. Effective management relies on having leaders in place who treat all team members with a fair, consistent and equitable approach where zero favouritism applies.

6. Seek Clarity

An issue many organizations face is a lack of alignment among managers. Aiming for alignment in managerial practices is critical and can only be achieved when clarity is at the forefront. Aim to ask, and answer, the following six questions to clearly outline the company’s vision:

Why do we exist?
How do we behave?
What do we do?
How will we succeed?
What is most important?
Who must do what?

When leaders can develop and share a clear sense of the organization’s vision, values, strategic goals, and delegation of responsibilities, the company can obtain the clear sense of purpose and direction it needs to succeed.

7. Create Cultural Cohesiveness

Company culture is one of the biggest driving forces in how well a company operates, and how well-equipped it is for the future of business. It encompasses the shared values of an organization that, with the right level of engagement, can lead to the development of productive and efficient outcomes. A strong manager best practice is to ensure that all new hires are in alignment with those core values and visions, since workers with shared values are much more likely to work well together. Diversity in race, gender, socioeconomic status, and more, is beneficial to an organization, since it increases collective insight. But diversity in company values should be avoided.

8. Encourage Teamwork

Cultivating team spirit is extremely beneficial to any organization, and one of the best ways to do so is to introduce frequent opportunities for projects that move away from a department-centered focus. Employees are much more likely to learn and appreciate the importance of collaboration when they are regularly given a the line of sight between the value-add work they perform to that of driving the organization forward.

9. Focus Team Effort

Many managers believe that their efforts to focus teams starts and ends with the introductory period, hosting retreats to boost solidarity, and being attentive to new ideas when they first come out. However, it is critical for managers to keep an eye on ongoing team dynamics, ensuring team members don’t get distracted down the line by individual activities that will lead them off track. In order to achieve the best result for the company, there needs to be consistent reassessment and realignment of team goals. Conducting a teamwork fitness survey is a great way to gauge and monitor key elements of team success such as change compatibility, cohesiveness or team meeting skills.

10. Hold Regular Meetings

Meetings are one of the most critical components to an organization’s success. It could even be argued that no other action, activity or process is more integral to the creation of a healthy organization than meetings. In order to be fully successful in how you plan and run your meetings, and in order to leverage them in the best way to achieve success, aim to do the following:

Hold separate meetings for tactical and strategic business planning.
Assess tactical agendas only after teams have reviewed their progress against their goals.
Ensure sufficient time is allocated for clarification, debate, and resolution of major issues.
Meet occasionally outside the office to review industry changes, as well as anything else significant happening within the company and the team.

By providing teams with a regular forum to discuss core values, and measure their progress against their goals, members can realign their principles and gain perspective on the best business practices for the future of the company.

11. Lead by Example

A manager’s behaviour should always be reflecting how they expect their team to behave. A core manager best practice, but one of the most important, is demonstrating and role modelling the values and expectations you are expecting of your people. If you are on time, your employees will be on time too. If you are consistent, they will be consistent too. As a manager, it is critical to model the ideal behaviour, so your employees will have something to follow and emulate themselves.

12. Practice Transparency

The importance of transparency in business goes beyond its legal implications. A transparent business leader is one who inspires trust and respect among team members on the day-to-day, and not just on bigger picture issues. Team members will be much less willing to follow a leader who has lied or kept important information from them, so remaining transparent and honest is critical. Of course, the essentials of good judgement apply as some information can be sensitive in its nature.

Final Thoughts

In order to succeed in the field of business management, you first need to ensure your own core values align with your organization’s goals. If you are not true to yourself, you cannot expect to have a meaningful impact on the organization you are representing. While there are several manager best practices you should always be incorporating into your leadership efforts, the best and most significant ones are those that focus on fostering authentic connections between yourself, your employees, and the organization.

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What is Strategic Agility?

Emily Barr — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:39:03 +0000

What is Strategic Agility?

In a fast-paced business world, being able to adapt to sudden changes in market conditions or customer needs is as important as ever. Regardless of the source of a business disruption, the ability to respond quickly and rework your organization to suit the new environment is a valuable asset for any modern business today. This asset is referred to as strategic agility.

What Is Strategic Agility?

Strategic agility refers to a company’s ability to quickly and appropriately respond to, or drive, change, while maintaining flexibility and focus. It is a complicated practice, and it requires a significant amount of work and continuous effort to maintain strong strategic agility.

At its core, it relies on the intentional efforts from a company’s leaders and managers to design and construct an organizational structure in which information can flow seamlessly throughout the company. The key to adapting quickly is communicating quickly, so an ease in communicative flow throughout all levels of the organization is equally vital. In addition, it requires efforts in teaching employees at all levels to think strategically, keeping one eye on the future of the business while the other remains focused on what needs to get done today.

Strategic Agility vs. Operational Agility

The term “strategy” in management and Human Resources is contested territory, and so too is the term “Agile”. Used differently by various practitioners, writers, and thought leaders, there is no one clear sense of strategy that is universally correct. However, there is a clear distinction that can be drawn when it comes to agility in business.

Oftentimes, strategic agility and operational agility are noted as the two areas in which adaptions to market and business conditions are driven. Operational agility refers to the review of currently existing products to provide a better, faster, and cheaper way for quicker release to customers. Strategic agility, as we have already discussed, refers to the adaption to new market environments / conditions. Meaning, in some case, it involves the creation of entirely new markets, with new products, that will reach customers.

Operational agility is beneficial, and in some cases, essential to business growth. However, it does not yield significant financial gain for companies. The modern marketplace is one where competitors are quicker than ever in matching their product improvements to existing services. Power in the market has shifted from brands to customers, making it difficult for organizations to monetize the improvements they put out. Amid rampant competition, consumers have a vast array of choices and access to reliable data that informs those choices, meaning they are much more likely to demand that quality improvements be forthcoming at lower cost, or even no cost at all. While operational agility is still critical in some senses, this shift in market dynamics makes it nearly obsolete in efforts to produce higher profits for organizations.

Laying the Foundation for Strategic Agility

Simply put, if a company wants to make a lot of money in the modern marketplace, it needs to pursue market-creating innovations. In other words, it needs to pursue strategic agility. Laying a solid foundation for this type of approach to organizational structure requires three key components:

1. Clarity

Cultivating strategic agility begins with attaining clarity of what success will look like. Without a clear picture of winning on the vision board, employees and organizations as a whole risk running in several different directions, especially when encountering unexpected changes.

Imagine someone asks you to describe and define what the end of the next year will look like for business when your company has been successful. Most leaders will probably have an idea of the financial objectives in place, but what else? Employees don’t make moment to moment, or reactionary, decisions based on the organization’s core financial objectives. Defining and describing what success looks like with specificity across as many aspects of the business as you can is critical.

When you paint a picture of success rooted in clarity, there is little room for interpretation. Everyone in the organization has an aligned understanding of the company’s ideal trajectory, and thus will have the ability to make the best possible decisions day to day and moment to moment, helping the organization reach its destination. Keep in mind that when you communicate the rationale behind the destination, you need to stipulate how It will benefit customers and employees as well. Maintain a vision of success that your employees and clients will understand, making it much easier to keep everyone working on the same page over time.

2. Focus

If getting clear on success represents the starting point for strategic agility, it is keeping your people focused on the goal that is the driving force behind getting there. Employees who are responsible for delivering your product or service day in and day out can easily lose sight of the bigger picture the organization is working towards. Helping them remain focused on the goal by constantly communication the organization’s definition of success in several different ways, and with as much specificity as possible, is critical.

Some examples of practices that will keep your employees focused include:

Beginning every meeting by reviewing the company’s top three strategic goals as standing agenda items, and how they will benefit everyone.
Posting visual cues or “brain prompts” throughout the office that will remind employees of the destination, and what it looks like when you have arrived at your goal.
Ensuring individual employees understand how their jobs and work are contributing to the organization’s efforts in achieving the goals.
When changes occur, communicating how the company will still succeed and why.

3. Connection

An employee cannot buy into your vision of success if they don’t feel connected to the organization as a whole. Fostering connection begins with having a powerful vision that your people can believe in and feel good about, and also requires giving honest performance feedback on a regular basis. An essential ingredient of high-performing teams is clear, constructive feedback, regardless of employee generation. When feedback is delivered in a timely and constructive manner, it helps keep employees aligned with organizational progress as a whole.

Strategic Agility as The Next Big Thing in Modern Business

The rate of change in today’s business market is not going to slow down any time soon. As the world responds to unprecedented circumstances, and as companies adopt newer technologies and inventive management and work practices by the day, making strategic agility a top priority is as important as ever. With it under your belt, you will be able to respond to it, rather than react, and never lose the focus necessary to keep your organization on track to success.

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The Pros and Cons of a 4-Day Work Week

Emily Barr — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:52:44 +0000

The Pros and Cons of a 4-Day Work Week

The pandemic has ushered in a host of significant changes, influencing every area of life, including how we work. Employees around the world have been forced to adjust to their new work-life within the confines of their homes, and companies not deemed essential have modified their physical environments and/or shifted almost entirely to remote work. As a result of the increased stress and tension these rapid changes have placed on the shoulders of workers, organizations are beginning to adopt policies and practices that they may have resisted in the past. One of the more prevalent, modern approaches to work that has gained momentum in the past few months is the idea of a 4-day work week.

What Does a 4-Day Work Week Look Like?

While flexible schedules have been a topic of interest for some time, primarily leveraged by companies looking to modernize their functions, the idea of a shorter work week has rapidly become a focal point of business debate. In a time of such uncertainty, no organization has all the answers to how to best support their employees, and many have turned to a 4-day work week as a solution for the toll the pandemic has taken on their workers’ mental health. But, what does the 4-day work week look like in action?

In truth, there is no one best answer to this question, and no one definition or description of a four-day work week. Shortened work weeks come in many different forms, depending on the objectives of the adoption of the practice in the first place. Some organizations envisage a shorter work week as a production of the same output, with the work time being condensed into fewer hours. Other companies may plan to implement longer working hours, spread out over fewer days than usual. Some models of a four-day week mean a three-day weekend, while others are set up for a day off midweek. Simply put, it just depends on the type of organization you run, and how you want to go about responding to this international period of disruption. And, the first step to identifying whether a shortened work week practice is right for your company and your employees, is to weigh out the potential advantages and disadvantages it may introduce.

The Benefits of a 4-Day Work Week

The idea of a shortened working week is no doubt appealing to many employees. With an extended weekend, or an additional day off, to work towards, many will likely access a newfound point of motivation, and produce better work as a result. According to a Harris poll conducted in May, when the notion of a 4-day work week began circulating quicker than ever, over 82% of US employees stated they would prefer a shorter workweek. Organizations that have already implemented it as a practice have also contributed to the debate. Perpetual Guardian’s CEO Andrew Barnes stated that his implementation of a four-day workweek in 2018 gleaned lower stress levels, higher creativity, and a major boost in team cohesion for his employees.

As companies begin to reopen their offices, shifting from remote work to a reformed workweek system leads to many companies as the right way to go. With companies left and right testing the idea, and achieving promising results from it, employees and employers alike may stand to benefit greatly from a wider adoption of this new concept. Some specific benefits that a 4-day work week gleans for organizations include:

Increase in Productivity – it is well-known that an overworked employee is much less productive than an employee working a reasonable number of hours each week. Perpetual Guardian’s introduction of the 4-day work week policy saw a decrease in employee stress levels from 45% to 38%. Similarly, the countries that yield the highest productivity statistics, including Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands, average around 27 hours a week, not the traditional 40 seen in five-day week structures.
Equal Workplace – the introduction of a decreased workweek would provide employees the opportunity to better balance their work and life commitments. One of the largest contributors to the widened gap between employed female and male workers is the lack of flexible policies surrounding childcare. Most employees who take leave of absences are women needing time off for childcare. A 4-day work week would eliminate this gendered gap in available working hours, providing a more equitable approach to accommodating the familial needs of employees.
Increase in Engagement – a shortened work week has the potential to boost employee satisfaction, morale, commitment, and overall engagement. While a happy workforce may seem like a far-off notion in the current times, providing flexibility in scheduling will do wonders for relieving employee stress levels that may be higher than usual right now. A 4-day work week also means employees are less likely to need stress or sick leave, since they have more time off that they can use to rest and recover. Resultingly, they can return to work ready to take on new challenges, even in times of disruption.

The Drawbacks of a 4-Day Work Week

While the arguments for a 4-day work week seem to keep rising, so too do the arguments against it. Many companies are avid in the belief that condensing the work done over five days into four will yield significantly more negative results for your organization than positive ones. While flexibility in how you go about structing a shortened work week is critical, and it can be adapted and adjusted to the needs and demands of your business, there will always be potential drawbacks to adopting a new, unfamiliar management practice. Some of the key arguments against the idea of a 4-day work week include:

Good Statistics Indicate Poor Management – the shortened work week has picked up so much steam largely because of the benefits it has yielded for the companies who dove head-first into the new model of work. However, if a company is reporting significant changes in their waste and efficiency statistics and are closing gaps only because they condensed their week, it could be argued this speaks negatively to their existing management system itself. If the firms were properly managed from the beginning, some common-sense adjustments should not have produced such radical improvements in the company’s efficiency. It points to the potential of existing flaws, meaning the miraculous statistical changes circulating online in favour of the 4-day work week are not necessarily reliable.
Skipping Workdays Benefits Your Competition – regardless of whether you see massive increases in employee satisfaction, the very possibility that an entire workday is now cut out from your schedule will seem extremely appealing to your competition. If they do not follow the trend themselves, they now have an entire day that they can dedicate to outperforming your organization. They may choose to contact your key clients and customers on a day where they won’t be able to get in touch with your employees.

Shorter Workweeks are Industry-Specific – while it may seem like the entire world is exploring new workweek options, there are certain industries and jobs that will need to remain operational within their current workweek structure. A bus driver for example, cannot work extra to be able to take next Friday off, just as a hotel maid cannot condense five days of cleaning rooms into four. Because of their job design and industry, there are some jobs that simply cannot be condensed into four days, meaning a rapid adoption of a four-day work week can only be leveraged by certain industries.

Above All Else, Your Employees Want Flexibility

The newfound trend of a shortened workweek has kicked up a storm of debates in the business world, and for good reason. Any new, seemingly radical idea of how to manage a company will cause some disruption, but when placed into a context of global uncertainty and unfamiliarity, the pros and cons are dissected under the world’s microscope. While a 4-day work week may seem like a radical change to introduce in such times, it may be useful to examine how well it would suit your organization. The arguments for and against shorter work weeks are abundant, but as a leader, it is up to you to have the final say in what approach will truly benefit your employees and company in the long-term.

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28 Important HR Metrics to Measure

Emily Barr — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 18:50:51 +0000

28 Important HR Metrics to Measure

Strategic HR is a practice that is ever-growing in popularity among businesses around the world. Perhaps one of the biggest indicators of that growing popularity is the increased focus on the use of HR metrics as a key component of an organization’s overall business strategy.

But, what are HR metrics? And if executives are beginning to value them much more, how can a company go about improving their data analysis game to meet those increasing expectations? If you want to make a real impact on your organization, you need to have a thorough understanding of the basics of HR metrics, and which ones in particular you should begin measuring today.

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What Are HR Metrics?

Human Resource metrics are the measurements that help organizations track key areas in their HR data. More specifically, they are the metrics that track an organizations human capital, and measure how effective their Human Resources initiatives are on the overall success of the business. HR metrics can be broken down into three areas, each with their own set of key HR metrics associated with those areas:

1. Organizational Performance

Turnover percentages
Percentage of regretted loss
Statistics on reasons for personnel leaving
Absence percentages, and absence behaviors
Recruitment statistics (e.g. time to fill, number of applicants, recruitment costs)

2. HR Operations

HR efficiency (e.g. time to resolve HR self-service tickets)
HR effectiveness (e.g. perception of service quality)

3. Process Optimization

Changes in HR efficiency and effectiveness over time, which are used to re-engineer and reinvent the nature of HR in the organization, optimizing its delivery process for the future.

These specific examples will be fleshed out in further detail later but recognizing the three overarching areas of HR metrics is critical if you hope to keep your tracking system organized and efficient.

The Importance of Keeping Track of HR Metrics

Measuring the types of information and data listed above helps organizations figure out their people strategy for the future, recognizing what is working well for the organization, what needs improvement, and what trends they can expect down the line. Both executives and HR professionals agree that measuring HR areas and monitoring its impact on an organization is critical. As a result, HR metrics are transforming from a business advantage to a must for any HR team that seeks to build up a solid, data-driven business strategy for their company.

The 28 Most Important HR Metrics You Should Be Measuring

The amount of data that can be tracked and measured in HR is astounding, but in order to gain the most from the HR metrics you gather, you first need to identify the key figures that will provide the clearest insight into how your company can grow and succeed down the line.

HR Metrics in Recruitment

1. Headcount: the total number of employees in the organization, or within the department you are tracking.

2. Demographics: the characteristics of the workforce, including age, gender, education level, and length of service in the company.

3. Time to Hire: the average number of days between when a job is posted, and when the candidate accepts the offer.

4. Acceptance Rate: the number of offer letters extended by the organization, divided by the number of candidates who accept an offer.

5. Cost per Hire: the average cost of hiring a new employee. This can be generated by calculating the sum of both internal and external hiring costs, then dividing that value by the total number of employees hired in a given period.

6. Time to Productivity: the time it takes for new hires to become acclimated in the organization and start working at full productivity.

7. New-Hire Turnover: the number of new hires who leave the organization within a set period of time (e.g. within their first year of employment).

HR Metrics in Engagement and Retention

8. Employee Satisfaction: the number of employees who would recommend the organization as a good place to work, versus the number of employees who wouldn’t.

9. Total Turnover Rate: the number of employees who leave the company within a given period of time, divided by the average number of total employees. This is usually indicated in a percentage value, so this decimal is then multiplied by 100.

10. Voluntary Turnover Rate: the turnover rate including only the employees who voluntarily leave the organization.

11. Talent Turnover Rate: the turnover rate among the organization’s highest-performing and highest-potential employees.

12. Retention Rate: the opposite of a turnover rate, in that the number of employees who remained in the organization over a given period is divided by the total number of employees.

13. Retention Rate per Manager: the retention rate broken down by individual teams and managers.

HR Metrics in Time Tracking

14. Absence Rate: the average number of days employees are absent in a given period of time, not including approved PTO

15. Absence Rate per Manager: the absence rate broken down by individual teams and managers.

16. Overtime Hours: the number of overtime hours worked by employees in a given period of time. This can be calculated either as an average number, broken down by individual employees.

HR Metrics in Employee Value & Performance

17. Performance & Potential: a nine-box performance matrix where employees are categorized according to their performance and potential levels

18. Employee Performance: metrics as received through self-assessments, peer reviews, manager assessments, or a combination of all three.

19. Goal Tracking: usually done so through a performance management software that include goal tracking, this metric monitors the goals employees have set, how they connect to larger organizational goals, the progress the employees have made on those goals.

20. Company Performance: a comparison of how well employees are performing, versus how engaged and valued they feel within the organization.

21. Revenue per Employee: the total amount of revenue generated in a given period of time, divided by the total number of employees.

HR Metrics in Training and Development

22. Training Expenses per Employee: the total cost of the organization’s training courses and programs, divided by the total number of employees.

23. Training Completion Rate: the number of employees who complete a given training course/program, divided by the total number of employees. This value is then multiplied by 100 to get a percentage.

24. Time to Completion: the amount of time it takes for an employee to complete a given training course or program.

25. Training Effectiveness: this can be measured in several different ways, including running tests or assessments that generate a pass/fail rate for training programs.

HR Metrics in HR Service & Software

26. Ratio of HR Professionals to Employees: the number of employees in the organization per HR professional on the HR team.

27. Cost of HR per Employee: the total amount the organization spends on HR functions and services, divided by the total number of employees in the organization.

28. HR Software Employee Participation Rate: the number of employees who actively use the organization’s HR software, divided by the total number of employees in the organization.

Begin Measuring HR Metrics Today

The work to manage and measure the above-mentioned metrics in the Human Resources department is vital to any organization’s long-term success. However, when you aren’t measuring and tracking the key HR metrics that matter most, it becomes very difficult to pinpoint just how well your managerial efforts are working, or how you can best improve them for sustainable success. If your organization is not measuring any HR metrics right now, be sure to sit down with your executive and HR teams and identify the areas of data you need to start tracking. Especially for companies just starting out in the HR metrics practice, keeping it simple is key. There is no need to dive into hundreds of different reports right away. If your company is already measuring some HR metrics, ensure that all the data being collected is beneficial to your organization and is helping you to reach your company goals.

Software tools such as SpriggHR can help streamline your HR metric tracking and measuring process, pinpointing the areas your company is succeeding in, and highlighting others that may need some improvement.

Take our HR Metrics white paper to go!

HR Metrics

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The Pros and Cons of Anonymous Feedback

Emily Barr — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 19:00:05 +0000

The Pros and Cons of Anonymous Feedback

The value of employee feedback is indisputable, and any manager will attest to it being an integral tool throughout business processes such as project management and business innovation. When it comes to understanding how employers go about collecting that feedback, however, and how they have chosen to best manage its collection and leverage its results, the advantages and drawbacks of anonymous feedback become more apparent.

The Disadvantages of Anonymous Feedback

Feedback is a vital part of any organization’s operations, with regular feedback results driving leadership and a company culture that remains lean, innovative, and high-performing. But the benefits of keeping feedback channels anonymous can sometimes be outweighed by the potential detriments it can have on your employees.

The primary reasoning behind the push for anonymity is the elimination of the power dynamic that exists between the givers and receivers of harsher feedback. However, when anonymity is introduced and becomes the norm for feedback giving, the providers of that harsher feedback are usually much less specific, since details may risk them revealing their identity. The absence of context when it comes to providing feedback can undermine a company’s push for innovation and growth, since it discourages learning, openness, courage, and adaptability.

Listed below are some other possible drawbacks of implementing an anonymous feedback system.

1. Encouraging Dismissive Rationalization

Even the most impartial and selfless candidate is not immune to thinking about their self-image when it comes to constructive criticism. It is extremely common for harsher criticisms to be minimized almost intuitively by their receiver.

For example, if the source of feedback is someone you don’t think highly of, you may inherently minimize whatever it is they present to you. However, in these cases you can recognize rationalization and work past it to digest the truth. When the feedback is anonymous, it is much harder to develop that counter-narrative to dispute the instinct to dismiss whatever is being said. In order to increase congruence with how we perceive ourselves, we leverage the lack of context that comes from anonymous feedback to discount it entirely, and no learning can be done.

2. Promoting Mistrust

When constructive feedback is received anonymously, it is not uncommon for it to be met with disbelief and a questioning of the motive behind it. Without a clear sense of the source, employees and employers alike may jump to conclusions about why the feedback is constructive in the first place, including beliefs that may lead to mistrust among the workplace like the perception of intentional sabotage. Even when the constructive feedback is minor, its anonymity can still have the receiver thinking more about the source and why it couldn’t be shared in person, resulting in a gradual decrease in openness and trust.

3. Delusions of Grandeur

Just like critical anonymous feedback can be treated too trivially, positive anonymous feedback can be treated with too much significance. When someone receives positive feedback or praise, they are likely to elevate it as an accurate definition of who they are, telling themselves it is entirely correct. When this happens, the opportunity to adapt and grow further is lost, since the receiver of the feedback thinks they have reached their highest potential.

4. Decreasing Moments of Encouragement

Not only does positive anonymous feedback rob the receiver of a valuable learning opportunity, it also steals the chances for meaningful moments between colleagues to occur where they can openly encourage one another and have positive interactions. Dialogue amongst team members, as well as between an employer and employee, about their respective strengths can have tremendous effects for the organization. Anonymous feedback removes that opportunity, blocking off the channel towards success that is supportive relationships.

The Benefits of Anonymous Feedback

While anonymous feedback may not be the best fit for some organizations, it does not mean it is all bad, or only has negative results for business. In some cases, implementing anonymous feedback may be the best option when it comes to internal assessments.

One of the largest arguments when it comes to the advantages of having anonymous feedback in place, is its potential to eliminate the internal struggles employees and employers undergo when they are forced to analyze and comment on someone’s actions. Feedback should be mutually beneficial for the receiver and the provider, but it has negative connotations for several different reasons, including:

The fear of being judged. The need to be liked is not exclusive to team members’ personal lives. People want to be liked and appreciated in their workplace, and especially by their supervisor since they hold ultimate power over their career and financial security. When feedback is not anonymous, people who hold high expectations for themselves and who worry about how their supervisor will perceive them can struggle significantly in overcoming that mental block and speaking their mind about certain issues.
The fear of losing your job. Similarly, an employee shying away from face-to-face feedback can be considered a form of self-preservation. By abstaining from sharing something that may be perceived as wrong to someone in a position of authority, they believe they are protecting themselves from a potential blow to their career or a suspension altogether. Although it is extremely unlikely for an employee to actually be fired over constructive feedback they provide to their superiors, people still register it as a risk, and play it safe rather than contributing in such a way that may harm their financial security.
The fear of being ridiculed. While some employees may worry about face-to-face feedback in the context of being disliked or fired for what they say, others simply worry that the feedback they want to provide will fall short of expectations. Just like the fear of being judged, the fear of being ridiculed is hard-wired into everyone. Social rejection is scary, with employees taking great care in how they choose their words so as not to be rejected by the people around them. This includes withholding potentially valuable constructive feedback.

These mental barriers can seriously hinder the value a company can yield from their feedback process. When the providers of feedback are in the face of distinct mental obstacles, some of which are near impossible to eliminate, the results are inherently inferior than if the providers had said what was truly on their minds. Anonymous feedback provides employees the freedom to criticize and express their opinions without having to face those mental blocks, getting at the truth of their sentiments. And, when truth is at the forefront of feedback, managers can leverage that information to genuinely improve their workplace and drive better performance.

Listed below are the key advantages that come from implementing anonymous feedback into your workplace.

1. Employees Expressing Themselves Freely and Providing Valuable Insights

If an employee can say what they truly mean and provide honest and constructive feedback without the fear of being judged, ridiculed, or labelled, they have no reason to not contribute to the improvement of their team or project. When non-anonymous feedback is the only feedback form available, only the superficial and non-threatening issues that affect the workplace will be mentioned, leaving the most important, underlying, and potentially uglier problems left unsolved.

Feedback exists to improve the overall quality of a company in order to keep driving it forward. If the more controversial, important issues are not addressed as soon as possible, a company risks cultivating an unhappy workspace riddled with conflict and a lack of productivity. Anonymous feedback is the perfect channel to reign control over those key issues, since the person who brought it to your attention is no longer the focus, but its resolution is. That honest insight is a valuable asset for any leader.

2. Building Trust

Anonymous feedback has the potential to empower both employees and employers alike. While the potential risks that this emboldening could have should be considered, the subject pool is not necessarily one that is privy to rampant dishonesty or bias. At the end of the day, they are your team, a group of mature and responsible employees who can, and should be able to, express their opinions on the business freely.

We have already discussed the risk that anonymous feedback has in promoting mistrust, but when leveraged correctly, it can actually have the opposite effect. Employees may perceive a forced non-anonymity as a lack of trust the employer holds in them, which will only secure those aforementioned mental blocks as opposed to eliminating them. Anonymous feedback channels can demonstrate to them that you trust them not to abuse the opportunity, and to provide feedback that is genuinely constructive, helpful, and as unbiased as possible.

Anonymous Feedback: A Yes or No?

The value of feedback is indisputable, but the implementation of anonymous feedback is highly debated amongst HR professionals. However, while it can potentially pose several risks for the effectiveness of the process itself, anonymous feedback is more often than not a key feature that is valued by the majority of companies.

The data an organization can receive from anonymous feedback, versus non-anonymous, is significantly more beneficial. Real issues rarely come up consistently in non-anonymous feedback reports, but in anonymous feedback reports, managers receive genuine, constructive insights that they can use to improve the overall work experience of their team. When feedback is kept anonymous, employees are much more inclined to be truthful in their reporting, sharing valuable information and providing actionable observations and suggestions.

There are several different ways to incorporate anonymous feedback into your organization’s assessment process, with SpriggHR seamlessly integrating optional anonymity into its Continuous & 360 Degree Feedback Tool.

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Promoting Good Employee Health

Emily Barr — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 16:09:25 +0000

Promoting Good Employee Health

Now more than ever, employee health should be one of your top priorities. The health and wellbeing of your employees can dictate how successful your workplace is, influencing the costs associated with frequent sick days or leave of absences due to health reasons.

Approaching workplace wellness from a holistic standpoint is critical, and that involves offering wellness programs that do not singularly focus on a return on investment (ROI). Companies that treat employee wellness in such a way are much more likely to see reduced absenteeism and presenteeism, greater employee engagement and productivity, less scheduled paid time off from employees, fewer workers’ comp claims, increased employee retention rates, greater employee satisfaction and morale, and overall a demonstrable competitive advantage in the market.

The benefits of promoting good employee health are evidently numerous, but how can your organization actually go about doing so? First, let’s take a look at what employee health is defined as.

What is Employee Health?

Simply put, employee health encompasses the physical and mental status of your employees. It covers both illness and wellness, and also stresses the equal importance of maintaining both physical health and mental health. Physical and mental wellbeing influences not only how well your employees perform in their day-to-day work efforts but can also have long-lasting impacts on their overall morale and satisfaction if they feel their health was not properly addressed by their employers.

It is important to note that the concept of employee health goes further than the simple definition of their physical and mental wellbeing. It also encompasses the wellness and prevention sides involved in maintaining good health habits and eliminating unhealthy habits. For example, smoking, lack of exercise, and poor eating habits are all areas in which companies frequently intervene. Annual physicals and flu shots are often provided by organizations, both of which fall into the overarching employee health package being provided in the workplace.

How to Promote Good Employee Health

Any progressive employer is always aiming to keep their employees healthy and happy. This is not necessarily just because they have a good and caring nature, but rather because healthy and happy employees cost employers less and bring in higher productivity levels. Studies show that absenteeism from an employee costs the business up to 28% more than the employee’s regular wage. Even those employees who do show up when they are sick, referred to as “presenteeism”, it still costs the employer money because their work levels are not optimal. In fact, working at suboptimal levels while sick accounts for between 20% and 60% of the total health-related costs faced by employers that can be traced to on-the-job productivity losses.

Simply put, even the most inward-focused employer stands to gain from promoting employee health. So, what can you do to improve employee health within your organization? Below are some best tips and practices.

Introducing Wellness Programs

A relatively new practice, but now one of the most popular choices by employers when trying to promote better employee health, are health and wellness programs. There are two types of employee wellness programs you can implement:

Lifestyle management. These programs focus on diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes. While these wellness programs do somewhat reduce health care claims, they ultimately do not lead to significantly lower employer health care costs. However, they can help employees develop healthier habits, which reduces the rate of absenteeism and increases productivity.
Disease management. Another great method to substantially decrease absenteeism and increase employee productivity are the implementation of disease management programs. These focus on reducing the unhealthy factors that lend risk to the development of chronic diseases, including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco use, physical inactivity and poor nutrition. By reframing lifestyle management efforts as necessary for long-term health, employers can see meaningful reductions in employees who suffer from these factors.

Encouraging Vacation Time

Remaining one of the most valued benefits by employees is vacation time, preferably paid. Taking a break from work and taking a vacation significantly reduces employee stress, lowers the risk of burn out, and increases their productivity levels upon return.

Keep in mind that part of having employee vacation time in place in your workplace is ensuring your employees actually take advantage of it. In some cases, this may mean forcing them out the door. If you allow employees to accumulate their vacation time, and have it paid out when they quit or retire, you discourage vacation and resultingly encourage overwork and burnout. Reframing your policies to not just present but encourage vacation usage is critical.

Encouraging Preventative Health Care

Providing free access to preventative health care methods is one of the most effective ways to keep your employees healthy. Employers who pay for health care for employees, directly influence and contribute to preventative care measures of their workers.

Preventative care today is tricky. If your business has shifted from remote work and your employees are now back in the office, providing access to COVID-19 testing through the office can be a good idea. Encouraging employees to follow the preventative measures suggested by health officials is also critical. Requiring your employees to wear face masks while in the office, enforcing social distancing measures between workspaces, providing hand sanitizer around the office and disinfecting surfaces regularly, and reducing interpersonal contact as much as possible, are all preventative measures key to maintaining employee health in these trying times.

Focusing on Mental Health

Over 300 million people suffer from depression globally. Depression and anxiety and other mental health-related issues costs the global economy an estimated $1 trillion each year in lost productivity. In the United States alone, mental health and substance abuse can cost a business between $80 and $100 billion annually. Other studies have shown that serious mental illnesses can cost American organizations up to $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year.

The numbers are all there, and the cost of ignoring mental health in the workplace will only grow as more and more employees are facing mental health issues in response to the global pandemic. Though you have no control over this external factor, you do have the ability to control how you develop your workplace culture. Remaining optimistic and encouraging can help employees who feel lost or discouraged and providing the support systems needed for those who are struggling mentally is necessary if you hope to keep your employees at their best. Focusing on mental health in the workplace and prioritizing it as much as you prioritize physical health initiatives is critical.

One of the most common causes of workplace-related mental health issues is stress, which contributes largely to depression, anxiety, and burnout among employees. Examine your staffing levels. Are your employees overworked? Are managers trained properly so that they can adequately support their staff? Keep in mind that management goes beyond just doing the work, it involves leading the team. Managers who create toxic environments for their staff will also increase stress levels, damaging workers, lowering productivity and increasing turnover rates.

Providing an Employee Assistance Program

Especially now, recognizing that there will be external factors that cause your employees stress is essential if you are hoping to support employee health holistically. Employees may face marriage troubles, financial issues, injuries outside of work, even unexpected lawsuits. The pandemic is now one of the most troubling topics affecting the well-being of employees globally. Around the world, it is causing worry about people’s own health and the health of their loved ones, worry about their financial situation and security, and worry about the loss of support services they relied on. It is causing changes in sleeping and eating patterns for some, difficulty in concentrating in others, and the worsening of pre-existing chronic health or mental health conditions. Even if they are back in the workplace, your employees may still be feeling the negative effects of isolation and loneliness that come with the public health actions like self-quarantining and social distancing.

While Employee Assistance Programs existed as a measure to promote good employee health before the pandemic, they are becoming one of the most widely used strategies for organizations dealing with the above factors. Employee Assistance Programs help your employees find therapists, financial planners, lawyers, and any other well-being professional that may be able to help guide them through whatever is causing their stress. In response to the pandemic, it may be a good idea to incorporate more mental health crises support sources into your Employee Assistance Program. Do research into suggested outlets for mental and physical health support being provided globally and provide your employees with direct access to those outlets. Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations, but now more than ever, staying on top of the best methods to reduce workplace stress should be one of your priorities when it comes to employee health and well-being.

In Summary

When it comes to promoting good employee health, you need to research and understand the options, including the impact of not having any programs in place. Focus on the things that will make a difference for the well being of your employees, whether that be the implementation of revamped wellness programs, or even a complete reforming of the workplace environment itself. Your employees’ health matters, and the positive effects associated with prioritizing it are well worth the effort it takes to get there.

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Dealing with Insubordination in the Workplace

Emily Barr — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:42:24 +0000

Dealing with Insubordination in the Workplace

Insubordination in the workplace can have many different meanings. Some insubordinate actions are far more severe than others and require swifter action. However, regardless of the nature of the insubordination, it is always important to take charge immediately whenever someone isn’t following the rules, following the protocol put forth in your employee handbook.

What is Insubordination?

Looking at the strict dictionary definition of insubordination doesn’t do much to help us understand what it actually is. The straightforward definition describes it simply as a “defiance of authority”, however, most workplaces are not structured in a way where managers expect perfect adherence to management direction at all costs. More often than not, professional employees are given some leeway in how they approach their job, and strong managers recognize that they are the ones who are experts in their job, sometimes even relying on push back to achieve the best possible results.

Rather than abiding by this general definition, defying authority in the workplace requires three things to be deemed as insubordination:

The employer gives the order or directive.
The employee acknowledges the order and understands completely what is expected of them.
The employee refuses to carry out the order or required task.

By following this definition, we can avoid miscategorising situations as insubordination when they may simply be products of forgetfulness or unrealistic manager expectations.

Examples of Insubordinate Behaviour

Recognizing the behaviours that indicate insubordination is the first step to combatting the issue. Technically speaking, any variation from manager instruction is insubordination. But, in order for it to be perceived and reprimanded as such, there needs to be a willful component to it. Hence, distinguishing mistakes that can be dealt with as common errors from egregious insubordinate behaviour is critical.

Some employee behaviours can be easily classified as insubordinate, for example:

Intimidation or Harassment – there should be a zero-tolerance policy against intimidation and harassment in your workplace. People need to feel safe and secure at work, and any employee intimidating their colleagues or managers should be immediately investigated. The employee handbook should also state the policy and protocols for dealing with harassment in the workplace. Launch an investigation, make a note in the employee’s files and determine if further disciplinary action is required.
Abusive Language – cursing is not uncommon, and if bad language is used as a normal part of the office “shop talk”, it isn’t necessarily call for insubordination prevention tactics. However, if bad language is being used in an abusive way without provocation, as a result of something the manager said or did, it is considered insubordination. The action should be taken note of, but also be sure to take the heat of the moment into consideration. If it was a one-time outburst, it should be noted in the file. However, it if continues to happen, it becomes ground for insubordination and potential termination.
Confrontational Actions – people in the workplace will almost always have differing opinions, and a subordinate disagreeing with their manager or boss is not insubordinate in nature. However, if they confront and disagree with their boss in front of the rest of the team, it can be considered as such. If someone is confrontational in front of the rest of the manager’s employees, or openly questions their authority, it can lead to poor overall morale. Concerns of that nature should be addressed behind closed doors. Confrontational actions can also include defaming another person, spreading rumours that divide coworkers, and making inappropriate comments regularly. When possible, confrontational actions should be documented in the employee file for disciplinary consideration.

Each of these insubordinate behaviours demands an immediate and swift response. However, some forms of insubordination are subtler, but can be equally problematic. Some examples of these include:

Sabotage – an employee quietly going behind their manager’s back to perform tasks that were specifically unsupported is less noticeable, but equally as damaging to the manager’s reputation and the overall team morale.
Failure to Perform – this is when an employee is clearly given a duty and intentionally ignores the command, or simply refuses to execute it. If they have some ethical or legal concern about the order, this should be directly addressed with the manager and their concerns should be stated clearly. If the employee’s position isn’t articulated, then a failure to perform warrants a written record as well as the employee excuse to go on file.

Dealing with Insubordination in the Workplace

Despite what some may believe, many employees never set out from the get-go to become insubordinate or difficult in their work environment. Naturally, employees want to keep their jobs, and managers want their employees to carry out instructions. However, there are sometimes legitimate clashes of ideas, personalities, values, and beliefs, which can make this relationship difficult.

Preventing Insubordination

The first step to managing insubordination in the workplace is to put into practice several key actions that can prevent it from occurring in the first place.

Set clear boundaries. When employees know your limits from the beginning, they have a clearer sense of what they need to do, and conflict should not arise as frequently.
Listen to your employees. More often than not, cases of insubordination result from genuine disagreements between employers and employees over what the right course of action is. By having an open and communicative relationship with your employees, and by being receptive when they voice their concerns or counter-argue respectfully, you will have ample opportunity to find a solution before the insubordination can even occur. Additionally, if you insist that your instructions are the right one, you will have a chance to explain the reasoning behind your directive.
Follow all laws and ethical standards. Should an employee ever feel that their employers were not following proper safety guidelines, there are grounds to bring the case to court or before a labour board should the manager choose to dispute it. In order to avoid the damage that could be caused by a loss in either of these scenarios, you should always be careful to follow the law.

Handling Insubordination After It Happens

Even the most skilled manager who follows the guidelines and rules as closely as possible will experience insubordination from time to time. When dealing with an insubordinate employee, there are some best practices to abide by in order to avoid inflaming the issue even further.

Identify the behaviour immediately. The first step to remedying the issue is to address it directly. Ignoring insubordination, even for a short period of time, will only ever result in more insubordination. Even if the case is mild, simply letting it go sets a standard in the workplace that your instructions are not rules, but just suggestions. That is not to say you need to begin micro-managing your employees’ every move. You do not need to provide instructions for everything, and you don’t need to have control over every aspect of your employees’ workdays. Rather, this simply means that when you have given explicit instructions, and an employee doesn’t follow them, point it out directly and immediately.
Issue consequences. The consequences you dole out will evidently vary depending on the circumstances. For example, if an employee locks the doors five minutes after they were supposed to, a quick reminder should suffice. Should the behaviour continue, a formal warning can follow that adheres to your company’s disciplinary guidelines. As already discussed, if a behavior is egregious, immediate punishment is in order. For example, if an employee lies to a customer and tells them the opposite of what you said, a write-up or suspension would be appropriate.
Document everything. Managers often fall into the habit of not recording small infractions, choosing instead to wait until there is serious rebellion before acting. However, any termination will need a reliable paper trail, and this documentation can also work to protect you in court in case of a dispute. Document the insubordinate behaviour, no matter how mild it is, ask witnesses for statements, and keep everything in the proper file.
Be fair. No manager can be entirely objective when it comes to managing their workforce. At the end of the day, they are human, and will naturally make mistakes. However, when it comes to insubordination and disciplinary action against it, there needs to be one single standard. Before you discipline your employees, exercise fairness and objectivity. How you go about managing insubordination is critical to keeping employee morale high and in building up employee confidence.

In Summary

Insubordination is, at its core, unavoidable. Regardless of how many steps you take to prevent it, no manager is entirely immune to the possibility of an employee acting against their directives. There are, however things a manager can do to prevent insubordination as much as possible. Setting clear boundaries, and listening to your employees when there are disagreements, are excellent steps in the right direction. And, if it becomes too late for prevention, adequate action is essential – identify the behaviour, issue the consequences, document everything, and above all, be fair.

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Planning for Your Future With Long-Term Goals

Emily Barr — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 18:05:50 +0000

Planning for Your Future With Long-Term Goals

Employees everywhere are constantly striving for achievement and a sense of accomplishment. Long-term goals are the driving force behind those efforts. Long-term goals are a frequent point of questioning in many situations, from job interviews to family reunions, and even first dates. This is largely because they give a clear sense of who you are, where you are going, and where your values lie.

Long-term goals are your vision for the future and are your definition of what success in life looks like. So, what exactly is a long-term goal?

Defining Long-term goals

Long-term goals are the targets you are aiming to achieve further into the future, usually on a timeframe by the end of a calendar year or even several years. They require a great deal of time and planning in order to eventually reach, and often involve multiple steps and the completion of smaller, short-term goals along the way.

Any accomplishment that will take significant time, effort, and planning to achieve, can be considered a long-term goal. They can be the delayed-gratification outcome of years of focus and can be as practical as saving up for your child’s college fund, or as abstract as leaving a legacy for future generations in your line of work. Rather than short-term goals, which focus on shorter time frames and involve more manageable and immediate action steps, long-term goal planning requires you to investigate the specific habits and actions that will systematically move you towards your guiding objective.

Here are some examples of long-term goals you can set for yourself in various areas of your life.

Long-Term Health and Fitness Goals

Complete a triathlon.
Lower your cholesterol levels.
Live a healthy life so you can play with your grandkids.
Lose 20 pounds in a healthy way and keep it off for good.

Long-Term Financial Goals

Plan and save up for your retirement.
Purchase your own property.
Secure and maintain a good credit score.
Set aside money for your child’s education.

Long-Term Personal Goals

Found a non-profit organization.
Travel to 5 different places to learn more about their culture.
Become known for your craft or hobby.
Leave a lasting positive legacy.

Long-Term Learning Goals

Obtain a new degree.
Master a musical instrument.
Learn to speak a foreign language like a native speaker.
Obtain an in-depth understanding of a different culture by living abroad.

Long-Term Career Goals

Gain experience in a leadership role.
Improve your work performance.
Get hired for your dream job or promoted into your dream role.
Increase your earnings.
Become a mentor for other employees.

Setting and Achieving Your Long-Term Goals

The Benefits of Long-Term Goals

Having, and eventually achieving, good long-term goals holds a myriad of life-long rewards. Some of the greatest advantages include:

A Sense of Direction. Having clear and specific long-term goals keeps us headed in the right direction and focused on where we really want to end up. Staying true to your long-term aspirations helps you to avoid ending up somewhere where outside circumstances might have led you.

A Sense of Purpose. Long-term goals give meaning to most tasks that would otherwise be considered mundane. When we wake up early in the morning, head into work, and spend 8 hours in the office, we are not doing it simply for the satisfaction of returning home and relaxing in front of the TV. We ideally commit ourselves to that routine because we have something greater to look forward to. We have something that fires us up, that has the potential to nourish our personal and professional lives.

A Clearer Understanding of Possible Obstacles. When we have a clear direction of where we are hoping to head in life, and in our careers, we are much better equipped for the journey. With strong long-term goals at the forefront of our progress mapping, it becomes easier to anticipate and avoid possible setbacks, and to recognize the skills that are necessary for success.

A Long-Term Positive Impact. Short-term goals provide us with the immediate gratification, and needed reassurance, that we need to keep momentum, but that positive effect is ultimately short-lived. Long-term goals are the thing we are working towards, and those smaller bouts of success are merely the steppingstones to the greater one we are hoping to achieve. Long-term goals may be more challenging to reach, but their impact is far more impactful and ultimately yield greater satisfaction.

Steps to Setting Long-Term Goals for Your Future

Whether you are setting out to accomplish something great in your personal, professional, spiritual, financial, or educational life, the steps to setting smart and resilient long-term goals remain the same.

1. Create a compelling vision.

The driving factor behind someone’s long-term goals is their vision of their ideal future. Before choosing a long-term goal, you want to work towards, ask yourself what you want your life to look like in 5- or 10-years’ time. Where do you want to be living? What kind of work do you want to be doing? How are you spending your free time? Who are you spending it with?

Envision these outcomes for yourself and reflect on which one truly inspires you. Follow your intuition and determine whether they are things you truly want to pursue or are simply things you think would want to acquire, such as a house, car, etc. For example, you can imagine yourself as the head of your department, working for a large, multi-million-dollar corporation. This may be appealing, but it would involve a sacrifice of free time, and the responsibility of dealing with interpersonal conflicts in your team.

Determining the vision of your future that appeals to you most, and figuring out whether you are ready and willing to do the work and make the sacrifices to get there, is the first step to determining the long-term goal that will keep you driven and motivated in the years of effort to come. You know you are on the right track when you can accept both the compelling components, and the responsibility levels, that will come from accomplishing your goal.

2. Identify one long-term goal.

Almost everyone can identify several areas in their life that they want to improve upon. The key to setting a great long-term goal is recognizing that a singular pursuit is as pointless as no pursuit at all. You will not feel fully satisfied if you only look to excel in one specific area of your life – you need to find a balance between your personal and professional lives.

3. Break that long-term goal into smaller, more manageable chunks.

As we have already discussed, long-term goals may be the most meaningful and gratifying, but they are also sometimes so distant, motivation can wane. Maintaining a positive attitude and staying focused on reaching them can be difficult when your timespan for completion spans over several years. The best way to prevent this is to break your long-term goal into smaller short-term objectives that take shorter amounts of time to complete. Where necessary, you can even break those objectives into smaller steps that can be completed in just a few days’ or weeks’ time. This deconstruction of your progress towards a long-term goal is what is called an action plan.

4. Take the first step.

Once you have outlined your plan of action towards achieving your long-term aspiration, all you have left to do is to get started on the very first. Set a realistic deadline for the first small task you have identified, and get it done. Celebrate your accomplishments, then move on to the next step, continuing until, eventually, you have reached what you set out to do in the very beginning.

Final Thoughts

Goal setting, especially in a business context, will always be critical to achieving and maintaining success. It gives us a purpose to start our days and try our best in all our work efforts. Monitoring progress on long-term goals can even be streamlined and leveraged in a way that drives accountability, transparency, and the best results possible for your company. SpriggHR offers Goal Tracking software that drives those results, aligning employee goals with the longer-term objectives of your company, ensuring all actions and tasks undertaken by your team members plays a critical and integral role on the path towards success.

The post Planning for Your Future With Long-Term Goals appeared first on SpriggHR.

Short-Term Goals & the Benefits of Quick Wins

Emily Barr — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 17:53:15 +0000

Short-Term Goals & the Benefits of Quick Wins

When it comes to achieving personal and professional success, one of the most underrated yet powerful tools are short-term goals. Despite their profound effect on the progress that employees make towards their professional aspirations, few even know how to recognize one, let alone how to set one effectively.

If goals are our vision of an ideal future that we hope to eventually reach for ourselves, then we need to have a thorough understanding of, and a refined focus on, short-term goals.

What are Short-term goals?

Any goal you set can be designated as either short-term or long-term depending on the timeline that you plan to achieve it under. While long term goals usually have a timeframe of one to several years, short-term goals can be defined as the actions that you plan to accomplish in a shorter amount of time. This could range from hours, days, weeks and up to months. The critical distinction is that a short-term goal is an outcome that you want to achieve in 12 months or less.

Short-term goals are usually the building blocks for long term goals and are sometimes referred to as proximal goals. For instance, your longer-term goal may be to start your own business, so your short-term goals could be smaller steps working towards that aspiration, such as registering your business name by the end of the month, applying for loans before three months have passed, seek out business partners or potential talent before the year ends, and so on. Because of this, short-term goals tend to be easier to accomplish, simply because they focus on the immediate future with more manageable tasks involved in their completion.

The Benefits of Setting and Achieving Short-term goals

The secret to achieving most of your objectives, whether personal, financial, or professional, is to establish shorter-term desires that are relevant, achievable, easy to measure, and time sensitive.

If you are looking to improve yourself in some way, you should establish a plan and break it into smaller sections so you can work towards realizing it. Short-term goals are the tools you can use to help you see where you are going along the way, so you don’t get derailed before you can accomplish what is it you have set out to do. Some specific benefits of setting and achieving short-term goals include:

1. Improved Focus

Short-term goals help you maintain focus on the path you have set out towards achieving your longer-term target. When you have a shorter action plan, you don’t get distracted or confused on how the goal is progressing. Rather, you can direct most of your focus on the daily/weekly/monthly plan and ensure each of those smaller steps towards the larger objective is completed to the best of your ability.

2. Provide Clarity to Your Overall Plan

Dividing your longer-term aspiration into shorter targets helps you to maintain a consistent and clear understanding of what your overall objective is. When a specific long-term goal is unpacked, and you have a plan of action for reaching it by working your way through the shorter and more manageable action steps, you can address any gaps or issues in your process much more readily and reach your longer-term desire much more efficiently.

3. They Combat Procrastination

No one is immune to the habit of procrastination, though some may find that they fall into the trap more often when it comes to tackling long-term goals, which can seem daunting and unmanageable even to the most experienced employee. Setting short-term goals is one of the best ways to overcome that challenge, largely due to the specific and short deadlines that accompany them. For example, if your long-term goal is to get fit in one year, setting out to accomplish that only with your end goal in mind can make you lose motivation very quickly. Instead, you can commit to exercising for 15 minutes every day for the next month, and then decide your personal mission for the following month, and so on.

4. Gain Insightful Feedback

The instant and insightful feedback you can gain from completing short-term goals is one of their most valuable assets. Rather than banking on the success of your long-term goal, and investing long amounts of time without a clear understanding of whether your efforts will eventually pay off, short-term goals provide you with consistent updates on your progress and can help draw attention to any obstacles that are preventing you from reaching your long-term objective faster.

Making Your Short-Term Goals S.M.A.R.T(ER)

An often-heard criteria for the setting of goals is the S.M.A.R.T (ER) acronym, a memory-aid for the seven features you should aim to build into every goal you set. There are various ways to define these parameters, but S.M.A.R.T(ER) goals are generally understood to be:

Simple – an outsider should be able to understand your goal without further explanation.
Measurable – your goal is trackable, either with simple Y/N or clear units of measurement.
Actionable – the goal begins with a verb that directs the action (e.g. do, read, learn, etc.);
Realistic – the goal is practical and achievable, and if not, then you have broken it down further or set a process goal.
Time–Bound – the timeframe of the goal is clearly defined and achievable (e.g. a weekly goal should be doable within 7 days, a monthly goal within 30 days, etc.)
Exciting – you have laid out methods to inspire and motivate yourself to finish the goal; and
Relevant – the goal is always tied back directly to your bigger-picture thinking and projects.

If there are projects or goals in parts of your life that you tend to avoid, or that no matter how much effort you put in you don’t see substantial progress in, then there is a good chance some of your steps are missing one or more of these attributes. Aim to measure up every goal you set, whether short-term or long-term, against these standards, and the success rate of your achievement of them will increase tenfold.

Achievable and S.M.A.R.T Short Terms Goals

Some examples of short-term goals that meet the S.M.A.R.T criteria, and are achievable and beneficial to several areas of your life, include:

Short-Term Personal Goals

Work on a gratitude journal every night for one week.
Read at least one book per month.
Donate to charity once a month for four months.
Complete a personal improvement course in one month.
Turn off all devices by 10pm each night for two weeks.
Start a garden within a week and tend to it daily for two months.

Short-Term Financial Goals

Set up a savings account this month.
Reduce or eliminate your credit card debt by the end of the year.
Start tracking your budget this month.
Save 10% of your income each month towards emergencies.
Consult a financial advisor within two weeks.
Download an app for monitoring daily expenditure this evening.

Short-Term Fitness Goals

Exercise in the gym for three days each week, from 7pm to 9pm.
Cut off caffeine and drink water instead for one month.
Purchase workout gear by the end of the week.
Do a 30-minute yoga session every Sunday.
Avoid eating out and restaurants and fast food places for two weeks.
Measure your weight every three weeks.

Short-Term Career Goals

Finish a relevant online course every two months.
Attend an online job conference or business convention within 60 days.
Report to (or log into) your workplace or meeting 10 minutes earlier than usual for one month.
Keep your workstation organized and declutter it every Friday for one month.
Earn a professional certificate by the end of the year.

Measuring and Tracking Short-term goal Progress

While some may have a clear understanding of what the organization’s longer-term objectives are, and some may have established personal career goals that improve their own work efforts, managing and tracking the progress towards company results can be difficult for many leaders. Sprigg offers a seamless solution, providing software that helps establish performance expectations through best-practice processes like S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting, or using OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).

Sprigg’s goal-setting process helps you develop a clear picture between employee short-term goals, aligning all objectives to the key organizational results and measuring them against clear business metrics. It also streamlines the tracking and measurement of progress, where the percentage of goal completion can be viewed through the dashboard or real-time update requests.

By transforming your organization’s approach to goal setting, whether short-term or long-term, you are bound to see results that will drive your business towards success. Goal alignment increases employee engagement and improves short-term results, transparency in progress sets clear standards of accountability and ownership, and shorter-term objective results provide valuable, real-time feedback that engages your team and drives better results.

The post Short-Term Goals & the Benefits of Quick Wins appeared first on SpriggHR.

Performance Culture Archives • SpriggHR

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Final Thoughts

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2. Focus

3. Connection

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The Pros and Cons of a 4-Day Work Week

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28 Important HR Metrics to Measure

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28 Important HR Metrics to Measure

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HR Metrics

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