Thursday, June 29, 2017

7 Ideas to Increase Employee Morale this Summer



According to sociologist Alexander Leighton, “Morale is the capacity of a group of people to pull together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose.” Everyone wants this for their company. After all, good morale means employees collaborate better, miss fewer workdays, and are more productive and more satisfied with their work. 
For the employer, this will decrease turnover rates, create a team working towards a common goal and can provide a much more happy and healthy work environment. 

Clearly, this is a win-win. 

The best approach to tackling low morale is to embrace positive change before any negativity begins to spread in the form of eye rolls, decreased collaboration, fewer conversations and weak performances. 
With summer in the air, low morale may be in effect already as employees look longingly out the window at the sunshine or have to juggle work related obstacles with their children out of school. 

Here are some ideas to increase employee morale as a team and as individuals. 

1. Company Outing 

Everyone likes getting out of the office from time to time, especially now that the weather is warm. Instead of letting the higher-ups definitively decide your next company-wide outing, split the office into teams and put it to a vote. Giving employees the opportunity to shape rewarding activities ensures that your effort serves everyone. 

2. Volunteer Together 

Volunteering always feels good. As a team building exercise, you can get the employees out of the office while allowing them to feel connected to their community and see a different side of one another. 
This dose of positivity can raise the happiness factor within your team and can even supplement as a company-wide outing. (It’s free!) 
You can also look for nonprofits to partner with that tie into your corporate charity. 

3. Switch Up Traditional Emails 

According to a study, “92 percent of employees experience a spike in blood pressure and heart rate after reading an email in the office.” These types of stresses weigh heavily on the morale in the office. Try utilizing other forms of communication, such as integrating software like Trello, Asana, and Slack to lessen its impact and provide a fresh form of connection. 

4. Increase Vacation Days 

Some employees may be hesitant about actually utilizing their vacation time. Even companies that offer unlimited vacation days, find that employees aren't using them. Too much choice can be restrictive and confusing. However, employees need a break if they are going to continue to be productive. 
Try adding a bonus for employees who truly take a timeout without work emails and phone calls on their vacations. This will absolutely boost morale and allow employees to feel appreciated for their time and time off. 

5. Encourage Lunch Breaks 

Much like vacation time, a lot of employees don’t take proper lunch breaks either. Management professor Kimberly Elsbach told NPR that “staying inside, in the same location, is really detrimental to creative thinking.” 
As the employer, encouraging your staff to step away from their desk, go for a walk or eat lunch outside from time to time, is a great way to increase morale as well as teach your employees how to utilize this healthy habit more frequently. 

6. Themed Potlucks 

Let’s face it, food is motivating. It is also a great way to get your team engaged with one another. 
Plan a themed potluck for your next big meeting. Your team will have fun brainstorming ideas, like rainbow food, where everyone picks a color, Chinese food day or even a cereal day. Food will help your employees get excited about their work day and your next meeting. 

7. Fitness 

Active employees equal happy employees. We are all aware of the dangers of sitting in an office chair day in and day out with little to no movement. Encourage your staff to get healthy and fit together. Create weekly or monthly challenges, encourage daily walks or think of ways to combine fitness activities when you are volunteering or during the company outing. 
Activities such as these will bring employees together and are affordable for the entire company. 


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Thursday, June 22, 2017

5 Ways to Use Tech to Motivate and Attract Top Talent




Attracting and motivating the best talent for your company is going to take some work. Fortunately, the technological advances that have been made over the years has lead to a continuous flow of efficient apps, modules, and platforms for businesses to utilize to both attract and motivate talented employees.  


1. Mobile Hiring Apps

Since most millennials and Gen Z workers are extremely tech savvy, it is not surprising they use digital tools and platforms to look for work. According to Fast Company, “nearly two-thirds (64%) of 2015 grads have used a mobile app to search and apply for positions, and they consider social networking the most effective method for finding a job.” Employers must look where their future employees already are by investing in the many digital recruitment options. 

2.   Eliminate Geographical Barriers 

It may seem plausible to hiring locally to leverage your own network and train new hires in person. However, your network might not always sustain itself. By offering virtual work, you can expand your quest with freedom to search for talent across the nation, which will give you a significant competitive advantage. 
“Businesses are embracing remote workers because the absence of a traditional office environment and hours can increase efficiency and make employees more productive than ever”, according to Dan Schawbel of Time. And with studies showing that 45% of the U.S workforce now has a job that’s suitable for full-time or part-time telecommuting, making this shift to search outside of your geography can narrow your search for talent, and keep them motivated and happy, longer. 

3.   Flexibility and Time 

Technology enables you to evolve your position on flexibility and productivity, which offers a compelling perk to candidates. For some companies practicing this idea, the 40-hour work week is seemingly an archaic notion. 
Technology allows employees to complete work correctly and accurately, but not have to spend an unreasonable amount of time doing so. For the employer, this means saving time and money. While some employees may finish a task in 6 hours, others can complete it in 4, but they get the same amount of money to do so. For example, rather than hourly charges, employers can focus on productivity, which will deliver true value to clients or customers. Employees are then able to work independently, as much or as little as they like, as long as the job gets done.  
This kind of flexibility has been proven to empower employees, keep them positive and motivated and also produce the highest levels of productivity. 

4.   Real Time Performance Reviews

Traditionally, performance reviews are on an annual or quarterly basis. However, feedback should be ongoing if you want to keep a happy and productive staff. 
Investing in an automated performance review process with HR software, can make giving and receiving real-time feedback simple and effective. 

According to Matt Straz of Entrepreneur.com, “Instant feedback mechanisms can significantly improve engagement and motivation by consistently guiding employees in the right direction.” This tool can also allow employees the ability to offer suggestions to management, directly. Employees can feel that they have a voice that is being heard, which can also boost morale. 

5.  Preparing for the future

Technology enables you to stay relevant to both your clients and your talent. Most companies, as a whole, don’t run on paper and neither should you. The same goes for attracting top talent. Prospects won’t tolerate stacks of paper or driving long distances from home to get checks signed. And in this technological age, they shouldn’t have to. 
By implementing this mindset and a commitment to integrating the right technology, companies can attract and retain top talent to ensure success now and into the future. Preparation is key.

For more information on automating your company's recruiting, onboarding and HR/benefits efforts, contact VertiSource HR® and schedule a free demo of our brand new cloud software!

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Thursday, June 1, 2017

Improve Your Onboarding Process with VertiSource HR® Cloud

You probably spend a lot of time on candidate sourcing, screening and the selection processes. Because of this, it can be extremely frustrating when new employees don’t stay with your company for long.  Between recruiting, turnover and the lost productivity, costs can rise while many other key performance indicator percentages can go down like employee retention and relationships with customers.
Yet, despite this, many companies don’t put the time and resources into developing an effective employee onboarding process. 
The Importance of Onboarding Organization
Onboarding is a core component of your employment brand and the foundation on which employee engagement is built. Getting organized in this area can help your business and enable less issues when it comes to recruiting and introducing new members to your team.
At VertiSource HR, we have developed a 100% web based HR software that couples with our HR services, called the VertiSource HR® Cloud. We developed this program to provide a simplified version of HR strategies so that you can focus on the growth and development of your business. This service will save you countless hours every week by delivering industry-leading payroll, benefits, hiring and more, all with the help of our HR experts.
How It Works
Within the VertiSource HR® Cloud, we have created a module specially to speed up and organize the onboarding process.  This module will capture employee demographic information, federal, state and local tax filing forms. With a complete set of digital and online forms combined with electronic signature functionality, new hires can get started fast with complete, accurate records and data. All forms and documents associated with Onboarding and Enrollment are securely tracked and stored. With customized workflows and tracking, your Human Resources department can enjoy a seaming integration as the data gathered during the hiring process automatically gets stored all in one place.
How easy is that?
To find out more information about this simple and effective onboarding tool and other beneficial and time saving features VertiSource HR® Cloud contains, visit us at http://www.vertisourcehr.com or speak to a VSHR rep by calling 855.565.VSHR today!