Happy Staff are Healthy Staff

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Well being and staff engagement are very closely linked. When your staff are happy and engaged with their work, they will be less stressed and therefore healthier. When your staff are less stressed and healthier, they will find it easier to be engaged with their work. And engaged, happy staff are far productive than unhappy staff.

Employee well being is about being healthy, self confident, having emotional resilience, having a sense of purpose, an active open mind and a supportive network of relationships.

When you can look after the physical and emotional well being of your staff, and pay attention their personal development and their values, your business will benefit, as this diagram shows.

 

Source: ‘What’s happening with well-being at work?’ CIPD May 2007

So look after your staff and you will see your business prosper!

How do you make sure your staff are happy and healthy?

What is Motivation and How Can You Improve it in Your Staff?

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Motivation determines how your employees choose to allocate their energy – where they put their focus. When they’re at work, you want them to put their focus and energy onto what they’re doing and onto your business.

Motivation is affected by a number of factors, including:

  • Being treated with fairness and respect
  • Getting pride and fulfilment from their work
  • Feeling that they and their work are valued
  • Confidence in the direction in which the organisation is going.

How does motivation work? There are five components, as shown in this diagram.

 

Source: XpertHR 17 November 2010

Your actions create results; these results are evaluated by other people; outcomes occur as a result of those evaluations; your needs will either be satisfied or not by those outcomes. Positive evaluations or outcomes can lead to needs being satisfied and increased motivation!

So what can you do as a manager, to improve motivation in your team?

Think about your answers to these questions:

  1. Do you treat employees with fairness and respect?
  2. Do you know what motivates the different members of your team?
  3. Do you use this information to play to their strengths and keep motivation up?
  4. Are your team meetings a two way process?
  5. Do you allow the sharing of ideas from members of your team?
  6. Do you share achievements of the company and of individuals?

How many of those questions did you answer No to? If it was more than three then you might have a problem with motivation – or you might see one emerging soon!

Employee Engagement – Where is it Going?

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According to the CIPD Employee Winter Outlook for 2012-2013, employee engagement levels dipped to just 35%. At the same time, a massive 61% of employees are neither engaged nor disengaged with their jobs and their companies.

On a more positive note, engagement is highest in small businesses, with 60% of staff in small businesses saying they’re happy at work. Perhaps this is because a disengaged member of staff can cause more problems within a small team and issues can be spotted more easily than in a large business?

Employees with the shortest service are the most engaged at 43%. This means that as a manager, you need to make sure you look after your staff as they continue their service with you. Don’t get complacent and assume that they’re still happy just because they haven’t left.

56% of staff agree they have achieved the right work life balance. Is this enough or do you want more of your staff to have the right balance?

Here are some more interesting numbers from the survey:

  • 19% feel it is likely or very likely they could lose their job
  • 20% are looking for a new job
  • 26% of senior managers are looking for a new job
  • 36% of employees with 1 or 2 years service are job seeking
  • 33% report that redundancies have been made
  • 14% say redundancies are planned
  • 42% of employers have frozen pay
  • 20% report that working hours have been decreased

How engaged are your staff? How has this changed in the last year?

How Happy Are Your Employees? How Do You Know?

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I’ve written a lot recently about employee engagement. What is it? It’s a positive attitude held by your employees towards your company and its values. An engaged employee knows where your business is going and works with colleagues to improve performance to benefit your business. But how do you measure engagement? How do you know just how engaged your people are with your business?

To find out how happy your employees are, you could start with a survey. This will give you a quantitative measure, such as a score or the percentage of people saying they are ‘very happy’, ‘quite happy’ and so on. It relies on a quantity of people answering the survey to provide an accurate result that is representative of your staff.

A good survey helps you not only determine the level of engagement (or disengagement) within your company, as well as which elements help drive engagement, are very good or need work. An employee engagement survey can help you find out how your people feel about whether or not they feel listened to, how much they trust their leaders and other emotions, views and experiences.

So why not just ask how engaged your employees feel?

Probably because job satisfaction is not the same as being engaged. Since studies show that 70% of UK workers don?t actually trust their management, can you trust them to give an accurate answer to this question?

The other thing to consider with surveys is that they are not engagement. When the results are in, what happens next? Engagement isn’t something you can tick off.

So what do you really want to measure? Employee engagement is inextricably linked to increased customer satisfaction and subsequent profitability. So rather than trying to measure employee engagement and customer satisfaction separately, you can evaluate the two together. If customer satisfaction improves, then your people are more engaged. If sales are up, customer satisfaction is increased and employee engagement is raised.

So what’s the best way to measure employee engagement? Start by carrying out an employee engagement survey to establish baseline scores. Use the results to decide what improvement initiatives you are going to use. Then resurvey periodically to measure the effectiveness of changes you make.

Just remember that employees feel engaged when they feel listened to. So if you carry out a survey, really listen to what your people say and do something about it. That way everyone will see the benefits – your employees, your business and your clients.

How happy are your clients? How do you know?

Unfair Dismissal Claims – Q and A

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Here are some common questions about unfair dismissal and my answers to them.

Q – What is unfair dismissal?

A – Dismissals are classed as ‘automatically unfair’, regardless of the reasonableness, if an employee is exercising their rights related to the following:

  • Pregnancy, including all reasons relating to maternity
  • Family reasons, including parental leave, paternity leave, adoption leave or time off for dependants
  • Representative and trade union membership grounds and union recognition
  • Discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation
  • Pay and working hours, including the Working Time Regulations, annual leave and the National Minimum Wage.

Q – When is a dismissal fair?

A – Dismissal is normally fair if an employer can show that it is for one of the following reasons:

  • A reason related to an employee’s conduct
  • A reason related to an employee’s capability or qualifications for the job
  • Because of a redundancy
  • Because a statutory duty or restriction prohibited the employment being continued
  • Some other substantial reason of a kind which justifies the dismissal.

Q – How do you dismiss employees?

A – The key points to remember are:

    • Dismissing employees should be the last resort and employers should carry out necessary investigations without unreasonable delay to establish the facts
    • Employers should use a fair and consistent procedure when dismissing employees
    • It’s always best to try to resolve any issues informally first
    • Employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed
    • Set out in writing your rules and procedures for handling disciplinary procedures
    • Make sure employees and managers understand the rules and procedures for disciplinary issues.

Q – When can an employee make a claim about unfair dismissal?

A – In most circumstances employees will need to qualify before they can make a complaint to an employment tribunal. They need:

  • At least one year’s continuous service for employees in employment before 6th April 2012
  • Two years for employees starting employment on or after 6th April 2012.

Q – How do you avoid costly mistakes?

A – Before thinking about dismissing an employee, stop and think – are you doing the right thing? To make sure that you comply with the law and don’t make any costly mistakes, whether you’re an employee or an employer, get the right advice.

Top Ten Issues Affecting Employee Engagement

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According to a survey carried out by XpertHR in 2011, the top ten issues that affect employee engagement are:

  1. Pay
  2. Quality of line management
  3. Job security
  4. Leadership visibility and confidence
  5. Relationship with manager
  6. Working culture
  7. Internal communications
  8. Organisational change
  9. Workload
  10. Job satisfaction

I’m not sure if these are ranked in any particular order, or the size of the companies that took part in the survey, but the list makes interesting reading.

If you ask your staff how happy they are at work and what is stopping them from being fully engaged, would they list any of these issues? How many of them?

The good news is that you can do something about all these issues – whether you think they’re a problem or not. Work through the list and make sure you’re doing all you can for your employees – giving them top quality line management, strong leadership and effective internal communication. Employee engagement, or keeping your staff happy and motivated, is not just about giving them a pay rise!

You can find out even more about the best way to keep your employees engaged – and thus how to grow your business and your profitability – at my next workshop on 17 April 2013 in Reading. It costs just £20 +VAT and places are limited, so click here to book your place.

Can You Serve an Unfair Dismissal Claim While on ‘Garden Leave’?

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‘Garden leave’ is a period of time after you’ve been asked to leave your job or you’ve been made redundant, when your employer carries on paying you, but when they don’t want you to continue coming to work. During this time, you’re still employed so you can’t take another job with a different employer.

So can you serve an unfair dismissal claim while on garden leave? Can you appeal against being asked to leave your job?

To serve an unfair dismissal claim, you need to complete the form ET1 to send to the employment tribunal. You can only submit this form after you have been dismissed and worked your notice. ‘Garden leave’ is notice without having to do the work you’re being paid for. If you’re thinking about a tribunal application then you must do this within three months of your termination date. If you’re on ‘garden leave’ then you are still employed, even though you’re not working. This means that if you want to make a claim for unfair dismissal, you can’t do it during a period of garden leave – you have to wait until you actually finish working for that employer and they are no longer paying you.

Your contract of employment will tell you what else you can and can’t do while on garden leave and what your employer will expect from you during that time.

In addition, if you were employed after 6 April 2012, you need to have worked for the company for two years, to be able to claim unfair dismissal. If you started work before 6 April 2012 you have to have completed one year’s service to be able to claim unfair dismissal. (This means that at the time of writing this blog in March 2013, no one will actually be able to claim that they have been unfairly dismissed until 6 April 2014.)

There is more information on all this, including a short video that explains it all, on my website. Click here to watch the video.

Employee Engagement – How Do You Get the Best from Your Staff?

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Employee engagement is about making sure your employees are happy at work, so that you can get the most out of them, while they’re at work.

Managers and employers need to remember that not everyone goes to work just to earn money. They go for lots of other reasons. It may be that they have to work and they just need a job, but you should also look to see if your people want more from their employment than that. If employees are engaged in their jobs we know that they’re much more productive, that they’ll do much more for your business, and they’re much more likely to stay with your company and help to develop your business – including your profitability. Studies have shown this!

What do people value at work? They’re the same things that we value in everyday life, such as:
–    Being treated fairly and with respect
–    Being told when we’ve done well and if necessary, when we’ve done badly
–    Wanting to work with people who are good managers and who are successful.

These are key parts to feeling part of an organisation and are what make people willing and able to go the extra mile. If you’re a business owner, you want your staff to think about your business in the same way that you do. This doesn’t just happen – it needs work.

How do you do it? You need to look hard at what you offer your employees so that you can get the best out of them. They need to understand clearly what part their role plays within the organisation – how they fit in and why they’re important to the success of the business.

Good leadership and guidance will motivate your staff to go the extra mile for you. Give them opportunities to improve and develop. Don’t think that training in too expensive or that someone will leave once they’ve had some training and developed new skills. Look for ways of developing your staff with on the job training to give them as sense of achievement.

How else can you motivate your employees to be better? Find out more at the workshop I’m running on 17 April 2013 in Reading. The half day session costs just £10 +VAT (or £15 +VAT if you’re not an FSB member) and you can book online by clicking here. Buffet lunch included!

Can My Employer Insist I Use My Holiday to do Jury Service?

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As an employer, can you insist that your employees use their holiday allowance if they’re asked to do jury service? This was a question I was asked recently, so here is the answer.

An employer can’t insist that holiday is used for jury service, but they must give members of staff time off to complete the jury service. They are not allowed to refuse to give employees time off when summoned.

The employer may think that it is not a good time for that member of staff to be away from the business and on jury service – if there’s a heavy workload in the business, or if a number of other people are on holiday or off sick, leaving the company short staffed. In these cases, the employee can ask for a deferment of the jury service, but their employee will be called again, normally with 12 months. This may allow time to plan their time away from the business and make other arrangements for cover.

How are employees paid while on jury service? The employer does not have to pay their staff while away from the business. While employees will not be paid for jury service, they will be reimbursed subject to a maximum daily amount if absence from work causes them to lose earnings, have to pay a substitute to do their job or incur any other necessary expense, such as a childminder. People called for jury service can also claim travelling expenses, a subsistence allowance for food and drink and for any loss of National Insurance contributions they may have incurred.

As an employee, if you’re called for jury service, you could decide to use your holiday entitlement for the time that you’re away, so that you are paid for the time by your employer, rather than relying on the court subsidy. However, that is a choice you have to make, about whether or not you want to use your holiday entitlement.

I’ve made a short video about this topic ? click here to watch it and learn more about jury service.

Keep Your Staff Happy to Grow Your Business

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When your employees are engaged with your business, you have a much greater chance to grow a profitable business and keep your customers satisfied.

So what makes an engaged employee? How does their engagement affect your business? How can you achieve engagement with your staff?

As an employer you need to create the right environment to allow engagement to flourish in your workforce. To help you get the basics in place, here are four steps to follow:

1. Create a strategic story – Where are you? Where have you been? Where are you going? As a business owner you probably know this, but do your employees feel part of that story? If they know the story, it lets them see how the work they do fits in with the business’s goals. This isn’t something you can simply put on a poster on the wall to get buy in. You need to repeat the story over and over again to employees and give them a sense of ownership in it. If your story is on the wall, ask your staff to add to it; create a timeline of diagrams, new solutions and innovations leading to your company’s goals. Create a buzz and encourage people to share their ideas, so they can see how their achievements fit into your company’s ‘big picture’.

2. Engage managers – If you try to engage your staff without first engaging your managers you may get limited results. Many employees’ motivation and engagement will depend on how they feel towards their bosses. If those managers are not engaged themselves, where’s the motivation to engage their people? Engaged managers focus their people and enable them to get the job done, treat their team members as individuals and coach and stretch them. When your managers build bigger relationships with people as individuals, those workers will make bigger contributions.

3. Give employees a voice – Listening is a key part in giving employees a voice but it doesn’t stop at the 360-degree survey. A survey might tell you how people are feeling at a certain point in time but it doesn’t tell you why they are feeling like that. Members of staff have insights into why and where things are going wrong. Somebody knows before the event that something is going to go wrong. If they know that they can speak up and be listened to, the problem can be pointed out before it becomes a disaster.

Employees who are able to speak up will share the good as well as the bad. If they feel that their ideas are listened to, they’ll share them, which will increase their engagement in their work.

4. Make sure there is organisational integrity – This means avoiding the “do as I say, not as I do” mentality. If your company’s values are not reflected in the day-to-day behaviours of managers or colleagues, then it will be seen as a corporate spin exercise and will not be trusted by employees. When your values are aligned between staff and managers, then trust is created and so is engagement.

Different companies will need to create different engagement programmes, but if you follow these four steps, you’ll be able to create a strong foundation for any efforts you make to increase employee engagement and develop your business.

Are your employees engaged? Are they giving their all to your business? If they’re not, then come to our workshop on 17 April 2013 in Reading. During the workshop, from 9.30am – 12.30pm, we will look at key ways to improve engagement of your employee, in order toincrease profitability, efficiency and achieve faster growth, and improve attendance, retention and job satisfaction

It is being held at Symantec, Green Park, Reading and costs just £20 +VAT to attend. To book your place online, click here and scroll through the list of events to 17 April 2013.