EverythingPeople This Week!

As the pandemic continues to unfold, the ability of employers to have a positive impact on employee health and resiliency cannot be understated according to a recent Mercer Survey, Health on Demand.

Typically, HR coordinates open enrollment communications for most organizations, but the communications department should play a vital role. If your employees don’t understand their options, it doesn’t matter how competitive the benefit packages are.  With remote workers and plenty of distractions in your employees’ daily lives, most employees are confused.  According to a recent Voya survey, 66% of workers want a better explanation of their benefits. ...

From sexual harassment to discrimination to power abuse, harassment affects more than just a handful of employees. Harassment deteriorates culture and morale and can lead to psychological discomfort, leaving a job, or lawsuits. Why is this happening? And how can organizations work to prevent harassment before it begins, or hear about issues when they arise?

A new report from Arizent, The Future of Work: Employers, Employees, and the Long Road to Compromise, reveals that employers and employees don’t agree on what the new normal looks like.  To move forward, each side will have to compromise.

The 2021 Gartner Hybrid Work Employee Survey of 4,000 employees in January 2021 revealed six perception gaps that employers must resolve in order to improve the employee experience and therefore engagement. As employers implement their future of work strategies, including decisions around hybrid work, employers must take a close look at these perception gaps between employees and leadership.

As employees transition back to the office, they will experience a “re-entry” phase, during which both employees and employers will need to adjust and adapt. This “re-entry” phase is also known as reverse culture shock, a term originally used to describe the impact of returning home from a long period abroad.

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters a new phase and employees return to the workplace, some employers may need to face controversial issues regarding vaccinated and unvaccinated employees. Below are some considerations, provided by Ogletree Deakins, for employers as they take steps to prevent or resolve workplace disagreements regarding vaccines and other workplace safety measures to help employees focus on work.

We’ve all lived like astronauts for the past year and a half – we’ve been physically isolated from family and friends, our home was also our workplace, and we were surrounded by an unsafe environment (COVID-19). Astronauts train for this, we have not.

A successful return to work plan is based on trust, mutual understanding, and of course, providing an environment that appeals to your workforce. How do you create excitement around returning to work when a majority of your staff may want to remain remote?

There is a huge gap between the importance and the effectiveness of employee communication in today's workplace. According to a new report, The State of Employee Communications 2021 by the HR Research Institute, 88% of HR professionals say employee communication is extremely or very important to success in their organizations.  However, only 30% indicate employee communication is highly or very highly effective.

Think of one word to define the last year…uncertainty.  We all know what uncertainty brings on…anxiety.  Each week we do not know what will come next, and that is taking a toll on our workforce’s mental health. 

One (or two) questions that have been brought to ASE by employers when requesting a review of their employee handbook over the last year has been, do we need a COVID-19 policy? And/or what other policies do I need to have in place given the pandemic?

In a recent ASE Member discussion, members talked about how they miss the unplanned interactions in the office. These often become the starting point for solving problems and getting work done.  Studies have shown that the amount of time spent planning projects and communicating effectively for a virtual team is at least double what it is for an in‐person team.  How can your virtual team mimic that informal talk in the lunchroom or catching someone in the hallway?

“I’m not joking when I say this: If you ever work with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I will fire you on the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts.”  That is a direct quote from President Biden on his very first day in the White House. What if corporations took that same stance?

One of the biggest issues for newly minted supervisors and managers is that their buddies now report to them.  So how does one go from buddy to supervisor?  It’s common for many new supervisors or managers to forget their role and ignore the performance issues.  They don’t want to rock the boat and want to keep their personal friendships.