Digital nomads are people who are location independent and use telecommunication technologies to perform their job. It is often used to describe people who are living or traveling abroad while working.

These people work remotely from foreign countries, coffee shops, public libraries, co-working spaces or recreational vehicles. They use wireless internet, smartphones and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) or cloud-based applications to keep in contact with clients and employers.

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Digital nomads are usually young people and can be found working in industries including marketing, design, IT, writing, media, tutoring as well as consulting. There are several reasons why people want to be a digital nomad.

  • Maintains work-life balance
  • Helps enjoy the freedom
  • Allows you to travel
  • Avoids office politics and distractions of a traditional work environment
  • Gives you an opportunity for a flexible schedule
  • Provides flexible days off
  • Offers less stressful working environment
  • Freedom to live and work where ever you want
  • Eliminates the need for dressing up for work

Read Also: 15 Reasons Why Corporate Fitness Program Fails

The following are seven simple steps that will help you become a digital nomad

1. Reduce your expenses

digital nomad

If you are planning to travel the world and live as a digital nomad, the first thing you have to do is to reduce and eliminate as many of your expenses as possible. This includes things like gym memberships, subscriptions and any other additional debt obligations you may have.

One of the reasons for this is the  expenses will weigh you down when you are on the road. Other reasons are if you are a digital nomad, you will have to keep your pack as light as possible.

So, you will have to get rid of junk and material things that may not serve an important purpose in your life. If you have to go weeks or months without a steady income, then you will be able to manage this difficult situation successfully.

You need to think about selling your car and moving all your stuff into storage of your rental home. Go through all your junk and do a garage sale. This will help you to simplify your life before heading out. You may not know when you will return from your journey;therefore it is important to do your best at the outset before you leave.

2. Decide on an ideal destination

ideal destination

You have to decide an ideal destination as a digital nomad.  You need to plan about: where you will be going? What will be the cost of living in that destination? How much will it cost you to rent an apartment or eat out at a restaurant?

You need to decide not only the destination, but also prepare yourself a budget based on that destination. Also you can use numerous resources to decide  the ideal destination as a nomad. You need to do broad research before setting out. This will help you get to know what you have in store for yourself.

3. Recognize your skills

recognize your skill

You need to identify your skills that will enable you to work remotely and help you earn money online. In addition, you need to develop the right set of skills that you can use to work online. You should be able to type and use a computer as well as the internet.

Building your knowledge and skills from things you have studied or worked on in the past will help increase the chances of landing a higher-paying remote work.

You need to make sure that you have remote work skills to land a remote job.  If you are a developer,then you need to look for jobs building the front or back end of websites. For native English speakers, teaching English online will be an ideal option.

Most digital nomads begin by finding remote work or freelance jobs that will allow them to start earning a small income. When you work from a vastly different time zone, you need to be flexible enough to work when you have the time and not constrain yourself to 9-to-5 hours.

Once you secure your first source of income, you must decide whether you will develop that income stream into a larger business or you will find several similar jobs to make more money.

4. Become a freelancer

become a freelancer

After identifying your skills, you need to find a job. For this, you need to search through remote specific job sites. Currently there are lots of sites online that post only jobs that are remote or location independent.  Most of these sites allow you to search by industry or skill.

Read Also: Workforce Management: 5 Steps For Getting It Right

5. Start to build your business

start your own business

After becoming a freelancer; you can start building out your business. If your job is good, there will be no difficulty for you to get referrals for new clients. As a result your income streams will grow. In order to market your business and increase your reach and reputation, you need to create your own website and business cards.

As you are working from different parts of the globe, you need to schedule the work and gigs in the right time zones. A writer or a social media expert can build a marketing business that will help business and blogs to get larger audiences and more customers.

6. Set goals and plans

Goals

When you are living as a digital nomad, it is important to set goals and plans and follow through with them. You need to get really clear on what you want, where you want to go, how long you will stay and what will you do when you are there. And its also necessary to make a plan, get organized and have a to-do list.

Read Also: Performance Appraisal – All You Need To Know

You need to have backup plans as well or alternative passive income streams in case you fail at one path and want a safety net while you reset your plans. These plans should not only revolve around your income as a remote worker. You must address everyday aspects of healthy living such as healthcare, insurance and local laws and regulations.

As you are going to live in foreign countries, it is necessary to do some research to learn any new rules. You need to make sure that you have the right support in case you get sick or injured while exploring.

7. Be a part of digital nomad community

digital nomad community

To be a digital nomad; you need to join a community. By joining the community, you will get access to a network of like-minded individuals. You need to communicate with others who are already living the digital nomad lifestyle, as their first-hand experience will help you not only in the planning stages, but also when you first arrive.

The community will allow you to learn new skills from other community members or help you get tips for working online or selecting a new home base. It will appreciate you when you make progress and lift you up if you encounter any difficulty along the way. Moreover, it helps you get the answers to the most pressing questions about living and working as a digital nomad.

Conclusion

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If you want to be a digital nomad or become location independent, you need to start working toward that goal.  This will help you to get started much faster than you think. With hard work, you can be a digital nomad in just a few weeks and have a full-fledged business in one or two years.

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Every corporate company has its own corporate fitness programs. Be it a running marathon, walking, friendly sports match, it is successful only if employees respond and benefit from it.

Companies either conduct individual corporate wellness programs or they pair up with other fitness service provides and conduct a mega wellness drive bringing many people together.

The success of each event is measured differently. Fitness programs don’t just improve employee health but also promotes overall morale.

Read Also: 15 Corporate Companies With Best Employee Wellness Program

Here are some of the tips to conduct a successful wellness drive that will help in both improving employee wellness and morale:

A well designed and executed wellness program stands a chance of success for companies and their human resource.

1. Over Complicating Things

It is vital to make the way simple for every possible activity conducting in a corporate structure. No difference for the corporate wellness programs. It shoves off the mundanity in the registration process and such attached strings.

If possible get the process done through computer and mobile devices and try catching their attention through exciting incentives.

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Many organizations provide incentive plans that will urge employees to participate in different wellness drives. It is also essential to explain the incentive plans in simple terms on the registration site for employees to understand.

Ideally, it is crucial to remove all possible barriers to having a successful fitness program right from the start to the end. Failing to do so means guiding the program to failure even before it started.

2. Negative incentives

Yes, negative incentives are a thing. The word incentive often only brings up the meaning of positive inducement. However, there are also negative incentives that will, in turn, have a negative impact on the target audience.

Negative incentives are ideally plans that issue fines and penalty to employees that do not participate or perform poorly in the fitness drive. There is almost no possible scenario in which negative incentives come out victorious.

Here are some additional examples of the negative incentives for your understanding:

  • Forcing the fitness program on employees – it is imperative that employees join the program if it interests them, not when they are forced to do so.
  • Communication failure – employees have no way of knowing and entering the fitness program if they have no information about the fitness drive. It is vital to roll out communications to all employees once the fitness drive is initiated.

While motivation and positive benefits drive them to root for the fitness drive, negative incentives will drive them away from it.

Positive reinforcement will not only invite employees to participate in the fitness camp but also will motivate them to continue their participation and perform well in the camp.

3. Using company staff to organize and run the wellness camp

While it is easier to delegate the HR team to conduct these fitness drives, it is essential to understand that they do not have the time and expertise to conduct an extensive program like this.

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However, it is crucial to understand that the expertise of HR employees does not stream to conducting fitness camps or other activities. More than the availability and knowledge of the HR team, the primary concern this would raise is the safety of participating employees.

It is essential for the organizers to understand safety hazards and ways to conduct the camp with zero to no causalities. HR officials are often not equipped to conduct such a task.

Many worksites hire trained and qualified professionals to conduct these camps to ensure safety and smooth running of the program.

Some of the major disadvantages of not outsourcing the task to experienced hand include:

  • With no additional time at their side, the HR staff will find it challenging to organize and run a fitness drive successfully.
  • Without the appropriate training and certification, the on roll HR staff will not be equipped to contemplate the complete caliber of such an event.
  • HR staff will have no information on causalities and what needs to be done for such an event.

4. No (OR) Minimal leadership support

Leadership is an essential factor for running a fitness campaign in any organization.. It is not possible for mid or entry-level employees to decide and start such a vast fitness drive on their own.

The workforce and financial support needed to conduct such a camp are humungous. However, the issue begins when the leadership involvement ends once the balls are set in motion.

Many organizations conduct fitness drives with minimal leadership support. While this is necessarily not a bad thing, it is seen that these fitness drives have limitations and this, in turn, affects the result of the camp.

Organizations that conduct fitness drives with full leadership support have seen better employee involvement, and hence, better success rate.

Leadership support does not mean imposing the wellness camp on the employees but providing enough leadership involvement in the camp and helping in organizing a wellness committee and ensuring all essentials are available for a successful camp. This will ensure employee interest and participation in the program.

The leadership team can be involved in the wellness camp in many ways, such as:

  • Leadership team participating in the fitness camp
  • Take part in team challenges conducted
  • Communicate and create awareness about the wellness program in corporate townhouses and other meetings
  • Be involved in the evaluation process of the fitness program

5. Failing To Create A Health-Promoting Work Culture

It is essential for the employees to understand the importance of living a healthy lifestyle voluntarily.

If the overall vibe of the organization is to promote healthy choices, employees are more voluntarily inclined to sign up and participate well in fitness drives.

There are many ways of successfully driving the organization towards healthy choices. Some of them are:

  • Encouraging employees to use stairs rather than the elevator
  • Creating provisions for employees to park their bicycles in the campus
  • Creating a safe environment for employees to walk or ride a bicycle to the office campus
  • Availability of showers in the office space
  • Fitness centers within the office campus

6. Lack of communication

The whole idea of corporate fitness programs are to culture healthy employees and ensure that you spend less on health insurance. This cannot be attained just by ensuring that the employees understand the importance of leading a healthy life.

It is also important to ensure that all employees are well aware of the fitness programs you conduct so that they can practice and participate in the camp.

Gone are the days where posters and fliers did the magic. In this age, it is challenging to grab the attention of people. What with all the distractions from social media. However, a smart fitness campaign can use the same distraction for campaign promotions.

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The more mediums you use to share information about the fitness camp, the more employees will get to know about the camp. An effective promotion will also urge employees to sign up for the fitness camp.

All modes of communication such as the email, newsletters, the company website, meeting announcements, staff meetings, text messaging, Facebook, employee orientation, calendars, etc., are just some of the successful modes of communication.

7. Lack Of Proper Monitoring Over Corporate Fitness Activities

Several companies initiate to start various fitness and health programs. Their motive is to ensure every employee is able to gain something positive out of the routines they engage at their workplace. But, the situation fails when these programs are left unmonitored.

It is essential that companies check on the progress data for each program they introduce in their work culture. Without knowing the impact of such fitness techniques, it will all be in vain.

Monitoring teams should be set up that keeps track of the data and ensure all necessary measures are taken when there is a lack of progress.

8. Focusing On A Static Approach

This implies that some companies tend to just introduce programs in the form of a blog or website that just updates information related to health and wellness.

In reality, such a program is of no use as most employees are not even going to try looking at a website to learn about ways to improve their health at companies.

Read Also: 6 Ways To Deal With Political Talk In The Office

People need to be moved around to help them achieve their goals of fitness. That is why, fitness programs need to have field work and should be dynamic.

Using a static method will not provide much help to give company workers a motive to work for it. A company might try to add daily schedules on the website that will let employees know where to gather for the next activity and participate with them.

If they are just going to leave tips on how to stay health and don’t do anything physical about it, then the program simply fails.

9. Leaving the Employee’s Family Members Behind

This situation where a company does not involve its employee’s family might also tend to fail. Understand that wellness programs should be introduced in the firm as a club membership that has various activities to try.

It should not look like a routine that employees are forced to perform. Instead, it is important that companies add a social wellness routine where family members can also participate.

Using this technique will make the professional working there more comfortable and enthusiastic about taking part in the programs.

10. Not Isolating The Wellness Program

Seasons may break-in where companies have to cut their budget during a financial crisis. At that time, companies may have to say goodbye to some provisions.

Without proper planning of the budget, firms may be forced to remove the wellness program committee from the team as well. As a result, there is no fitness programs left for employees to participate in.

This situation can be avoided if the companies isolate the budget of such activities. In other words, such committees that organize the health regimens should function independently in the company.

So, a relevant budget from the financial plan needs to be implemented there for the betterment of the team.

11. Not Adding Fitness Routine As A Benefit

Many corporate organizations tend to provide certain health perks but fail to keep the flow productively. For instance, a firm may offer free fitness trackers to all its employees, and stop any actions after that.

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This gives the team members an option to either use the tracker or leave it at home. If a firm is not bothered to understand how the trackers will be useful, then what was to give them to company professionals in the first place?

To deal with it, organizations should monitor the amount of steps or other exercise routines performed by the users. This data should then be awarded for certain milestones that they complete.

This way they are being provided with benefits that are long term. Motivating the team to perform such routines is the right way.

12. Lack Of Patience

Several programs are started with a motive to get results as soon as possible. Without results in that particular period, the companies often tend to shut down such wellness projects. The issue here is the lack of time and the patience to deal with the situation.

Firms need to understand that health activities do not have any shortcuts. Such programs need time to show results. So, they have to be kept going on for a long term to get the relevant results. So, companies should plan such routines keeping in mind a long-term investment.

13. Losing Focus During Day Offs And Vacations

Many employees tend to participate and work hard to improve their health at offices. But, when they take an off or go for vacation, they become easygoing again.

This can break the consistency they had been culturing for so long. Companies need to teach their employees the negative impact of such cheat days where they are not following the schedule with healthy options. Their minds need to be focused to avoid being tempted on such days too.

14. Not Offering Relevant Places To Practice Health Programs

Sometimes companies have dedicated and well-designed wellness routines for their employees, but they might lack a proper room or area to perform those activities.

Without convenience, health programs tend to fail. So, firms should indulge in programs in convenient spaces where organization professionals feel like going and following the program.

15. Focusing On Short-term Changes Instead Of Long Term Ones

Corporate fitness programs should be created with a vision to add long term changes in the lives of the employees. If the project is just focused on short-term results, then it will not have much impact on the people working in the company.

Read Also: 17 Tips To Maintain A Healthy Work-Life Balance In 2019

Long term changes take place when people tend to add them in their lifestyle. So, organizations should focus on plans that incorporate lifestyle changes, which stay throughout their lives.

Final Words

Adding value to the fitness programs can be highly beneficial for long term and accurate results. The above points should always be kept in mind to initiate a productive process for a healthy lifestyle even at workplaces.

A successful enterprise will always bank on a good business intelligence tool that helps them to compete well in their industry. Despite having a well skilled team of professionals, having a BI tool gives you an upper hand in the market.

This can help you to easily derive insights from data, help you understand the changing trends and assist you in making smarter decisions. Tactical and strategic decisions at the right time can in fact help a business to make a hit in impressive time frames.

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Are you looking for a good business intelligence tool for your venture? Here is a list of the top BI tools available in the market that is used by successful companies.

1. SAP Business Intelligence

The right combination of predictive analytics and real-time business intelligence used by SAP helps your business to get timely insights.

Read Also: 51 Online Collaboration Tools to Enhance Team Productivity

The right combination of predictive analytics and real-time business intelligence used by SAP helps your business to get timely insights.

Business Intelligence
  • Features machine learning and advanced analytics solutions
  • Data visualisation & analytics applications is the key
  • Provides timely reporting and analysis
  • This one platform for all functionalities even offers office integration and mobile analytics

2. Clear Analytics

This is a clear and accurate business insights system that is designed to fulfill diverse business needs. Large and complex data from reliable sources can be extracted easily to present as professional reports.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Offers predictive analysis
  • Features Key Performance Indicators and graphical data presentation
  • Enables to create strategic planning

3. MicroStrategy

This is a comprehensive data analytics tool that features high speed dash boarding that helps your business to monitor trend and identify new opportunities.

  • Easy to use and maintain
  • Allows connection to one or various sources despite spreadsheet or cloud-based data
  • Easy access from desktop or mobile
  • Self-service analytics and real time report design improves productivity

4. BOARD

This is an effective business management intelligence tool which is designed with features for corporate performance management in addition to business intelligence.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • A single platform allows you to plan, predict, analyse and stimulate
  • Enables to build customized planning and analytical applications
  • Effectively drive digital transformation across the business

5. Zoho Analytics

This is a highly configurable and easily extensible data analytics platform that comes with a scalable interface making it suitable for small and large companies.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Data can be synced and imported to system easily
  • It comes with built-in collaboration tools and open API Capabilities
  • Features robust visualizations

6. Sisense

Its extensive set of features and scalable architecture to fit any business size makes it unique among its competitors. The interface of the system is simple for beginners but powerful for professionals.

  • Visualizes and analyses both big and disparate datasets
  • Helps to build interactive dashboards
  • Use filtering and calculations to identify critical metrics

7. AnswerDock

This is a cloud-hosted analytics platform that comes with data mining algorithms and features natural language processing and artificial intelligence to suit businesses of all sizes.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Secure unified database allows better data governance
  • Comes with extensive customization options and fast data search
  • Features convenient data preparation and real-time computations

8. Jaspersoft

This is a flexible and cost effective open source BI tool that empowers business enthusiasts to make better decisions.

  • Features highly interactive web-based reports, analysis and dashboards
  • Offers data visualization, reporting, and data integration
  • Key performance indicators and problem indicators enables smart decision making

9. Hotjar

This is a comprehensive analysis and feedback tool that comes with excellent features to visualize user behaviour and analyze user insights.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Features behaviour logic, heat maps, cross-device surveys, one-on-one testing and visitor recordings
  • Comes with robust feedback features and multi-language support
  • It is built for mobility and features simplified research and testing

10. SAS Business Intelligence

It is one of the top business intelligence tools and a well-integrated one-stop platform that features advanced predictive analytics.

SAS Business Intelligence
  • Features excellent data integration, scalability and multiple query languages
  • Offers customization through a rich set of APIs
  • Comes with advanced analytics tools, performance management and MDM

11. QlikView

This is an easy to use and robust business intelligence tool that automatically generates custom dashboards and personalized reports.

  • Massive data is explored using associative data indexing
  • Hidden trends and patterns are easily discovered to enable sound business actions
  • Supports multiple file types and data sources

12. Yellowfin BI

This is a single integrated solution designed for companies that run different industries to enhance their business decisions.

  • Dashboards can be accessed from company intranet, web page, wiki, or mobile device
  • Easy to access and monitor features enables faster and smarter collective decision-making.
  • Interactive reports and data-rich presentations make insights effective

13. BIRT

This is a comprehensive open source business intelligence and reporting tool which assures user autonomy and self-sufficiency.

  • Analyze billions of records in seconds
  • No coding required and offers easy to use visuals
  • No complex data modelling is needed

14. Dundas BI

This is an amazing enterprise-ready BI platform that enables you to create and view reports, interactive dashboards and scorecards.

Read Also: 15 Tools for Improving Employee Productivity

  • Features Ad hoc reporting tools and smart drag and drop tools
  • Offers predictive and advanced data analytics
  • Data can be visualized as maps
  • Customizable data visualizations and easy integration of data sources

15. Style Intelligence

This is a powerful data intelligence platform that is designed for flexible and fast transformation from disparate sources.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Streamlined apps can be created for data consumption and updating
  • Paginated reports are generated with embedded business logic
  • Provides secure and customized levels of data exploration

16. TIBCO Spotfire

This is a self-service business intelligence tool that enables easy and effective collaboration with the digital team.

  • Features amazing data visualisation and executive dashboards
  • Users are enabled to define their own KPIs
  • Allows easy integration with CRMs, ERPs, Excel and Access

17. Birst

This is an awesome web-based networked BI and analytics tool that collects insights from different teams and enables to make informed decisions.

  • Definitions and key metrics can be maintained using unified semantic layer
  • Rapidly refine enterprise data and creates corporate wide metrics
  • Promotes individual agility and transparently governed working

18. Systum

This is a great intelligence tool that enables enterprises to consolidate and streamline processes across diverse B2C and B2B channels.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Comes with built-in CRM and amazing sales features
  • Features a B2B portal and Inventory Management
  • Boosts productivity and efficiency in no time

19. Netlink

This is a top edge advanced analytics and cloud-based tool that offers exceptional data visualizations to help make smarter decisions.

  • Features quick visualization and customization of dashboards across multiple mobile devices
  • Offers agility and unlimited scalability
  • Insights invisible in operational reports are mined and delivered

20. Microsoft Power BI

This web-based business analytics tool is great for diverse business platforms that offer data visualization at its best.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Changing trends can be identified in real time
  • Brand new connectors enhances your level in campaigns
  • Apps can be easily integrated and delivers reports and real-time dashboards

21. ClicData

This flexible business intelligence dashboard solution that enables end users to build reports and dashboards are designed for small and medium businesses.

This flexible business intelligence dashboard solution that enables end users to build reports and dashboards are designed for small and medium businesses.

  • Insights, data, metrics, and reports can be shared among individuals and groups
  • Progress and performance of projects are reported on a regular basis
  • Features extensive data manipulation and Live Alerts on dashboards

22. Looker

This is another great BI tool that features easy integration with SQL database or warehouse to suit start ups, mid size and enterprise grade ventures.

  • Comes with ease-of-use features and handy visualisations
  • Offers reliable support and powerful collaboration features
  • Data and reports can be easily shared and integrated

23. Clootrack

This is a comprehensive data analytics platform that makes the best use of artificial intelligence to help businesses of all types to effectively analyze the client perception.

Business Intelligence Tools
  • Features real-time data collection and offers easy to comprehend reports and analyses
  • Enables to easily keep up with emerging customer trends
  • Improve products and services with valuable timely insights

24. ReportPlus

This is an effective analytics solution that focuses exclusively on data visualization and it’s amazing features help even technologically challenged individuals to make successful business.

  • Comes with easy-to-use interface that help get insights faster
  • Features on-the-go accessibility and real-time data connection
  • Large data sets can be processed quickly and encryption secures your database

25. Oracle BI

This is a comprehensive robust enterprise portfolio of applications and technology for business intelligence that features almost all BI capabilities.

  • Features proactive intelligence, dashboards, alerts and ad hoc
  • Large data volumes from even non-Oracle sources can be easily analyzed
  • Comes with integrated array of query, reporting and analysis

26. WebFOCUS

This is an effective BI and Analytics platform that enables every team of your organization to make more confident and smarter business decisions.

  • Analytic apps and tools can be easily accessed from any mobile device or browser
  • Enterprises are enabled to use data more strategically
  • It is comprehensive, scalable, and proven
  • Assures efficient security, administration and governance

27. icCube

This is one of the best available SaaS end to end BI platforms that integrates seamlessly with any application.

  • Comes with ability to graphically design widgets from scratch
  • Easily connect and combine any custom data source
  • Comes with on-the-fly-authentication and authorization

Read Also: Top 26 Apps For Internal Employee Communication in 2019

Several versions of such tools are offered now that can fit businesses of any size and shapes. There will also be a guidance team provided by most of such companies offering these tools that help you make the right choice of tool depending on your business size and requirements.

Gaining insights of the customer behaviour and the overall growth of the business is the key of using BI tools. Most of these tools are easily accessible and flexible to use and its wise usage can in fact give you impressive turn over in short time.   

What is performance appraisal?

A performance appraisal is the regular review of an employee’s performance in the organization.

Most companies conduct a yearly appraisal programme due to which the appraisal programme is also called as an annual appraisal; apart from the other terms such as performance review, employee appraisal, etc.,

Read Also: 12 Tips to Motivate Your Staff With Non-Financial Incentives

There are few companies that conduct the performance appraisal on a half-yearly basis too.

Organizations use performance appraisal programme to analyse an employee’s performance throughout the current cycle.

Apart from feedback, they also discuss the renewed pay structure for the year, an extension of the agreement, termination of the employees are also topics of discussion during the performance appraisal.

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Promotions and internal job postings are other matters that are looked into during the performance appraisal. This is the time most managers look at moving the right employee for the right job.

Employees usually improve their skills throughout the year in hopes of a promotion or moving to a different project they have eyes on. Performance appraisal is the time employees discuss their future plans with their managers at length.

What happens during a performance appraisal?

We looked at what a performance appraisal is. Let us understand what purpose a performance appraisal serves to the employer and the employee and what happens during a performance cycle.

The most basic purpose of a performance appraisal is for the organization to analyse an employee’s worth and contributions they made to the organization. Various factors such as attendance, efficiency, attitude, quality of work, amount of work, etc.,

Collecting and analysing this information is easier said than done. Numbers are easy to access. There are different teams within the organization that will keep track of an employee’s performance that can be accountable through data.

Absenteeism, quality and quantity of the work completed throughout the appraisal cycle, etc., are some of the measurable data by the Human Resource or project manager.

However, criteria such as attitude, willingness to work, etc., comes into the picture. It is, however, the project manager’s job to analyse an employee’s behaviour on the production floor to get an idea about these parameters.

Performance appraisal cannot only be about the numbers. Numbers and behaviour go hand in hand. Only then will the employee be the right choice for the organization.

There are various methods through which employers evaluate the performance of an employee. All evaluation methods fall into two categories:

1. Traditional methods

Traditional methods emphasise on the assessment of the employee’s personality traits such as Initiative, Dependability, Creativity, Integrity, Intelligence, etc.

Types of traditional methods include:

  • Ranking Method
  • Checklist
  • Forced Choice
  • Forced Distribution
  • Critical Incidents
  • Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale
  • Field Review
  • Performance Tests and Observations
  • Confidential Reports
  • Assay Method
  • Cost Accounting Method
  • Comparative Evaluation Approaches

2. Modern methods

Modern methods emphasise on the evaluation of the work results shown by the employee.

Types of modern methods include:

  • Management by Objectives
  • Psychological Appraisals
  • Assessment Centres
  • 360-Degree Feedback
  • 720-Degree Feedback

Irrespective of the methodology used to evaluate performance appraisal, there are mandatory components that are a part of the performance appraisal. They are:

1. Define expectations

At the beginning of a performance cycle, it is essential for the reporting manager to sit with the employee and prepare a criteria chart.

This will explain what is expected off the employee for the complete performance cycle.

Doing this will ensure that the employee and manager are on terms with the expectations set, and there are no discrepancies during the performance appraisal discussion.

2. Measure and evaluate

Now that we know what a manager expects from the employee, it is the manager’s task to periodically measure the employee’s performance on the basis of the criteria set.

Once there is actual data, it is easier for the manager to evaluate the employee’s progress.

3. Provide feedback

Provide feedback based on the evaluation made throughout the year. Positive and Negative items need to be discussed at length during these sessions.

Read Also: 13 Ways To Motivate Your Team Members for Better Performance

It is necessary for managers to provide constant feedback throughout the year so that the employee has a chance to make amends to their working method.

The feedback will hit as a surprise to the employee if it comes to them only once a year.

It is necessary for managers to provide constant feedback throughout the year so that the employee has a chance to make amends to their working method.

The feedback will hit as a surprise to the employee if it comes to them only once a year.

4. Record performance

No companies do manual performance appraisal now. Those were the cavemen times. All appraisal proceedings are done in a strategic, automated method.

Once the feedback session is successfully completed, managers need to record the employee performance on the internal portal to complete the automated performance appraisal procedure.

Once the 4th step is completed, the process returns to the next performance appraisal cycle by initiating the 1st step again, and then flow continues.

Advantages of a Performance Appraisal

Allow us to take you through some of the significant benefits of having a systematic and fair performance appraisal procedure in place.

1. Having a systematic performance appraisal procedure in place helps the manager to evaluate the employee’s performance throughout the year. This will clearly show the strengths and weakness of the employee and their areas of interests.

2. Gathering employee information will also help managers in understanding the progression possibilities of the employee.The Right employee for the right job can be identified through this process.

3. Managers can also create training plans for the employees to help them enhance the skills they lack.

4. By sharing feedback based on the data gathered, managers will enable employees to understand their strengths and shortcomings. Manager’s constructive criticism will encourage employees to work harder to improve their performance.

5. Employees with potential are promoted or moved to a programme that best suits their profile. This works as an excellent motivator for the employees and will boostthem towards maintaining their current performance, if not improve it.

6. The appraisal is also where managers analyse if the training programmes and feedbacks shared with the employee have been put to effect. It shows if the employee has actually improved post training or feedback or let them fly in the air.

7. There are also chances that the training and feedback programmes are not as effective as they need to be. Managers and initiate changes in the training programmes and feedback style to make them more acceptable by employees.

8. Appraisal creates healthy competition among employees and this will, in turn, work as a motivator for the employees.

9. Managers are also known to use appraisal programmes to understand employee’s mental health and personal grievances. Manager can act on the grievances and make possible changes to accommodate the employee’s well-being.

10. The records maintained for performance appraisal will also show the managers which employee has had a steady or improving performance rate and which employee has a continuously deteriorating performance rate. This will help managers in preparing an appropriate further course of action for all employees.

11. Performance appraisal data will also work to provide insight into the hiring process of the organization. Managers understand if the existing hiring process is capable of recruiting candidates with the skill set the programme requires and make amends to the process if needed.

Things that could lead to a negative impact on performance review discussion

1. Nobody likes it when someone shouts at them when something goes wrong. So, when managers share feedback, it is crucial for them to keep this in mind. Feedback should be shared in the form of constructive criticism; only then will employees want to work on the inputs shared.

2. There are chances of employees losing their jobs after an appraisal review meeting. If an employee shows no improvement or shows no intent to work on the feedback shared, the organization has the authority to terminate the employee. Employees could also be transferred to a different programme or demoted too.

3. Managers need to ensure that the numbers recorded in the employee’s performance data are accurate. Employees will find out if the numbers are forged or not recorded appropriately, and this would lead to major legal consequences to the manager and the organization.

4. The criteria set for an employee’s performance appraisal need to be relevant to their work profile. It is not possible for employees to work towards criteria that areirrelevant or not useful. This will lead to employee dissatisfaction and escalations.

5. Managers need to ensure that weightage is equally distributed among the vital factors. Giving more weightage to factors that are not crucial to the programme does not make any sense.

6. There is no scientific method to gauge factors such as Attitude, Willingness to learn, Initiative taken, etc. Managers find it difficult to provide justification to employees about the reason they provided the scoring.

Read Also: How to Improve Policy Implementation at Workplace

7. There are instances where the managers are not adequately qualified to evaluate the employees and their capabilities. This leads to them making mistakes in the evaluation process. Such mistakes could gravely affect the successful growth of the employee.

So, here is a brief introduction to Performance Appraisal. Hope you have received a clear perspective of what it is.

You are determined on working towards company goals but how will you get there if your workforce does not resonate with it?

To keep your workforce motivated and empathetic towards the vision you have in mind, you need to set an efficient protocol for workforce management.

The main aim of workforce management program is to extract best performances out of employees at all levels. Designing an effective strategy becomes difficult as companies fail to address the essential challenges that are faced with by the process.

There are certain key aspects which significantly impact the method. Below are the five necessary steps that affect the output of your workforce management strategy.

1. Let the Manager do Talent Management.

He knows people and their skills better!

2. Gauge the role and responsibility of each employee.

Identifying critical roles is crucial for business.

3. Make sure only relevant data is fed to the manager’s PC

Data that helps in recruitment, performance analysis and other aspects of talent management!

4. Intricate developments in succession plan.

Focus on creating descendant roadmaps at multiple levels

5. Harmonize Workforce and company goals!

Craft mutually dependent strategies for talent and business management.

Workforce Management 5 Steps For Getting It Right!

While money is often mistaken as the best motivator in organizations; studies have shown that non-financial incentives motivate employees way better than money.

Workload and management policies have only gotten stringent, with high employee turnover rates in almost all sectors.

Despite sky-high salaries, successful employees are still leaving their jobs, citing lack of conducive environments and work-life balance as the reason.

Read Also: 13 Ways To Motivate Your Team Members for Better Performance

If you are in management, looking to stem this tide, here are a few tips to be kept in mind in this regard. They are highly effective and easy to implement, without having to blow your budget wide open:

1. Appreciate employee’s work

Management often makes the mistake of not acknowledging productivity. Ensure that you nip this issue in the bud by publicly congratulating him on his efficiency. Awards like ‘Employee Of The Month’ go a long way in motivating staff to achieve more.

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An atmosphere where you make your employees feel valued and appreciated is far more productive. It cements his resolve to take on more work and make a name for himself.

Timely assessments of employee performance cheering the top performers would make an impression throughout the staff.

You can motivate low performing employees to strive harder and reach the level of their successful peers in this manner. Commend them when this happens and let the domino effect happen. 

2. Promotions

Reward best performing employees with promotions. This is a tremendous boost for employees as they will have goals and positions set in order. A well-planned hierarchy in the organization, where employees are assured of being promoted when they perform well.

You may award promotions based on annual reviews. When employees have done an excellent job which were of enormous benefit to the company, amid year promotion can also be considered for them.

This would show the staff that you are always on the lookout for high-performance stars and motivate them ahead.

3. Job Security

Nothing motivates an employee like knowing that his job cannot be taken away at a whim. Providing him with job security would enhance his standing and respect in the organization.

It would also make him feel valued and integral to the company’s performance. You will find such an employee ready to take personal responsibility for operations under his control.

Let them know that the management is always ready to support him, no matter what. With such an adequate support system in place, your employees are less likely to switch companies, since they would find this work culture highly appealing and irreplaceable.

4. Maintain Relationships

If you can maintain a personal relationship with an employee, you’re doing better than 90% of typical management staff. Often overlooked, this doesn’t even have to be time-consuming.

An occasional chat about family, finances, kids, friends, sports et cetera that is personal in nature would make the employee feel close to the management.

Take them out for dinner and stay informal outside office proceedings. Offer career guidance and help when they need it. See to it that your employees feel safe enough to approach you on any issue without hesitation.

You could be an extraordinary manager, with well-satisfied employees if you ardently follow this tip.

5. Community Activities

Events like picnics, visits to tourist places, charitable deeds done together with employees can make them feel important to the organization.  Try taking employees out as often as possible for new experiences.

Such moments can be terrific for bonding and improving relations between employees and managers.

Organize activities for the whole staff, like taking them for a sports game or a trip for the weekend. In the office, ensure recreational rooms where staff can relax and bond with others. You should provide facilities for indoor and outdoor games.

There could also be clubs for skill enhancement formed by employees. Set aside a time period, like Friday or Saturday afternoons, where they are allowed to engage in these activities in office.

Once an employee is comfortable with all members and the friendly atmosphere, he will choose to stay put in the same office, even if there are better opportunities outside the firm. Proper company culture can be a huge factor in reducing employee turnover.

6. Reward high performers with flexible schedules

Achieving a Work-Life balance has become something of a myth in the 21st century. With several high performers burning out, ensure your staff does not fall prey to this disease.

Reward the best employees with time off. Allow them to prepare their schedules and deadlines. Don’t micromanage them as this can kill off their zeal and enthusiasm.

Read Also: How to Improve Policy Implementation at Workplace

It would be best if you granted several incentives for high achievers such as the freedom to choose their own responsibilities, subject to approval, etc. Also, try to help them select and set out on their own paths that would benefit the company as well.

On seeing this, even low performers would be enthused, and they will be full of passion for reaching the same level and accessing the same freedoms.

7. Competitive Environments

High achievers are known to dull down in the lack of a stimulating work environment. Make a note of your office’s top performers and enquire if they would like additional responsibilities.

Ensure they are clubbed together for the most daunting tasks and provide them with sufficient challenges. It is a great way to boost office productivity as well as keep your office gems satisfied with their jobs.

If you create an exclusive circle of high achievers, naturally other employees would be curious as well. They would be motivated by a desire to join this elite group of high achievers. This would be beneficial for both the company and the employee.

8. Take one-on-one meetings

Once a month, sit down with your employees and interview them about their jobs. Ask them questions about their work, their satisfaction levels, whether they would like more challenges, whether they have any opinions on the current system, know their grievances and if anything could be done to enhance their experience.

Ensure that you gain as much knowledge as possible and note down relevant insights. Resolve any apprehensions they may have and provide assurance that the company has their back. This will win you loyal and trustworthy employees in the long run.

9.Suggestion System

Use an efficient suggestion system, like a public box where employees can drop off any remarks, preferably anonymously. Go through each remark in detail and take their feedback seriously.

Applaud helpful suggestions in public and implement them. This would increase feedback rates, and soon, you will find a whole new list of problems that you had no idea about before. Honest and direct feedback from employees can be utilized to improve efficiency.

During meetings, you should encourage employees to provide their insights into projects. This would give them a role in the decision-making process, following which, they will be much more motivated to work on the project as it was their plan too.

10. Provide a proper path for career growth

Most employees grow disillusioned when their career begins to stagnate. You must take well-planned steps to prevent it. This would inform the employees their important targets, on the accomplishment of which, they will be able to advance further.

We have often seen this strategy to work wonders, with employee efficiency levels rising, post-implementation.

Once employees know where they stand and the path to take to advance, they will not hesitate to improve the quality of their work.

11. Group incentives

Dealing with non-performers and bad team players can be quite daunting. To solve this issue, provide only group incentives. The group size must remain small though, with all members knowing each other well.

Such an environment, where employees are accountable to their groups as well, would boost morale and enhance team spirit.

Dividing staff into teams would also increase a sense of competitiveness. It would energize the teams to work harder and be the best in office, much like we see in sports. The best team could be provided several benefits like special privileges.

You can also make a note of effective team leaders, who can be considered for leadership positions in the company. Members of the winning team can also be put on the fast track list for promotions.

Bright stars in failed teams can be identified and appropriately nurtured since competition tends to bring out the best in everyone.

The usual bottlenecks can be successfully removed since everybody would be eager to finish off their tasks and gain as a one, stable and prosperous group.

12. Constructive criticism

It is crucial not to criticize your employees outright when they don’t perform well. Instead, speak to them privately and understand their needs. Help them out with any troubles they’re facing and provide skill training in case they need it.

Take steps to show them how they can improve their work and be patient during the process. Everybody picks up at their speed, and there can be instances where even top performers can be brought down to their knees.

In all such cases, get to the roots of the problem and provide helpful, constructive criticism where required.

Read Also: How to Improve Employee Attendance at Work

An employee would be willing to own up to his faults and improve his work if nudged along the right path properly.

Conclusion

Implementation of these steps would boost morale among your employees significantly. Money doesn’t buy everything; sometimes, it’s the experience and atmosphere you provide that compels employees to work better.

Ensure a great work environment where they feel valued and are genuinely happy, and watch your office productivity rates top the charts.

Let’s start with a shower of truth!

  • Sexual harassment at workplace is unfortunately not uncommon.
  • Not all victims include females.
  • Not all perpetrators are male.

No matter what gender, a boss, a customer, or a coworker can be involved in an activity of sexual harassment.

For a person who goes through sexual harassment, the reaction depends on many factors. Certain situations can make you uncomfortable, while others make you angry and devastated. Workplace harassment can change the way you look at your career forever.

Read Also: 6 Ways To Deal With Political Talk In The Office

In a situation of apparent case of sexual harassment, you might feel confused and scared to make your next move?

Which is why this article has accumulated a sequence of steps you can take to deal with sexual harassment at work.

1. Understand the criteria of sexual harassment

First and foremost, you should know whether an action or a situation comes within the criteria of sexual harassment.

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Here are the criteria that define certain actions and statements as sexual harassment:

  • The action or statement should offend the victim. So, if an employee takes an offending statement casually and finds it funny, it won’t be a case of sexual harassment. Suppose, some other female employee overhears that comment, then, she might feel offended. In this case, the other female employee becomes a victim. So, a statement or a situation should be in the “unwelcome” zone for the victim in order to qualify as sexual harassment.
  • The person feeling offended by a statement or a comment should be reasonable. For instance, if a person compliments another’s dress or looks. In this case, the factors will include the relationship between those two people. Many other questions also become a part of the assessment. How those two people normally behave with each other? What were the tone and gesture of that compliment? Is there a third person agreeing to the creepiness of that compliment? These questions make the decision making complicated in the case of sexual harassment.
  • The seriousness and pervasive nature of behavior matters as well. In some cases, the message is serious and direct, which makes it sufficient for this criteria.

With the above-assessment, it is clear that classifying sexual harassment is not a sharp cut. Situations can become really complicated to analyze. And even the perception of sexual harassment can differ from person to person.

The approach of a victim also plays a big role. If a victim keeps on continuing a relationship, despite the sexual harassment, it is not considered as “unwelcome”.

But the moment you feel uncomfortable by someone’s comment or inappropriate behavior, it turns it into an unwelcome scenario.

2. Decide your next steps

A third employee can easily say that you should shut down sexual harassment at the moment it is happening.

But, this is not possible in every scenario. If the other person is your senior, you might feel intimidated to call him/her out. Sometimes, you want to keep your job, which is why you just try to ignore.

That being said, it is important that you stop that sexual harasser whenever possible. This sends a clear message that you are not accepting any sort of inappropriate behavior. This way, you give power to your sexual harassment case. The question regarding this will be asked during the investigation process.

Find the strength in you to overcome the concerns and feelings. And have faith and trust in your organization’s ability to take appropriate action.

Since the inception and reach of #MeToo movement, submitting your complaint against sexual harassment has become more convenient. More complaints are accepted in every sector, so you don’t have to worry about not getting heard.

Read Also: How to Improve Employee Attendance at Work 2019

No matter where you work, what’s your designation, age or gender, corporate sexual harassment has become a primary issue all across the globe.

3. Follow complaint procedure provided for sexual harassment in your company

Every company has a policy and procedure regarding sexual harassment cases. This policy involves the steps you can take to file your complaint. You can check the employee handbook to understand this procedure.

Mostly, such guidelines ask you to submit your complaint to the team manager. This is applicable only if the manager is not a perpetrator in the case. You can also submit your complaint to the HR department.

Some companies assign an expert to handle these matters, so you might be asked to send your complaint to that person. If your company has more than 15 employees, it comes within the sexual harassment laws.

You can follow the steps requested by your company officials and file a written as well as a verbal complaint to the suitable authorities. If you are not comfortable going to a certain person, you can decide to file a report to any working manager.

It is important to take immediate actions and avoid waiting for too long. The state laws apply for certain days in the case of sexual harassment. You should find out that period in your location and act before that passes.

4. Write your formal letter to complain regarding a sexual harassment encounter

A verbal complaint is fine, but you should make your complaint formal with a letter. Here are all the elements you should include in your formal letter against sexual harassment:

  • Use a clear subject line saying, “This is a formal complaint against sexual harassment.” Mentioning the term ‘sexual harassment’ is key here. This allows the authorities to understand the seriousness of the issue. This way, they restrict to take your complaint lightly.
  • You should try to provide a timeline of everything in this letter. Try to include dates, names, documented actions, and other details. This will increase the strength of your complaint. You should try to list a witness after consulting that person. This can help during the investigation process.
  • Write about the comments, the person who made comments, the time and the consequences you faced.
  • Make sure you clearly define whether the sexual harassment was a one-time event or it is ongoing. One-time actions are way different than the continuous pervasive behavior. So, you need to be clear about the information you give via the formal letter.
  • You can also include any concerns, which you are fighting in your head. So, for example, you can inform that you worry about not getting your raise because you denied a date proposal from your senior.

5. Think about the need for a private attorney

In ideal situations, your company should act promptly and resolve the problem fairly. However, if you don’t see that happening, you have the right to hire your private attorney. This way, you can take your case outside the company for a fair decision.

It is possible that you feel unhappy with the way company officials handle your case. You might disagree with the case and evidence they showcase. In that situation, it would be wise to hire your own private attorney.

Read Also: 10 Challenges Faced by HR Managers and How to Tackle Them

You will also need an attorney, in case, you find a retaliation against your complaint. Such retaliation is illegal and punishable by law. So, an attorney can help you get justice.

What should an organization do to deal with such complaints?

  1. Keep your employees informed about the organizational policies against sexual harassment.
  2. Allows different options for victims to file their complaint. Assign different managers and officials as options for the victims.
  3. For every complaint, assign a member of the staff with all the details of the complaint. This member should understand company policies.
  4. Create an investigation strategy and designate the right knowledgeable people for the job.
  5. Communicate with the victim and assure about the protection against retaliation or any other inappropriate action.
  6. Discuss every detail of the action or comment with the victim and collect important data such as time, dates, witnesses, situations and other informational pieces.
  7. Inform, the accused, about the complaint and warn against unethical or retaliatory acts.
  8. Assure every involved party regarding a fair investigation.
  9. 9. Follow a clear process to interview witnesses. Use questions that allow open-ended answers to get maximum facts.
  10. 10. Do not judge the accused before the allegations get the facts. Interview the accused with respect and listen to his or her version as well.
  11. 11. Collect all the evidence and create an overall picture of the situation.

With that, company authorities can reach a fair decision.

Hopefully, you have found what you were looking for!

Every time, there is a discussion about employee engagement in a company, you get to hear two sides of the story. The discussion revolves around the need of having an employee engagement software.

While it is good to have such discussions, you should know that software assists seamlessly in terms of goal tracking, surveys, employee feedback, analytics, recognition and a lot more.

With a reliable employee engagement software, you get all the benefits to enhance your work culture and productivity.

Here are more reasons why you shouldn’t stop yourself from investing in employee engagement software.

Read Also: 10 Competent Steps to Improve Employee Engagement

1. Saves money and time

Most modern-age engagement software types include administration facility from a third-party. This way, you receive proven and trusted support to manage employee engagement.

The template designs and survey models become available in a customizable manner. So, you don’t have to worry about aligning software with your business model.

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Apart from that, you receive educational resources, customer support for employees and admins as well. Instant messaging, email and other integrated facilities help you save money and time altogether.

2. Protects data and increases usage

With correct software selection, you won’t be feeling worried about the confidentiality issues. Advanced software solutions provide complete protection to your data.

At the same time, you can receive proven and validated strategies for employee engagement. Employee demographics become available, which assists in increasing the engagement quicker, in an effective manner.    

3. Lets you customize content again and again

Content customization becomes extremely simple with reliable software. You receive phone, paper, and online survey choices to pick from. Similarly, the design and questions become customizable.

You can design your content towards brand recognition or make it about individual engagement, depending on your business needs.

In fact, the whole performance strategy of your company gets aligned with the content. For instance, you can utilize language translation to make your content effective in all branches and useful for all employees.

4. Dynamic reporting

Most employee engagement software solutions also provide custom reporting. You can slice and filter reports in different ways to evaluate the success rate of your engagement strategies.

The reports inform about the usage rates, real-time response and other forms of results, which help you upgrade your strategies from time to time.

5. Increased productivity of your employees

Beyond the communication aspect of such software, your employees receive reactions from each other and all the clients quickly through online connectivity.

This allows them to quickly resolve problems, collaborate efficiently and have clear communication. This increases the feeling of working as a team. Employees learn to see the vast overview and feel motivated to work in the right direction.

When you engage your employees like this, it naturally increases their productivity. People in your company begin to feel valued and needed. They contribute more and feel satisfied with the responsibilities you put on their shoulders.

Read Also: How To Build Great Work Relationships

6. Helps you hear employees’ voices

With the ability to receive feedbacks, conduct surveys and provide support, you will be able to hear the voice of your employees. An employee engagement software induces co-working, which becomes beneficial for new hires.

At the same time, you understand the problems faced by the employees and find solutions for them. Their suggestions and feedback give you the ability to enhance your management approach.

7. Helps new employees feel comfortable

Entering a huge organization, a new employee feels intimidated for an initial period. This feeling restricts the ability to learn and implement the skills that they already have. At the same time, you wish for the new employee to quickly become a part of the team and start making valuable contributions.

All these scenarios make employee engagement furthermore important for the new employees you hire. Getting feedback from them is important and software allows you to ensure that. You convey that their personal opinions and past experiences matter.

A newly hired employee decides whether he or she wants to work for your company in the long run. So, you need to plan and implement an engagement strategy for them.

8. Employee Retention

Employees don’t leave a job just for salary increment, health insurance, and other traditional reasons. The lack of recognition, diminished value, and bad relationships are the reasons why your company also loses employees.

If people feel they have no place in company’s goals, they look for a new job. An engagement software for employees can open new gates for team members and business leaders to connect with each other.

This connection increases the numbers of feedbacks and also enhances recognition. Hence, employees feel satisfied with their position in your company, which increases employee retention rates.

9. Higher attendance and profitability

Disengaged employees don’t think twice before asking for leave. They don’t feel connected to the goals of your organization. So, spending time with friends seems more exciting.

But no employee wants to feel let down. You can make them come to work with a positive attitude, using a modern-age engagement strategy.

When your employees come to work every day in a happy mood, they make customers happy. This increases leads and sales, which enhances your organization’s profitability.

Read Also: How to Build a Better Company Culture

10. Improved company culture

Adding a modern-age employee engagement software conveys your care for the employees. Job hunters look for companies that make efforts to improve the quality of work culture. Highly skilled candidates make their decisions by comparing the work culture in various organizations.

When you know all that, it is logical to improve your company culture by implementing an employee engagement strategy, using a reliable software technology. 

Now, you know all the reasons to invest in software for employee engagement. After this, you can spend time evaluating your options to choose the best software.

The solutions should align with your business model, company policies and also with the requirements of your employees. So, conduct discussions to come up with a clear strategy.

Fresh research work and innovative ideas are reachable these days with social media and overall online world. However, entrepreneurs can find inspiration from movies as well.

A great movie can change your perspective and stimulate your brain to find innovative ideas, obtain a vision and follow it till you achieve. You just need to be a little selective with what you watch. There is a tsunami of movies out there. But you can’t watch all of them.

Read Also: Top 26 Apps For Internal Employee Communication in 2019

Here, in this article, you will find a list of 10 movies that will inspire you again and again as an entrepreneur.

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1. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

The struggle of a salesman depicted by the jolt of talent Will Smith, this movie will give you an internal power to chase your dreams as an entrepreneur. The story is about Chris Gardner, who has no job, no money, no house, and no wife.

He and his kid have to live in shelters or even in the toilets of subways. The story shares the personal struggle of Chris Gardner and his smart moves to beat others and win a livelihood for himself and his kid.

 

2. The Social Network (2010)

Humans have lived in the forests, then, created villages, which turned into cities. But now, we all live in the online world. But how it all started?! This movie shares the story of Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

The movie shows the early days of his life at Harvard and how he created a startup for fun, but soon became competitive about it. And that competitive spirit turned Facebook into a multi-national billion dollar company.

 

3. Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

This classic shares the story of how Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started their empires during the 80s. The story highlights the genius of both the giants, but it also goes into the rivalry and triumphs of these two founding fathers in the tech world.

The story teaches the importance of being ahead in the market. But at the same time, you learn to not let yourself down if someone steals your idea. In the world of business and entrepreneurship, implementation decides the success, not the idea.

 

4. Joy (2015)

Wherever you are in life, it is all because of your own hard work, humility, and patience. The world doesn’t owe you anything. This is what you learn from the life story of Joy Mangano, who is an entrepreneur played by Jennifer Lawrence.

Joy invented Miracle Mop as well as the Huggable Hangers. But her inventions went through an intense level of personal and professional struggles. The story shows how she overcomes her struggles and creates 100+ inventions to promote via Home Shopping Network to earn millions.

If you are a women entrepreneur, this should be the first movie on your list. The movie deeply explores the struggle of being a businesswoman.

 

5. Wall Street (1987)

The world of wall street understands the language of bucks and bucks only! The rest is nothing but worthless conversation. The dialogues from this movie have become classics among entrepreneurs and investors. The story revolves around a young, ambitious stockbroker named Bud Fox.

Read Also: 11 Habits Of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs

He is ready to do everything to succeed. But he comes across a situation when he is supposed to help with something that is illegal and morally wrong. This movie explains why entrepreneurship is beyond getting famous and rich. You can’t sell your morals and expect to survive in the long run.

 

6. The Big Short (2015)

With a blend of drama and comedy, this movie is set in the market environment of middle 2000s. Some finance experts begin to notice the hidden instability in America’s housing market.

They predict a collapse. They go deep and realize how corruption and flaws in the market ruin a flourishing industry.

The writing and the performance of actors such as Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Finn Wittrock make this movie a treat to watch for entrepreneurs. The drama is presented with a splash of comedy, which keeps you excited till the end.

The movie will teach you how important it is to see the core of any opportunity. You can’t blindly follow everyone towards something, which you believe will fail in future.

People might call you mad and won’t believe your vision, but that doesn’t make you wrong all the time. It is all about an in-depth evaluation and assessment to feel confident about your predictions.

 

7. Boiler Room (2000)

A moral dilemma is in front of you every now and then. Entrepreneurs have to fight it many times in their life and career. And that is what this movie shows from the life of a college dropout. Seth Davis is only 19 and he obtains a big position among top brokers.

But the firm, he is working at, seems suspicious. Now, it is up to him to decide whether he chooses legality and morals or follows the path of greed and money.

This movie is a correct depiction of how entrepreneurs have to choose between a right and a wrong thing in their business. And that choice decides the fate!

 

8. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

This one is a drama-packed movie about success, fortune, fame, law, and greed. One of the greatest performances from Leonardo Di Caprio takes the movie to a whole new level of excellence. You will learn to stop making excuses to yourself and just go for what you want in life.

At the same time, the movie will also help you realize how easily you can lose your success if greed, power, women, drugs and other temptations start interrupting your thoughts.

 

9. Limitless (2011)

Played a Bradley Cooper, this is a movie about a writer who is struggling in his life. There is no present or future life for him. But he suddenly finds a unique pill, which increases his mental abilities to 100 percent. The drugs allow him to rise in the world of finance, but the side-effects become unbearable to handle.

This thrilling movie is a metaphorical depiction of how easy solutions can have harsh consequences. In the movie, the character Eddie overcomes that, but life isn’t so generous all the time.

 

10. Two for The Money (2005)

Professional football, gambling, and Vegas, these three words should be enough to make you excited about this movie. Things go out of control, but the actors McConaughey and Pacino show how a new change is possible for the determined people in the world of business.

Read Also: Top 20 Parental Control Routers to Use in 2019

So, which motivating movie has made it to your personal list?!

Working as a team is important for any organization to reach the goals within minimal time frame. However, all members of a team may not be working from a single office but may be scattered in many parts of the globe.

This can be really challenging when it comes to collaboration including team communication, work flow and project management. There are many online collaboration tools available now which can be really handy during these times.

Whether it is file sharing, documentation, design or even organized remote communication, there are specific tools that can make the job easy and more organized.

Are you looking for amazing online collaboration tools to enhance your team productivity? Then have a look at this huge list of the top rated tools for the job.  

Read Also: Top 26 Apps For Internal Employee Communication in 2019

1.Yammer

Collaborating across locations, departments and business apps is no more a problem as this private social network can be handy. You can create groups and share posts. All what you need to access your venture’s Yammer network is an email id from the particular company’s domain.

2. Asana

All employees of your team can log on to this cloud platform, provided they have a WiFi connection. This project management tool lets you have an overview of all current projects and the three panel dashboard lets you access any data of a particular project.

3. Slack

Remote teams can make use of this power house messaging app to improve their communication. It comes with numerous bots and powerful integrations and operates in channels. Tracking and archiving conversations will be easy through channel options.

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Remote teams can make use of this power house messaging app to improve their communication. It comes with numerous bots and powerful integrations and operates in channels. Tracking and archiving conversations will be easy through channel options.

4. LiquidPlanner

This project management tool is particularly designed to help technology teams. Tool’s flexibility is the key and team can use it to collaborate seamlessly, organize projects in a better way and track time taken for completion of projects.

This project management tool is particularly designed to help technology teams. Tool’s flexibility is the key and team can use it to collaborate seamlessly, organize projects in a better way and track time taken for completion of projects.

5. Skype

This is one of the most common communication tools used by business professionals for its awesome features and free accessibility. Audio and video calls can be made despite the type of devices used on both sides. Group call feature can be a good help during group discussions on projects remotely.

6. Airtable

Creating and editing of databases can be done in a better way with this project management tool. You can easily sort out project elements by organizing information in tables. Collaboration is well supported as it allows creating and saving custom views.

7. Hipchat

Your team collaboration can be made more efficient with this private hosted chat service. Unlike group chat, this tool allows for collaborating tasks and docs by uploading it according to individual convenience. Video chat feature can be initiated from any device allowing you to communicate with the team on the go.

8. Basecamp

This project management tool is ideal for smaller business teams to manage their work decently. This very affordable software is powerful but comes with simple and easy to use features. The tool has a very minimal learning curve.

9. Google Hangouts

If your venture is on a budget, you can go for Google Hangouts to help you move on. Hangouts on Air allow you to record the Hangout so that you can view it later on your convenience. The privacy feature lets you to hide the public display of Hangouts.

10. Confluence

This wiki platform lets you to share and upload documents and create pages for your team. It features an internal documentation library and an easy-to-use interface. It also features good storage and search capabilities to effectively manage data on past, present and future projects.

11. GoToMeeting

Hosting a meeting with your customers or colleagues is a lot easier than you think if you choose to use GoToMeeting.You can simply launch a meeting from anywhere despite whether it is instant messaging or emails and features one click recording.         

12. Soapbox

It is a user friendly screen recording tool known for its ease of use. Its option to simultaneously do webcam recording and screen recording makes it a unique option. During editing, you can add transitions and share video via a thumbnail in any web page through a link.

It is a user friendly screen recording tool known for its ease of use. Its option to simultaneously do webcam recording and screen recording makes it a unique option. During editing, you can add transitions and share video via a thumbnail in any web page through a link.

13. Invision

The design collaboration with your team can be made easy with this enterprise grade prototyping tool. From uploading designs to gathering feedbacks, everything related to design can be made remotely. In fact, projects can be managed from a single dashboard.

14. GanttPRO

This is a user friendly web-based project planning tool which is designed to work on the basis of Gantt charts. Its intuitive UX/UI design makes anyone an advanced user of the software in merely few minutes. It comes with a resource management feature and you can create and assign task to individuals.

15. LastPass

This online password manager lets you track the many numbers of passwords and usernames needed for your project with ease.  There is no limit for number of passwords that can be stored and provide syncing option across devices

16. Concept Inbox

This is a comprehensive visual design collaboration tool that helps to manage project designs remotely. It keeps track of versions and enables everyone to keep up the speed. With email notifications and in-context annotations, the app allows real time feedback on prototypes.

17. Filestage

This user friendly collaboration application is a good option to streamline the review and approval processes and improves internal and external communication. The tool helps you to get feedback from clients on desired documents and enhance the quality of conversations based on feedbacks.

18. Google Docs

Collaborating, editing, sharing and publishing any kind of documents with remote teams is easy with Google Docs. Creating spreadsheets, presentations or blog posts are a lot easy with this tool. All these can be done free of cost.

19. Cage

This tool for smaller business and teams allows sharing of files with customers in an easy and more organized way.Assigning and managing tasks are made simpler and visual comments can be made on the design making the project more interactive.

20. Sketch

It is a comprehensive tool for UX design deliverables aiding web design professionals. Designers can simply create a design once and use it whenever needed in future. Flexible design elements can be made with nested symbols.

21. Prevue

Creating beautiful presentations with your clients or customers is no more a big deal if you use Prevue. In fact, presenting the project and getting the client feedback is almost possible in real time with this app.

Creating beautiful presentations with your clients or customers is no more a big deal if you use Prevue. In fact, presenting the project and getting the client feedback is almost possible in real time with this app.

22. WebEx

Managers who host the meeting with their remote employees can use this tool to share their desktop with them easily. It features face-to-face live video option and even the control of keyboard and mouse can be transferred to any presenters if desired.

23. Office Online

Startups looking for a quality tool for basic documentation and editing can go for this free version of Microsoft’s original Office suite. Even when there are some limitations when compared to paid version, you can get the best out of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Onenote for free.

24. Usersnap

This bug tracking software enables your team to report bugs in the browser. The time for communication can be reduced as it can be seamlessly integrated with existing workflows. Feedbacks for website prototypes and design drafts can be easily made.

Read Also: 15 Tools for Improving Employee Productivity

25. Etherpad

This is a comprehensive collaborative editing tool that works in real time which is available for free. This Open Source online editor is highly customisable and clients and customers can write and edit the documents in same time.

26. SugarSync

In addition to taking back up of your file, SugarSync allows you to maintain even the folder structure unlike many similar tools. This helps to know exactly where your desired files are and access it pretty easily.

27. Google Drive

Easy and quick organization of files is possible with this awesome tool and you can share the desired files with your team anytime. You can store up to 15 GB of files for free including any digital files and team can access it from any device.

28. Nimble

With this tool, your social media contacts and address book can be combined into a CRM solution for sales and marketing. It features group messaging options and provide insights into who has clicked or opened the messages.

With this tool, your social media contacts and address book can be combined into a CRM solution for sales and marketing. It features group messaging options and provide insights into who has clicked or opened the messages.

29. OneDrive

This is one of the top class file sharing tools from Microsoft which offers 5 GB for free and another 50GB if you pay. This comes pre-installed on Windows 10 which is compatible with all devices. Accessing and sharing files is allowed despite PC, Mac, Android, and iOS.

30. ProofHub

This comprehensive tool enables your team to stay more productive at work as it offers anything and everything required to plan and run the projects. You can even set dependencies on tasks in addition to adding people and assigning roles of team members.

31. Dropbox

Syncing your work is a lot easy with Dropbox despite the type of device used or where you are. The business version of the tool offers 1 terabyte space and comes with additional features like higher sharing limits and priority email support.

32. Red Pen

The visual teams can find RedPen as a really handy fast feedback tool. It allows you to receive feedback from your team and your thinking can be explained through clicks and points. Feedback from clients can be received through private links.

33. MediaFire

This is one of the simple storage and file sharing platforms with user friendly features. Even when it doesn’t offer any high end features which makes the tool complex, it serves the purpose of the actual file sharing needs to run a project decently.

34. Zoho

This is a mixture of project collaboration tools allowing clients or customers to come together and execute planning and related works all from a single place. The tool enables you to create project workspaces that help to work as a team despite their geographical location. 

35. Chanty

Seamless collaboration and communication is practical with this business messenger which is powered by AI. The handy file sharing and unlimited searchable history with instant messages can make small teams to go more productive. It features voice transcripts and audio and video calls.  

36. Podio

This powerful project management tool lets managers to run their businesses smoothly despite whether their team members belong to which all countries or time zones. They can easily have a look on their daily tasks or even see how productive their working days are.

37.Zoom

This awesome tool lets managers to perform online training and demos and collaborate virtually. It enables you to share your screen, web pages or photos and cloud content. It even comes with a white board feature and group messaging options.

38. Trello

This web-based project management tool lets managers to organize the projects using cards. The cards are organized on a board and each column signifies a part of the project. This lets you to have a glimpse on the board and check on project status.

39. join.me

This simple online meeting tool is a great option to work with remote teams with file sharing and screen sharing options. It is browser-based and so assures user friendliness and features audio and video conferencing options. All you want is a session ID on join.me to join a conference.

40. Wrike

With Wrike, you can take project management to a different level as it lets you to effectively break heavy tasks into simple goals and manageable units. Data reading is possible for analysing the time and money invested on each project and lets you easily track individual performance to the team.

41. Teamviewer

It is a comprehensive tool for telecommuting, collaboration and IT support. With just a password, admin program can even allow reverse sharing so that client can access admin computer. One can even run a portable version of TeamViewer without installation.

42. Stormboard

The digital workspace of this tool let you to minimize the number of meetings and track the progress of projects seamlessly. The tool enables you to do anything from planning a project, assigning tasks to employees, holding a meeting to setting goals, deadlines, and milestones.

43. Zipboard

Teams handling web related projects can use this visual platform for easy collaboration. Automatic updates are sent to team if a problem is reported or resolved. Screenshots of prototypes can be uploaded and feedback can be provided by team.

44. Bitbucket

This is one of the large and software repository platforms for effective project management. The tool was designed by Atlassian which justifies its popularity and it offers unlimited private repositories. With this tool, collaborating on projects is really easy for developers within enterprises.

45. GoVisually

This tool for designers is particularly meant for freelancers and small business teams to share their creative work. Receiving recommendations and feedbacks from clients is possible without the need of any logs. It lets you design files and work on multiple projects with your team from a single place. 

46. SimpleMDE

This free to use simple markdown editor is flexible to suit your specific needs. It comes with a subset of the HTML features with all the basic editing options needed during the project processing.

47. Codepen

This awesome software tool comes with the tag line “A playground for the front end web.” You can just start off the tool for free and may upgrade to higher versions for pro features. Finding inspiration or design pattern examples for your project and try building a test case for a bug is practical with this tool.  

48. Clickhelp

This browser-based documentation tool enables project managers to set up and publish FAQ tutorials or user manuals with ease. It comes with a range of pre-built templates with diverse themes. It allows integration with Google Analytics and offer support for Meta tags.

49. Mailbird

This email client for Windows makes your online communication more seamless. Other messenger platforms can be managed well as it allows third party integrations. It is known for its ease of use as the app can be learnt within 5 minutes.

50. Gitlab

This web based git repository service lets teams to secure projects on a more minute level and assures safety of projects while team is working on it. It is written in the Ruby language and comes with stand out branch protection, permissions and authentication features.

51. Moqups

This web-based wireframing solution is flexible in nature and allows managers to approach a project in a better way. The project workflow can be revolutionized using its powerful prototyping features. The interaction between assets and elements of a project can be done without switching apps.

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Keep this awesome list of online collaboration tools as a check list which might help you whenever you are finding it challenging to collaborate with your team.

Even when a good collaboration tool can add a lot of value to your team success, choosing the right tool that serves your actual purpose is the key.

For that you will have to spend some quality time on discussing the pros and cons of the tools in question and analyze how it will help you in betterment. 

Even when a good collaboration tool can add a lot of value to your team success, choosing the right tool that serves your actual purpose is the key. For that you will have to spend some quality time on discussing the pros and cons of the tools in question and analyze how it will help you in betterment. 

Always consider tools that offer multiple features so that your team can use tool in various possible ways.  And a Cloud-based technology can be preferred as you need not worry about the version controls.