You may have resolutions to lose weight or become healthier this year but what about the resolution to become a better employee? Striving to become a better worker at the company can make you indispensable and also get you a promotion in the long run.

Read Also: How To Build Great Work Relationships

Irrespective of the industry you work in, here are 15 different ways to become a better employee in 2019.

1. Prioritize tasks at hand

In the face of overwhelming responsibilities, it is natural to get carried away with the thought of “what should I tackle first?”

A simple response to such situations is to “Prioritize” tasks.  You can put down all tasks in ascending order of priority on paper and stick to the plan.

 The deadlines should be able to help you get the order of planning right.

If deadlines are not the factor your brain is wired to follow, you have other options like the complexity of task, time taken or any other factor you believe will help you achieve the target.

A regular practice of this method will eventually help you figure out your personalized execution strategies.

It is the mark of a good employee to figure out all his strengths and weaknesses through trial and error techniques.

2. Keep up the learning game

Learning new things revamps you to attain a better version of self.

Your professional journey marks a new phase of educating yourself. People tend to give up on it once they feel they have accomplished the success they had in mind and get comfortable in the lap of monotony.

Constantly remind yourself, that nothing should stop you from learning. It is a part of progress and helps you rediscover your abilities and emotions.

It will help you keep pace with dynamic trends of workspace and digital world.

Set goals to try and get accustomed to new technologies each time. And when you have achieved one, move towards another.

3. Face to face collaboration

If there is one thing that digitalization has majorly impacted, it is the connection between people who find it more comfortable to chat, rather than talk in person.

The emails and skype makes the job easier and faster without a doubt, but also tends to affect the value of human relationships on a deeper level.

If you think, this has nothing to do with your workspace collaborations, listen up! Virtual talks actually lead a lot of time down the drain during important discussions that are precursors to imperative decisions.

The simple reason being, the sporadic inability of the people on both sides of the screen to clearly comprehend what is being said.

In person conversations on the other hand save a lot of time foster collaboration.

4. Be passionate towards work

Analyze the mindset and attitude you hold towards your work. If there is no passion involved, you are probably not even doing it right.

There is no point in showing up at work each day with blinkers and kicking up a series of events that have become your second nature since you do it every day.

Do you feel it’s the right direction to lead your professional journey into?

Growing with your job each day requires a 100 percent dedication. Unless you connect with the work at an intellectual level, the output will lack both precision and value. 

Rather than maneuvering around with the same old tricks to, put some thought into crafting new approaches and see how that yields.

The element of mental involvement opens new doors of expertise and authority.

5. Improve your focus

The current generation has a lot of distractions. In fact, there seems to be a new one popping in every day. While some are important, some just end up wasting a lot of your time.

To add value to what you do at your and accomplish more than you decided to, enhance your focus. Identify which distractions trouble you and restrict their usage. As you learn to limit distractions, your productivity will improve.

6. Engage with employees

Some employees work from remote locations. If you are one of them, chances that you interact with colleagues face to face are lesser. This can impact your association with the organization and other team members.

Try to turn on your webcam or fix meetings with colleagues whenever you get a chance. Such interactions help for better communication and build working relationships. If you physically work at the workplace, walk over to your colleague and initiate a conversation.

7. Ask for feedback

You may feel that what you are doing is extremely efficient and above expectations. But do remember that it is not all about you. Ask your seniors for feedback and understand how you can improve your performance.

Listen to their inputs positively and ensure that you are not selfish and self-centered. Working with an egoistic and selfish employee isn’t fun, so avoid being one.

8. Don’t judge

Today, people tend to be judgmental. This isn’t improving results in any manner and is just making the workplace more complicated.

Respect your colleagues even if you disagree with their opinion. When you show more respect to the thoughts and beliefs of other people, you will be more productive and successful.

9. Accomplish

High performers always focus on what they need to accomplish. They do not get bogged down by workload. So concentrate on what you need to accomplish rather than just being busy.

10. Do not blame

Always remember that when you point a finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you. If something hasn’t been done in the right way, ask yourself how you can bring an improvement.

Read Also: How to Improve a Toxic Work Environment

Take ownership and accountability. Employees who avoid blaming and take accountability of what’s happening are valued more than other employees.

11. Don’t be complacent

There is no reason to be complacent. You cannot know everything and there’s always room to learn more. The world is changing fast and team members who consistently take an initiative to learn are valuable and marketable.

attendance app

12. Be Proactive

A lot of employees just meet job requirements. However, it is important that you remain committed and try to finish additional things on the task list. It can be challenging but is definitely rewarding. With this attitude, you will notice a sense of success for yourself.

13. Enhance your soft skills

Less-tangible skills like emotional intelligence are of great value today. For instance, an employee with high EQ has the ability to handle pressure, can cooperate with other team members, is ready to take feedback, and is also empathetic. Such employees are always more welcome in the working environment.

14. Have gratitude

Remember to say ‘thank you’ often. Don’t let anyone’s favour or anyone’s support go unnoticed. Co-workers will be more willing to help if you have a positive attitude and the ability to show gratitude.

15. Get better at goal setting

Goals are essential for progress. But just setting the goals is not enough. Goals must be beyond an employee’s comfort zone and often tied with broader corporate goals.

Perform frequent checks to understand how well you are progressing and ask for constructive feedback from peers and managers.

16. Manage your time well

Setting goals isn’t enough, meeting them on time is equally vital. If you don’t stretch deadlines and complete your assignments on time, you are like a star performer.

Do not generate too many ideas since they can sway you from the actual task at hand. Finish one milestone at a time and move forward with every step.

17. Improve your social media game

The social media game can help you in several ways to boost your career. Search for thought leaders and strive to position yourself at par with them. Share what you are working on and highlight your achievements.

18. Send better emails

Emails are an important medium of communication at the workplace. Make sure you write clear, concise, and actionable emails.

Start with what is worth the attention and then move on to the explanation bit. Do not forget to mention the next steps. Learn to respect the time the recipient is giving to read your email.

19. Work on how you deal with conflict

When more people are working on a particular project, differences in opinion are bound to arise. These differences can escalate to a conflict depending on the kind of people working together.

Read Also: How to Build a Better Company Culture

Try to find out the cause of a clash and fix it at your end before rolling up your sleeves. Keep the ultimate goal as the center of your thought process and recommend a compromise.

A Final Thought

The above-mentioned tips are great to start with and you can really contribute much more to your organization. No one will lead you to become a better employee, it is you who has to take the initiative and bring about a difference.

Creating a flexible work schedule for your company may not seem easy. But with a systematic approach, you can prepare a list of options beneficial for both you and the employees. When HR leaders know what they need to implement, their task becomes easy and they are in a position to manage employees better.

Flexible Work Schedules Already Exist

You may not have a formal flexible work environment in your organization but the truth is that it is already happening. Many employees have ‘terms’ with their managers. As part of these ‘terms’, they enjoy work from home, occasional day offs, early leaves etc.

Such under the table arrangements with managers create inequality as some employees have privileges while others don’t. This necessitates the need for a formalized flexible work arrangement program.

In an informal setup, the use of such arrangements cannot be monitored. While employees and managers may be reluctant on the implementation of a formalized flexible work schedule, it is important to create fair guidelines. Such a working environment suits both the employee and the employer resulting in better productivity and an increased morale.

Have Different Flexible Work Options

A successful flexible work arrangement (FWA) requires the right combination of flexible work options. Flexible work schedules can be divided into different categories:

1. Flexible Time:

This involves leeway with respect to the amount of time they need to work for. Employees need to complete eight hours but there is no restriction on what time they start and what time they end.

They could take few hours off to complete personal tasks such as attending their child’s school event or visiting the bank. They could also opt for different shift timings.

2. Flexible Time Off:

Here, employees can opt for extra vacation, long-term leaves or personal offs.

3. Flexible Location:

This gives employees the option of working from home without having a physical presence in the office.

How to create a flexible work schedule?

When HR leaders prepare a flexible work schedule, there are certain questions that they need to ask themselves:

1. What is the purpose of FWA?

Think of the problem you are intending to solve with the implementation of FWA. For instance, the option of flexible location reduces real estate costs since you don’t need space to fit employees. Similarly, flexible time gives employees space to complete their personal tasks and feel that the organization they work with is considerate.

2. What is it that your employees need?

A well-drafted FWA program can boost employee engagement and productivity. This is why it is important to select flexible work options as per the requirements of the employees. Sit and discuss with employees what they are looking for.

3. Are your managers comfortable?

One of the most common reasons for the failure of FWA programs is excessive leniency. If there are too many flexible options, managers struggle to track when employees are working and when they are not. Your FWA options must be suitable for both the managers and employees.

4. Is your FWA a good fit?

This is extremely important. Different departments have different goals and it is important that your flexible work options suit the type of work performed at your organization. The ultimate objective of your FWA program is to improve productivity and that is exactly what it should lead to.

You may have to alter the compensation scheme and also incorporate different performance management techniques in your HR program for the successful implementation of the FWA. Take all these factors into consideration before you announce the FWA program in front of all employees.

A Customized Flexible Work Schedule

The FWA program you finally implement must be suitable for your organization. It must have appropriate guidelines and boundaries that provide comfort to the employees and managers. Perform a test run to be sure of the program you devise and understand if there is a need for any tweaking.

Use the flexible work schedule to your advantage. Promote it on all career-related portals and your website to attract prospective talent.

 

Onboarding is a popular term these days and refers to the process of hiring new employees for the organization.  It sets off before the employee’s start-date and can extend to about six months or even a year.

Being an overwhelming process by itself, the end result and the impact may depend on the techniques that you use and the length of the process.

There are many tools that you can use today, each of which promises you the best engagement results and retention rates.

In this context, we are going to draw out a checklist that would help you to hire the right employees. Such a hiring process is seen to enhance employee performance and commitment to the organization.

1. Get to know the local laws.

It is important to know the local laws relating to a maximum number of weekly hours of work, maternity leave, annual leave, notice of termination, public holidays, etc.

2. Start the hiring process.

This requires that you assess your organization’s current as well as future needs and define the roles for which you would need people.

At this stage, you can also deliberate as to whether hiring is the best option or you have better alternatives. If you decide to hire, you would clearly want to know what you need from the individual.

3. Create a suitable job description.

This stage requires that you know the skills/qualifications the person requires and the amount that you are willing to compensate the employee with.

In this context, remember that it is important to maintain a record of every candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, interview notes, expectations, etc.  You would have to refer to these throughout the onboarding process.

4. Attract the right candidates.

The next step is to advertise the vacant positions. Suitable candidates should hear about the opportunity and match it with their skills, salary expectations and experience.

The manner in which you advertise may depend on the industry that you are in. Social media, online job portals, newspapers, recruitment agencies, etc., are some options that you may consider.

5. Get on with the recruiting.

This involves a whole gamut of activities including communication with prospects, interviews and screening, etc. You have to determine as to who will do the recruiting.

Activities as described in the previous step and this one is sometimes more efficiently done by someone in the team or an outsourced recruiter.

6. Get your employees started up properly.

This is the orientation period and is the most important phase of the onboarding process. Ensure that you do not overlook this process. This is the time period when your employees align with the culture and vision of your organization.

A tour of the work premises is absolutely essential during the induction program. They also have to be provided with an overview of the business that your organization is involved in.

This is the time when the employee is educated about the roles and responsibilities at the workplace, prevalent dress codes, safety protocols, evacuation procedures, operating hours, payroll, etc.

7. Complete all the paperwork.

It is time for the employee to sign up for various benefit programs, insurance coverage documents and retirement plan documents. The new employee will at this time also complete all the payroll forms.

8. Set company expectations.

The employee is informed about the probationary period and the times when the performance appraisals would take place.

9. Start training program.

The new employee is trained on all aspects of the job, from the simple to the complex. The duration of the training program is also notified to the employee.

Final Thoughts

It is a good idea to standardize the onboarding process with a checklist as listed above. This is because taking optimum time to onboard the employees is the key to increase the productivity of the new hires.  The absence of a checklist-based onboarding process is seen to result in higher manpower turnover rates.

 

Do you have an automated employee attendance tracking system at your office? Many startups begin with minimal to no attendance tracking. However, as the company grows, tracking of attendance becomes necessary.

Many companies realize this too late after paying for wasted man-hours. Lack of attendance tracking can lead to losses where employees are taking you for a ride.

Some companies do have an attendance tracking system in place but it is simply inefficient. To help you avoid losses we have put together 10 most common attendance tracking mistakes in the form of an infographic. Each point also includes a solution for you to avoid them.

Take a quick look!

10 Attendance Tracking Mistakes

Today, time is considered to be money, but somewhere down the line the responsibilities thrown upon one’s shoulders can be intense and take a toll on their personal lives.

It is one of the most important reasons as to why people often struggle with a proper work-life balance, especially if they are regular employees of performing organizations.

Lack of work life balance can take a toll on the body and at the same time also hamper personal life. In the long run, emotional health tends to deplete massively and thus brings forth days of despair.

A healthy work-life balance can ensure that the person has time for his profession as well as the family. It helps to build the morale and promotes a healthy lifestyle.

For the people willing to lead a healthy lifestyle and follow up with their family while keeping their work deadlines under control, these 15 work balance tips can come in handy.

1. Identify one’s strength and going by it

In the professional field, people ought to have their very own set of strength and weaknesses. It is crucial that they play along with their power and avoid going by their shortcomings.

The person needs to avoid taking up jobs that do not fit their work spectrum, and if it is necessary, then they can also take the proposition of outsourcing the work into account.

2. Prioritizing the work

Prioritizing the work helps to gain a lot of time and save effort. A person can prioritize his/her work based on either difficulty standards or emergency levels.

If you have time in your hand, then you can surely get the more straightforward tasks completed ahead of the difficult ones. It will allow you to concentrate on the functions which are more difficult at the later stage.

3. Understanding your comfort zone

Every individual has their very own comfort zone. There are hours of the day where you can work to your best, and you should assign the most crucial tasks to such hours.

It will help you concentrate better and get the work done with relative ease. Thus, you can spare time for other jobs later.

4. Do not let the work seep into your personal life

A regular 9 to 5 job does not leave much of a personal life because the working hours can stretch even further. You should try to complete your office work there only so that at the end of the day you can have some “me time” left with you. You can try to spend the time with your family and friends while avoiding any stress of work.

5. Sticking to your work hours

What people fail to do often is set dedicated work hours and stick to them. As a part of your professionalism, it is essential for you to hold to your dedicated work hours.

It will help you get your tasks done within the stipulated period so that later on you can spare some quality time for your loved ones. If you are unable to do so, then you might be well into working late hours.

6. Long-term management

When you have a series of events coming your way, it is best to prepare yourself for them. The best way to do so would be to manage your time ahead of schedule.

Plan your days and have the events sorted out in such a manner so that it does not hamper your work. In this way, you will be able to maintain an optimum work-life balance.

7. Make the workspace ergonomic

Your workspace ergonomics are going to make things easier for you. Try investing in equipment and machinery which will help make the task easier. You can also design your workspace to make it comfortable for you so that you can relate to the work at your hand.

It will help you gain more interest in your profession and thus contribute to complete the task faster.

8. Stay away from performing extra

There is no point in overstressing yourself with work. You do not need to push yourself to the limits, especially if you are good at the job.

Try completing the task at your hand with all dedication and when you have some time left from the deadline, revise the work or perhaps take a chill.

9. Make the most of your holidays

Holidays come as a blessing for people into their professional careers. When you do get holidays, try spending it with your family and friends.

Do not waste it entirely in sleeping or planning future work. The moments with your loved ones are going to help you forge a tremendous and memorable life ahead.

10. Set your own rules

If you have problems playing by the rules, then try setting your very own ones. Beyond regulations, these would be statements and milestones set to help you accomplish.

Finish work according to your solid credentials such that you can assess your skill levels. Challenge your professionalism to get the job done ahead of time, and you will never miss out on your family.

11. Reach office on time

If you want to leave the office on time, then you need to be at your office on time. Punctuality is a great way to get the optimum work-life balance. It will make your boss happy and provide you with personal moments to cherish after a long yet fruitful day at work.

12. Break the silence

Everybody isn’t a professional at every task. If there is anything that you cannot do or are not comfortable with them, you need to speak up.

Let them know your limitations so that they make secondary arrangements for you. Taking up impossible tasks will only make you compromise on your work-life balance.

13. Try aiming for success and not just figures

If you are an entrepreneur, then you must be counting data for your business. All you need to do is stop overdoing yourself, especially in the pursuit of higher profits.

Aim for success and indulge in limited but useful work. Complete the work in the designated period and spare the necessary time for yourself. Work can wait, but the family needs to be your priority.

14. Hire a consolidated and professional workforce

Having a professional workforce can help you get the task completed within a short period. The professionalism with the work also helps to enhance the quality of the output.

This activity ensures that you have to spare minimum effort into assessing the work during its stages of implementation.

15. Set the deadlines accordingly

It is always not necessary to go by the rules of the client. As a professional, you will have the best idea with regards to the requisite time needed for the work.

Communicate with your clients and set the deadline accordingly so that you are not stressed out with the job. It will help you to maintain professionalism and complete the task without hampering your personal life.

Takeaway

These 15 ways can help you consolidate the struggle between work and personal life. Following those as mentioned earlier will ensure your professionalism and help promote your well-being amidst the social circle.

Employee absenteeism, payroll calculation and fake attendance are problems that take away lot of time from an HR’s work day. Time spent on tallying attendance, checking for proxy and matching leave with payroll can be saved by a good attendance tracking system for your employees.

But what is a good attendance tracking system. Does your current system have any faults that are causing problems?

Let’s look at the features a good attendance tracking system should have. This will help you to upgrade your current system or get a new one.

What should a Good Attendance Tracking System Have?

Minimum Hardware Requirement

A good attendance tracking system should have minimum hardware requirement. With cloud solutions and a smartphone in every employee’s hand there is no need to spend money on expensive biometric trackers and other equipment.

Attendance trackers also need maintenance and have failure someday despite it. Having an attendance tracking software that runs with employee smartphone and on cloud is the solution you should look for.

This will need no investment and also reduce wait time in front of RFID machines as each employee has his own tracker now.

Ability to Track Productivity Time Accurately

It is difficult to track working hours where the trackers only marks punch-in time. There is no way to know whether the employee left right after punching in.

Even if punch-out time is tracked, things like forgetting to mark attendance, leaving without punching make it difficult to record the productive hours spent by employee. Cases of absenteeism can increase in such a scenario.

For this reason an ideal attendance system should track the actual time spent by an employee in the office. This is possible today and wifi attendance system uses the office wifi to track hours spent in office along with employee location.

Prohibit Buddy Punching

Buddy punching is a practice that is very harmful for your business as well as your work culture. It is very easy for employees to mark attendance for their colleagues with RFID tags or manual desktop log-ins.

Biometric prevents this problem but has its own set of limitations. With a wifi technology this is taken care of as attendance can only be marked in area which has office wifi.

Work with your HRMS

A professional attendance tracking system should integrate with your HRMS. Without this payroll calculation, leave management, productivity tracking as become a frustrating task.

You want system that automatically feeds in this data into HRMS so that you don’t have to do it manually. Also check that data formats are compatible.

A lot of tasks can be automated today and HR should take full advantage to technology so that they can concentrate on strategic work.

Customized Alerts

You may need customised alerts or reports according to your business and teams. This could customise alerts for late arrivals to team supervisors. Sales and on- site workers may also need customization.

You may want to customize your attendance tracking as your business operation and employee count grows. Attendance tracking system should be able to scale with your business and change according to your needs. Some systems also support web API that allow you to customize your attendance systems.

Error Free Functioning

Errors in attendance tracking can interfere with so many other HR activities. Downtime of attendance tracking means regularisation of attendance, changes in leave management and errors in payroll calculation.

Make sure you choose a professional vendor with reputation of minimal errors.

Final Thoughts

Good attendance tracking system is essential for maximizing employee productivity. Without it your company can face problems of absenteeism, low productivity and insincere employees affecting the culture of your company.

Thanks to wifi attendance technology you can now install an attendance system that requires minimal hardware investment, tracks location and prevents proxy marking.

When choosing a system always make sure that it integrates well with your current HRMS, can grow with your business and functions error free.

Running late for work? Slept through your alarm? Took a wrong turn? Not keeping well? These things are common and happen with all – even the best of employees.

But, if you add up the consequences of this faltering employee attendance system, it can result in large productivity losses. There may be an unexpected absence once a month but in aggregation, it can lead to big repercussions for your bottom line.

Most organizations today realize the importance of having an official employee attendance policy. A written employee attendance policy makes life easier and business more productive. Here are some tips that will help you understand where you must begin with formulating your attendance policy.

Essentials of an Employee Attendance Policy

1. Working Hours

Define the format for a day at work. Is there a start time? Does the day end at a specific time? Can the employees choose flexible hours of work – 10 to 6, 11 to 7, for instance?

Do they need to complete a set number of hours? List the answers to all such questions in writing. Specify the number of working hours an employee needs to complete.

In certain retail and food outlets, there are rotating shifts. Clarify when, how and where do employees need to report the shift timings. Also, mention the procedure to sign in/sign out so that all working hours are correctly marked.

2. Describe terms for late

When is an employee late? Is there a grace period before late is marked? After what time is the employee marked absent instead of late? How does an employee inform if he/she is getting late? Who needs to be informed?

What is the procedure – email, text, or call? Is it necessary to find a replacement for the absence? Having all these aspects mentioned in the employee attendance policy will ensure that you do not suffer from frequent absenteeism and tardiness.

3. Employee benefits

Define the policies for paid and unpaid leaves. How many paid leaves per month? What happens when the paid leaves lapse? Is there a way to accrue paid leaves? Employees must know how to request leave. Be sure to explain all policies related to vacation leaves, medical leaves, blackout periods, and more.

4. Vacation and annual leave

The employee attendance policy must cover all information pertaining to paid holidays and floating holidays. If some holidays or events are without pay, ensure that the employees are aware of the same. Be sure to mention religious leaves, maternity leaves, and wedding leaves policy.

5. FMLA leave

Some organizations fulfill FMLA leave policies. List the qualifications and processes for an employee to avail the same. Include military FMLA as well if your business meets the requirements.

While your employee attendance policy will have information about FMLA criterion, designate one person to take care of all FMLA-related queries.

6. State Laws

Some state and governments allow leaves for social welfare. These include volunteering or blood donation activities. Some local governments also consider attendance at school events as a permitted leave. Take a look at the laws of your state and write them down in the employee attendance policy.

7. Disciplinary action and consequences

Your employee attendance policy must end with the consequences of violating policies. If an employee does not adhere to a particular policy, what disciplinary action is he/she liable to face?

Mention each and every step so that no employee can question the action. Also, with steps and processes clearly mentioned, chances of claims of impartiality and favoritism are less.

While there are several other things that you would like to include in the employee attendance policy, these are the essentials you must start with. They place you on the right track to guide employees on their behaviour of absenteeism.

The millennial generally does not have a positive reputation. This is because people view them as lazy and unrestricted. But, if you actually think about it, they can be an asset to any company or organization. They have the skills important for a successful employee – passionate, entrepreneurial, independent thinking, and tech-savvy.

The future of any organization’s workforce is the millennial. According to Forbes, 75% of the workforce will be millennial by 2025. The struggle for most employers is no longer understanding whether there is a need to hire the millennial or not.

The challenge lies in ‘how to attract the millennial to your organization and how to retain them for longer?’ We’ve identified certain factors that the millennial look for when joining an organization. Take a look at them and understand how you can make a difference:

1. Millennials Need Meaningful Work

A lot of professionals today look for a higher or steady pay in return for work. They do not focus on their passion. The millennial, on the other hand, are different. They value meaningful and fulfilling work. They need something that drives them and excites them with passion and purpose.

Make sure that you communicate this to the millennial right from the recruiting phase. Highlight the company’s mission and how the candidate can contribute to the growth of the organization.

A company driven by purpose is able to entice purpose-driven people. Make employees understand the grander vision of your organization and show them that you’re ready to give them the platform they need to achieve bigger ambitions.

2. Be Flexible with Timings

The millennial need a balance between work and life. They prioritize time with family and friends and appreciate a schedule that gives them the opportunity to fulfill their responsibilities in other areas of life as well.

If you are flexible and allow employees to have control over their work and timings, you will be able to entice the younger generation. According to data derived from a study by The Office Club, job satisfaction begins to rise when employees have control and autonomy in their positions.

Some interesting ways to give employees control include flexible working hours (they must complete 8 hours, what time they enter and when they leave doesn’t matter); one day for work from home per week; one-hour waiver on two days of the month etc.

3. Allow Social Media

Many organizations ban the use of social media during office hours. This is because the medium is seen as a distraction. However, the truth of the matter is that the millennial can reconsider working with your company due to this restriction. The millennial need their freedom.

Use this requirement to your advantage. Encourage the millennial to use their social media for the purpose of your promotion. Make them the brand ambassadors. They have extensive knowledge of the medium and can help attract fans.

Build your brand awareness with the help of this tech-savvy and socially active generation. With the right guidance and leeway, social media can become a win-win for you and your employees.

4. Improve your Recruiting Process

The time for a one-size-fits-all interview is gone. Millennial candidates need more information and this must be made handy for them. Make your online job descriptions more detailed. Add information about company culture with job responsibilities.

Have a separate section on your website or blog with your policies, photos, and employee feedback. Let the millennials get a sneak-peek of your organization before stepping in.

The language of your human resource department may also need a revision. The millennial with their core competencies view things differently. Plan everything in a manner that can engage them. Identify what millennial employees are looking for and what your organization can offer to them.

A Final Thought

There are lots of millennial job seekers today. But attracting and hiring these independent thinkers is a difficult task. Make the suggested tweaks to your hiring process and this demographic will work to your benefit.

Have you ever come across a team that is self-motivated, inspiring, and joyful? A team that makes you love work and attend office every day, a team that encourages you to achieve all the goals you desire?

With such a team, you feel a great sense of belonging and know that you have others to back you during situations of crisis. This team ensures that work is fun and each day at the workplace is exciting.

On the contrary

Have you worked with a team that constantly has conflicts and disagreements? A team where you are not sure of whether you should share your opinions or not? People are afraid and don’t really bother about what you are doing or your happiness.

They work for themselves and there’s no sense of coordination. Work is painful and exhausting. You just wait to get on a vacation and take some time off the team.

Why is it that the environment of these two teams is so different?

We evaluated several work teams with different individuals. The behaviour of leaders affects the way a high-performance team functions. Here are 5 factors that can help build high-performance work teams and improve efficiency:

1. Team Leaders are an inspiration

Leaders play a significant role in creating the pull in high-performance teams. They keep the energy and enthusiasm high. As a result, team members remain inspired and motivated. They feel as though they are on a mission to achieve something and are doing something that is of great value.

2. Team Leaders maintain cooperation

Conflicts can cause major disagreements in a team. Leaders have the responsibility to instantly work on such conflicts and ensure cooperation persists.

A lot of times, leaders believe that members are mature adults and can manage conflicts themselves. But, that is not true. If adults were really mature, the number of divorces, separations, and wars would not have been this way.

High-performance teams address differences immediately. This requires immense involvement on the part of the team leader, bringing members to a level of maturity to handle the dispute.

In fact, when people realize that other members are trustworthy and have their back, they want to resolve conflicts at the earliest. Team leaders who place an emphasis on cooperation instead of competition are able to achieve outstanding performance.

3. Team Leaders focus on the extraordinary

Employees don’t like to do the usual. They don’t want to be just like any other team. Leaders who can set stretch goals and really motivate the team to achieve more than what they need to, build high-performance teams. They make employees accept their own capability and competence.

Achieving something extraordinary gives team members the opportunity to know that they are exceptional and can challenge themselves. They achieve a sense of satisfaction with their engagement and pride increasing to the next level.

4. Team Leaders with clear communication

Leaders of high-performance teams ensure that people remain on track. They frequently communicate the mission and vision so that no one gets distracted. Team members can get diverted with what’s happening around in the organization but it is the job of the team leader to ensure that members do not lose track of where they are heading.

High-performance leaders keep members informed of current achievements, expected achievements, and the approach for future goals

5. Team Leaders are trustworthy

A team leader must be trustworthy. If this is not the case, they will not be an inspiration for others. No one would want to involve them in conflicts. No one will believe in the goals set by them. Leaders must build relationships with their team members. When we like someone, we tend to establish a sense of trust.

Next, leaders must have the right knowledge or experience. They must be able to give the right guidance in times of a problem. Lastly, there must be consistency in the performance of a leader. If a leader has taken the responsibility to complete a particular task, it must be done. This way, the leader can set an example and be trusted for his word.

A Final Thought

Working with a high-performance team means growth for both the team member and the organization. Team leaders must exert and act in a manner that builds high-performance teams.

Work ethic is the belief of the employee on the appropriate behaviour at work. Every company has a behavioural expectation that is the norm and this is closely related to company culture. One of the major factors shaping company culture and work ethics is attendance.

Companies with positive work ethics have employees who come on time, are actively engaged in their work and are motivated. On the other hand absenteeism, frequent leaves, coming late and leaving early from office are all reflection of poor work ethics.

Rules on attendance and employee attendance affect company work ethic. To put it simply, low attendance, absenteeism and tardiness leads to poor work ethic in office.

Therefore, a company must ensure that healthy work ethic is maintained by managing good attendance. This has to be done by careful monitoring of employees and policies by top management.

Let us look at how this can be done effectively.

Monitoring Employee Attendance for Work Ethic

Employees with poor attendance are toxic for your office environment. Casual attitude of few employees can spread throughout the office to bring down everyone’s productivity. For this reason it is important to have employees with right work ethics in your company.

All efforts should be made to avoid hiring employees who are tardy and low on motivation in the first place. Background check on candidates is helpful for this. What is the reputation that they have in previous company? You want to hire candidates who add to your work ethics rather than pull it down.

It is more likely that a new hire will be influenced by your company culture rather than him changing your company. So make sure that all new hires are made aware of attendance policies and sign the policy. This gives a clear message that you are serious about attendance in office.

There should also be policies on absenteeism and tardiness. Many companies do not define these formally even though they are equally harmful to a full day leave. Coming late to office, taking undue long breaks, surfing the internet all count as absenteeism. These behaviours reflect insincerity and bad work ethics of employee.

Without monitoring attendance and work the HR has no way to know that low attendance and absenteeism is a ground reality in the company. Wifi attendance monitoring, productivity tracking and online work tracking are all effective ways to monitor employees and catch any problems in the nip.

Besides this managers and supervisors must also be trained to report attendance problem and tardiness immediately to HR.

Action by Management

Once low attendance is brought to notice, management must take swift action on it. Actions let employees that casual attitude and tardiness is not tolerated in this company and will be dealt with accordingly.

Consequences of poor attendance must be spelt out in the attendance policy and implemented in case of breach. Warnings and escalations usually work to change employee’s behaviour.

However, management should not shy away from taking decisive actions when required. People who are not productive should not be kept in the company. Such employees only cause resentment among productive workers and negatively affect new hires.

Removing an employee on attendance grounds might be a hard call but the management has to take it to preserve the company work ethics.

Final Thoughts

Attendance, company culture and work ethics are closely related to each other. Low attendance and tardiness by employees is reflection of poor culture in the company. Over time this leads to low morale and unproductive work ethics among employees.

To prevent work ethics from going bad, companies must hire wisely, have a formal attendance policy and take action when attendance is below par for an employee.