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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Keep your employees informed about the organizational policies against sexual harassment.
Allows different options for victims to file their complaint. Assign different managers and officials as options for the victims.
For every complaint, assign a member of the staff with all the details of the complaint. This member should understand company policies.
Create an investigation strategy and designate the right knowledgeable people for the job.
Communicate with the victim and assure about the protection against retaliation or any other inappropriate action.
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.
Inform, the accused, about the complaint and warn against unethical or retaliatory acts.
Assure every involved party regarding a fair investigation.
9. Follow a clear process to interview witnesses. Use questions that allow open-ended answers to get maximum facts.
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. 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!
Beyond your education, your designation, and your experience, a work relationship is also career-defining factor. Despite all the professional guidelines, a workplace is ultimately about many people working together.
So, we all make an image of the people around us and they do the same about us. Your relationship with your colleagues, seniors, and juniors decides your productivity, promotional opportunities, goal achievements, pay increase and job satisfaction as well.
You can’t be too reserved or too interfering. There has to be a balance in your work relationships, which comes with effective interpersonal skills.
Not working on your work relationships burns a lot of bridges professionally. A person, who simply uses his designation to put pressure on others, doesn’t earn any respectable place in a company.
Putting blame on others without offering support or a solution is another problem. These kinds of habits make you an unwanted person in your office.
People avoid working or collaborating with you on projects. This immediately impacts productivity. And eventually, you can feel left out and not appreciated in your company.
So, the question is- how to build great work relationships to obtain a satisfactory work environment?
Ways to build great work relationships
The core basis of building a great work relationship is your ability to bring positivity even in a negative situation.
Your approach to working with colleagues should be empowering and motivating for others. That is how you can unify everybody working around you.
To help with that, here are some great ways of building great work relationships:
1. Always present a problem with a potential solution
No one likes a person who only points out issues without giving any effort to solving them. You must have seen such people in your work environment.
They always know what the problems are with a team, a project, a deadline or anything else. But they never use their abilities to find even a potential solution.
This one habit can make you a bundle of negative energy at work. Your co-workers and seniors will start neglecting your point of views. This decreases professional reputation and harms future opportunities in the company.
Every time you feel the responsibility to point out an issue, present it with a clear solution. Put genuine efforts into finding actionable ways to resolve that problem. This will enhance your importance in the eyes of your bosses and co-workers.
2. Never blame publicly
When you work in a team, projects face some problems. So, you try to find the source of that problem. Sometimes, it is the system that creates an issue, while in other situations it is a colleague.
Identifying the source of a problem is necessary. However, so many people do this just to put the blame on others to hide their own mistakes.
Even if you have genuinely found the right person to blame, it would be wrong to publicly announce their mistakes. You need to make sure that only the most relevant people know about the mistakes of a colleague.
If possible, you should try to have a one-on-one with the person in a private meeting. This way, you can present the facts and also offer your support to help that person fix the problem.
Putting blames and calling out colleagues publicly create a lot of enemies in the work environment. And you don’t want that.
The more allies, the better chances you get to grow with the support of others. You can’t be a lone wolf when there are a hundred wolves working in a pack.
3. Use your verbal/nonverbal communication capabilities wisely
Using a sarcastic tone when talking to certain employees, looking away when a junior is trying to convey his or her point of view – These are negative communication signals that ruin your reputation.
We all act like a radar when it comes to reading verbal as well as nonverbal communication signals.
If a colleague hears a sarcastic tone in your voice, he might start talking bad things about you to others. If a junior feels you don’t care about his or her point of view, you won’t be able to motivate them to maximize their work efforts.
Shouting and giving an angry face to people are other two big communication issues at the workplace. You should know that there is absolutely no right time to scream at people at work.
If your personality is all about dignity and respecting other people, you won’t feel the need to scream in any situation.
4. Be a trustworthy team player
From a football field to an organization, a team runs smoothly with mutual trust. Your team members should be able to trust you. But that won’t happen if you constantly blindside your co-workers, reporting staff or your boss.
Very often, employees hide facts knowingly or unknowingly, which can put other team members in a bad spot. A work system is about a collective resolution of problems to achieve a common goal.
You need to understand and apply this in daily work approach. Always make sure that every relevant persongets information directly from you. These relevant people are everyone involved in a work system.
If you are transparent in your work approach, co-workers will trust you and bosses will believe in what you say. This is key to building a reputed image in your workplace.
5. Commit to what you can actually deliver
Work in any organization is interconnected. Your failure to deliver begins a chain reaction of failures in multiple departments.
Which is why you have to be very clear and practical when giving commitments. Setting deadlines is not a formality. If you constantly fail to deliver work on-time, it puts you in a bad light in front of your co-workers and seniors.
They eventually stop believing in your capabilities, even if you deliver the best work.
For all these reasons, you have to choose your commitments wisely. Never take a responsibility you can’t fulfill. And if you take such a responsibility, present the potential delays or issues in advance.
This is way better than not delivering the work and harming the stream of work flow.
When you get responsible about your commitments, it doubles the importance of your work. It is true that your ability to meet deadlines can get interrupted by other people. Which is why you need to factor in all the aspects in the first place and choose a deadline you can follow.
6. Share your credit for contributions, ideas, and accomplishments
Do you remember the time when you accomplished a work goal for your company?! Now, try and remember all the help you received directly or indirectly to achieve that goal.
If you have been managing a team, think about the ideas you created only because of the inputs offered by your team members.
Realizing the impact of co-workers and juniors in your accomplishments the best positive change you can bring. People think that sharing credit reduces self-importance. But no. It actually increases your value in the eyes of your bosses and colleagues.
Every time you are presented with a credit, take some time to think about everyone involved. Who gave you a small idea?! Who contributed to the process of working on that idea?!
Who supported your ideas till the accomplishment of your goal?! Think about all these questions, recognize and thank people.
7. Help colleagues and juniors improve their skills
Every individual brings something to the table in a company. The work culture in a company should allow individuals to improve their talents, experience, and skills.
This happens when employees start helping each other. It is not just the manager who can motivate and encourage employees. One employee can also help another employee find the true potential of talents.
When one employee grows, it improves the capacity of the whole team, which boosts the growth of the whole organization. Your help in this process puts you in a positive light in front of your colleagues, juniors, and seniors as well.
Noticing talents, giving genuine compliments and praising the efforts should be an ongoing habit in your work life. These are really simple things, but they have a big impact on your relationship with everyone who comes in contact with you at work.
8. Keep your work relationship expectations in check
You responsibly manage your work relationships and expect the same from others. But others won’t necessarily start behaving responsibly right away.
Your behavior brings a gradual change in work relationships. Every individual is different, so you can’t expect them all to behave the same way.
Instead, you should keep your expectations in check when it comes to how other people behave around you at workplace. Otherwise, you will end up feeling frustrated or lose your ability to stay calm and responsible.
That being said, it is uttermost important that you convey your expectations in a respectable manner. Tell what you expect from your co-workers, juniors, and seniors as well.
Don’t give too high expectations to your co-workers. Give small suggestions or request, so your colleagues can gradually improve their relationship building abilities.
9. Initiate positive conversations
You build relationships when you start knowing other people at workplace personally and professionally.
It happens gradually, but you can make efforts by initiating positive conversations every time you come in contact with an individual or a group of co-workers.
A positive professional conversation can take place during a meeting. Similarly, you can have a personal one-on-one with a co-worker during lunch breaks. The conversation should be positive and shouldn’t be forced at all.
If you are new at your workplace, initiate conversations by asking questions. You need to find a window of opportunity when a colleague is open to conversation.
This means you can’t bother when someone is busy. Also, the topic of conversations depends on how closely you know that co-worker. Just ask yourself how comfortable you feel starting a conversation. This way, you will find the safest way to initiate conversations.
Regular interaction allows you to know the point of views and personality traits of others. This gives a framework for building work relationships.
10. Listen and observe
Apart from talking, you also need to actually listen and observe. This process should involve people working in your company and the organization as a whole.
Listening and observing allow a chance to understand work culture as well as the personality traits of co-workers, juniors, and bosses.
Understanding other people’s point of views let your brain design a strategy on how to work with each individual. The process is automatic usually, but you need to take control in order to avoid being judgmental.
Getting control of your observations is about respecting the point of views and evaluating your own personality at the same time.
All in all, you need the mentioned ten habits in your professional life to build great work relationships. The process is easier said than done, but you can achieve this goal with determination and self-assessment.
Be truthful to yourself and understand the complexity of working with hundreds of people.
Hopefully, this article has helped you gain some great ideas to improve your work relationships.
In the ever-changing business climate, the success of your business depends on how easily you adjust and adapt to those changes. But those adjustments become difficult if your employees resist policies during the implementation.
Such resistance can turn into huge financial and reputation costs many times.
Companies constantly look for new ways to become more efficient, productive and profitable.
This search leads to new policies. But the real success lies in successfully implementing those policies at workplace.
This guide is all about improving policy implementation on an ongoing basis in your company.
To diminish any chances of resistance in the first place, you can involve all stakeholders and employees in policy development.
The process of policy development is for the benefit of the whole company. This is why you should involve all relevant individuals during this process including your company stakeholders, contractors, employees, safety and health representatives.
They all have their own point of views regarding your policies. It is your responsibility to listen to all those points.
Listening to the point of views of all stakeholders and employees, you will find a balanced approach to build a policy.
At the same time, you can highlight the importance of a policy, which are not visible to certain stakeholders.
While you look at a broad impact of a policy, an employee or a team leader might have a narrow point of view. Consultation allows you to improve the understanding of the employees and remove the chances of resistance.
2. Customize policies for your business and workplace
The problem with policy makers is that they become too generic. Simply picking industry standard policies and forcing them in the company doesn’t help the business.
At the same time, a generic policy makes it difficult for policy makers to advocate the benefits during the implementation process. Lack of usability of a policy increases the force of employee resistance, which ruins implementation.
Of course, you can pick the idea of a policy from other sources in your industry. But it is critically important to customize those policies with respect to your workplace environment.
This will make implementation convenient.
3. Include clear obligations and actionable steps in your policy
No matter how big a change a policy will bring, make sure you document it in a simple-to-understand language. Plain language is important, in which, you have to describe clear obligations and actionable steps.
The policy should be like a list of actions for concerned people in your company. This will ensure that every employee understands what he or she needs to do to adopt the new policy.
Easy explanations don’t put pressure on employees.
You make policies easy to adapt and your employees resist less and try to accept the obligations. It is all about how you represent information.
If a policy looks like a huge document of oppressive changes, employees are more likely to resist. But if you choose a lighter tone and clarify each action, the implementation of policies becomes way easier.
4. Think about the implementation challenges in advance
There is no point in building a policy if you have no ground level preparation. Many business leaders feel happy just because they build a policy. But they forget about the ground level implementation and potential challenges.
Being realistic with your policy making approach is critically important.
You can’t waste your time building a policy, which is not possible for your business. Hence, an assessment of implementation challenges becomes a necessity.
This assessment should include resources, time and personnel required for policy implementation.
What if you have no time to implement?! Or, what about the lack of resources in your company. All these factors are important if you don’t want to waste your time and resources.
5. Publicize before implementing
A sudden implementation of a policy seems more like a hit in the face. And just like a sudden hit, it triggers a sense of hitting back, which leads to resistance.
So, can you do anything about it?!
Yes, you can publicize your policy and allow employees to understand what it is all about. If possible, create one single manual including a simple language and clear explanation of obligations.
Then, make sure that every employee and stakeholder is able to get a copy of the manual.
This approach will work as a promotion and allow concerned employees to clarify their confusions.
6. Give your training assistance to employees for new policies
It is your responsibility to inform, instruct supervise and train your company employees for the presented policy.
Existing and new employees and other stakeholders should get trained accordingly. So, you have to work in designing a training approach if the policy implementation requires one.
At the same time, it would be wise to keep discussing the benefits of the guidelines with your staff. This will remind employees why those policies exist in the first place.
Make sure you get a signed agreement from your contractors, employees and other stakeholders for the policy. Also, keep reports of training sessions along with the attendance records and content used in the training. This way, you can fight future resistance from an employee with evidence.
7. Become strict and consistent with policy implementation
You need to appoint managers and supervisors who will monitor and ensure complete compliance. Appointing supervisors will ensure consistency in the implementation process.
Make sure that every failure to comply with the policy is addressed immediately. Every employee should become aware of the consequences of deliberately breaching the terms. This will make them serious about the policy.
At the same time, your managers and supervisors should strictly follow the policies too. They have to lead by setting a strong example. In case, a manager fails to follow the policy, there should be a list of disciplinary actions.
The extent of consequence should be decided by the intent behind breaching the policy. This will require some critical thinking from time to time.
8. Develop a policy review cycle
Just like any other rule or law, policies also become outdated from time to time. New changes bring new scenarios, which can reduce the impact of a policy. Hence, your policy implementation approach should contain a review cycle.
For example, if your business starts a new product line, or purchases a new equipment, it might require a change in the policy. Similarly, there can be a hundred other scenarios when your policies will require auditing and modifications.
But you can’t conduct a policy review after every new thing happening in your business. Which is why a review cycle is important. A review cycle is a set time period after which your company policies are reviewed and passed again.
This review cycle offers a chance to remove outdated policies or modify them according to the current company scenarios.
When you make changes in the policy, ensure that every concerned employee and stakeholders become familiar with the changes.
9. Enforce and support after policy implementation
When you successfully implement a policy, it presents two more responsibilities.
You have to support employees who follow and accept the policies.
At the same time, you need to enforce policies to employees who present resistance.
The process of enforcement and support are all about choosing a simple system and rewarding employees.
Also, address organizational and individual benefits to allow all employees to understand and accept the implemented policy.
Benefits of organized implementation process
If you follow the given approach to policy implementation, it will improve the chances of achieving goals you have in mind.
Mostly, you will successfully attain a positive response from your employees and stakeholders during the policy implementation.
More people will accept and comply, which will reduce the chances of implementation failure.
Your support and help will motivate existing employees, which will bring new talents to your company due to word-of-mouth. Your employees will recommend your company as a workplace for others. You will receive talented candidates for new positions.
All in all, policy implementation is more critical than policy-making. You have to have a realistic approach to ensure the success of policies in your business.
Focus on the resources, ultimate benefits and the approach you choose to represent your policies to your employees. Combine critical thinking, technical knowledge, and consistent support. That’s how you can improve policy implementation in your workspace.
Hopefully, this guide will help you at every step of policy-making and implementation in your company.
Employees are the most valuable asset for any company. The productivity of your workforce decides how successful your business will be.
Your employee’s attendance is closely linked to their productivity. Lets see how the two are connected and what you can do to improve employee attendance.
Why is punctuality important at workplace?
Arriving and leaving on time is closely related to productivity of your workforce. Punctuality is not just the punch- in and punch-out time but also showing up on time for meetings and honoring promised timelines.
Punctuality is a value that must be present in the very culture of your company. Without time – management all your projects will miss the mark because of following problems
1. Quality of Work
You may have noticed the effect an early day has on your productivity. When you start your day on time, you get ample time to prepare your mind, set an agenda for the day and finish tasks on your list.
On the other hand, late arrival at office leads to piled up work, hasty meetings and unfinished tasks. Quality of work suffers when employees are not punctual.
2. Teamwork
Teamwork and collaborative projects suffer when some members are not punctual. Making a team of people work together to achieve common goals is not an easy task.
There is lot of coordination required and dependency on each member when it comes to collaborative projects between different teams. The team needs to work on a common timeline and all actions must be performed like clockwork for projects to succeed. Without punctuality teamwork is hard to achieve.
3. Employee Morale
Punctuality and absenteeism are indicators of employee engagement and employee morale. Late arrival of employees to office or meetings signals lack of motivation in their jobs.
This low morale spreads to other employees as well and can be toxic for your company culture. Your workforce productivity can plummet in such an environment, if appropriate action is not take to address absenteeism.
Ways to improve attendance at work place
So what can you do to improve attendance and lower absenteeism in your office? It is upto to the employer to encourage punctuality and create an environment of discipline.
You also need employee engagement activities to encourage higher attendance.Here are some concrete measures that you can take:
First and foremost you must have a written attendance policy for the employees. This should be a part of induction of all new joinees and must be made easily available to everyone as an internal resource.
The idea is to make sure that everybody is aware of minimum and maximum attendance expected from employees and the consequences of not meeting it.
Remember to also have policies against overtime and unnecessary late hours. These habits are usually a sign of inefficiency and different times for different teams can create a feeling of injustice. Its best to encourage employees to arrive and leave on time although this does not apply to some industries.
Give a serious thought to the freedom of working hours you want to give in your company. Some companies find it beneficial to give flexible working hours and work from home option to their employees. This will again vary from industry to industry.
Your attendance policy must detail attendance requirement of employees, leave system, leave encashment, absenteeism and disciplinary action for defaulters.
Similarly a formal leave approval system should also be in place. Employees must submit their leave request in advance (except sick leave) and get an approval from their reporting managers.
2. Track Attendance Accurately
An accurate attendance tracking system is important to maintain employee attendance records. This lets the employees know that their attendance is being counted and taken seriously.
There are many technologies available today for attendance tracking. There are biometric systems, web portals, mobile applications with GPS tracking and WiFi attendance tracking to choose from.
A good application will also give attendance reports and integrated leave management system.
With a good attendance tracking system you can get concrete data on employee absenteeism, frequent days of absence, unaccounted leaves, etc.
Advanced technologies like WiFi also allows HR to track exact location in the premise. This means productive hours spent on desk can also be recorded.
Employees with poor attendance record or absenteeism must be dealt with according to the attendance policy.
3. Team Bonding
People are not motivated to come to office just for work. Their projects, bonding with teammates and relation with reporting manager are strong motivators too.
It is the people and environment that give meaning to jobs, so strengthening relations is one of the best ways to improve attendance in your office. People are ready to go the extra mile when their colleagues are also their friends.
Employee bonding can be achieved with team competitions, office trips, team building activities and office parties. You should also make sure that the overall environment of your office is conducive to building friendships.
Things like seating arrangements, hierarchical structure and company policies shape the interactions of a company.
4. Rewards & Recognition
Letting your employees know that you appreciate their timeliness will encourage them to be punctual. You can show this appreciation by giving awards at annual functions or quarterly titles for the most punctual employee.
You may also want to consider giving incentives for meeting deadlines and timely project deliveries if that fits in your compensation program.
Employee Attendance Improvement Plan
If a particular employee’s attendance is in poor shape you should consider implementing an employee attendance improvement plan. This is nothing but an intervention plan to help employees to correct their course and get their attendance up to the mark again.
Any plan must start with a detailed discussion with the employee and understanding their reasons for absenteeism or unaccounted leaves.
Sometimes employees have a genuine problem like a sick spouse, addictions or single parenthood. In this case flexible working options or part- time schedule can be worked out.
Once the problem is known a 30-day plan can be made to evaluate employee productivity and punctuality.Counseling sessions, scheduling assistant and supervisory observation is an important part of employee attendance improvement program.
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.
AI or Artificial Intelligence is a buzzword we hear everywhere along with words such as big data, internet of things and virtual reality. By June 2017, Amazon had sold more than 16.1 million Amazon Echos, Amazon’s AI powered speaker device.
You have already encountered AI in your life if you use Facebook or surf Amazon. Facebook Messenger itself has more than 100,000 chatbots that brands are using reach its 900 million users.
AI is also set to make its way from personal lives to workplace too. It’s just a matter of time before our offices are penetrated with various AI technologies.
In fact, a survey by Deloitte found that 41% of respondents have fully implemented or made significant progress in adopting AI technologies in the workforce. Yet only 15% of the 10,000 HR surveyed said they are prepared to manage a workforce “with people, robots, and AI working side by side.”
Many are apprehensive about the introduction of AI in workplaces. Some concerns are understandable whereas others are just a result of ignorance about the technology. Here are some myths about AI that give it a bad name.
Myths about AI
AI will cause mass unemployment
One of the biggest worries is that AI will replace humans to cause mass unemployment. Celebrities like Elon Musk have publicly voiced their concern over AI replacing human-force.
Just like replacing floor workers with machines during industrialization did not cause mass unemployment, AI will actually create more jobs. AI will take over the mundane and transactional work and leaving us to concentrate on ‘human worthy tasks’.
They will be like assistants that manage your meetings, prepares your reports, and send out your mails so that you can concentrate on coming up with new solutions and strategy to tackle problems. Besides we can look forward to having more jobs in machine learning, data analytics, cyber security, etc.
AI , Machine Learning and Data Mining are the same
All of these terms are related and it can get confusing for a layman. Artificial Intelligence is the ability of machines to understand mined data to take a decision that is considered smart by human standards.
Machine learning (ML) goes a step further and learns how to learn from data. ML is the vehicle that is driving AI and they work hand in hand to come up with solutions that sometimes smarter than a human.
AI Apocalypse is imminent
Many people also fear that AI will become so smart that it will take over the world. While we cannot rule out the likelihood absolutely there is no evidence to suggest that this will happen for sure. As with any other technology it is the human user who determines whether the technology is beneficial or threatening to humanity.
Take the case of nuclear power. It is possible to use it as a clean energy source or for destruction of communities. AI apocalypse is just a thought experiment at best right now.
Whether we are free from these myths or not AI technology is growing at an accelerated rate today. Business leaders have understood that they have to embrace AI if they want to remain competitive in the market.
Consider the following stats to know what’s on business leaders mind when it comes to AI:
Business leaders identify AI as fundamental to company success in future and 72% of them said AI is a business advantage (PwC)
47% of digitally mature organizations said that they have a defined AI strategy. (Adobe)
Consumers are not aware of the extent of AI penetration in their day to day lives. Only 33% percent said they used AI technology whereas the actual usage of AI powered service and device was 77% (Pega)
31% of enterprises said that AI is on their agenda for the next twelve months. (Adobe)
80% of executives believe that AI boosts productivity (The Motley Fool)
With AI market predicted to cross $5 billion by 2020, there is going to be tremendous change in the way we work, hire and do business at workplace. Let us look at the AI powered enterprise solutions market.
AI Powered Enterprise Applications Market
AI market is an exciting place to be today. It is a dynamic market with big names, new age Silicon Valley start ups and niche boutique companies all competing with each other.
According to Markets & Markets, Enterprise AI Market was valued at $845 million in 2017 and is set to grow to $6 billion by 2022. Application of AI in security, marketing, customer support, HR & Recruitment and process automation are expected to drive a growth rate of 48%.
Some of the big names in the industry are IBM, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Iris AI and Apple. All of these big players are investing heavily in the technology and acquiring promising start ups in the AI space.
Google is on a shopping spree for AI start ups and has acquired 12 AI start-ups in four years including DeepMind. Similarly, IBM and Apple have acquired three and four start-ups respectively.
A wave of AI start-ups working on niche AI solutions is emerging in Silicon Valley and across the globe. According to The New York Times there are 45 AI start-ups working on chips alone.
Companies showing potential are quickly acquired. According to CB Insights, 115 of 120 AI companies that exited the market in 2017 did so by acquisition.
So if you are looking for AI powered solution for your company, prepare to be overwhelmed by the number of vendors. There are a lot of questions that will crop up when you are searching for your AI partner. Here are some tips to make your search easier.
Tips to Choose the Right AI Enterprise Solution
> Be prepared for AI– AI is not a software that you can install and forget about. Introducing AI is a big change and your teams need to be prepared for it.
First of all, you need enough big data for AI investment to pay off. You also need staff skilled in AI and data for day to day operations. If collaborative teams are new to your company then you will also need to make changes in company hierarchy (this is discussed below in AI in HR section).
In short AI is an investment of time, effort, money and data and complete commitment from top management is essential in its implementation.
> Big vendor vs. Small start up– Both the options have their pros and cons. Big players are usually known for generic solutions that can work in all industries whereas small start ups specialize in industry (healthcare, education, manufacturing) or functionality (like HR, marketing, operations, etc.,).
Accordingly, some company want to avoid dealing with multiple small vendors and pick big players whereas others go for tailor-made solutions offered by small companies.
> Data Sensitivity – Choice of vendor will also depend on whether you are willing to share your data externally or not. Many big players offer MLaaS (Machine Learning as Service) and cloud computing option. If you are not comfortable sharing data then on premise solution would be a suitable option.
> Vendor Support – As mentioned AI implementation is a long term project. You must choose a vendor willing to offer great after sales support in terms of training your staff, handling roadblocks and managing change in your organization.
> Cost– Lastly cost will also be a major consideration especially in this market where the big players can bill you exorbitantly high. Fortunately small start-ups are coming with competitive pricing and driving the prices down.
This was the overview of the market on the whole. Let us now look at how AI is powering each of the functionality with our workplace.
Artificial Intelligence in HR
Imagine your surprise when you come to know that the HR you interacted with during your hiring process was actually an Artificially Intelligent agent. Yes, AI is taking over from the HR when it comes to hiring, recruiting, training and employee engagement.
For example, Textio uses augmented writing (application of AI on writing) to give HRs a fitting job description to attract right talent. It does this my analyzing data on similar job postings and the kind of candidates it attracted. Companies such as Apple and Twitter are using the technology to attract the best in class employees.
Another software, Veriato, analyses employee mails and messages for words that reflect employee emotions and feelings. It then scores each employee on positive and negative sentiments. This score can have application in measuring employee engagement, productivity or detecting company fraud and cyber attacks.
Similarly there are specialized software for HR processes like MontageTalent for interviewing, Talla for on-boarding and growBot for social recognition.
Changing HR Structure to accommodate AI colleagues
The Deloitte survey found that 56% of respondents are already redesigning their HR programs to leverage digital and mobile tools, and 33% are utilizing some form of AI technology to deliver HR functions.
Getting AI on board is more than just installing software. Successful integration will require a complete overhaul of who is hired and how we are related to each other in a company.
Who should be hired?
To start with AI will need a differently skilled taskforce that is adaptable and embraces change. This means that hiring by seniority and experience will give way to hiring by cultural fit and skills.
The question of who should I hire will likely change to what should I hire? A human , AI or a AI powered employee? In such a case ease of working with AI and complementing your skill with technology will be the desired quality.
How should the structure be?
The hierarchical structure of the company itself has to change to make the most of AI empowered tools. AI thrives on cross functional data which call for teams coming together to solve problems.
Also since AI has application on all functions all departments must work collaboratively with IT, data analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
You can also expect to see new roles in an organization as AI makes some redundant. For there is no need of an HR admin as AI takes care of all the mundane tasks and query handling. Instead you can expect to see roles like employee experience manager or AI skills trainer.
AI vs HR
AI will impact the employers before it impacts the employees. HR may be weary of the change and wonder if they are competing with AI for their jobs.
As stated above, implementation of AI will give birth to more job roles better suited for human. Change is inevitable and anyone unwilling to learn new skill sets should be worried. Therefore it is not really AI vs. HR but – AI with HR.
AI will also take on the mundane parts of a job that we hate doing anyway. Juergen Mueller, SAP’s chief innovation officer says “Recruiters spend 60% of their time reading CVs. Why should a person read 300 resumes if a machine can propose the top ten?”
Human qualities of empathy, creativity and inter-disciplinary skills will be much valued and irreplaceable by any bot.
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
Application of AI on marketing and sales seems most exciting as it has a direct relation to the company’s bottom line. AI promises to bring back what was lost in mass marketing- an intimate relation with the customer.
AI can help in all stages of conversion funnel that is awareness, lead generation and conversion. You can imagine AI tools qualifying leads based on demographics, browsing history and financial data of lead. This will free your sales agents from calling each lead and rather give them high quality leads.
Jaywing uses AI and data analytics to come up with innovative marketing campaigns for their clients such as Pepsi and Sky. For example, they used digital tracking system for Swinton Insurance to track online and offline customer interactions on multiple channels.
Using AI they can separate each customer journey from the rest, enabling brands to measure marketing ROI per person.
AI in E-commerce is another exciting area currently being explored by the likes of Amazon, Flowers.com and North Face. The Guardian reports that 59% of U.K. fashion retailers use some form of facial recognition.
Check out Domino’s Robotic Unit that delivers Pizza overcoming many obstacles just like a human.
AI technology also allows a one on one website personalization possible today. With data on each visitor a tailor-made website can be shown to each visitor. This one on one marketing strategy is not yet widespread though. According to the Trends in Personalization survey, algorithmic personalization and machine learning are used by just 20% of organizations surveyed.
Artificial Intelligence and Customer Support
Business leaders know that it is the customer experience that will set market leaders apart from the rest in future. Fortunately there is a lot that AI can do in this space where customers are largely dissatisfied. According to Kampyle, 87% of customers say brands need to put more effort into providing seamless experience across all channels.
Customers have multiple channel of communication available today. They may send a mail, contact on app or have chat on your website. AI technologies that can identify customers across all these channels are much in demand. This will reduce customer frustration and resolution time.
It makes sense to invest in existing customers considering the fact that new customer acquisition costs five times more than existing customer retention. Technology that provides seamless experience and assists support agents with meaningful data can make or break customer experience.
Data analytics has already changed customer’s expectation from support agents.
Customers want immediate resolution. NO matter the time of night or time zone of the customer, today’s customer is impatient and want quick solutions. AI can help by handling low complexity issues.
Human Touch for high stake issues- Customers prefer self-help for low impact issues but want a knowledgeable human agent for high stake issues. This means highly skilled staff with knowledge of customer background is the standard expected. There are already suites of AI powered software available that assist agents in real time to give a smooth customer experience.
Low tolerance on errors- Customers have plenty of options to shift to if they are not satisfied. AI can monitor post resolution behaviour and highlight customers at risk of abandoning businesses.
There are already AI solutions that address the all the above issues and are transforming customer experience successfully. IBM’s Watson is offering customer personality insights, tone analyzer and real time assistance to client support agents.
AI and Project Management
AI project management is a system that can run or administer a project without need for human input. This means processes like scheduling, work allocation, budgeting, performance tracking, etc., can be taken care by artificially intelligent systems.
Current generation of project management systems is already doing parts of project with the help of data inputs in project management tools. For example, Stratejos, an assistant for project teams, works on estimates, budgets and sprint management.
As AI technology advances systems will be able to provide wider project assistance. They will keep a track of tasks in a way which is not humanly possible. This data can be used for performance evaluation and workload distribution that is fair and even.
These are some of the functions where AI has already made its way in the workplace. There is no function which will remain untouched by AI. Many tasks in finance, sales, manufacturing, training and more can benefit from assistance by AI powered tools.
So where are we on the AI Journey today?
The idea of machines with human capabilities is not new. Ideas about machines with ability to think can be found in ancient Greek mythological beings such as Talos and Galatea. Aristotle is said to have described a formal and mechanical way to thinking back in 320 BC.
The invention of computers turned philosophy into reality in the nineteenth century. In 1950 Alan Turing devised the Turing Test – a test for machines to convince humans that they are humans. He predicted that artificial intelligence will be able to pass the test in 2000.
Fast forward 68 years and we are nowhere close to a machine that can convince us it is human. To understand this it is important to distinguish between two broad categories of AI:
1) Narrow AI– this is AI that focuses on narrow set of activities. It can surpass human abilities on specific tasks but cannot do any tasks outside it. An example could be Alexa shopping for you on Amazon but not able to play chess with you.
2) General AI – This is AI that can juggle between tasks like humans and understand different contexts. AI is far behind in this category and a human like intelligence essentially means that AI has to catch up here.
The trouble with achieving human like AI is that it is difficult to define ‘human intelligence’. We need to be able to understand how humans think, retrieve memory, weigh options and make decisions for this. And we are not even touching the multi-layered human mind and nature of consciousness here.
As for now it looks like AI is good for specialized tasks only and it will be many years before it can pass the Turing Test.
Future of AI
Ever increasing amount of Big Data and Machine Learning means that machines will progress fast in narrow AI. There expanding facets of life where AI will enter including our workplace.
But it is difficult to forecast when AI will progress in General AI and reach human like abilities. Once they can do this there is no turning back, as they can teach themselves to evolve into super-intelligent beings pretty quickly.
However, this could be 50 years or more years from now. We cannot know because we do not still understand what it means to be a ‘conscious human’ in the first place. Furthermore, there are many possible events like breakthrough in cognitive neuro-science, societal collapse, quantum computing, etc.,that could accelerate or decelerate this journey.
Challenges in AI Journey
It would be realistic to expect challenges in adopting AI at workplace. Here are some concerns that employees are voicing in anticipation.
Privacy
Many of the HR & Recruitment AI solutions discussed above promise to keep an eye on every employee on behalf of the HR. Although the intention is to increase productivity, not everyone is comfortable with AI taking screenshots of their desktops every hour.
These software track employee location, browsing patterns and sift through all their mails and messages to measure productivity and emotional states. This is very private information and people fear misuse and manipulation as a result of this.
Data theft incidents are common news today and companies like Uber and MyFitnessPal have been prey to hackers. This is not helping in soothing fears on privacy.
Data Misuse
Facebook’s misuse of 50 million data in Cambridge Analytica case has fueled the data misuse issue. Many have gone to extent of deleting their account fearing misuse of their whole story life which is available on Facebook. Usually companies keep a detailed account of their employees from work history to financial information.
Misuse by third parties, attacks by malicious persons or intentional/ unintentional breach by the company itself are all real possibilities. Companies must address these potential hazards before they bring AI onboard. A written AI and Data Policy must be in place to secure employees.
Lack of Human Touch
Is my boss going to be an Artificially Intelligent software? This is obviously an unsettling question. The idea of taking orders from a software may not go well with all. And this is a real possibility with AI powered solution for project management that distribute work for maximum efficiency.
Making friends and building lasting relationships is a big part of employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. Without sufficient human interaction the workplace will turn to a solitary confinement devoid of human touch.
Loss of Job
This is the biggest fear that is being hyped everywhere. It is true that AI will take over many jobs. However, people forget that it is also going to create more jobs. Employees must be educated on the change that is going to come since most of the fear is due to lack of knowledge.
It must be made clear which tasks are going to be performed by AI and which ones by humans. New job responsibilities and expectations must be shared with employees to avoid confusion. In any case taking over of tasks by AI is a big change and successful change management will be required for it to succeed.
Apart from employees companies also have to address many other points.
Integration
How will the new technology integrate with your current software? This is a question that must be addressed at the time of vendor selection.
Changing the whole CMS system to integrate AI support system is a big problem. This will involve data migration, additional cost and changing workflow for sales and marketing.
ROI
Since it is still early in AI solutions market it is not clear which solutions are actually worth the cost and which are not. Does HR need AI to capture location of the employee in IT industry?
And what is the benefit of it? As more AI companies enter the market, companies may be overwhelmed with AI features with no data on profitability to fall back on. Measuring Return on Investment for AI technology is going to be a challenge at least for the initial few years.
Ethics
AI is going to make leaders take tough decisions. With more power comes more responsibility and AI will give tremendous power in business leader’s hands. By allowing micro – monitoring and measuring parameters that were earlier not measurable it will give lot of actionable data to leaders. Some of the questions they may be faced with are:
Should keep and re-purpose a redundant workforce or let them go?
Should I collect personal information to better workplace productivity?
Should I trust my team’s experience and intuition or take action on AI’s suggested strategy?
Should I reveal the full extent of AI data monitoring to my employees?
These are tough questions to answer for someone who is accountable for company’s profitability. Only companies with strong ethical culture will be able to maintain transparency and employee trust.
Tying It All Together
From a philosophical thought to mainstream commercial use, AI has come a long way. However, the technology is still primitive compared to what it can become. Misconceptions and fears are many for AI technology which is not understood fully by the common man.
Business leaders know that embracing AI is their only option if they have to survive in the future. The challenge is to address employee apprehension and build a team of AI and humans that works with each other.
To do this leaders must address fears regarding job loss, AI as bosses, reducing decision making power, data privacy and business ethics.
Once employees understand that AI is here not to take their job but to enhance it, the possibilities in workplace productivity are endless. AI powered solutions are already on the offering for HR, Marketing, Operations, Customer Support and Project Management.
The market for these solutions is new and exciting with big players and boutique start-ups offering cutting -edge solutions for businesses in all industries.
It’s still early for AI in workplace though and the challenges for its adoption are many. Early adopter of AI technology must risk ROI and take a firm stand on ethics while they manage change in their company. However the competitive advantages of adopting AI early on are worth the risk and the cost.
We do not know when AI will surpass human intelligence as a whole but as far as performing in narrow tasks is concerned; AI is already ahead of us. The future of AI with humans in workplace will bring in a new era that we can only wait for with fascination and excitement.
