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10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Office Culture

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Office Culture

by | Dec 26, 2017 | Blog

You can usually tell during the interview process whether or not a candidate will be a “good fit” for your team and office culture. But building a positive office culture is about more than just hiring people with a certain je ne se quois. Your company culture is made up of the values, beliefs and behaviors of everyone in your office – both management and employee – and is also reflective of your company’s overall goals. Culture defines both how employees see themselves as contributors as well as how outsiders perceive your business. Pinpointing exactly what you want your office culture to be will help you to hire the best possible applicant while also showcasing what makes your office an enriching and enticing place to work.

These ten tips will help you identify and improve your company’s culture.

1. Align your office culture with your company’s goals.
Before you can make improvements to your company’s existing culture, it’s a good idea to identify the kind of environment you hope to encourage at work. Do you need your employees to wear a suit and tie into the office all week, or is every day “casual Friday?” Does your business require a small, tight-knit staff working toward expansion or some friendly competition to boost sales? Make sure that the culture you’re building actively benefits the overall goals of your business. Be transparent with your team about what the company is trying to accomplish – and how.

2. Help your team get on the same page.
Are your company goals as clear to your employees as they are to you? If you don’t have one already, create a list of core-values ranging anywhere from the day-to-day mission of your business to the more lofty, long-term goals of your company. Employees who see their own beliefs mirrored in the company’s mission will feel more motivated and satisfied in their role than those who don’t enjoy their work or believe in the organization they work for.

3. Embrace transparency.
Culture is made up of things that are hard to see, but that doesn’t mean the way your employees feel in the office should be invisible to management. Providing space for employees to share their personalities, stories and inspirations is crucial to developing a tight-knit and communicative team. Similarly, employees should be provided with an avenue to interact with management and privately air concerns. Overall, general employees have a different day-to-day experience at work than middle or senior management, providing unique and insightful perspectives that management doesn’t always see. Promoting an office culture that values sharing and encourages problem solving is crucial to building trust, balance and productivity among your team.

4. Create a collaborative environment.
The benefits of a collaborative workplace are well known, but building that environment doesn’t happen overnight. Collaboration requires trust from the top down, from the bottom up and laterally, at all levels. Your team should feel comfortable taking risks and confident that their mistakes will not be held against them indefinitely. Creating mentorship opportunities for new employees can help build that trust from day one. But, developing these relationships over the long term requires that employees are not treated like numbers – they need to feel appreciation, support, and a sense of belonging from their colleagues as well as from their higher-ups.

5. Learn to say “thank you” (and teach your employees to do the same).
Actively showing gratitude isn’t just a trend, it’s incredibly beneficial. Studies show that a simple “thank you” goes a long way in making people feel listened to, respected and valued. Sending a thank you note to an employee who has gone above-and-beyond or successfully finished a particularly challenging project is an easy way to make your employees know that their work matters and is valuable to you.

6. Be flexible.
Flexible hours and schedules are one of the most sought-after employee benefits. Providing flex hours helps employees know they will be able to be more present in their lives outside of work. Flex time tells your employees that you see them as individuals and not only do you value the work they do for you, but you respect their personal lives as well. Identify when it’s crucial for employees to be in the office, what kind of work can be done from home and which employees would benefit most from flexible schedules.

7. Acknowledge that your employees have lives outside the office.
The employees who are most successful at work also feel that they can maintain a fulfilling, separate home life. Encourage employees to have a positive work-life balance by promoting personal and family time, encouraging the development of interests outside of the office and offering wellness activities and continuing education. This will show your employees that you care for their wellbeing but will also actively prevent burnout and promote creative thinking – which, in the long run, is beneficial to everyone involved.

8. Invest in financial wellness.
Seven out of ten employees suffer from financial stress. That means, whether you know it or not, nearly three quarters of your staff is stressed about their finances. Financial stress leads to lower productivity due to distracted employees, high levels of absenteeism and higher healthcare costs. Offering services that help employees reduce stress by tackling debt, learning how to balance finances and reorganizing their financial lives is a great way to improve employee morale, thus, employee productivity and your company’s bottom line.

9. Seek out employee feedback.
An important part of understanding and improving office culture is listening to how your employees feel about their interpersonal relationships at work, learning their individual capacities to take on new projects and asking about their overall work experience. Having quarterly interviews (check-ins) not only makes employees feel that their input matters, but it will also help you gauge what changes to the office environment could be made.

10. Don’t be shy about treating your staff.
Work shouldn’t be a place where a person loses their individuality. Celebrate your employees’ unique accomplishments, milestones and personal achievements. Regular acknowledgements and personalized birthday gifts can let employees know their work is noticed and appreciated. Impromptu staff lunches and catered breakfasts are great ways to show your entire staff that you appreciate their hard work and loyalty. People want to be employed in an environment where their efforts are acknowledged and rewarded. It’s never a bad time say thank you to your employees that work hard in order to make your company the best it can be.

Learn more about company culture:

How Do You Improve Employee Retention?

How to Improve Gender Diversity in the Workplace

What Value Does Rehiring Employees Bring to the Workplace?

What Benefits Do Employees Want in the New Year?

5 Reasons Your Employees Ignore their Benefits

5 Reasons Your Employees Ignore their Benefits

by | Dec 21, 2017 | Blog

According to a 2017 report by Chestnut Global Partners, an international provider of Employee Assistance Programs, less than 7 percent of employees in North America fully utilize the benefits offered by their employer. Underutilized benefits don’t just affect the employee. Many benefits are designed to help employees deal with stress, family conflicts, financial planning and general health – when employees ignore these resources, it can lead to time at work spent dealing with personal issues. Make sure your employees aren’t missing out on their benefits because of these five simple and avoidable reasons.

1. Your employees don’t know what benefits are available to them.

Companies design their benefits packages in order to attract the best talent available while keeping employees happy, loyal and productive. In some cases, those benefits are equal to more than 30 percent of the employee’s overall compensation. But employees can’t utilize their benefits if they don’t know what’s available to them. If you don’t educate your employees about their benefits options, not only are you wasting an opportunity to strengthen employee-employer relations, you’re also wasting money. Reach out to your employees by sending regular emails, posting informative bulletins and providing quarterly workshops that expose your team to benefits information and access points.

2. Your employees don’t understand how their benefits work.

Benefits packages vary from company to company and employees may not be aware of the subtle differences in enrollment requirements between their old program and their new one. They may not understand how to access their benefits or who to speak with in order to do so. The list of misunderstandings is infinite.

A recent study by the International Foundation of Employee Benefits found that 80 percent of employees do not open benefits information materials and of those who do, 49 percent don’t understand the information available to them. It was found that overly-lengthy and jargon-heavy emails were the most commonly ignored. The IFEB study found that the most effective communication strategies included personalized informational materials, benefits information directly related to the employee’s life stage, year-round contact with access to benefits representatives, materials provided in multiple languages and employee benefits information that engages spouses and family members.

3. The benefits aren’t easy for your employees to use.

Offering multiple and varying sign-on deadlines between benefits and multi-factor enrollment options cause confusion and are all deterrents to employee enrollment. While these inconveniences may be unavoidable, clear deadlines and offered assistance can help employees feel less stressed about making benefits decisions. Similarly, there may be stigma around utilizing certain benefits – such as mental health services – that can deter employees from signing up for them. It’s important to foster an environment that de-stigmatizes essential benefits by making them an accessible, confidential, secure and established part of the company’s culture.

4. Cost-sharing on benefits is stressing out your employees.

Most employees will sign up for benefits shortly after the onboarding process and rarely change or update plans throughout their entire course of employment. This is partly due to how confusing cost-sharing benefits can be. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by high deductibles and variations on health plan choices. In a recent study, employees were switched from a plan having no cost-sharing (no deductible), to one that required a high deductible (a standard cost-sharing structure). The company’s overall healthcare spending was dramatically reduced by 12-14%percent. But, this wasn’t a savings in the best sense of the word. When the employees were on a non cost-sharing program, they accessed medical care more frequently; when the plan was switched and high deductibles were introduced, employees were more stringent on how they spent their deductible funds, thus, reducing wellness visits and other important healthcare needs. Employees were more likely to alter their access to healthcare than to alter their benefits package.

5. You aren’t giving your employees the benefits they want

Staying on top of the benefits your workforce actually needs is crucial to keeping a well-functioning, productive company. Try to regularly distribute surveys asking employees what they would like to see more or less of and help your HR department tailor the company’s benefits plan to those requests. Show your investment in the needs of the workforce and you’ll start to attract and retain the first-class talent your company needs.

A Holiday Greeting From Best Money Moves…

A Holiday Greeting From Best Money Moves…

by | Dec 20, 2017 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

 

Best Money Moves is growing at an incredible rate and more and more people are signing up, logging in and dialing down their financial stress. We strive day-in and day-out to provide our users access to unbiased , leading-edge financial resources – all with a single click.  

And we are getting great feedback. One user told us that her stress had gone from a 7 to a 4 because of Best Money Moves. That’s what makes it all worthwhile.

To everyone receiving the BMM Roundup every week, we wish you the best for the holidays and a prosperous 2018!

Warmest regards,

Ilyce Glink

 

Navigating gift-giving at work can be tricky. The seemingly simple (and fun) task of a holiday gift exchange can often feel overwhelming and overbearing: How much should you spend? Can you give a gift-card – or even cash? How personal should it be?  Choose the right gift with these tips.

Laughter can create legal liability – here’s what you should know. A poorly chosen joke or off-the-cuff remark by an employee – even if well intended – can bring serious legal troubles to your company and cause higher employee turnover. When workplace humor just isn’t funny.

Millennial employees aren’t asking the right questions about retirement, but they want to. Over one third of millennials cited saving for retirement as their number 1 source of financial stress and half have no clue how much money they’ll need to live on. Here’s how you should help.

The CVS-Aetna merger will influence how your company continues to provide healthcare benefits.  A recent Aon survey shows that top U.S. employers may start contracting healthcare benefits differently, based on this massive takeover.  Here’s how the merger could affect you.

How does your HR team handle sexual harassment complaints? All companies are held to the same standards; regardless of size, industry or location. Being prepared to properly respond involves planning and legal consultation. Be prepared to swiftly address harassment claims.

Congratulations, you’ve made it through 2017’s open enrollment! Don’t worry, you still have plenty of work to do. There are some very important items you’ll want to be on top of before the year ends, in order to avoid headaches later. Here’s your post-ACA-enrollment checkup.

Let the end-of-year vacation binge begin! Often, the stress of arranging your time off or worrying that everything will crumble while you’re gone can derail your trip-planning all together. We all need time off and worrying the entire time is not going to let you unwind. 6 tips to a stress-free break.

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.

Get to Know the Team Behind Best Money Moves!

Get to Know the Team Behind Best Money Moves!

by | Dec 14, 2017 | Blog

Ilyce Glink

This week, we are highlighting Best Money Moves’ founder and CEO, Ilyce Glink. She is an award-winning television and radio personality, a nationally-syndicated columnist, an innovator in content marketing and is the author of more than a dozen books with nearly 1 million in print.

Her latest ebook/webinar offering is Intentional Investor: How to be Wildly Successful in Real Estate. In 2018, she will publish the fourth edition of her bestselling first-time homebuyer book.

More than 15 years ago, Glink started Think Glink Media, a digital communications agency producing award-winning work, profitable campaigns and loyal customers. TGM’s clients include Fortune 1000 companies in the financial services, real estate, and health sectors as well as start-ups and nonprofits.

I was able to sit down with Ilyce and asked her to answer a few questions about why she started Best Money Moves:

 

Q: What made you focus on financial wellness?

A: I’ve always believed that consumers should be able to (and can) make 95% of their best money moves on their own, without a paid professional. So, I’ve dedicated my career to helping people to make smarter decisions with their money. In the early years, I focused more on real estate, which is why I wrote 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask, but as I learned more about personal finances and how integrated it is, I focused on holistic financial wellness.

Five years ago, I was hired by some Fortune 500 companies to design financial wellness programs but they wanted them to be selling machines for products and services. Given that  we were in the aftermath of the Great Recession, I didn’t think that would work. And, it didn’t.

Q: Is that when you decided to start Best Money Moves?

A: Yes. I started it because I knew there was a better way to help people and employees.

Q: What would you say were the drivers behind the design of the product?

A: It had to be based in the cloud, so you’d get real-time reporting and features. We wanted it to be mobile-first, because folks need to be able to use it anywhere. We wanted to make it simple to use, easy to understand, yet provide great depth of knowledge. And, we wanted to use machine learning so it would be smart enough to be extremely personalized and relevant. Lastly, we wanted employers to get the same real-time experience that they were providing to their employees.

Q: There’s a lot of noise around financial wellness now. What are the key differentiators for your business?

A: Wherever we go, CEOs, CHROs, and CFOs are fascinated by our Stressometer(™), which we use to measure someone’s financial stress. We break down financial stress into 15 categories and use machine learning algorithms to delve deeper and identify the root causes of the stress.

Q: Where did the idea for the Stressometer™ come from?

A: From my years of being a radio talk show host. It sounds kind of funny, but when I would take people’s questions on WSB Radio or WGN Radio, they’d say they wanted one answer – but if I dug a bit deeper, I’d realize that there was another issue that had to be solved first. For example, if they said, “I want to refinance,” I’d ask why. And I might get an answer like, “Well, I’m getting divorced.” And, that would require a completely different set of questions to get to the right solution.

Q: What’s your favorite part of Best Money Moves?

A: That we’re helping people. That we seem to have figured out how to make individuals understand their finances and we are helping  people get out of debt.

https://bestmoneymoves.com/leadership/

This Week’s ACA Registration Deadline Brings Changes for 2018

This Week’s ACA Registration Deadline Brings Changes for 2018

by | Dec 13, 2017 | Blog

In this week’s Best Money Moves roundup, we take a look at news stories and new research studies that may impact employee benefits and HR issues. We hope you find this news roundup helpful, and we’d love your feedback.

This year’s Affordable Care Act registration ends December 15th. Here’s what you need to know and why you should be helping “push” your employees across the finish line.

This year, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has the shortest enrollment period ever, reduced to 45 days from its previous 3 month enrollment period. This may prevent individuals from registering on time, especially those “healthy procrastinators.” As an employer, you may be penalized.

The ACA requires that employers with 50 or more full-time employees provide health insurance to all full-time employees and their dependents. With rumors afoot, there is a lot of confusion right now among employers; it’s important to know that offering benefits is still required and the Affordable Care Act is still very much in effect as “law of the land.”

2018 will bring several changes to policies and the how the ACA is enforced. Most importantly, there will be changes in processes, forms and filing dates and you may face a time crunch early in the year, which could possibly affect dealings with your employees as well your interactions with the IRS.

Additionally, those employers who may have been  noncompliant with the ACA at any point between 2015-2017 will be hearing about it soon. The IRS has been slow to address noncompliance, but they are catching up and employers might receive three years of fees at once.  

It is important for employers to know what aspects of the Affordable Care Act have changed, and which have remained the same – and you need to know by the end of this week.

2018’s changes to the Affordable Care Act: What you need to know, ASAP.

The numbers speak for themselves. A company that invests in developing a quality onboarding process is 25 percent more likely to retain its workforce and increase employee performance. Here are the top picks of the industry’s contemporary,  innovative and cutting-edge employee onboarding processes. Develop your cutting-edge onboarding process today.

Are you and your HR team ready for the upcoming year? As December mulls to a close, so does your annual checklist. Whether you’re ahead of your game or looking for a well-intentioned distraction, there’s always more to get done! From open enrollment to flexible spending, vacation days and file auditing, ‘tis the season to read-up on and start checking-off your end-of-year HR checklist.

Are the holidays causing undue financial stress in the workplace? Don’t let the winter-holiday-woes weigh heavy on your employees. Sometimes, a fun distraction is the best short-term solution there is! Here are 5 outstanding ways to recognize, celebrate and enjoy the holiday season – at work. Help your employees de-stress during the holidays.

Company benefits are amping up in 2018. Recognizing the importance of helping your employees make better financial decisions is going to pay off, in the short and long term. Studies show that employers who focus on the overall on-the-job satisfaction of their teams are seeing higher productivity and less turnover. Employee benefits trends to watch out for.

Self-Employed? Setting up a healthy retirement-savings plan is even more important for people like yourself. Unlike traditional employees, the likelihood of your having a 401(k) or pension is quite low. Did you know that 42 percent of self-employed professionals and small business owners are dangerously not preparing for their retirement?  Start planning for your retirement, today!

Should paid time off be provided in cases of extreme weather? Absolutely. Employee benefits are meant to provide flexibility and ease of mind when life intervenes with work expectations. With the massive uptick in extreme weather, “climate leave” is rising through the charts of standard, expected employee benefits. Here’s why your staff should be paid during inclement weather.  

The baby boomer brain-drain has arrived. Boomers are beginning to leave the workforce en masse. 56 percent of US leadership positions are held by boomers and 66 percent of all US companies are owned by these seasoned employees. As the wave of retirement arrives, how can companies retain the boomers’  knowledge and expertise? How to resist the brain-drain.

Have something to add? Email info@bestmoneymoves.com.