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Top 10 Workplace Etiquette Rules for Communication

Top 10 Workplace Etiquette Rules for Communication

by | Apr 24, 2019 | Blog

Top 10 workplace etiquette rules for communication. Work-related emails sent after hours are stressing employees out and here’s what appropriate office etiquette looks like in a digital age.

Ninety-seven percent of employees receive work-related emails after hours and most feel obligated to respond promptly, according to research by Signs.com.

Workplace Etiquette: Should You Send Work-Related Emails After Hours?

Nearly 35 percent of employees are stressed out by work communications after hours. Millennials were most likely to feel anxious about late-night work correspondence. Research by Adobe found white-collar workers between the ages of 25 to 34 spend more than six hours a day checking their email. More than a third of them check their email right when they get up, before they’ve even gotten out of bed.

Worker accessibility after hours is a relatively new phenomenon that thought leaders and lawmakers are evaluating. New York was the first to consider a law that would bar employers from requiring employees to check emails after hours.

Employees are more connected than ever because of the digital revolution and as such, they’re more likely to be affected by one another’s behavior. What are the new rules?

Top 10 Workplace Etiquette Rules for Communication

  1. Don’t Use a Speakerphone. Roughly 70 percent of employees found using a speakerphone in a shared or open office to be unacceptable. If it’s a call you need to take hands-free, use a headset or find a private room to avoid distracting your coworkers.
  2. Gossiping Isn’t Good Team Building. Talk about the weather, sports, upcoming events, or send a sweet GIF, but whatever you do don’t fall into gossiping as a way to relate with coworkers.
  3. DON’T USE ALL CAPS. Using all caps indicates an aggressive tone, or a lack of digital skills, neither of which will be appreciated by coworkers. The only time caps are acceptable in the workplace is when you are sending “CONGRATULATIONS!” to celebrate an achievement.
  4. Reply Carefully. More than 60 percent of employees consider it poor workplace etiquette to hit reply-all to emails. This rule requires some finesse. Don’t reply all to an email asking for your order for the staff lunch. Do reply all to a department-wide update to make sure everyone knows you’re on the same page.
  5. Politics Aren’t Welcome.
    More than half of employees think it’s inappropriate to discuss politics in the workplace. Even if you think your political interests are aligned with your coworkers, it’s best to keep politics or off the clock.
  6. Silence Your Phone. You’re going to compulsively check your phone at least once every half hour anyway, do you really need a ringtone or vibration for every notification? Your coworkers certainly don’t think you do.
  7. Don’t Copy the Whole Team. Before sending an email ask yourself: who needs to see this? If it’s not something that the entire organization needs to know, there’s no reason why everyone should be copied. Be more selective when sending general correspondence to coworkers.
  8. Take Calls When You’re Available. It should be clear that taking a call while going to the bathroom is poor workplace etiquette, but roughly 45 percent of employees think it’s still worth mentioning. It’s embarrassing to have to reschedule a call because of your bladder,  but it’s far more uncomfortable for everyone involved to be on a call while you’re using the restroom.
  9. Use Styles Appropriately. Forty percent of workers think the improper use of bolds or italics in work communications is unacceptable. This is somewhat similar to using all caps in the way that it could convey an unintended tone. Bold/italics also have a tendency to draw the attention of the eye, so if a random word is bolded or italicized it can be confusing and distract viewers from the message itself.
  10. Keep Your Jokes to Yourself. More than a third of employees think it’s poor workplace etiquette to send joke emails to the entire team. It really depends on your work culture whether or not it’s appropriate to send joke emails, but the important qualifier here is ‘to the entire team.’ Rarely, if ever, will there be an occasion for you to send an unsolicited joke email to your entire organization.  

More on Workplace Etiquette and Office Culture

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Retirement Concerns: Is Financial Literacy the Solution?

Retirement Concerns: Is Financial Literacy the Solution?

by | Apr 17, 2019 | Blog

Retirement concerns: is financial literacy the solution? Those workers that do have a 401k aren’t saving enough to cover expenses in retirement, even when employers match contributions.

Retirement is a far-off goal most Americans don’t even think about while they’re paying down debts, struggling to pay for childcare and taking care of aging parents. It’s become so disconnected from reality that 20 percent of Americans are actually basing their retirement plans on winning the lottery, according to research by Stash.

Americans Are Not Saving Enough for Retirement

Not saving enough for retirement is the number one fear among middle-income earners, and with good reason. Four researchers at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University recently found three-fourths of American workers with defined contribution plans like 401(k)s aren’t saving enough to maintain their standard of living later in life.

Can Financial Literacy Solve Retirement Concerns?

Nearly half of U.S. adults failed to correctly answer basic financial literacy questions in a recent annual assessment.

The P-Fin Index by the TIAA Institute asks 28 questions across eight functional areas of finance including: earning, consuming, saving, investing, borrowing/managing debt, insuring, comprehending risk and go-to information sources. American adults scored highest in the area of borrowing/managing debt and lowest in comprehending risk.

This year, the P-Fin Index included several new questions indicative of financial wellness. According to the report by TIAA Institute, “Greater financial literacy is positively associated with the capacity to handle a financial shock, saving for retirement on a regular basis, being unconstrained by debt and other indicators of financial well-being.”

Financial Wellness Programs and Financial Literacy

Financial literacy is indicative of financial wellness and high school curriculums across the country are adding personal finance courses as a requirement for high school graduation to start addressing the widespread lack of financial literacy.

What about the half of U.S. adults who couldn’t answer basic financial literacy questions? How can they learn the skills they need when they don’t know where to begin?

Financial wellness programs help workers improve financial literacy, pay down debt and save for retirement. They are a valuable employee benefit and with the right financial wellness program, like Best Money Moves, employees are given the tools and resources to help them attain financial literacy while they better their financial wellness.  

More on Retirement:

How to Help Employees Save More for Retirement

Financial Support Limits Retirement Readiness for Parents

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What Does Financial Wellness Look Like for Women?

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2 Top Tips for Increasing Employee Productivity

2 Top Tips for Increasing Employee Productivity

by | Apr 9, 2019 | Blog

2 top tips for increasing employee productivity. Recent research from Cigna highlights rising employee stress and two areas employers can target to minimize worker stress and increase productivity.

Stress was identified as a key employee health problem in the 2019 Cigna 360 Well-Being Survey. Over 80 percent of workers say they’re stressed and almost 15 percent say they’re unable to cope. The top stressors are personal finances, workloads and health concerns.

Stressed out employees don’t think employers are helping much. Close to 40 percent of workers say no stress management support is provided and only 30 percent receiving stress management support from their employer felt it was adequate.

It’s a serious issue. Studies have shown that employees lose sleep, are distracted at work, have higher rates of absenteeism and are more likely to have health problems when under stress.

Improve Work Culture for Better Employee Productivity

“There is a real need to resolve the ‘always on’ culture before it escalates further as it is negatively affecting the global workplace,” says Jason Sadler, President, Cigna International Markets.

More than 60 percent of employees work in an ‘always on’ culture where they feel the need to constantly access work emails, attend work calls or check mobile phones for work purposes. Workers report a decline in their physical health as a result of not having enough sleep and exercise.

Most employees feel that employers are not addressing wellness concerns sufficiently and often have a ‘one-size-fits-all’ mindset when it comes to stress management and workplace wellness programs.

Make Employee Wellness Programs Work

There are two specific employee populations that don’t feel like their workplace wellness program addresses their needs.

Half of the ‘sandwich generation’ (defined as those between 35-49) feel senior management doesn’t seriously support workplace wellness programs. Having to care for both aging parents and growing families is taking its toll on this generational cohort. More than half of those in the sandwich generation indicated there isn’t a workplace wellness program in place to address their needs, including but not limited to flexibility at work, enhanced company settings and special leave arrangements.

Over half of working women feel that workplace wellness programs need to better address the specific needs of each gender. They see an unmet demand for customized wellness programs that support flexible working hours, establish breakrooms where employees can relax, give the flexibility to work from home/elsewhere outside of the office, provide special paid leave and bolster job/employment security.

The best workplace wellness programs have various components so employees can choose the wellness benefits most relevant to their specific needs. Employers who prioritize stress management through effective wellness programs are likely to reclaim some of the employee productivity lost to stress by way of distraction and absenteeism.

More on Employee Productivity:

Do Flexible Work Schedules Work?

Know the Warning Signs of Employee Burnout

Help Your Employees Get More Sleep!

What Tops Financial Stress for Employees?

How to Raise Productivity and Employee Wellbeing in One Shot

Zombie Employees: Who Are They and What Do You Need to Know?

How to Support Mental Health at Work

Do Flexible Work Schedules Work?

Do Flexible Work Schedules Work?

by | Apr 2, 2019 | Blog

Do flexible work schedules work? A new study by IWG found flex work policies are a key factor in winning the war for talent that benefits employers as much as it does employees.

It’s official, flex work is the new norm. More than 80 percent of U.S. employees would choose a job that offered a flexible work schedule over one that didn’t, according to the latest workspace survey by International Workplace Group (IWG). Nearly half of workers consider their commute to be the worst part of their day and one in five employees say they are ‘regularly late’ for work due to travel disruptions.

A flex work policy provides employees with a certain degree of flexibility in determining when and where they work. It’s an attractive perk for employees, but there’s another reason why more than 60 percent of businesses worldwide have adopted flexible work arrangements: there are benefits aplenty for employers, too.

What Do Employers Get From Offering Flexible Work Schedules?

More than 80 percent of companies that adopted flex work policies say that productivity has increased as a result. Close to 70 percent say having a flexible workspace helps them reduce organizational expenses, manage risk and consolidate their portfolios.

Flexible work arrangements could also benefit the U.S. economy. IWG cites a Regus report that estimates by 2030, the U.S. could see an economic boost of as much as $4.5 trillion annually from flex work.

How Flex Work Policies Works

Each organization has its own unique flex work policy. One-fifth of global workers describe flex work as the ability to make some decisions about working hours. A quarter of global employees equate it with being able to manage workloads. More than half of the global workforce views it as being able to choose the type of work location.

When the flex work trend began, flexible scheduling applied primarily to office workers, but that’s not the case any longer. Roughly 70 percent of manufacturers and retailers currently use some degree of flexible working to attract and retain staff.

Why Flexible Work Arrangments Are a Big Deal to Employees

Offering a flexible work option establishes a high level of trust and makes employees feel valued, something that can boost their organizational loyalty.

It reduces some of the stress employees have when scheduling complications arise. When a child is sick, a parent might be able to work from home instead of scrambling to find childcare (and then fretting over paying a premium for last-minute childcare). When an employee has a cold, they don’t have to push themselves to make it to work (where the illness would then spread). Similarly, if an employee has an ongoing health issue, flexibility at work could make it easier when scheduling doctors appointments, treatments, or procedures.

Most importantly, with a flexible work schedule, employees don’t feel stuck on the 9-5 grind they collectively gripe about.

More on Flex Work:

Are Employees Who Work From Home Happier?

What Benefits Do Employees Want Most?

Why You Need a Remote Work Strategy

How to Make Traditional Work Better for Freelancers

What Is Financial Literacy and Why Is It Important?

What Is Financial Literacy and Why Is It Important?

by | Mar 25, 2019 | Blog

What is financial literacy and why is it important? It’s knowledge employees need to reduce financial stress and financial wellness programs can help them improve it.

Over 40 percent of employees are too worried about their financial situation today to think about the future, according to a survey by BlackRock.

Despite mounting financial stress, many prioritize convenience over savings. A third of employees would choose to take $1,000 now rather than wait a year for $3,000 and two-fifths of employees would quadruple their transportation costs to save 20 minutes, according to new research by PurePoint Financial.

“Our survey found that 1 in 3 people in the U.S. don’t feel in control of their finances and half are too embarrassed to talk about their savings with their friends,” said Pierre Habis, president of PurePoint Financial.

Habis continued, “We understand how important financial security is to all of us and that saving may seem daunting, but it just takes minor adjustments, such as creating financial goals, setting aside whatever you can manage from each paycheck or searching for better interest rates for your savings account.”

Habis makes it sound easy, but most Americans don’t know where to begin when it comes to improving their financial wellness. What he refers to as minor adjustments could feel like major fundamental changes to a family that lacks financial literacy.

What is Financial Literacy?

Financial literacy is an understanding of the skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources. It encompasses budgeting, saving, investing, and includes anything and everything that deals with money management.

Why is Financial Literacy Important?

Financial literacy is important because it can help people with high levels of debt correct course and better prepare themselves for retirement.

Three years after implementing a financial education mandate for high-schoolers in Georgia, Idaho, and Texas, all three states saw increased credit scores and lower delinquency rates on credit accounts, according to a FINRA Investor Education Foundation-funded study.  

What Are Financial Wellness Programs?

Financial wellness programs are employer-sponsored programs that help employees regain control of their personal finances. It’s become a popular employee benefit in recent years as the effects of financial stress on employee performance have become more clear. The 2018 Employee Financial Wellness Survey by PwC found:

  • 25% of employees report that issues with personal finances have been a distraction at work
  • 43% of employees of those distracted by finances at work spend 3 hours or more at work each week thinking about or dealing with issues related to their personal finances
  • 11% of employees occasionally miss work due to financial stress

Employees were also asked to complete the sentence “My employer financial wellness program has helped me…” and here’s what financial wellness programs helped them accomplish:

  • 41% got their spending under control
  • 39% prepared for retirement
  • 31% paid off debt
  • 27% saved for major goals (home, education)
  • 23% better managed their investments/asset allocation
  • 12% better managed healthcare expenses or saved for future healthcare expenses

Once employees have the financial literacy they need they can reduce financial stress, start reaching their savings goals and spend less time worrying about money at work.