LizStevens, Author at Best Money Moves

What You Need to Know About Employee Burnout

by LizStevens | Jul 25, 2018 | Blog

In the Best Money Moves Roundup, we run down the latest HR news on retention, mobility and pollution.

Employee engagement drives productivity and retention, but it’s not all good news.. Research from Yale University revealed 50 percent of moderately to highly engaged employees are burnt out. They’re passionate about their work and show high skills acquisition, but they’re also the employees most at risk for turnover.

Dr. Jochen Menges, a co-author of the study, claims his research can help employers. “By shedding some light on some of the factors in both engagement and burnout, the study can help organisations identify workers who are motivated but also at risk of burning out and leaving.” A shortfall of Menges and his colleagues’ research is its inability to pinpoint when engagement stops being productive and starts exhausting valuable employees.

The challenge is to find the fine line between engagement and burnout. It’s different for everyone. One way to tell is to watch for signs like frustration and anxiety.

How to Find the Right Balance

What We’re Reading

Women appointed to boards at a record high. Close to 40 percent of vacant board seats at Fortune 500 companies went to women in 2017. Learn more about this rising trend and its implications.

New LinkedIn research. It’s no surprise that attracting and retaining top talent is imperative with unemployment at a low, but how do you do it? Use these strategies to stay competitive.

Focus on mobility and stability. If you’re in an industry with high turnover consider offering opportunities to move into different positions and benefits that support employees and their families. See what ROI on employee investments looks like.

WeWork bans meat. In a bold move WeWork announced it won’t serve or reimburse meals that include red meat, poultry or pork. Why they’re doing it and more importantly, can it work?

What are stay interviews? Instead of waiting for an exit interview to get some feedback start conducting stay interviews to find out why employees stick around. How this can help you retain more employees.

Are you using the 20/60/20 rule? Instead of trying to win over 100 percent of your team, use this rule to strategically focus your attention on your most valuable team members. What the 20/60/20 rule is and how to use it.

Digital distractions. Employees can’t get a full 30 minutes of work in without being distracted by work instant messages and emails or personal text messages and notifications. How to deal with communication overload.

Job insecurity and sexual harassment. Three separate studies found that sexual harassment is driven by the harasser’s fear of being called out for inadequate job performance. Now that we know, what can we do about it?

Know the Warning Signs of Employee Burnout

by LizStevens | Jul 25, 2018 | Blog

There’s a fine line between employee engagement and burnout. Know the warning signs of employee burnout for higher retention and productivity.

Employee engagement drives productivity and retention, but it’s not all good news. Research from Yale University revealed 50 percent of moderately to highly engaged employees are burnt out. They’re passionate about their work and show high skills acquisition, but they’re also the employees most at risk for turnover.

Dr. Jochen Menges, a co-author of the study, claims his research can help employers. “By shedding some light on some of the factors in both engagement and burnout, the study can help organisations identify workers who are motivated but also at risk of burning out and leaving.” A shortfall of Menges and his colleagues’ research is its inability to pinpoint when engagement stops being productive and starts exhausting valuable employees.

The challenge is to find the fine line between engagement and burnout. It’s different for everyone. One way to tell is to watch for signs like frustration and anxiety.

The study measured engagement, burnout, demands, resources and how they interact and influence each other in over 1,000 U.S. employees. Employees that were ‘optimally’ engaged reported high resources and low to moderate demands. They had support from their supervisors through rewards and received recognition without having to struggle with cumbersome bureaucracy, demands for concentration, or heavy workloads. On the other hand, 64 percent of employees experiencing burnout reported high demands and high resources. Finding the right balance between resources and demands might be the key to productive engagement.

Look for common symptoms like exhaustion, frustration, anxiety, and inability to keep up with daily tasks. Monitor workloads to find out when it’s time to dial demands back and expand resources. Wellness programs can ease stress and help employees manage work-life balance, but if demands are too high employees will still burnout.

Research from Business Point Innovation Network and Pollfish found that 60 percent of working mothers and fathers experience burnout. Employees with children might be more likely than others to experience burnout, but there isn’t enough research on demographics to confirm which employees are most at risk.

Until there’s more research, it’s best for employers to assume any employee could be at risk for burnout.

Open Offices Are Trendy, But Are They Effective?

by LizStevens | Jul 17, 2018 | Blog

In the Best Money Moves Roundup, we run down the latest news on open offices, paid leave, and keeping employees engaged during summer.

Supposedly, open offices improve communication and collaboration. However, a recent study published by The Royal Society indicates that the open office may be doing the exact opposite.

According to the study, face-to-face communication takes a 70 percent dive in open offices. Instead of fostering collective energy the study found that “open architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to withdraw from officemates and interact instead over email and IM.”

The research also found that productivity declined after eliminating spatial boundaries. Considering 70 percent of Americans work in open offices, this is an issue companies are going to have to tackle in order to recoup possible productivity losses.

See more on effects of open offices and what you can do about it here.

What we’re reading:

What paid leave program works best for you? Paid absence policies are valuable to employers and employees, but they require a balance to make sure it’s beneficial for both sides. Ask yourself these 3 questions.

Help avoid the summertime slump. Summertime weather and activities mean there are a million things your employees would rather be doing than work. Use these tips to keep employees happy during summer.

“Ghosting” at work. The term “ghosting” that Millennials traditionally apply to relationships is also relevant to work. Learn more about new hires ghosting and the challenges facing HR.

Navigate the many options for employee well-being. There are endless employee benefits and with low unemployment you want to make sure you select the right one’s for your staff. Here are 4 tips to help build an effective wellness program.

Get ahead of termination. Problems that eventually result in termination can be prevented. Given the costs of turnover, it’s advantageous to try. See if any of these 11 strategies to prevent problems resulting in termination can help.

Amazon’s unconventional “Pivot” program. Underperforming employees can have a courtroom-style video conference with a jury of peers to make evaluations more fair and communicative. So why are some employees are protesting it?

Custom medical plans. Each employee has different healthcare needs and some new companies are offering the ability to customize their medical plans. How this trend is developing and its implications.

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

The Truth is Open Offices Aren’t Really Collaborative

by LizStevens | Jul 17, 2018 | Blog

Open offices should encourage collaboration between employees, but the truth is open offices aren’t really collaborative after all.

Supposedly, open offices improve communication and collaboration. However, a recent study published by The Royal Society indicates that the open office may be doing the exact opposite.

According to the study, face-to-face communication takes a 70 percent dive in open offices. Instead of fostering collective energy the study found that “open architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to withdraw from officemates and interact instead over email and IM.”

The research also found that productivity declined after eliminating spatial boundaries. Considering 70 percent of Americans work in open offices, this is an issue companies are going to have to tackle in order to recoup possible productivity losses.

Job satisfaction can be lowered in open offices. A study published in SAGE Journals found that employees are irritated most by the sound of conversations, ringing phones and machines in the office. Noises like these are unavoidable in most open offices. They hinder productivity and are frustrating for employees who can’t tune out unless they isolate themselves further by listening to headphones.

Another study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health found that employees who work in open offices take an average of 62 percent more sick days versus other layouts. This is because viruses and bacteria spread more easily in open offices, but it could also be because the lack of privacy in open offices is stressful and stress makes sickness more likely.

Although there are a number of challenges with open offices, they can be done right. Harvard Business Review determined what makes certain open offices successful in their research. They found that employees are more likely to respond positively to an open office layout when an employer conveys the vision for the space beforehand, is enthusiastic about the transition and encourages employees to adapt the space to their needs. The report notes, “When leaders encouraged adaptation and teams felt comfortable claiming the space as their own, they reported more place identity and generally felt better about the objective features of the space, like privacy, noise, and lighting.”

Communicate changes in office layouts, be enthusiastic about the space and allow flexibility so employees can make their office space more comfortable. Open offices have their drawbacks, but it’s still possible to create an environment tailored to the needs of your employees. Take back productivity, job satisfaction, and reduce absenteeism by making your office space work.

What is Financial Toxicity?

by LizStevens | Jul 10, 2018 | Blog

In the Best Money Moves Roundup, we run down the latest news on student loan and retirement assistance, the benefits of biking and artificial intelligence in the workplace.

If you ever wondered if there was a direct link between financial stress and health outcomes, look no further. According to research compiled by Managed Care, Americans are skipping medications that could improve their quality of life because they can’t afford them. The term financial toxicity was coined by Amy Abernathy, MD, in an essay for the journal Oncology. “Out-of-pocket expenses related to treatment,” she wrote, “ are akin to physical toxicity, in that costs can diminish quality of life and impede delivery of the highest-quality care.”

The truth is many employees need help navigating healthcare benefits to lower out of pocket expenses and avoid , “financial toxicity.”

What can you do about it?

What We’re Reading

Employer tackles student loan debt and retirement. When employees contribute 2% of their salary to paying down student loans Abbott Laboratories will pay the equivalent of 5% of an employee’s salary to to their 401(k). Learn more about their Freedom 2 Save program.

Happier, healthier employees. An initiative in France incentivising employees to bike to work led to a 15 percent reduction in sick leave, lower transportation expenses, less stress and higher job satisfaction. See how it worked.

Would you trust orders from a robot? More than 90 percent of workers responding to a recent study would, but progress is slow when it comes to companies adopting and preparing for artificial intelligence in the workplace. Read the full results breakdown.

Open offices lower direct communication. Recent studies found that email and instant messaging conversations increase significantly, productivity declined, and face-to-face interaction decreased when offices transitioned to an open landscape. Why this happens and how it relates to insect behavior.

Help Millennials secure their financial wellness. Nearly 70 percent of millennials are stressed about their finances. Help them get on track and back to work. Share this quick tipsheet with your employees.

A simple gesture to support employee’s mental health. With recent rises in mental illness and suicide employers cannot avoid addressing mental illness any longer. A memo like this is a good start.

On-demand health insurance. A new startup offers employees a core set of health care benefits and the option to add coverage for specific procedures. Is this the future of insurance benefits administration?

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