Blog Archives

How to Improve Gender Diversity in the Workplace

by LizStevens | Nov 19, 2018 | Blog

How can employers improve gender diversity in the workplace? It starts with tracking representation and setting goals for diversity when hiring and promoting employees.

“Progress for women isn’t just slow― it’s stalled,” reads the alarming introduction to LeanIn’s latest report, Women in the Workplace 2018. In the three years they’ve been studying the issue, corporate America has made almost no progress in how women fare.

Hiring is one of biggest drivers of gender representation in the workplace and automated recruitment systems aren’t helping: Even machine learning algorithms are gender biased because what they search for in potential hires is based on historic data, which in most cases favors male candidates.

Women are less likely to be hired at the manager level and they’re far less likely to be promoted into management positions. LeanIn’s research shows for every 100 men promoted to manager, there are less than 80 women promoted. As a result, more than 60 percent of men hold managerial positions compared to less than 40 percent of women.

The study offers “performance bias” as a potential explanation to early gaps in hiring and promoting women. Research on “performance bias” found men are often hired and promoted based on their potential, while women are often hired and promoted based on their track record. “One thing I’ve become used to is having to prove myself constantly, over and over. It’s tiring, and unfortunately, it hasn’t changed a whole lot as I’ve become more senior,” says a Latina woman who is a senior executive with 4 years at the company.

Although it’s commonly thought that women are underrepresented in management because they leave to focus on family, LeanIn found that women and men leave their jobs in similar numbers. Most men and women plan to stay in the workforce when they leave their company. Less than 5 percent of women plan to leave the workforce to focus on family.

If companies start hiring and promoting women and men to manager at equal rates, the report estimates that the U.S. will get close to parity in management over the next 10 years. If employers continue hiring and promoting women at current rates, the number of women in management will increase by just one percentage point over the same ten years.

The underrepresentation of women in uppermanagement is so common it’s normalized. A director recalled a time when she pressed a button to the executive office and someone in the elevator pointed out what floor the interns were on, assuming she was mistaken. A lawyer remembered walking into negotiations she was leading and an older man from the company asked her to take meeting notes.

Most companies say they’re highly committed to gender and racial diversity, but that runs counter to LeanIn’s research on the issue. Less than half of companies track representation and set targets to reach gender and racial diversity. Achieving gender and racial diversity requires more than lip service, it requires planning and careful consideration at each level.

Leaders at all levels need to, well, take the lead. In order to do that they need to understand the problem, receive training to help solve it and be held accountable for making consistent progress towards gender and racial diversity. It’s also up to leadership to foster an inclusive and respectful culture by developing guidelines supported by a clear reporting process and swift consequences for violations.

“Closing the corporate gender gap isn’t a side issue. It’s an economic necessity. Programs and policies designed to reduce bias and ensure fairness don’t just benefit women. They benefit everyone,” the report’s conclusion reads.

What Do Employees Worry About?

by LizStevens | Nov 13, 2018 | Blog

What do employees worry about? Research on workplace fears ranks compensation, job security, overloaded productivity and workplace harassment as top concerns.

Employees Worry About Being Underpaid

The number one workplace fear for more than 60 percent of Americans is being underpaid, according to recent research from Business.org.

It’s a valid concern, The Economic Policy Institute reports employers underpay employees $15 billion each year through overtime and misclassification violations. Business.org also found that younger workers ages 18 to 34 were roughly 30 percent more likely than Baby Boomers to fear being underpaid.

Employees Worry About Job Security

Job security, rather the fear of losing a job, is the top work-related fear for over 20 percent of employees. “I just worry about my ability to [keep my job] so that I can pay bills and take care of my family… I am stressed out more often than not,” says one respondent. Much like compensation concerns, job security is another workplace fear with a rational basis. Almost 20 million Americans lost their jobs due to layoffs or discharge in 2016, reported by The Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employees Worry About Being Overloaded at Work

Nearly 15 percent of employees say work overload is their number one workplace fear. Business.org cited research that found in comparison to working between 35 to 40 hours a week, working over 55 hours a week was shown to increase the risk of heart attack by almost 15 percent and the risk of stroke by more than 33 percent. Productivity showed a sharp decline after 50 hours of work a week. Half of employees who are moderately to highly engaged are burnt out. They’re dealing with exhaustion, frustration, anxiety and struggling to keep up with daily tasks. Engagement has limits and when it’s too high it can start to affect productivity, retention and job satisfaction.

Some employees are more fearful than others. Adults ages 18 to 34, individuals with a previous workplace issue, parents and those living in urban areas had a higher level of fear. In contrast, those who identified as white had less concern than respondents of other ethnicities. “Issues of race and gender equality, equal pay for equal work, freedom from harassment of any kind all remain unresolved. [All workers] should feel supported for their efforts,” one respondent said.

Leaders that address workplace fears are likely to have more loyal employees. Employees feel valued when employers make a point to acknowledge and take their concerns into consideration when making changes in policies and processes. Supervisors could benefit from direct and open communication with employees. It has the potential to limit some of employee concerns by replacing fear of the unknown with confidence in transparency from upper management.

Growing Late Bloomers From Inc. Magazine

by admin | Nov 7, 2018 | Blog

Building a startup at any stage in life is a daunting task, but there are arguably more financial risks when you decide to start a business later in your career. Recent, Inc. Magazine contributor Kathy Kristof profiled our founder and CEO, Ilyce Glink, on the trials and tribulations of starting a business later in your career and how to protect yourself financially.

Head over to Inc. Magazine’s website to read the full article and learn how to protect yourself if you plan to start a business towards the end of your career.

To read the article, click here.

Stress, Money and Millennials: Where’s the Pain Point?

by ryanwangman | Nov 7, 2018 | Blog

Today is Stress Awareness Day, so it’s no surprise that for many Millennial employees, money (and financial stress) is still top of mind.

A recent Bank of America report, which analyzed the money habits of over 1,000 Millennials, found that the chief concern for respondents was that they weren’t saving enough for future expenses, like emergency funds and retirement. Worrying about career paths and whether they’d be able to afford to buy a home rounded out the top three stressors.

Additionally, three-quarters of respondents said that their generation overspends compared to other generations. Nearly two-thirds of Millennials also believe that their generation is not good at managing money. This is a trend that’s remained consistent throughout each year of the Better Money Habits Millennial Report, with stress levels of 2014 being on par with those of 2018.

But despite what you — and they — might think, Millennials’ money habits are as good as or better than other generations. The report revealed that a majority of the group are saving, budgeting, have a savings goal and feel financially secure. This age group is “young enough to start developing smarter money habits” according to Haley Ross of Bank of America Better Money Habits’ team, but that doesn’t mean they feel secure in their choices. Many doubt their financial security and the financial security of their peers. Sixty-four percent of Millennials believe that their generation does not manage money well and 75 percent feel their generation overspends in comparison to older generations.

This lack of a feeling of financial security may explain why over the past two years, Millennials were more likely than Gen Xers or Baby Boomers to ask for a raise, and 80 percent of those who asked for a pay increase got one. According to Ross, Millennials are getting their financial houses in order which may contribute to their drive to advocate for themselves at work by asking for a raise.

Job Hopping Your Way Out of Financial Stress

About one in four Millennials consider themselves to be “job-hoppers” and expect to have eight or more jobs throughout their lifetime. This isn’t always by choice; a quarter of them reported that they have been laid off at some point. In the long run, this can hurt their future savings — thirty percent of respondents say they haven’t stayed at a job enough to set up a retirement plan — and it can hurt employers’ bottom line too as they work to combat increased turnover.

Companies looking to increase hiring and retention can take a look at what Millennials feel is missing from their current job: A positive work/life balance. Offering benefits and enforcing a culture that supports a better work/life balance may be the key to Millennial employees hearts. Other perks like financial wellness programs, education savings plans and family leave benefits can help boost retention and attract top talent.

According to Ilyce Glink, CEO of the financial wellness platform Best Money Moves and author of a dozen books about money and real estate, says that while Millennials are pushing through their uncertainty over money, they’re also pushing their employers to be innovative around the issue of financial wellness.

“For a long time, companies assumed they were ‘ticking the financial wellness box’ simply by providing a 401k plan, perhaps even with an incentive like a matching program,” Glink explained. “But Millennial employees’ sophistication around financial wellness is growing and as the unemployment rate is at historic lows, companies are looking to increase benefits in this space to meet their employees’ needs.”

Why You Need to Train Employees for Future Tech

by LizStevens | Nov 6, 2018 | Blog

Why you need to train employees for future tech. Upskilling helps them meet the rapidly developing technology that your company will inevitably implement.

Why You Need to Train Employees for Future Tech

Ninety percent of executives say they pay attention to employee needs when introducing new tech, but half of their employees disagree, according to new research by PwC. It matters because more than half of employees are going to need significant skills training by 2022, according to The World Economic Forum.

The good news is that employees are willing to spend up to two days per month on training to update their digital skills if their employer offered it. Effective, efficient training programs are going to be critical for companies that want to keep up with developing technology while retaining good people.

What drives employee’s interest in advancing digital skills? Almost 40 percent of employees are likely to adopt new tech if it helps them advance their careers or gain status, through promotion or other recognition. For more than 30 percent, it’s curiosity and the promise of better efficiency and teamwork that drives their interest in advancing digital skills.

Conversely, almost a third of employees prefer individual achievement within a predictable environment. They like to stick to established routines, which means they’re least likely to see the importance of digital skills for their work. Additional communication and training might make this segment of employees more amenable to new tech.

What Employers Should Consider Before Adopting New Tech

Before adopting new tech employers should first consider what work is like for employees. Direct feedback from employees can pinpoint exactly where technology can improve the process. A range of employees from all levels and departments should play roles in the planning, selection and design of technology tools. Employee involvement makes them feel valued and can get them invested in the new tech so they’ll be less resistant when it’s rolled out.

“Enterprises aren’t so much falling behind as struggling to keep up with what’s next,” the report reads. “With companies’ near-continuous deployment of new applications, Intelligent Robots Process Automation, and more, employees must quickly master sophisticated new skills, too. And the pressure on companies and individuals to keep up will only intensify: the rise of artificial intelligence will soon make even the most tech-savvy in the workforce look for ways to stay relevant.”

More On Employee Training, Upskilling and Management Practices

Hiring Trends to Watch in 2020

Why You Need to Train Employees for Future Tech

Top 10 Employee Benefits for 2020

2 Simple Strategies to Improve Office Culture

Is Rehiring a Former Employee a Good Idea?

How to Improve Gender Diversity in the Workplace

How to Make Traditional Work Better for Freelancers

Office Dress Code Policies in Today’s Workplace

Top 10 Workplace Etiquette Rules for Communication

Building Office Culture with Diversity and Inclusion

How Do You Improve Employee Retention?

by LizStevens | Oct 30, 2018 | Blog

If you want to know how to improve employee retention, you need to know why employees quit and Work Institute’s exit interview gives you a great place to start.

The vast majority of employees who quit could have been retained, according to Work Institute which conducted over 234,000 exit interviews.

Roughly 30 percent of employees will leave their jobs in 2018 to work somewhere else. “Employee turnover is anticipated to hit record highs and cost U.S. companies more than $600 billion in 2018,” Danny Nelms, President of Work Institute, writes in his introduction.

From 2009 to 2017 the unemployed persons to jobs ratio fell from 7:1 to 1:1. The national average for open jobs has seen an inconceivable 141 percent increase since 2009. Work Institute expects the number of employees leaving their jobs to increase as involuntary turnover will continue to decline (by 25 percent over the next two years).

Why Do Employees Leave?

A lack of career development was the most common reason employees left their jobs in 2017 (for the eighth consecutive year). More than 30 percent left their jobs because of the type of work, either because they wanted to change industries and do something different or because they found a better opportunity. Over 20 percent left their jobs because there wasn’t a chance to acquire new skills, or because promotion and advancement didn’t seem possible. Almost 20 percent left their jobs to go back to school and advance their careers, or because it was too overwhelming to balance work and school.

More than 10 percent of employees quit because of a poor work-life balance regarding their company’s schedule, commute, flexibility or travel. In their explanations for their responses employees said their employer lacked flexibility for new parents or those dealing with a family emergency, had them travel too frequently, wouldn’t allow them to switch shifts, or they found a job with an easier commute.

Manager behavior was another main driver for turnover, primarily, for 35 percent of employees a managers unprofessionalism was enough to drive them away. For almost 20 percent it was a lack of support or poor employee treatment. Management behavior that employees took issue with included: supervisors using inappropriate language, yelling at them in public, failing to stand up for their team with upper management, communicating poorly, uppermanagement staff that was either hostile or overly friendly with one another, favoritism and inconsistency in management practices.

Workers also left for their jobs in favor of their own well-being, citing personal issues, life challenges or medical issues. Or because of compensation and benefits, for example, one worker said they left because they had been with the company for 8 years without a single raise.

Other workers left because of unfavorable job characteristics, like being overloaded or underscheduled. And finally, six percent of employees left because of the work environment, most commonly because of problematic co-workers or an unfavorable culture.

What Can Employers Do to Retain Employees?

Employers can use the information from Work Institute’s report to target areas of their organizations that could be contributing to the main drivers of turnover, but they’ll have to evaluate which categories are most applicable to their business. Work Institute notes that each organization has its own unique drivers for turnover, for example, one company loses employees mostly due to relocation and retirement while another company loses them because of job characteristics or compensation and benefits.

New employees accounted for 40 percent of turnover in 2017, almost a 20 percent hike from 2016, giving an area for most businesses to target for improvement. An effective onboarding process has to be a priority for companies looking to reduce turnover. Schedule, compensation and type of work were the top three reasons employees left in the first year. Setting up realistic expectations in the interview and the onboarding process can help improve new hire retention.