How to assist your colleague during their challenging times

We always say that it is good to separate work from personal issues, but we also know and understand that it is not always possible. While handling Human Resources must be an objective approach, we must always remember that we are still handling people. It is good to strike the correct balance between empathetic, yet objective.

These are things you could help your employees going through a tough time. 

SETTING YOUR CULTURE RIGHT

If you think that your colleagues are going to approach you to share their problems when you have been nasty throughout the entire year, you’re wrong. You might even be the last person that they want you to be aware of their personal issues.

You must start it right by being seem as approachable and making the extra effort to be approachable and non-judgemental. By constantly engaging your peers, it will also be easier for you to take notice when you know that something is not right with them and you can approach and then lend your listening ears.

LISTEN AND SET THE CORRECT TONE

When someone is sharing their challenging times with you, you should not be asking too many private questions that one might be unwilling to share. You might want to give them the opportunity to share with you, if you’re willing. Do not be quick to provide advice or solutions – they could just need a listening ear.

SHOW YOU CARE

Not about your business, or your daily operations – but about your colleagues. Imagine after hearing about their personal issues and asking them “I understand, but how will this help you focus at work?” – how would your colleagues feel?

The questions you can ask could be “How can we assist or support you during this critical period of time?” to show you care more about their feelings and understanding what their thoughts process are.

Do your follow up with your employees if you know they are going a tough time. Conversations like this is not concluded over one time. Remind them you are available to listen when any more issues happen.

BE OBJECTIVE

The rule of the thumb is still not to be over empathetic. You would want to clear about your company policies and understand any restrictions before over promising or committing yourself to their recommendations. If you need to check and get approval, you can explain you’ll need to check before committing. You would not want a situation where you promise and not deliver.

How do you retain good employees?

There is a higher turnover rate in the market now. Employees are becoming less engaged and are constantly looking out for something better – Be it better prospects or because of poor management.

There is an increasing need to retain good employees and to understand what the employees are looking for. These are some tips to improve your retention rate.

COMMUNICATION

The more communication there is, the better. It is one of the simplest form of engagement and employees would feel that they are valued and matter to the Company when the management takes some time off their busy schedule to have the meet up with them. When there is frequent feedback, employees are clearer on their roles and accountability, and can understand how they are performing.

Communication can also be in the form of outside work, when a manager care about their personal matters as well. The personal touch is what employees really value. 

FOCUS ON STRENGTHS

Generally, people want to feel good at what they do. They want to feel that they are being valued. Mangers who emphasize on employee strength instead of their improvements help employees build confidence and this enhances productivity at the work place.

PATIENCE IS KEY

Being in the highly competitive society, one would always stop and consider on whether is one doing well compared to other peers. You get competitive or would feel unjust when one person who have graduated with you has attained a higher position in her individual’s career. You start to wonder if your career progression is too slow.

At times, you wonder if what you are doing is enough or whether are you in the right company who recognizes your effort enough? Generally, the higher your expectations, the greater the fall when it is not met.

Generally, it is important you enjoy the journey and not the destination. We should all learn to appreciate the small progression and strides we make during the climb of the corporate ladder. Because no matter how fast your peer’s progression is, it takes time and it will consist of multiple attempts and failures.

PATIENCE IS GOOD WHEN YOU HELP IN PROCRESS IMPROVEMENTS

When you feel that the current system is too slow or too many steps, and you seek to create process improvement, this is good, and this can help you with your career progression. Let your impatience question process that are inefficient and ineffective, be it whether your direct change or you could engage a productive conversation with someone involved to make it more effective at work.

PATIENT IS BAD WHEN YOU ARE IMPATIENT WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES

Doing follow up to remind your colleagues on tasks they need to complete is good, if you are not a nag. People generally do not like working with people who are impatient and are constantly sending chasers for an update.

As much as you want to attain your deliverables, you should plan your deliverables where there is enough time for your co-workers to do something and communicate to them on when is the deadline. If there is no submission, then should proceed to enquire and follow up.

PATIENT IS GOOD WHEN IT MAKES YOU PROACTIVE

If your colleagues are not able to deliver what they are expected to, it will be good if you focus on what you can do and help in comparison to when you are waiting for the deliverables, which in turn affect your performance.

It is also good if you are eager to help another colleague out as well, when you know the other colleague has a lot of tasks assigned. Being proactive helps you to learn and progress as an individual. It makes you constantly challenge yourself, and eventually lead to a better you.

It really reflects well if you go ahead and ask your manager on whether are there anymore responsibilities you can take to learn and progress with the Company, instead of asking your manager on when would your next promotion be.

PATIENCE IS BAD WHEN YOU ARE PROGRESSING WHEN YOU ARE NOT READY

You must set reasonable targets, because there is no way of getting a progression when you are merely 6 months into the job, or getting a pay raise. You might have heard from your other peers that they have attained the progression, but you must remind yourself that you must EARN the progression by showing you are ready to progress into the new role.

It is most definitely better when you take on the role only when you are ready, if not you will just be taking the role with more responsibilities and not be able to deliver to your stakeholders.

Mistakes to avoid making on your first day of work

You have just recently changed your employment with another Company. The day before you commence your work, you would get the butterflies and anxiety wondering how your first day of work will be.

You ask yourself if you should just be yourself, or should you be friendly. You pause and then think to yourself what if they think I am overly-friendly? Would they have their own usual lunch gang? You start to worry.

Here are the following tips to making your first impression at work

ASK QUESTIONS

You’ll likely be asking your new colleagues about questions at work instead of their own personal life on your very first day. This would be the most interaction that you would have with your new colleagues. It is most definitely all right to ask questions as jargons could be overwhelming an intimidating. If you are concerned that it will make you look stupid, then you will really end up being stupid because even the most experienced people ask questions – which shows you are curious enough to learn.

Secondly, do not even apologize for asking questions. It will just appear very negative to your colleagues. Instead, you can thank them for their time. This will allow you to start on a good start with your new colleagues for appreciating them.

BEING SITUATIONALLY READY

If you feel you are still too shy to ask too much questions, or if you feel that your colleagues or managers are always unavailable because of their tight schedules, you can ask them to divert you to someone who is more readily available to share information with you, or resources. Therefore, onboarding process is crucial for new hires.

ATTENTION YOUR EMAILS ONLY TO THOSE WHO NEED THEM

One of the most annoying thing is clearing emails, obviously. One email do not have to be copied to everyone. Generally, your emails should only be send to someone who you are expecting a response from. The others in copy of the email are basically kept in the loop but need not respond.

If you are replying emails, keep it short but not too short. You do not need to type paragraphs to convey a message across, but it need not just be “noted” as well. Take your time to understand how your email can value add your colleague’s time.

FORGETTING PEOPLE’S NAME

It is perfectly all right if it’s your first day and you forget people’s name. It will not be all right if it is after a week. Secondly, if people correct you with regards how to address them – it will be good to have an apology although you might be embarrassed. People will appreciate that.

PRETENDING TO KNOW YOU KNOW A LOT AND PROVE YOUR OVER CAPABILITY

If you are tasked to do an assignment, it is all right to ask for guidance. What bothers is when you agree to complete to do the tasks, but has clearly taken the wrong direction to complete the tasks. That will be a waste of everyone’s time.

If you share that you are unsure of how to complete the tasks, it shows you are courageous, honest and able to identify your personal strengths. It is also important you understand your flow of work and understand how your work can affect your colleague’s deliverables as well. It is fundamental for you to understand the rationale and the roots of why you are doing what you are doing.

If you are overloaded, talk to your boss about it and assist them to help you prioritize what is more important to complete. Making mistakes and knowing your limitations will help your colleagues respect you better. If you have made a mistake, it is important you acknowledge it rather than hide from your mistakes. Acknowledge the mistake and keep moving forward.

Interview Questions invading personal space

While most candidates walk into an interview expecting to be asked to ask questions like "give a brief description of yourself", "tell me about your weak and strong points", or "why do you think you should be hired for this position", but most of the time an interview is more about that.

Interviewer might ask awkward questions during the interview that could have made interviewees uncomfortable. These questions mostly revolve around one's personal life and could be seemed as unrelated to the position that they are applying for.

Candidates often feels discomfort when being asked these questions due to the tone that the interviewer might have sound offensive or they are being caught off guard thinking that these questions are irrelevant to the interview.

Companies are now hiring employees not only based on their education level, they are looking for someone to join their company and is able to commit and perform together with the company on a long-term basis. By asking about questions that are out of the norm would allow the interviewer to understand where the candidate is coming from and whether they are fit for the position even better.

Questions like these can range from those related to your family status, religion, lifestyle to even personal habits.

Studies show that most candidates (40%) choose to answer the questions in a sensitive and tactful way. About 30 percent choose not to answer such questions, 20 percent gave their honest respond towards the questions, and the remaining 10 percent just walked out of the interview without responding. 

Candidates are encouraged to respond in a polite way indirectly, for example if being asked about whether there are plans of expanding your family, you can reply politely by saying "not anytime soon".

So, for candidates who are preparing to go for an interview, they should not resist answering questions that might be awkward to them. There is always a reason to the questions that is being asked by the HR, instead of being caught off guard when being question, take some time to prepare yourself for these questions on top of the norms.

Creating a learning culture

As the Chinese proverb states, "Learn till old, live till old", no matter how old one is, there is always more learning or studying left to do.

Corporate Executives are empathizing on the ability an employee is to adapt in the rapid development in the current workforce. Employees on the other hand, are continuously trying to learn and grow while being on a job. The opportunity for training and development has become one of the most popular benefits that candidates are looking at when looking for a job.

Research shows that as technology advances, approximately half of the jobs available in the market will be automated, thus emphasizing the importance of employee's learning to keep up with the advancement. 

Even though organizations understand the concept of encouraging constant learning, but it's often the execution part that is tedious. In order for companies to create an effective learning environment, one can consider taking these few steps below.

Skills VS Conduct

Skill is usually teachable to individuals be it online or offline and could be assessed later. This can be done by conducting lessons or workshops to teach employees with the skill required and conducting a test after to measure their level of understanding.

Whereas conduct which means how one should react when faced a situation, which is difficult to be taught as it everyone already have different approach when dealing with different situations. Instead of commanding your employees to behave in a certain manner, one can emphasis on the importance of why the behavior should be implemented.

It's about the Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (KSAs)

In order for learning to positively influence the culture, organizations should encourage employees to improve on their Knowledge, Skills and Abilities.

Different individuals take different duration to adapt to absorb the new skill that they are impart with, it will definitely take some time to put the skill to action. After employees managed to incorporate the skills they learnt, it will eventually become their habit to act in the way that was being taught.

Be encouraging

Managers should take lead and show others that they understand how the learning culture operates and why it is being implemented. Top executive should make sure that the objectives of learning are synced with the business goals and encourage employees not to be afraid when faced with failure as it would just be a part of learning and growing with the company.

Communicate

Each individual in the company should be reassured that the value of learning is not only beneficial to the organization but also to themselves as well.

By putting up posters or sending notices to employees might not be the best way to convey the message to them, HR department should actively engage employees to share about the philosophy about learning and encourage more opportunities to grow.

Customize your platforms

Currently there are many learning materials available that can be bought off-the-shelf to be used for in-house training. They might be good enough for a basic training but there is no such thing as one size fits all, in order to make sure that it is suitable for your organization, they can be customized to meet your company's needs.

Take time for feedback

Feedback might be deemed as tedious, but it not only determines the effect of training held, it also provides information of how you can keep the management up-to-date. In the long run, such feedback would allow you to be able to measure the amount of impact of different aspects of the business on top of just the knowledge and performance.

Experiment with what you have

If the turn up rate of a certain workshop is not what you expected, review to check if the topics are relevant or take a different approach.

If the approach of doing the workshop offsite is not showing results, try doing an in-house workshop. Let your employees choose a way that fits them best.

Organizations need to deduce on the most effective way to convey the new knowledge. There must always be a balance to learning as well, do not flood all the workshops at once, take your time and enjoy the journey while trying to change the culture.

Handling your corporate work as a working parent

In the current society, it's common for both parents to be in the working force. Being a working parent can be very stressful both emotionally and physically, especially when your child is unwell.

You will most probably be at work worrying about your child's condition while be in a rush to cover duties at work in order to hurry home and into your child's arms. In order to have a balance between work and your family, you can make a couple of strategize steps stated below.

Acknowledge and be prepared

Studies shows that small children tend to get the cold and viruses 8-10 times per year, thus you have to acknowledge that your child might be ill on an average of once per month or two.

Be prepared, have someone on standby mode to be ready to take care of the kids, be it a babysitter, your spouse or even your relatives. The more realistic your plan is, the easier to handle the situation when it occurs.

Notify beforehand

Let your employer and colleagues be aware of the kind of flexibility you would be requiring, for example "if your child is ill, your babysitter would only be available till 2pm, and you would be required to cover their shift after, will have to work from home and only be contactable via mobile." Make sure that the company is comfortable and supportive with your arrangement in order to ensure that everything at work is not delayed.

Be in Control

Plan your backup plan ahead of time and make sure that all aspects of the plan is working to avoid any last-minute hiccups. Ensure that your caretaker knows what he/she is supposed to do and what not to, from the type of medicine to be taken to the special cases like allergies. In the case if you are the caretaker and has to work from home, make sure that you have access to all your resources needed when you are out of the office. It's also good if you could prepare a bag of your child's necessities to be ready to hand them over to your caretaker when needed.

Plan your finances

The cost incurred for childcare is high and can be taxing to a household. List down the things that you might be paying for during a situation and start allocating funds into an "emergency fund" so that you do not have to worry about the finances when the time comes.

Gather support from your company

If you will be working from home, make sure that you are not misusing the goodwill of your company. Ensure that you are still contactable and responsive on email and calls even though you have to factor in the time to look after your child as well. If your child is down with a health issue that requires longer recovery period, notify your company immediately in order for them to have ample time to make suitable arrangement for you.

Make your child feel better

Your child is already feeling grumpy and irritated when they are unwell, do not show them that you are also annoyed by the situation. Assure them by letting them feel that daddy/mommy has everything under control, or at least that you are doing your best in the situation. Making a big fuss out of the situation will only make the situation worst and always remember the reason of working is to provide for your love ones, keeping the situation all in control will benefit both your family and the company that you are working for in the long run.

Building a Successful Company Culture

Empathy, a common word but also often a skill that companies might not practice. Employers should be aware of own's and employee's feelings, needs and concerns. Research has shown that being empathetic helps boost morale, reduces misunderstandings and disputes while building a long-lasting relationship all together. 

To practice empathy in a workplace, one has to take note of the following points.

Be attentive

It's human nature that we usually forget to consider how others are feeling, which is usually the reason why misunderstandings and disputes happens creating a stressful working environment. One needs to take time aside to understand each other's feelings before passing comments about any issue.

Always be mindful about how the other party is conveying the message, which include their facial expression, gestures or any other factors verbally and non-verbally and revert in a supportive manner.

Lend a listening ear

Listening is one of the key factor to a successful business. Listening to others helps redirecting one's personal goal into those of the team, which would help company's career advancement leading to a successful company.

Staying on the same track

Studies shows that empathy is the most essential factor when comparing to job performance.

Getting to know your employees better helps the company work towards the common goal, resulting in a more efficient working culture.

Even though profit plays a big part for a business but working in a profit oriented company would mean that its success is driven by the expenses of its employees, which will lower their morale and productivity, making them emotionless and always in great pressure.

Employees plays an important role in any successful business, engaging in a more empathetic approach would help boost the productivity to create a more conducive working environment leading the business to success.