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.

Things to take note before sending your Resume

When looking for a position, sending of resume is usually the first thing to let an agency or company notice you. There are some points that candidates often overlooked when sending their resumes which leads them to not being selected in the first round of any interview.

Email Address

Having an informal email address gives the HR an impression of how casual you are, and that you might not be taking the position seriously. So, before you send a formal email of your resume to any HR, do take note of the email address that you would be sending your resume from.

Subject Title

HR personnel is usually overwhelmed with candidates sending them emails of their resumes and do not have time to go through each and every one. Naming your subject title with an appropriate name would help have time for the HR understand the purpose of your email.

Forward Emails

Forwarding emails will make the HR personnel wonder if you are busy that you don't have the time to erase 3 letters from the subject "Fwd:". It also shows the HR that you are applying for various companies at the same time.

Send the Updated Resumes

There are many candidates that send their resume over without updating it to the latest version. Indicating that the resume is up-to-date will help HR understand better about your past experiences and help you look for a suitable position more effectively.

Do a brief introduction of yourself in the email body, a 3-4-line brief description will do. Let the HR personnel know that you are sincere by texting the HR after sending the resume and do a follow up after a few days.

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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.  

Effective Exit Interviews

Exit interviews are conducted on the last couple of working days with the employees and are administered by the Human Resource (HR) department. We should give exiting employees that we are keeping information in strict confidence and they can speak their piece of the mind.

You are not conducting exit interviews to keep the employee nor persuade the employee to retract the resignation. You want to find out on what can be done further to mitigate or reduce the rate of resignation.

Always explain the purpose of exit interview

We need to address to the exiting employee that the exit interview is not conducted to put blame on anyone but to prevent further losses to valued employees. You want them to speak the truth as much as possible to have an accurate assessment or analysis for any changes ahead.

Conduct in private, and must be one-to-one

Never let employee think that you’re ganging up with someone to forcefully question him. More interviews might look intimidating and exiting employee might appear less reluctant in honest speeches.

Have a set of standard questions ready.

You need the information for further assessment and analysis. Set standard questions, however, if you feel that you need the employee to elaborate further, you should write it in where appropriate. The set of questions may change accordingly for different level of employees. You might want to understand a different point of view from the rank-and-file and also the management and executives employees.

Keep all info in strict confidence

As much as you don’t like others speaking behind your back, then do not be the shit-stirrer. No matter what the employees has said, all information should be dealt properly with strict confidence. Assure the exiting employees that information is used for assessment and be used anonymously. This shows the professionalism of the HR team too.

Tabulate all information

If the reasons on why the company cannot detain valued employees and are the key reasons on highlight, you might want to set up a committee from different HR functions to come together to explore possible ways to prevent further losses. Some actions can be acted upon immediately but of course, if there are major improvements to be acted upon, it takes time and justifications to convince the management for approval.

Should you allow the transfer of employees?

Employees always want freedom, and want to have a job rotation to have a learning exposure within the environment. They are increasingly becoming common, but sometimes you might need to question on whether it’s the right move.

There are some things you might want to factor into consideration

Team culture and dynamics

Will the new entrant be a good fit with the current culture of the team? Is the transfer happening because the employee is not performing in one aspect and is requesting for a transfer to explore other areas to excel in. Is the employee requesting a transfer a quitter because he defines himself not suitable for the role or does he have a thirst for knowledge?

These can be uncovered through the current team mates of the person requesting the transfer. It will help you assess his personality and work ethics.

If he is requesting for a transfer because the employee do not feel like he is performing in his current role, more training and adequate exchange of information and feedback could be used instead of a transfer.

Current problems in the current team

Understanding the fundamental reason for the request of transfer is important – especially if you understand it is because of the person they are reporting to. Talking to their peers could also give you a hint with regards to why the request for transfer is happening.

You might want to nip the problem in the bud rather than risk a lot more request for transfers or an increasing in resignation rate.

Conduct Interviews

You will want to ensure that the person work ethics and mindset is like the team before transferring the person to the team. You will want to have a better understanding of the motivational forces behind the transfer, and understand the person’s strengths and weakness would make a good fit for the team – hence you will want to treat the current employee like an external candidate.

You will want to know how have the current employee performed, and to have a proper justification of how are they able to value add to the team. Managers would also want to understand how the person have contributed to his current team, before deciding on accepting him into the team. If the potential employee is really keen on the transfer, the employee should have done adequate homework before attending the interview.

You could also consult the managers the employee is interested in joining. The manger, should also feel potential and to ensure good team synergy between the team members as well as the new entrant.

It’s A Sign – For A New Job!

It is never easy or know to if it’s the right time to move on from your current job. What more if you’re already comfortable in the environment. There are many reasons why people want to stay in their job and probably just for one reason that might trigger the move.

No matter how atrocious the environment is, if your boss values your effort and results, you know you’re putting effort for the right reason. During hard time, human like us, always hope for recognitions and your boss telling you, good job!

What tells you to move on, read on:

Work has no happy moment but dominated by complaints

Every other moment of gathering and dinners (or suppers) if you work late, you just rant and pouring out negative comments about your work. The last thing you want is to complain on and on but to share and highlight about your professional’s lessons learnt and discussions, so that you know you’re gaining new experiences every day.

Bad health symptoms start showing

Your physical health is a good indicator of your mental health too. Bad health symptoms do not show up immediately. It is accumulative, and you do not want to continuous affect you. Keep the balance yourself. Your boss will never tell you to take a break because he might not know your health conditions as well as you do.

You feel you can do more

You have more than what your boss sees and give your stakeholders good advices and offers to contribute more, yet you have been passed over for a promotion. You want to attempt to take up more challenging tasks to prove your You try to find out why, but in turn got shot down by your boss. This might also show that no matter how you contribute, you’ll get null.

No good work-life balance

I’m sure you have bosses who will tell you that work is part of your life. But c’mon, we have our own personal life at home or even out with friends. Spending lesser time with your family and friends due to work is a no-no. Always remember that any organisation can get your replaced if you fall apart, but your family will always be there for you.

Getting abuses

If you are experiencing any sort of abuses, be it verbal, sexual or any illegal behaviour. Do not fall into any sort of such victims. You’re not out there to work to suffer such abuses or insults. Never try to do any preventive measures or corrections, you will eventually be worrying day in and out with any abuses coming along and it will have built on to your mental stress.

Hiring the right person is key for start-ups – But how do you ensure that?

Being a start-up, your usage of resources is fundamental. You always think that the person whom you hire should and most importantly be able to contribute to the success and sustainability of your company. With this mindset, you set out in a search of looking for anyone with the skill set you are looking for.

The right people do not just come along with the right skill set, but also with other factors. You want to hire someone who will help establish the long-term success of your company.

These are other methods you could use to ensure you are hiring the right person for the start up.

Look within

That’s right! You should look within your current new hires. Being part of the team, and understanding the cultural fit – you should consider providing an incentive for your team to recommend someone else to join the team. The person they have recommended should have understood the team culture and the limitations of the company well, for them to provide some recommendation.

This is more important if you are looking to bring someone more senior into the company. Evaluate your current new hires and assess if they are suitable to have been promoted, and allowed to acquire that role.

You can also approach your customers for some recommendations, as they are the proper people who understand your deliverable.

Internship Program

Engage academic institutions to provide you interns. These interns would not just only bring about their academic knowledge and skills, but also about awareness of you as an employer. During their internship, you can assess their interest and skill set.

If there is a perfect fit, then you will be able to have a well-rounded new hire who does not require training.

Target competition

These group of people already have the skillset and knowledge required for the role. Getting your competitor’s employees is the best group to acquire with minimally training cost. However, they might be passive candidates – and if you are worried about face, you can always engage recruitment agencies like us to activate your search for you.

Explaining things to someone who do not get it?

There will come a time, when you will get to meet a new colleague. The new colleague is willing to learn, expressed strong interest in staying long in the company and is determined to prove their performance in the company. You have been assigned to be a mentor, and are accountable for her to adjust to the new environment.

However, repeated questions keep coming and you suddenly feel that the new entrant might not be the most suitable for the role. You really want to help her, but you remain clueless how.

Here’s How.

Understanding the root of the problem

Different people come in with different learning capacity. Some people have a preference over a learning style over the other. It is important that you understand that fact and respect the fact as well. If you feel that your training is not effective, you might want to understand further with regards on how else the person can be more receptive to it. You can instead ask “I understand that you are still experiencing some difficulties with regards to learning. Is there any other way I am able to better help you with?”

Sometimes, the problem could be you. You could have been a terrible person to instruct, or you do not explain to them the rationale of why things are done in a certain manner. If you are a terrible trainer, you could get someone else to do the coaching and guiding.

Training Evaluation

It is always a good idea to evaluate your employee’s training to understand which of the parts of training did your employee understand the best, and which one is not the best. Through understanding that, then you could cater your subsequent training to emphasize on the one that the employee might not be unsure of.

Encourage Questions

The worst thing you would want to do is to discourage an employee from asking questions. If employees are unsure, it would be good for them to clarify by asking questions. If your culture discourages questions, employees would deem what they deem fit which could result in operational errors. With operational errors, you would then encounter all the difficulties to rectify the errors over the long run.