For many organizations and companies, the winter months are the busiest. With holiday shopping and budgets resetting, this is a great time to add new employees and hire seasonal help, but there is one common problem many face: winter slow down. It can be incredibly difficult for anyone to stay productive in the winter, but keeping your employees productive can be just as difficult.
Continue reading “4 Ways to Keep Employees Productive in the Winter”
With the holidays fast approaching, you may be looking for a way to make some extra money or a new job to help you ring in the new year. No matter your reason for looking, getting a holiday job should not be too difficult. For many industries and companies, this is the busy season, which means hiring extra help to maintain and increase service levels.
As a manager or business owner, retaining employees may be one of your biggest challenges. High turnover rates are costly. Think about the expense of sourcing, screening, interviewing, and onboarding a new hire. Those costs add up and they add up quickly. One of the best ways to avoid those high turnover rates is to get to know your employees.
It’s certainly no secret that when winter hits most of us just want to hibernate. There is less sunlight and the days can just be downright dreary. For most, those things can make staying productive in the winter rather difficult. In order to stay productive during the cold days of winter, you may want to try a few of these things:
When you’re at work it can be difficult to stay active, but by doing this you can keep energy levels up, help yourself stay in a better mood, and stay healthy. Obviously you can’t take a break in the middle of the day to run a 5K, but you can get up from your desk, stretch, walk to the water cooler, or even do a quick cubicle workout. When you stay active, you stay productive.
Depending on where you sit in the office, it could be hard to stay warm during the winter. Whether you’re next to window or far from the heat vent, staying warm just may not be an option. However, staying warm is necessary for staying productive. When you’re cold, you’ll lose motivation to stay busy. So, how do you keep warm? One way to keep warm is to stay active (as mentioned above), but you can also wear heavier clothing or layers, bring in a small space heater, or even ask to switch seats.
Because it’s cold out, you probably want to eat heavy and warm meals, but often these types of meals are filled with sugars and carbohydrates. These foods aren’t necessarily bad, but too much of them will make you groggy and just want to nap. When this happens, you’ll be less motivated to stay focused and get your work done. Instead of eating heavy meals at work, pack well-balanced meals and opt for a cup of tea rather than that sugary snack.
What kind of plans? Well, that’s really up to you. Having plans at the end of a work day or work week can help provide the motivation you need to stay focused and accomplish the tasks you have that day or week. But, also have plans for your life (i.e. goals) can really help you make it through the winter and stay productive. These types of plans provide motivation to stay active, be social, accomplish things, and provide you with a list of things to do.
How do you stay productive during the winter months? We’d love to hear your stories and suggestions in the comments section below!
At Diverse Staffing, we take great pride in our associates and the work they do. Because our associates are so dedicated and productive, we like to take the time to recognize them and their accomplishments. Our Greenwood Recruiting Center launched a new program in August to start recognizing individual associates for their:
Through the Associate of the Month program, Diverse Staffing is able to engage and recognize our most dedicated and talented workers. This month, we’re excited to announce that Pamela Raber received the Associate of the Month award for our Greenwood Recruiting Center. Pamela is a dedicated Diverse Staffing associate who exemplifies excellent work performance and attendance.
When asked about her experience with Diverse Staffing, Pamela said, “Without Diverse Staffing, I’m not sure I would’ve ever had the chance to get my foot in the door with a great company. I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity to prove myself and grow with the company.”
We’re glad you’re part of our team, too, Pamela. Keep up the great work!
No matter how long you’ve been working, whether it’s been a year or 22 years, a career change could be exactly what you need. Maybe you just finished up a new college degree. Maybe you’re ready to fully pursue your passions. No matter your reason for changing careers, you need to know how to write your resume for a career change.
Continue reading “Writing Your Resume for a Career Change”
We’ve talked extensively about employee engagement, but what about candidates? How should you be interacting with candidates? While you may not think it’s important, you need to make a great first impression on candidates. When you don’t make a solid first impression, you aren’t going to capture the right candidates.
Without a great first impression, candidates are more likely to turn away from you and choose a different company. By providing a great candidate experience and making that first impression fantastic, you could end up turning candidates into long-term associates or employees.
From your website to print collateral, candidates are going to read about your company in one form or another. In today’s world, candidates will most likely learn about you from your website, a job posting, an employer review, or a social media site. It can be difficult to manage all of these messages, but it’s crucial to not only have a defined message for candidates, but also a consistent message. Make sure that all of the content you have in various places match your company, your message, and what you offer candidates.
If you’re hiring someone, then you have at least one process in place. During the hiring, interviewing, and screening processes, you could be sending candidates away without even knowing it. You need to review and test these processes every few months to see if there is anywhere you can improve on things. When you have a great application process, a solid interview process, and an engaged onboarding process, you can better attract top talent.
We aren’t necessarily talking about the physical location of your office, though having a great location definitely helps. You need to think about the way your office is laid out—what is visible to candidates when they walk in, and how you will greet those candidates. Having an organized office that is inviting to candidates can help you create a great first impression.
Ultimately, first impressions can be the difference between onboarding a new candidate and not. Make sure you’re creating great experiences.
How do you create a great first impression for candidates? Do you have any tips for others? Leave your stories and suggestions in the comments section below!
When you’re on the hunt for a new job, it can be difficult to stand out. Through your networking efforts and your job applications, you need to be rising above the crowd. But in today’s job market, how do you do that? How do you get employers to notice you and be impressed with what you have to offer? The answer is simple: optimize your LinkedIn profile.
Depending on what industry you’re in, you may find it difficult to find the right candidates or even to retain your best employees. From salaries, to commute times, all the way to employee engagement, there are several factors for employee retention rates. One way to help keep top talent in your workplace is to know your employees.
While there might be a traditional separation of executives and managers from their employees, there doesn’t need to be. By learning what employees like about their jobs, what they don’t like, what they spend their free time doing, and what their career goals are, you can better connect with them.
Here are three reasons why you need to know your employees and make better connections:
It’s no secret that retention rates can affect the activities of your business. From a loss of productivity to the costs of hiring a new employee, high turnover rates have a huge impact on your business functions. By taking the time to get to know employees, you increase engagement and can better satisfy employee needs. Don’t just say hi to employees. Instead, encourage them to communicate with you on ways to improve the work environment and other innovative ideas they may have. Open and honest communication between managers and employees can go a long way.
You could have a star employee and not know it. You could lose that star employee and lose innovation, productivity, and opportunity to grow your company. If an employee isn’t comfortable or feels like they don’t matter at work, then they’ll keep their ideas to themselves. When this happens, it could mean losing out on opportunities to grow, expand, improve processes, and ultimately grow revenue. Instead, talk with your employees, establish communication channels, and put effort into making them understand you are interested in their ideas.
While it was mentioned earlier, opening up communication channels with your employees and getting to know their needs can increase and improve productivity. By knowing your employees, they are more likely to care about the work they are doing, which will increase their productivity. When productivity increases, oftentimes, profits increase. By taking a few minutes every day or every week to talk to employees, you have the potential to see dramatic rises in productivity.
How do you get to know your employees? What are some of the employee engagement success stories at your companies? Leave your stories and suggestions in the comments section below!
When you are preparing for your upcoming interview, you need to think about the impression you are going to make. There are many factors of a first impression and it’s important to know and understand what they are. While it certainly isn’t a fun thing to think about, it’s important to understand that hiring managers will be judging you during your interview. Making a great first impression could mean the difference of getting a second interview and being dismissed as a serious candidate right away.