Susan was doing well in her job. She had an eight-hour workday, great friends, a supportive family, good health, and she was paid well. Everyone around her thought she was happy and lived an ideal life.

Susan was well-compensated and appeared to have time to balance her career and personal life. But she was struggling.

But Susan’s life was actually a mess. Her overly aggressive boss thought nothing of shouting at her in front of her colleagues. Though Susan was a good performer, she was constantly anxious about the next time her supervisor would berate her. Though she was expected to work eight-hour days, her boss would call her at any time of the day or night.

Susan began to dread hearing her cellphone ring and was so worried all the time that she couldn’t even sleep. She fretted that her colleagues and friends would lose respect for her, and she lost so much confidence that she couldn’t handle even the simplest of social interactions. Susana began to spend less time with her friends and family, where she would have to put up a brave face, and instead devoted more hours to work, where she could worry freely, obsessing over every detail of her job to the point of compulsiveness.

By most traditional measures of work-life balance, Susan was doing quite well. She was well compensated for an eight-hour workday, and she appeared to have enough free time to balance her career and personal life. But in reality, Susana was struggling. What’s more, her frustrations would not be picked up by conventional measures of wellbeing, because those measures don’t take into account the quality of people’s experiences, nor do they incorporate people’s own evaluations of their lives. Instead, those measures rely on factors like income and number of hours worked, under the assumption that these factors determine the quality of people’s lives.

Beyond work-life balance

When the idea of work-life balance was first introduced, it was a revolutionary concept. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution and its resulting shift to manufacturing work made it possible for employers to require workers to labor longer hours than ever before in human history. In some industries, people toiled 14 to 16 hours a day, six to seven days a week.

As researchers began to study the impact that these long hours had on stress levels, health, and family life, the idea of work-life balance gained currency, and many countries began to legislate limits to the workweek. Most developed nations now mandate 40-46 working hours per week, with a minimum of two weeks per year of holiday/vacation.

The concept of work-life balance has been instrumental in influencing these changes and bringing about an improvement in the quality of life that is assumed to accompany shorter working hours. But the concept is useful only up to a point. Globalization has undermined the relevance of reducing worker hours to achieve work-life balance and has revealed limitations; the most significant is that at some point, limiting hours further is just not sustainable.

France has mandated a 35-hour workweek, for example. But what can the country do next? The workweek can’t be reduced indefinitely, as this has implications for a country’s economic viability and competitiveness. In a globalized world, if workers in one country are unwilling to work for economically viable hours, then businesses will migrate to a country where they are willing to do so. In countries such as India and Pakistan, workers are motivated to work 10- to 12-hour workdays — and this is unlikely to change soon due to the large number of workers willing to do so to move up the economic ladder.

Another problem with the concept of work-life balance is that it takes the number of working hours into account but not the quality of the working experience. A person may spend 35 hours a week at work, but if that worker, like Susan, has an abrasive manager or is in a highly stressful job or one that is not suited to her natural talents, then those manageable work hours are unlikely to enhance her quality of life. Conversely, a person may choose to work long hours because it allows her to progress in her career or to build a social system at work.

Thus, the assumption that reduced hours at work lead to an improvement in personal life is too narrow, and probably faulty. Other factors, such as social support, health, safety, and job fit, contribute greatly to the quality of a person’s life. Since the concept of work-life balance doesn’t take into account these significant factors, it does not provide direction as to how people can actually improve the quality of their lives, except for reducing the hours spent at work. As such, it is not actionable.

The assumption that reduced hours at work lead to an improvement in personal life is too narrow, and probably faulty

How we think about and experience our lives

A more comprehensive concept-one that’s more appropriate for the 21st-century economy-is that of wellbeing, which includes factors that contribute to our experiences and our perception of our lives. Until recently, wellbeing has been seen as an esoteric concept that is difficult to define and quantify. It is most commonly understood as relating to wealth or health, perhaps because of the ease with which these things can be measured.

One reason that wellbeing has been difficult to define is that it means different things to different people depending on what they consider important. To one person, it may mean prosperity or wealth; to another, it may mean values or community involvement or the realization of one’s potential. This is why wellbeing should be measured at the individual level, though it may be aggregated for organizations, communities, and nations. And any measure of wellbeing must be broad enough to incorporate an individual’s own choices and purpose in life while being specific enough to be compared and aggregated to facilitate action that can improve it.

Gallup has developed a wellbeing metric that includes the five key elements of wellbeing: Career, Social, Financial, Physical, and Community. These five distinct factors emerged from research that Gallup conducted across countries, languages, and vastly different life situations. Because these elements of wellbeing are universal, they can be measured and reported on for individuals, organizations, cities, countries, and regions around the world.

Because Gallup’s wellbeing assessment measures these elements individually in addition to yielding an overall score, it is actionable: The assessment gives individuals, organizations, cities, and countries the ability to manage wellbeing by undertaking actions to improve it. If an individual has relatively low Social Wellbeing, for example, she would do well to focus her efforts on improving interpersonal relationships with friends and family.

This can be managed over time. As her Social Wellbeing increases, she may choose to concentrate on Career Wellbeing, for instance, or choose to address both elements by spending time socializing with colleagues and making friends at work. In this way, wellbeing can be measured and managed comprehensively at the individual, as well as government, state, city, or corporate levels, by taking its various components and their interactions into account.

Conventional metrics such as employment status, income, educational level, hours worked, and women’s participation in the workforce are necessary to understand an economy, but they are insufficient when it comes to understanding and evaluating overall life satisfaction. Unless we begin to use a metric of a life well-lived — as measured by one’s own experiences and evaluation — people like Susan will continue to be under the radar, aware that something is amiss, but without an idea why or what to do about it.

The Five Essentials of Wellbeing

For many years studies have been done exploring the demands of a life well-lived. More recently, due to the evolving workforce and generational issues there has been an increasing need to understand how to help our employers achieve a well-balanced life. The elements of wellbeing that transcend the global work environment that differentiate a thriving life not a surviving life are as follows:

• Career Wellbeing: how you occupy your time — or simply liking what you      do every day
• Social Wellbeing: having strong relationships and love in your life
• Financial Wellbeing: effectively managing your economic life
• Physical Wellbeing: having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis
• Community Wellbeing: the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live

Take a moment and enjoy all the gifts you have and it will reduce your stress and only say “YES” to the activities and life experiences that you know you want to do!

 

 

They’re young, smart, brash. They may wear flip flops to the office or listen to IPODs at their desk. They want to work, but they don’t want to work to be their LIFE. These are Millennials a force of as many as 70 million, and the first wave is just now embarking on their careers — taking their place in an increasingly multigenerational workplace. Get ready, because this generation — whose members have not yet hit 30 — is different from any that have come before them. Read the rest of this entry »

While the question sounds like the preamble to a funny punch line, the answer is no laughing matter.

According to an article last week in the Wall Street Journal, it takes many more than most employers think (or at least want to accept.) I repeat – a lot more. The actual numbers are mind boggling.

For example, infographic presented in the Wall Street article revealed that it takes approximately 1,000 online views by candidates to get 100 candidates to complete the application. Out of that, 25 applications are selected for review, and then 4 to 6 candidates are recommended for an interview. When all is said and done, companies may find their one diamond in the rough only after 1,000 candidates view the job posting. If those numbers hold up, it is clear that the impending war for talent is no longer imminent or pending. It’s here today.

Not one to rely only exclusively on hearsay, I was prompted by the article to review 25 jobs posted on our applicant processing system by clients during the last 3 months. The results don’t only confirm the findings presented in the Wall Street Journal but throw up an even bigger gauntlet to challenge employers. The best views-to-applicant scenario was 10 percent. But a more common scenario was as low as 1 percent.

Unfortunately for many companies, as good or bad as those results are, the job search does not always end when the one lonely qualified candidate is identified and offered the job. According to research presented by Talent Function Group, LLC, “the chosen applicant accepts the offer only 80% of the time.” That situation leads to two options – offer the job to your second choice (if there is one) or go back to the drawing board. Neither choice is desirable when a company’s productivity and competitive advantage are on the line and dependent on a minimum time to hire and high quality of hire.

To win the war for talent moving forward, nearly every employer will need to cast the widest possible sourcing net to attract, identify, and hire qualified candidates. In addition, operations and sales managers don’t have the time to waste interviewing candidates who can’t do the job. The competition for recruiting qualified skilled workers poses a formidable challenge for most organizations. Management has a choice: deal with a “resu-mess” which will inundate recruiting and human resource staffs, which are already running lean; or insist on applicant processing automation to build a talent pool of qualified candidates, reduce the time-to-hire, and ultimately improve the quality of employees.

 

Mobile recruiting, in its purest form, is the act of recruiting or engaging candidates on a mobile device. Using mobile devices to recruit candidates includes many different forms and involves many different devices, such as a smart phone, cell phone, tablet, or iTouch. Mobile recruiting can be the use of mobile devices for either the candidate or the recruiter, and it supplements any social and internet recruiting strategy. When making your company’s recruitment strategy, consider the many apps, technologies, and tools that are already out there and developed for the company’s benefit.

Mobile recruiting involves any action or conversation regarding the job search using a mobile device. This could include an app that aids in candidate sourcing or pushes notifications when a candidate applies or schedules an interview, or even reads QR Codes for use at job fairs. According to Mashable, mobile recruiting is on rise in the job seekers mind: 19% of job seekers use mobile devices to search for jobs, but 57% of job seekers would like to use mobile devices to search for jobs. Technology will catch up to the job seeker. While best practice of mobile recruiting is still evolving to candidate behavior, it is clear that companies should have a mobile recruiting strategy going forward.

“For employers, mobile is the new paradigm shift,” states mobile recruiting expert Michael Marlatt.

Tools exist to make the hiring and interview process easy and mobile-ready for the job seeker as well. These include mobile ready web sites, audio job listings, and text message alerts for job seekers who are mobile, active, and on the go. Mobile is especially appealing for this reason. Recruiters and companies can engage job seekers anywhere and at any time. A quick text message for a recruiter to alert a job seeker offers a real-time opportunity to engage. Job seekers don’t have to wait to be in front of a computer to apply, or receive email about a job. Job seekers want to be able to easily research and apply for your position without being tied to a computer.

Creating and executing a mobile recruiting campaign doesn’t have to be expensive. It can be as simple, complicated, inexpensive, or expensive as you wish it to be. Let’s start with easy, here are three budget friendly ways to leverage mobile recruiting:

• Schedule Candidate Interviews via Text. Enterprise text message systems serve as a form of CRM. Make it easy for your Millennial candidate pool by scheduling and communicating the details regarding their interview via text. Offer to send interview location and directions via their cell phone linking to a simple Google Map. Candidates can easily create a route using their Maps app while also having the option to receive directions via emails.

• Make Applying & Research Easy. Your company must be easily accessible on mobile devices. As candidates have more choices – even in this current economic market – it’s important to make it easy for job seekers to learn more about your company, the company culture, and where they could fit in. This includes open jobs and details of what those jobs actually entail. Mobile formatted career sites make it easier for candidates to quickly view information. Also bear in mind that the traditional employee applications take an average of 45 minutes to complete. Using mobile technologies, and a professional profile, the application process can be snap, sometimes even 60 seconds or less. Consider not only the context of employee applications, but also in the context of building a talent community.

 

• Leverage Video. One of my most popular online activities via mobile is viewing video. As more people own smartphones and as smartphones get bigger and better, more and more video viewing will be on phones. Whether live streaming or a 5 minute day in the life video or employee testimonial, companies can leverage opportunities to engage their candidate base using the power of mobile video. Video provides insights into the environment and company culture that we can see and hear creating a lasting impact that goes beyond any job fair brochure.

How do you know if the person you hire should be classified as an independent contractor or employee? Does it really matter? After all, he/she is performing a service and you are paying for the service. Oh, if only it were that simple. Unfortunately, employer liability can be huge when workers are misclassified. Penalties can include years of unpaid employment taxes, workers’ compensation unpaid premiums, reimbursements for work-related expenses and potential unpaid overtime compensation, not to mention liability for not providing employee benefits such as health insurance and retirement. That said, it’s not a problem until it’s a problem, right? If you subscribe to that philosophy, keep reading… Read the rest of this entry »

As the “Generational Guru” and author of Ties to Tattoos, I am often asked how social networking can positively impact recruitment strategies and develop the workforce of the future. Social Networking is a powerful recruiting tool that allows an organization the access to potential candidates that they could not reach before. Proven techniques and tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide support to business’ ongoing efforts to increase visibility with active and passive candidate pools. Use of effective social media channels allow interested parties immediate access to questions related to hiring practices, culture, and positions available. It also answers the important question: What’s In It For Me (WIIFM).

Now, imagine using Social Networking as an internal forum where new ideas are shared instantly, with every employee at every level. Questions are answered in real-time by your knowledge workers and leaders. People down the hall and across the country are brought together to share a common vision. And revenues increase while costs are lowered. That’s the power of Internal Social Networking.

An internal social network that is used as part of your strategic recruiting strategy can expand your talent pool options like never before—it’s powerful and proven. It can work for any employer interested in attracting the next Generation of Leaders.

Take a look at how we used social media strategies to attract 1500 new hires for an Oklahoma Casino “WinStar World Casino” in a town with a population of less and 800 people.

The latest Generational Guru Newsletter went out today! Click here to have a look. In it you’ll find articles on generational issues and other HR and business-related issues, including:

• How to Fire a Client (Transitioning Well)
• Six Diversity Competencies Successful People Share
• Economic Shift: Back to Employee Retention Basics
• Keeping the Keepers

Also take the Strong Life Quiz and find out what type of job best suits your personality!

Finally, enter the Texting Lingo contest and win a $50 iTunes gift card!

To subscribe, fill out the form in the upper right corner of this page.

It’s Okay to Manage Your Boss is the title of my friend Bruce Tulgan’s latest book. I want to personally invite you to check out his weekly video newsletter at http://www.rainmakerthinking.com.

Bruce offers practical strategies for keeping it together in the face of the competing demands of multiple supervisors.

Bruce says:

“If you are like most employees, you answer to multiple bosses — some directly, and others indirectly. You are often pulled in different directions by these competing authority figures with competing interests and agendas. All of them have the ability to improve or worsen your daily work conditions, your chances of getting rewards, and your long term career prospects. And all of them are different.

Under these circumstances, you are the only one you can control. You can control your role and conduct in each of these relationships. You can control how you manage and how you get what you need from these relationships.”

You can subscribe to Bruce’s weekly video newsletter for on-the-job tips in an easy to peruse format.  Enjoy!

Healthcare Changes Will Suffocate Businesses and Jeopardize Attraction of Top Talent

New Healthcare Reform went into effect September 23, 2010 or your health insurance plan’s first anniversary date. On March 1,2011, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act will then go into effect.   And, the bottom line is that many small businesses with 50 or more employees will be greatly impacted.  And, if they choose not to offer benefits because the new plans and revisions will increase premium rates with the providers they will be penalized with a $2,000 per employee penalty every year. If you have 50 employees or more that can be a $100,000 cost and you still will not be able to offer competitive health insurance coverage to your employee’s.

If you decide to bite the bullet and comply with the new changes, you will need to hire a full time HR/Benefits staff to monitor compliance since employers are ONLY allowed to charge up to a max of 9.5% of Adjusted Household Income. For example if you have an employee who is currently covered under “Family” medical coverage who earns $112,000 per year and the monthly premium all employee’s within your company contributes $908 per month, you will be compliant, however; the rest of your workforce under $112,000 will require their monthly contribution lowered to match the new formula of 9.5% of Adjusted Household Income.

It is illegal to ask employees what other members of their HOUSEHOLD earn, it is a violation of our privacy. But if an employer is to be compliant with the new reform and to correctly calculate the monthly premium charge they must now ask. What if their spouse is a business owner like mine? Most business owners will tell you exactly what was declared to the IRS last year, ZERO.

Is it fair to charge more monthly insurance premiums to the people who earn more than those who do not or require them to disclose their personal family income? These changes forth coming are clearly not well thought out on behalf of the employer and the logistical nightmare they face with keeping up with the new laws or the employees who need health insurance coverage but now their employer may not be able to provide as it is more expensive and hard to administer.

As a small business owner and licensed health insurance broker, “The focus of the new law is to increase the number of people with health coverage, not to control costs for small businesses. In fact, small businesses won’t benefit in the least and may have to lay off people to cover increased health insurance costs or cancel health insurance benefits for existing employee’s.  Clearly, the real winners are NOT the employees.”

Here’s a basic overview of the financial impact for small businesses:

1)     Approximate 3-5% increase in cost due to plan design changes

2)     Indirect costs (i.e. pharmaceutical taxes, medical device taxes)

Here’s a basic overview of how employees will benefit in Phase 1 (2011-2013):

• Removes lifetime limits on PPO plans
• Removes annual limits on essential benefits
• Removes pre-existing conditions for dependent children under age 19 (PPO plans)
• Removes cost sharing for specific preventive services
• Increases eligibility age to 26 for dependent children
• FSA contributions capped at $2,500 (currently $3,000)
• FSA no longer includes OTC drugs

Phase II (2014) Employee Benefits:

• Annual limits removed
• Pre-existing conditions for all members (PPO plans) removed
• Wellness incentives increased
• Employer mandate and voucher requirements

How does an employer attract top talent and retain them if they can not afford to offer medical coverage to their “knowledge workers”? Boomers and Traditionalists are very interested in this part of the “rewards and compensation” package when considering a job offer. They do not want to have to work part-time at Wal-Mart as a greeter just to afford health insurance….

What steps can employers take to stay competitive in the marketplace with these new changes?

• Evaluate your employee demographics; determine if the “rewards and compensation” matches the personal needs of your employee base. For instance the younger generation, Millennials are not as concerned with health insurance because they do not need it yet but your “knowledge workers” which are the Boomers and Traditionalists need medical coverage.
• Contact local gyms and nutritionists to see if will offer discounts to your employees so they have an affordable and trusted venue to keep learn about a healthier lifestyle.
• Provide counseling coverage under your health insurance plan so employees have a place to seek advice when life events cause them concern.
• Provide opportunities for employees to work a flexible schedule or telecommute if it is feasible for your business. This provides them the opportunity to be home more and provide care for their children or aging parents and it is good for the environment.

Photo Credit Medicexchange.

Law 1: Employee Engagement is Linked to Discretionary Efforts:

Every employee comes to work every day with discretionary effort that he or she can only volunteer – no employer can squeeze or force it out of them. Getting that discretionary effort from them has been shown to deliver double-digit increases in productivity and profitability, along with significant improvements on other key business value indicators.

Law 2: You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure:

You have surely heard this phrase before, nowhere is it more relevant than in this field of human capital management to measure the highest company expense than this area….We bring lots of scientific and academic rigor to the table when we analyze our business, from financials to supply chain data but when it comes to managing our employees, we deploy too little scientific or mathematical evidence in the way we manage people. Much of what goes in to typical HR departments is focused on salary/benefits and as required by law compliance.

The first step in changing this scenario is actually to measure engagement throughout the organization. Better still, report it by division by leader and location so you only fix the areas that are broken.

Law 3: Your Customer’s Experience Hinges on Employee Engagement:

Have you ever had a bad experience at a restaurant because the waiter was not fully engaged? Of course the food is cold and never what you ordered, especially if you are like me and I need 10 sides of different condiments and sauces for dipping! Seriously, it is impossible to have extraordinary levels of positive, loyalty creating customer experiences if your employees are not highly engaged.

Your employees are the people who greet your customers, talk to them and provide solutions to their needs each and every day. Who do you want representing your company in the marketplace…someone On The Job Retired or a Fully Engaged Employee?

Law 4: Employee Satisfaction Has Nothing to Do With Employee Engagement:

That is not to say we are not interested in having higher levels of employee satisfaction. In fact, that is one of the most vital outcomes of increased workplace engagement. The problem is that so called employee satisfaction is not a driver of engagement. Your office can be full of “highly satisfied” employees, only because they are getting paid the right amount of compensation and you give them time off. But what if anything in benefits and compensation part of their job changed due to the economy? Would they still be highly satisfied..? No, and it would reflect in their performance which is the reason they need to come to work because they believe in their contribution and the work they perform matters!

Law 5: Increasing Employee Engagement Delivers the Highest ROI:

Of all things a company can do to increase key business success such as the customer experience, productivity, retention, profits and safety targets, none deliver the kind of returns, per dollar spent, that efforts to increase employee engagement.

Law 6: People Drive the Numbers:

We all know that numbers drive the business, if we don’t have any money in the bank then no one gets paid and the lights are off. But for most organizations it’s people who drive the numbers. It might be customer service, it might be in sales or shipping – the bottom line is that high performance cultures are completely dependent on engaged employees, and if there is even one department or work group underperforming the entire organization suffers.

Law 7: Behavior Drives People:

People have a much more common “operating system” than most leadership teams realize. Common needs drive our behavior, and the more leadership focuses on those needs, the closer they will be to understanding the drivers of employee engagement.

Law 8: Emotion Drives Behavior:

We may come from very different cultural and ethnic and even different GENERATIONAL backgrounds, but what divides us at an emotional level is fairly insignificant. While it is common in the business literature to see key words such as trust, respect, inspiration or collaboration in relation to what drives employee engagement, it is the universal emotional needs in each of us.

Law 9: Leaders Must Convey Meaning That Connects with the Emotional Needs of Staff:

When senior leaders and managers understand the value of addressing the emotional needs of their staff and have been shown the most effective ways to “connect” with them, the shift in engagement is almost immediate. Employees will have greater clarity on:

• Their specific team targets as well as their own personal roles, goals and priorities
• How their daily work fits into team and organizational goals
• The current status of goal achievement (vs. plan) for themselves, their team and their organization
• How much they are valued for the contribution they make
• Their career development goals and their plan to achieve them

Law 10: Corporate Culture Is Essential to Workplace Engagement:

Whenever I work with companies, they are anxious to get my list of tactical steps to increase employee engagement so they can begin implementation. Unfortunately, tactical actions, no matter how many or in what combination are not enough to create a truly sustainable high performance organization. Sustainable change and improvement can come only through sustained (consistent and repeated) behavioral norms that are congruent with organizational core values, missions and vision. I do not mean the words that are posted on the company website or the walls of their company break room. I mean true values that each employee believes in and they understand how these values create the mission of their company.

In closing, or Law 11, the most important, your competitors do not have your “Secret Sauce”, that is your staff! More specifically, how your staff performs, be it in establishing memorable customer relationships or in volunteering the levels of discretionary effort that deliver business value across the enterprise in a way that creates distinguishing competitive advantage!

Photo Credit Bruce Markow, Lone Wolf Librarian, and Little Space.