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Shocking Statistics: The State of the Workplace in 2018

Katie Williamson August 29, 2018

2018 has proven to be an exciting year for employee engagement. As we ramp up our efforts to engage and retain more of our workforce, how are we doing?

Here are a few shocking statistics we think you should know about the state of the workplace in 2018 and a number of ways to combat them:

The Shocking Stat:

80% of workers feel stressed on the job.

The Solution: Implement Professional Development Opportunities

While it may seem counterintuitive to add more to an employee’s plate, 48% of employees say that investing in professional development is one of the highest-impact strategies to combating stress that their company can do. Providing opportunities for employees to learn and grow and investing in them as individuals can do wonders for their overall well-being.

Think this seems obvious? Maybe it is, but only 30% of employees say they have someone who encourages their development at work which could be a reason why we’re seeing 80% of the population pulling out their hair.

If you want to do more to encourage professional development at work, start here.

The Shocking Stat:

Of the 5 billion people on the planet, only 1.4 billion have a good job, and just 16% of those are engaged.

The Solution: Offer Competitive Benefits and Perks

Start by considering what makes a good job in the first place. According to 21% of Millennials, a good work environment is defined as one that offers incentives and perks.  Are your benefits competitive? Do your employees constantly stress about their physical or financial health?

Find ways to ease the burden by offering competitive benefits plans and/or a perks program to help employees stretch their paycheck.

The Shocking Stat:

89% of bosses believe employees quit for more money. The truth? Only 12% of employees actually leave for more money.

The Solution: Empower Leadership

If it’s not salary, what is the problem? Studies show that 75% of employees leave their job because of their boss. This could be because 58% of managers today have not received any form of management training.

Professional development should not be limited to lower level employees. Make sure you’re empowering your management teams to lead well. This means focusing on transparency and mentorship among your leaders and again, creating those opportunities for them to learn and grow as well.

The Shocking Stat:

12% of businesses are happy with their current level of employee engagement.

The Solution: Recognize, Reward, Retain

Although 90% of leaders think an engagement strategy would help, less than 25% actually have one. How can we expect to improve employee engagement without setting a real strategy in place?

One of the biggest ways to impact employee satisfaction and retention is with a simple “job well done”. It’s easy to forget to recognize employees’ achievements, but doing so can make or break employee happiness. In fact, 47% of employees say they would like to receive rewards spontaneously.

Creating strategies to reward and recognize employees, like PerkSpot’s recognition program, means making a difference for your employees and your business.

Want to find more solutions for your employee engagement strategies? Chat with us today about how PerkSpot could change the state of your workforce.

How to Develop and Retain High Potential Employees

Katie Williamson August 21, 2018

If you’ve ever led a group of employees, you’ve probably had one or two that stood out from the rest. They were eager to take on new projects and were consistently adding value to the team. These employees are known in the HR space as High Potential Employees, or “HiPos”.

If you’re new to management or HR and are looking to provide more for the HiPos in your organization, here are a few tips to develop and retain high potential employees.

Recognize the Difference between Potential and Performance

The first mistake that many organizations make in developing HiPos is forgetting what the “P” really signifies. Replacing the “P” with performance puts the emphasis on the wrong metric. According to Forbes, “performance is what you do, potential is what you could do.” For this reason, it’s important to not just focus on the output you’re getting from employees, but their leadership skills. While an individual may break sales records year over year, they might not necessarily inhibit the traits needed to manage and lead the team (or even want to). It’s important to gauge their potential in order to know exactly where their skills can take them.

Unveil Their Potential for Growth

Once you’ve identified your HiPos, it’s important to let that be known to them. Too often employees feel undervalued because their managers don’t tell them the potential that they see or opportunities for which they are being considered. If you have employees on your team that you plan to invest in for the future, let them know your intentions and how you view them.

Act on What You’ve Said

It’s one thing to let employees know you “see something in them”. It’s another thing to support these words with actions. HiPos should be rewarded with more opportunities and responsibilities. Invest in their training and development and if possible, create a clear path for success. Show them where you see them leading in the future and the skills they need to develop in order to get there. If you can’t provide a mentor for them within the company, find an outside resource. Too often organizations shy away from providing any opportunities outside of their four walls, afraid that candidates will run. However, the opportunities are always there for them to find. It’s much better to show that you are confident in them as an employee and provide those opportunities for them, and in turn, increase their loyalty to your company.

Recognize Achievements and Reward Accordingly

By now you’ve recognized your HiPos and unveiled their potential. You’ve also provided opportunities for training and development through mentorship and increased responsibilities. The last step is crucial in solidifying everything you’ve done thus far. Recognize their achievements and reward them accordingly! These employees are ambitious and driven, but they also need to stay motivated. Consider a formal recognition program to reward them, bump up their pay, or simply write them a note of gratitude. However you choose to recognize and reward your HiPos, make sure it’s meaningful.

HiPos represent the future of your business. Finding ways to support, engage and retain these high potential employees is vital to the success of your company and the future you are creating. How will you encourage your HiPos this week?

Keys to Developing a Mentorship Program

Katie Williamson August 13, 2018

Employees today crave trust and independence and shake their heads at micro-management. With this new trend comes a greater emphasis on professional development in the workplace. Through a mentorship program, you can provide the guidance many of these employees need and want.

Why Mentoring?

There are a number of ways mentoring can have a positive, lasting impact on your workforce.

  • Mentorship trains new employees or employees stepping into new roles efficiently.
  • Mentorship builds junior employees into leaders.
  • Mentorship provides opportunities for employees to work cross-departmentally, helping them to work more collaboratively and openly.
  • Mentorship contributes to a dynamic company culture.
  • Mentorship improves employee loyalty and satisfaction.

Getting Started

There are a number of benefits that can come from a mentorship program. For that reason, it’s important to identify which of these objectives is the most valuable to you and your business. Perhaps it’s the focus on cross-department collaboration to improve processes. Maybe you’d like to focus on developing junior employees to step into higher roles. Whatever you’re looking to achieve with your program, make sure you define this goal from the start to ensure success.

Not sure of where to start? Try an office survey to poll your employees on where they see the potential for improvement.

Possible Programs

Most of us probably think of one-on-one sessions from a superior to a lower level employee. However, there is more than one way to implement a mentorship program in your office:

  • Group mentoring: one mentor leads multiple mentees.
  • Peer mentoring: people in the same job function mentor one another.
  • Reverse mentoring: junior employee mentors a senior employee (a great initiative for diversity and inclusion efforts)
  • Team mentoring: similar to group mentoring, but with multiple mentors contributing ideas and experience
  • Supervisory: the traditional superior mentor leads junior mentee.

Consider a combination of these different types of mentoring for your workforce. Some of these work better in casual environments and others work better in more structured workplaces. Whatever method you choose, find what works best for your employees. When in doubt, just try it! Your mentorship program should always be evolving, so don’t be afraid to fail.

Market Your Program

Once you’ve established the type(s) of mentorship program you’d like to implement, it’s time to get the word out. Because some people may feel awkward participating, it’s important to cast a clear vision for how the mentoring will work. Make sure leaders in the company are participating and sharing their interest as well. Again, office surveys are a great tool to kick-start the program, whether that means using it to pair people up or even surveying interest in different types of programs.

Collect Feedback

As we said before, mentorship programs should constantly be evolving. Gain feedback after the first month or so and find out where your pain points are. Obviously, no one should feel forced into this relationship and should have a clear way out at any time. There should never be any pressure to participate and if employees aren’t enjoying the process, find out why and make some changes.

It may not be an easy process, but investing in and developing your employees should be a top priority for any business. A mentorship program may be the tool you need to ramp up your employee happiness.

What Culture Is (and Isn’t)

Katie Williamson August 7, 2018

We throw the word around a lot but many of us don’t really spend time thinking about what company culture really means. You may think of unlimited vacation days, ping pong tables, outings with coworkers, or fun office events. These things may be a part of your culture, but is that all there is to it? What makes a company culture good or bad? How do we define what culture is (and isn’t)?

Culture Is… the Feeling Before Work in the Morning

We all get the Sunday Scaries so we’re not talking about a total escape from the actual work aspect of your job. But, the way you feel before work in the morning does speak a lot to your company culture. Do you dread seeing people when you get to the office? Are you overwhelmed with pressure from your boss? A great company culture knows how to motivate you to be your best and gives you work that challenges you in the right ways. It means waking up in the morning with an excitement for what lies ahead and anticipation for your future at the company.

Culture Isn’t… All Play and No Work

Sure, ping pong tables and beer on tap are great and can be a piece of your culture, but they aren’t the true meat behind what makes a company a great place to work. Perhaps you notice that more people seem to be extending their lunches but the number of new projects is slowly dwindling. If that’s the case, you might be in danger of having a sinking culture. What started off as an opportunity to motivate employees has become a distraction and there may be something deeper going on beyond the surface. Maybe these perks are nothing more than workplace traps.

Culture Is… Freedom to Express Ideas and Concerns

True company culture values transparency and honesty in the workplace. You should have open forums to discuss ideas and opportunities to ensure employees are heard. Great company cultures don’t pretend like everything is going well when it isn’t. Great cultures embrace the challenges and find ways to create solutions. They know how to include employees in solving problems and moving the business forward.

Culture Isn’t… Meaningless Perks

There are some crazy perks out there. From breast milk shipping to helicopter rides, not all perks are created equal. That’s why it’s important to provide benefits and perks that will apply to every employee. Culture doesn’t mean adding to your long list of (unused and unwanted) company perks. Provide perks that matter to everyone. Because 48% of employees are worried about their current financial state, providing an employee discount program that puts cash back in your employees’ pockets is a great way to add perks that make an impact for any employee.

Culture Is… Saying Thank You

One of the best ways to create a great company culture is by saying two little words: thank you. In fact, 80% of employees said they are more motivated to stay at a job longer and work harder when they receive appreciation for their work. Cultures with built-in recognition programs know how to reward employees the right way.

How would you define culture and what makes your company culture great?

Fun Ideas for Work Birthdays

Katie Williamson August 1, 2018

We love birthdays at PerkSpot. Maybe it’s because we genuinely love the people we work with and want to celebrate them … or maybe it’s the free donuts. If you’re looking for ways to celebrate your coworkers on their birthdays, we’ve got just the thing for you.

Here are 5 fun ideas for work birthdays:

Sweet Treats

Did we mention that we love donuts??? A classic PerkSpot celebration will always include these sweet treats the morning of the honoree’s birthday. If you work in a smaller office this is a great and simple way to show your appreciation for your employee. And since 66% of employees said they would leave a job if they felt unappreciated, this is no small gesture.

Decorate Their Workspace

Crepe paper streamers and colorful balloons can make any space feel like a party. If you lead the charge for work culture, purchase a few supplies for every team at the beginning of the year with a list of their team members’ birthdays. By delegating, you don’t have to spend every day decorating and you’ll give each team an opportunity to give back to their coworker in a meaningful way.

Send Them Something Special

Wouldn’t it be great if you could give every employee a raise or a bonus on their birthday? For most businesses, that is simply not a reality. But, you can send them something monetary that is both meaningful and timely. PerkSpot’s Rewards and Recognition Program enables clients to send credits to employees for birthdays and anniversaries (or just because) that they can spend on the gift card of their choice. With over 200 brands to choose from, you don’t have to guess at what your employee wants or needs, and can send these credits along with a meaningful note.

Give Them The Day Off

While only 84% of employees actually get paid time off, 32% of them are actually afraid to use it. Give them the day off to spend with friends, family, or just relaxing at home. This is a great way to show your employees that you see how hard they work and know that they deserve a break. They’ll come back refreshed and energized with a new appreciation for where they work.

Make It Personal

Remember the days when people would actually write in birthday cards? Take it old-school and write a special note to the employee, or have your CEO or an executive write one. Spend 5 minutes to think about your employee and their contribution. You’ll be reminded of what a great workforce you have and they’ll be rewarded with lots of fuzzy feelings.

Do you celebrate birthdays at your office? Tell us your method in the comments or share it on Facebook!

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