Candidates and employers alike have been seeing ghosts, but I don’t mean the type that would require an exorcist. Ghosting happens when someone you’re pursuing suddenly vanishes and becomes unresponsive to communication. For a long time, it’s been employers ghosting candidates, despite requests for follow up after an interview. Now, with the unemployment rate so low, candidates and employees have been turning the tables back on employers. So, how do you reduce the ghost sightings?

1. Public Relations

Everyone on your recruitment team should act as a member of the PR team. You are the main point of contact for a prospective candidate. How you treat them will leave a lasting impression since this is their only exposure to company culture. Candidates are in a position to be selective about which positions they select. Display trust, respect and open communication to give them a reason to choose you.

2. Review Your Hiring Process

When is the last time you took a tour through your hiring process? Have you examined it from the lens of a potential applicant? There is usually some room to streamline and eliminate redundancies. There is a growing trend to implement AI and automation with Applicant Tracking Systems that will take much of the time burden away from you. So, you could have more time to give constructive feedback to candidates.

3. Be Real

Not everyone is going to be a great fit for the role you’re trying to fill. Be honest along the process and give feedback where possible. As part of the recruiting team, it is your responsibility to set realistic expectations for both the employer and the candidate. If you ghost candidates and don’t provide them with the respect they deserve, they will speak to their friends. A bad reputation is difficult to overcome.

Why is there an increasing display of ghosting? It could be because employers and recruiters have taught this to candidates as acceptable behavior. How do we deal with being professionally ghosted? From here, we can lead by example, give candidates a reason to want to come back, and don’t forget the human.

Employee engagement directly affect companies’ bottom line. Nevertheless, it is one of the employment topics that has been neglected and incorrectly defined and applied for years. Surveys show that a majority of people lack the innate connection to their job, company or both. The disengaged employees work as much as bare minimum just to get the job done. They are disconnected, produce less, and don’t last long. It’s important to understand what employee engagement is. Employee engagement is not job satisfaction or happiness, it goes beyond that.

Highly engaged employees are enthused to come to work. They are more productive, experience an increased sense of health and well-being, have longer tenure and are committed to the organization and its goals. For the business, this means more success and lower turnover rates.

As the employer, you want highly and actively engaged employees who willingly put more work forth. It takes effort and time to ingrain a culture of organizational engagement, but here are some tips that can help you along the way.

Define your core values and purpose

Know the reason why the company exits and prepare to clearly explain it downward to the employees. Employees need to know the goal and vision they’re all rallied behind. This will help them have a purposeful reason to come to work everyday, care about their work and put the extra effort in.

Don’t underestimate the impact of office space

Carefully designed innovative office space that is tailored to company culture and business goes hand in hand with employee productivity. This becomes even more important when you are trying to attract the millennial population. The functional office spaces that foster collaboration and allow concentration improve employee morale and engagement.

Define employee role clearly

Define employee role clearly so that they understand how their work contributes to the overall mission of the company. From the employee contribution to the department and from the department to the entire company, there should be an unbroken chain defining how critical each employee’s work is to ultimate mutual goals. Employees need to have an understanding of this chain and how they fit in the overall scheme of the organization.

Recognize and acknowledge

Well recognized and acknowledged employees feel like a valued member of the team. Develop programs throughout the organization to execute employee recognition on a regular basis. Examples are monthly reward programs or company points. This will foster a culture of gratitude and appreciation where team members are there to support one another.

Provide development opportunities

Employees who feel they’re stagnating are more likely to check out and explore other opportunities. Focus on those that suit your business model and financial status best. Any opportunity from a seminar to certification programs can serve the purpose. Consider passion projects as an option where employees are personally invested in. These projects will unexpectedly benefit your business.

An engaged workforce ultimately means a bigger bottom line. Remember your business thrives best when everyone in it feels valued and included. Your employees when engaged, will get you something money can’t buy.

 

Check out this great article to read more on employee engagement.

Is your company struggling to find workers? How long have your openings been open? Canada is currently facing a labour shortage. The unemployment rate that we’ve seen over the last year is the lowest our country has seen in about 50 years. So, what do you do when most people already have jobs? A great way to counteract the current skill shortage is to upskill current employees. Read below for ways your organization can upskill workers during a labour shortage.

Prioritize Retention

Keep your good employees. Find a way to keep them engaged in both their role and in the culture of your company. Listen to your workers to seek out deficiencies. You need to know what the problem is if you’re going to be successful in solving it. After all, you don’t want to lose your top talent to your competitor. So, think of introducing flexible schedules, increased leave allowances or employee benefits.

Invest in Training

You’ve already built a team who knows your business. Then, why not train them to be your best asset? You can mold employee skill sets specifically to your business. It allows for better career progression planning. When hiring, focus on finding good cultural match and consider training on the skills you need and know can be learned. For more on upskilling, read A Strategist’s Guide to Upskilling.

Review the Recruitment Process

Take a look at what the process actually looks like. Consider where you’re advertising to attract candidates. Are you looking in the right place? Often we fall into behavioural patterns in recruitment. We get used to the way we’ve always done it. In a labour shortage, creativity is key. So, if your approach isn’t working, change it! Find what works.

Utilize Contingent Workers

Many more individuals are choosing to work on a contingent basis, allowing them greater flexibility. Some statistics suggest that about 30% of the workforce is composed of contingent workers and it’s only expected to grow from there. Can your openings be filled with freelancers, contractors or consultants? By tapping into the pool of workers, your organization may save money associated with the hiring and onboarding process.

Don’t let your business suffer during the challenge to find employees. Be proactive and focus on how to creatively fill your open roles, whether that is to upskill workers during a labour shortage, or working with freelancers. Human Resource Executive has a great article on why Now is the Time to Start Upskilling your Workforce.

Difficult people exist at every workplace. It can be even harder to deal with them if they are targeting you and not a group of employees. Whether they compete with you for privilege and attention, fail to keep their commitments, think they must have the last word or try to malign you in front of your boss, they will affect your job performance and self esteem. If you keep ignoring the situation, it will fester to the point that you will lose your temper and feel miserable going to work every day.

It’s far better to address the situation early on, while you can still maintain objectivity and emotional control. Here are some ways you can proactively defuse the situation and get along to make the work life easier and more pleasant.

Have an honest conversation

Make an attempt, as hard as it can be, to provide constructive feedback and ask for feedback on you own behaviour. Clearly explain the impact the behaviour is having on you and don’t assume the person will suddenly wake up and realize the error of their ways. Share a story that the person can relate to and look from outside as a third party.

Talk to a trusted friend

When you’re being attacked by such a co-worker, it can often be difficult to objectively assess your options as you might be afraid of making the situation worse. Seeking the unbiased opinion of a friend can be a good idea which will also help vent your frustrations.

Discuss the situation with your boss

When you’ve exhausted all other options and you think that the person will not cooperate unless he or she is talked to by authority, disclose the matter to your boss. Suggest to your boss to hold meetings that remind team norms and address some of the conflicts on the team.  A session that helps team members gain insight into one another’s perspective and increases peer to peer accountability.

When you’re dealing with difficult coworkers, there is no question that you’re suffering from the situation, personally and professionally. Approaching the predicament and resolving it is not easy and it takes a lot of energy and courage. However, when you commit to change things for the better, and you follow rational steps, you are likely to see improvement.

 

 

Check out this article to explore more ways.

Mental health in the workplace can be described as workers and managers actively contributing to the working environment by promoting as well as protecting the well-being of all employees. If employees with mental health conditions receive the right support, they can be as productive, involved and purposeful as other employees.

Mental illnesses have an extremely negative impact on company bottom-line, costing billions of dollars in absenteeism or sick days, presenteeism, disability and other benefits and lost productivity. Thus it’s very important that employers recognize the signs of mental illness and help employees strengthen their mental health.

Depression and anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses that affect mental health in the workplace. Like other illnesses, mental disorders are episodic and can also be managed similarly; with prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.

Prevention

Promote mental health by developing the positive aspects of work as well as the strengths of employees. Involve employees in decision making that conveys a feeling of participation and empowerment. Be supportive of a healthy work-life balance by allowing flexible hours where possible and reasonable vacation time.

Diagnosis

Mental health issues can simultaneously result in absenteeism and presenteeism. Observe the length of time that employees are off or sick. On the other hand, keep an eye out on how productive they are when they are physically at work. Since mental and physical health are related, employees suffering from mental health might also be complaining from pains or fatigue.

Treatment

Think of mental health treatment as an investment. Beware of astigmatism and treat all employees equally and respectfully regardless of their mental conditions. Keep all communications confidential. Inform your employees that support is available. Make treatment programs more accessible and provide options, including telephone intervention, for those who don’t want to see a therapist in person.

Rehabilitation

Believe in your employees’ capacity to recover and encourage them to believe in their own abilities which will result in strengthened skills to manage emotional states. Foster trusting relationships that employees feel valued in. 

Mental health interventions should be delivered as part of an integrated health and well-being strategy that covers prevention, early identification, support and rehabilitation. Workplace mental health improvement programs that are based on best practices can have a positive impact on the physical and psychological well-being of the workers and company return on investment concurrently.

 

 

Refer to this article to read more on mental health and astigmatism.