Joanne Kaldy

Workers have higher expectations regarding job offers, according to a new survey:

• Survey respondents say they are much more likely to say they expect to get at least one job offer in the next four months, compared to last summer.
• The average expected annual salary offer went from $54,646 in July 2020 to $57,207 this summer.
• Slightly more people (24%) report looking for a job in the past four weeks than a year ago (19.6%).
• Transitions to unemployment went from 10.5% last year to 0.4% this year.
• 7% of respondents say they’ve received at least one job offer in the past four months, up from 13.5% a year ago.
• According to survey results, workers are less satisfied with wage compensation, nonwage benefits, and promotion opportunities than they were in July 2020.

A group of researchers looked to the military for insights into how managers and their teams can survive and thrive during difficult times. They reached a few significant conclusions:

• There are three interconnected qualities that characterize effective leaders: approachability and openness, a knowledge of how processes and operations work, and the ability to balance risks to the mission and to the people.
• The most admired leaders build loyalty and trust both before and after crunch period. They take care of people and establish a high level of commitment and loyalty.
• To prepare for and recover from a crunch, good leaders make themselves accessible to the team, master how their organization’s processes work, are obsessed with their team’s professional development, and make mental health a priority.
• During the crunch, the best, most effective leaders set aggressive but achievable goals, understand and acknowledge the costs of their … [Read more...] about (9/14) Managing Through Crunch Time – Without Burning Out Your Team

A new survey shows that many employees are caring for older family members at home, and that this is creating stress and anxiety for them:

• 45% of respondents say they’ve been caring or providing support for an older loved one for more than 3 years.
• 43% of respondents say they are distracted, worried, or focused on caregivers – and not their jobs – 5 or more hours per week, while 20% are distracted at work more than 9 hours per week.
• More than half of respondents indicate that their supervisors were not as supportive as they needed them to be about their caregiving responsibilities.
• 79% of respondents did not have access to any benefits to support elderly caregiving responsibilities.
• 84% of respondents say they’re receptive to the idea of their employer offering resources, guidance, and/or support for their caregiving responsibilities.

Nearly 4 million Americans quit their jobs in June. There are numerous reasons for this, but the pandemic is a big factor. It has triggered new opportunities for workers that that luring them away from their current jobs. At the same time, many are using the changing job market as a chance to retrain, upskill, or reinvent themselves. You can prevent at least some rage quitting with a few steps:

• Scheduling regular check-in conversations. Be as upfront as possible and encourage an open dialogue.
• Show care and compassion. Watch and listen for signs that an employee may be having a hard time. Promote a work/life balance that gives employees time to recharge and energize.
• Show appreciation for employees and colleagues. Days off, flexible schedules, gift cards, transportation assistance, childcare support, and even an encouraging note can go a long way toward showing employees that they are respected and appreciated.
• Be flexible about … [Read more...] about (9/10) How To Get Ahead of Pandemic ‘Rage Quitting’

In a recent survey of front-line healthcare workers, 70.9% report feeling emotionally exhausted and 40% say they have moderate to severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Elsewhere, they identify several key pressures of working during the pandemic:

• Constant workforce and occupational disruption, including working longer, unpaid hours.
• Worries about being able to provide quality care for patients and the toll on everyone of visitor restrictions.
• Being blamed by co-workers when they were exposed to or infected with COVID-19.
• Worrying about people who were unable to get healthcare for other medical conditions during the pandemic because they were reluctant to seek care or because services were cut back and some procedures cancelled.
• A surge in mental illness among patients and colleagues.
• Concerns about being safe at work and worries about bring COVD home to their families.

A new report from PHI offers a snapshot of the direct care workforce in the U.S. Among the findings:

• The direct care workforce has rapidly expanded over the last decade, going from 3.1 million workers in 2010 to 4.6 million in 2020. This workforce sector is expected to add another 1.3 million new jobs by 2029.
• Despite high demand for direct care workers, their wages remain low, with a median hourly wage of $13.56 in 2020 and median annual earnings of just $20,200.
• 44% of direct care workers live in low-income households, and 25% rely on some form of public assistance such as Medicaid, nutrition assistance, or cash assistance.
• Nearly 9 in 10 home care workers are women, and 34% are 55 or older, compared to 23% of the  overall U.S. labor force.
• People of color make up 63% of all home care workers. Immigrants make up 31% of this workforce.
• 81% of residential care aides are women, and 53% are people of color.
… [Read more...] about (9/8) PHI Releases New Annual Data on the U.S. Direct Care Workforce

Diversity training is gaining traction as a key element of employee engagement and retention. Be prepared for the future of diversity training with the following tips:

• Don’t think diversity training is one and done. Nothing you do once is going to have widespread and lasting impact. Distributed learning, learning over time, is known to be more effective. People remember more if information is presented in smaller segments.
• Internal leaders is necessary to create connections and legitimacy. Top-level buy in and the involvement of organizational thought leaders are essential to the success and long-term impact of diversity training.
• Active learning is generally more successful than passive learning. Have learners take action by setting goals, working through case studies, etc. to engage them in learning and help them see how the information impacts them personally.
• Make learning personal. People learn from stories and real-life examples. … [Read more...] about (9/7) Advancing Diversity Training

There is no question that rebuilding your talent pool post-pandemic will be a challenge. But these 5 steps can help:

• Listen to your talent’s needs. You may think you know what’s important to them, but you could be surprised. Base benefits and offerings based on what they want and not what you think they want or need .
• Prioritize skills assessment and training. To start, determine how employees’ jobs may have changed during the pandemic. Then invest in training to help people boost their knowledge and skills to support these changes and take them to the next level.
• Keep pace with wage growth. Average annual salaries are growing, as are minimum wage and benefit offerings. Prepare to keep up with the competition, and don’t assume that things like workplace culture will make up for lower salaries.
• Support employees’ financial wellness. Only about half of employees say they feel financially well, down from 61% two years ago. Staff need and … [Read more...] about (9/6) 5 Must-Have to Win the Post-Pandemic War for Talent

The emergence of the Delta variant as the pandemic was starting to ease, tensions over vaccine mandates, staffing shortages, budgets stretched thin, and disasters from hurricanes and floods to wildfires have people on edge, stressed out, and anxious. It’s enough to move some people into the jerk zone. But it’s important to turn down the heat and create a jerk-free zone:

• Keep it civil. Treating people with respect needs to be a firm and fast rule. It is essential not to be judgmental and to allow everyone to maintain their self-esteem and confidence.
• Disagreement is okay. Conflicts happen, and they are a normal part of work and life. But it’s important to keep it civil and to listen with an open mind to the other side.
• Keep it solution-oriented. When there are problems, address them promptly and directly, while avoiding blame and finger-pointing. Look for root causes and system-related issues that led to the problem.
• Don’t ignore the … [Read more...] about (9/3) Jerks No More

Want to know why your employees are leaving and what you can do to keep them? A new survey gets into the minds of workers, and this is what they’re thinking:

• Nearly half (47%) of 2,000 survey respondents say they’re looking for a new job that provides clarity and growth opportunities.
• 54% of respondents say they’re looking to change jobs, while 43% say their careers have stalled or slowed down considerably.
• 17% are looking to move into a new job as soon as possible.
• 24% say they lack mentorship, and 21% say they lack clarity about a career path.
• 16% say a decrease in facetime/one-on-one meetings with their supervisors is a key reason they feel that their career is stagnant.
• 38% of Gen Z workers say they’re looking for jobs with greater transparency around job path and development, and 26% of millennials are looking for new jobs, more than 3 times the number of baby boomers who are job hunting.