HR Industry Brief

Enhancing the employee experience, including engaging them in scheduling, tracking their time off, and managing their benefits is key to attracting and keeping good workers. If you want employees to love and use engagement technology, consider the following steps:

• Look at fixing inadequate or antiquated technology that inhibits productivity. Technology that is confusing, hard to use (for example, because it takes several clicks to get where they need to go on a regular basis), out of date, or disruptive to their workflow, needs to go. At the very least, it needs to be updated.
• Identify and eliminate technology that employees find annoying. Just ask your workers and you will likely get an earful about this. Use these insights to prioritize changes.
• Think about ways you can delight workers with state-of-the art systems and great technology that significantly improves their employee experience. Be an early adopter to impress your workers, especially … [Read more...] about (3/25) What Is Employee Experience Technology?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking public comment on specific topics related to COVID exposure and safety in healthcare settings. Toward this end, the agency will hold virtual hearings beginning on April 27. Elsewhere, written comments may be submitted as well. OSHA is expected to use some of this information to develop a permanent standard. Among the topics OSHA is seeking input on:

• How a future standard should/would define when someone is “fully vaccinated” and whether current requirements should relaxed or changed based on vaccination status.
• What impact new and emerging variants might have on rules and guidance.

Last week President Biden signed the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, a bill designed to help reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, and mental/behavioral health issues among healthcare professionals. Among other things, the bill will:

• Establish grants for employee education, peer-support programs, and mental and behavioral health treatments, with top priority going to healthcare providers.
• Create grants for healthcare profession schools, academic health centers, and other institutions to help train health workers about suicide prevent strategies, as well as how to address/prevent burnout, mental health conditions, and substance use disorders.
• Help identify and disseminate best practices for suicide and burnout prevention among healthcare professionals.
• Establish a national evidence-based education and awareness campaign to encourage healthcare professions to pursue support and treatment when they need … [Read more...] about (3/23) Healthcare Professionals’ Mental Health, Job Satisfaction Focus of New Law

Considering what you and your teams have been through in the past two years, panic attacks may be more common than you think. The American Psychological Association defines this condition as a “sudden surge of overwhelming fear that comes without warning and without any obvious reason.” Signs might include shortness of breath, chest pain, weakness or dizziness, sweating, and/or pounding or racing heart. If someone experiences a panic attack at work, the following advice might help:

• Breathe deep and slow. Put your head between your legs or breathe into a paper bag.
• Use mindfulness. Focus on your breathing and the present. Tell yourself, “This too will pass.”
• Visualize a happy place where you are at peace.
• Repeat a mantra or favorite work or phrase. Close your eyes and focus on the words. Breathe slow and steady.
• Take a break. Walk outside, get a cup of tea, or do something else that will remove you from the situation. The … [Read more...] about (3/22) Managing a Panic Attack at Work

A sense of belonging is more than just a “feel good” concept. In fact, studies suggest that employees who feel like they are key members of a team and connected to their colleagues are more likely to stay and be productive. Want to create a sense of belonging? Consider these steps:

• Build a diverse team. Think about focusing on “culture odd” instead of “culture fit.” Who will bring something new and unique to your team but share your values? Who can help fill existing gaps in skills, knowledge, experience, etc.?
• Ensure team cohesion. Clarity is the key here – having clear roles and decision-making processes. Recognize the personal attributes that each team member brings to the organization. Encourage collaboration and establish parameters that help everyone understand their role and how it connects with everyone else’s.
• Stop distributing power just to the dominant group. Train your teams and your managers about unconscious bias. Create a culture … [Read more...] about (3/21) Why You Need Diversity and Inclusion to Create ‘Belonging’

Hiring continues to be a major challenge in health care and other industries. According to leading recruiters, these tips can help:

• Write a detailed job description. Highlight tasks, responsibilities, and opportunities that will appeal to potential employees. However, don’t exaggerate or misrepresent the job.
• Leverage online job sites and other platforms. Know where the people you are seeking to hire are looking for jobs. Before you invest any real time and money, do your research. Where is your competition advertising? What are they saying to attract workers?
• Make use of employee referrals. Encourage your teams to refer qualified candidates to your organization. Incentivize them with gift cards, cash, time off, and other rewards for their efforts.
• Recruit at local schools. Take advantage of area pools of potential job candidates.

A new survey confirms that burnout and stress are causing nurses to leave their jobs. In fact, more than a third of nurses say they plan to leave their job by year’s end; and they say burnout and stress are the main reason for their departure. Among other findings:

• Next to burnout, the most common reason nurses cite for leaving their jobs are pay and benefits.
• Higher salaries are the leading reason for taking a new position. Nurses also say they’re attracted by greater flexibility and opportunities for advancement.

• In Texas alone, 58% of offers to nurses included a sign-on bonus in 2021.
• Sign-on bonuses doubled in a year from an average amount of $5,800 to $10,700.
• These bonuses seem to be effective, as candidate rejections after an interview decreased 28% in the last year.

Technology can make recruiting easier and more time-efficient…if you identify and implement targeted tech to solve your problems and meet your needs. Here are a few hot offerings:

• Recruitment marketing software. This technology can help you automate the distribution of job postings and enable their use on various platforms, better target appropriate candidates, and measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
• Applicant tracking systems. This automates a number of workflow steps, including background checks and interview scheduling. It also enables a shorter recruiting cycle and helps avoid unconscious bias.
• Recruitment CRM systems. These create a pipeline of candidates and helps maintain relationships with promising applicants.

• Clean up your current recruiting processes and systems.
• Ask for a demo.
• Think ahead about where … [Read more...] about (3/16) Recruiting Technology: What It Can Do and How to Choose It

Everyone has biases. The good news is that there are some important steps managers and other leaders can take to get bias – even unconscious bias -- out of the hiring process:

• Give leaders the tools, skills, and resources to be self-aware.
• Remove certain information from resumes: age, name, gender, and origin.
• Educate everyone who is involved in the hiring process about bias.
• Encourage leaders to examine their own mindsets and the beliefs that helped shape them.
• Have conversations about the value of diverse opinions and backgrounds.
• Put the focus on job competencies and specific knowledge, skills, abilities needed to be successful.
• Get diverse perspectives on candidates and the hiring process.
• Use an assessment instrument with candidates before the in-person or video interview.
• Create a job benchmark for each role. What is necessary to be successful at that job?
… [Read more...] about (3/15) 16 Ways To Remove Unconscious Bias From The Hiring Process

A boss that micromanages their team may mean well, but it most frequently comes across as controlling and a lack of trust in workers’ ability to do their jobs. As a result, productivity and engagement can suffer. If you have a micromanaging boss, there are a few steps you can take to make the situation more tolerable:

• Work to build trust. Let them see what you’re doing and the results you’re achieving. Seek their input on how things could be done differently or better. Explain your reasons for doing things the way you do. Share and listen.
• Calm them down. Try to understand what may calm an anxious, worried person who has a lot of their shoulders and is concerned about the possibility of errors or problems. Remind them of how your team is following specific protocols and procedures. Tell them how you’re preparing for a survey or implementing quality improvement efforts.
• Be proactive. Let the boss know how you’re planning to tackle projects ahead of … [Read more...] about (3/14) 3 Ways To Manage Your Micromanaging Boss