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Are Annual Performance Assessments Still Useful?

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Survey suggests that employees much prefer regular check-ins to traditional annual reviews. 

Increasingly, employees say that they would much rather have employers do regular check-ins than count on annual reviews to discuss performance and determine raises and bonuses. For instance, in one recent survey, 84% of respondents said that frequent check-ins are important to them. Among Generation Zers, 90% says these face-to-face interactions are important; and 40% of these younger workers say they are very important.  While the annual review may still serve a purpose, it’s important to determine if more frequent check-ins might contribute to employee retention and engagement, especially among younger employees.

New Law Brings PALTC Communities into Disaster Planning Loop

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Emergency preparedness is a constant concern, but new legislation might help.

With summer comes hurricanes, tornadoes, and sometimes floods. Winter can bring blizzards and below zero temperatures. All year long, concerns about pandemics, earthquakes, fires, and other disasters loom large. Preparing for these is a source of anxiety for everyone, including post-acute and long-term care communities (PALTC). However, a new law is good news for our industry. The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (S 1379), signed into law on June 7, elevates skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to the same level as acute-care facilities for power restoration and includes nursing facilities in pre-disaster emergency planning. Overall, the bill is designed to strengthen and improve national preparedness and response, with a particular focus on the needs of special populations such as seniors and people with disabilities.

Adaptive Leadership: The Essential Competency for the Future

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Identify, pursue skills, competencies to thrive and build a strong organization.

As post-acute and long-term care providers continue to move into an unknown, uncertain future, it is essential that leaders do what I call “mirror work.” This reflective effort requires that leaders assess their skills and competencies to determine how ready they are to move organizations into uncharted territory. It requires an attention to developing the critical competence of adaptive leadership.

Let’s begin by defining the term. Adaptive leadership centers around strategies that create the type of change that builds and enables the capacity, at the individual and the organizational level, to thrive. The interventions associated with adaptive leadership build on the past, particularly past successes. This approach relies heavily on experimentation and the integration of diverse perspectives. It takes an investment of time, the utilization of a well-developed strategy, and the willingness to displace, rearrange, and restore entire systems or elements of those systems. The very idea of the kind of shake-up sought by adaptive leadership will make some readers stop right here, as the desire to preserve the status quo drives many leaders and their organizations into inertia.

From In-Your-Face to Insidious: Know Common Workplace Bully Types

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Understand how bullies think to protect employees and your company.

Bullying costs businesses more than $200 billion annually from lowered productivity, higher rates of absenteeism, and high turnover. It is important for HR professionals to understand signs of a bullying personality so that they can intervene as early and appropriately as possible. In addition to protecting your employees and keeping them safe and engaged, defusing bullying can help prevent increased workers’ comp claims, damage to the company’s reputation, potential fines for violating occupational health and safety laws, and legal costs.

Lawmakers Focus on Protecting Healthcare Employees from Workplace Violence

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Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives calls for SNFs, hospices, hospitals, others to have a comprehensive plan to prevent, address workplace violence.

Legislation that would mandate that employers have a prevention plan for workplace violence took a step closer to becoming law this week. The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (H.R. 1309) was voted out of the House Committee on Education and Labor on Tuesday. The bill requires the U.S. Department of Labor to promulgate an occupational safety and health standard that requires certain employers in the healthcare and social services sectors, including skilled nursing facilities, hospices, hospitals, residential treatment facilities, group homes, and federal healthcare facilities (such as Veterans Administration facilities), to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for protecting healthcare workers, social service workers, and other personnel from workplace violence.

How Can You Make Employees’ Benefits Wishes Come True?

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Offering popular benefits can draw talent to your organization like a magnet.

Fully company-paid medical insurance is at the top of employees’ benefits wish list, according to a new survey. Only 23% of employees said they are lucky enough to enjoy this perk, while 59% said don’t have it but want it. Partially company-paid medical insurance doesn’t cut it, as 56% said they have it and only 5% who lack it said they want it. Schedule flexibility and the ability to work from home also made the list of perks employees yearn for.

Lights, Camera, You’re Hired!

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Video interviewing can make hiring more efficient and give you access to more qualified candidates.

Increasingly, as companies shop for useful technology, they are putting video interviewing (VI) software and services in their shopping carts. These high-tech tools enable companies to screen and select job candidates remotely, without paying for travel or dealing with other issues related to onsite interviews. VI primarily comes in two forms: synchronous (used for live interviews) and asynchronous (used for prerecorded interviews). Consider these five points when considering how VI can help your company.

Survey: Employers Could Do More to Support, Protect LGBTQ Workers

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HR can take key steps to ensure equity in the workplace and enable all employees to be themselves.

A new Glassdoor workplace survey suggests that LGBTQ workers don’t necessarily feel comfortable being themselves on the job and worry about the consequences if they are “outed” to their employers. Overall, the survey makes it clear that HR has some work to do in ensuring equity and providing a supportive, safe workplace for LGBTQ employees.

Nearly half (47%) of LGBTQ employees believe that being “out” at work could hurt their career and even result in them losing their job. Nonetheless, nearly two-thirds (57%) of LGBTQ employees said they feel that they are “fully out” at their company, while 43% said they feel that they aren’t fully “out” at work. This is of particular concern, as several studies have indicated that openly LGBTQ workers are happier and more productive than those who are forced or feel compelled to hide their true selves on the job.

Psychological Safety Promotes a More Engaged, Innovative Workforce

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Seven key steps can encourage employees to be problem-solvers, creative decision-makers.

A growing number of organizations see a culture void of finger-pointing and fear as essential to innovation and employee engagement. As far back as 1990, researchers suggested the value of the ability to be open and honest without fear of negative consequences. This concept, known as “psychological safety,” encourages workers to take risks, share ideas, and contribute to the organization’s quality, growth, and positive change. In 2002, one researcher said, “In psychologically safe environments, people believe that if they make a mistake, others will not penalize or think less of them for it.” So how do you embrace psychological safety and promote it in your workplace?

Looking for Leaders? Talent Analytics Can Shine Light on the Brightest

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Don’t guess about greatness; use a high-tech approach to find leaders among employees, candidates.

Identifying both job candidates and existing employees who are most likely to thrive in a management or leadership role can be a guessing game. However, talent analytics, a platform that produces insights into the workforce, can help you better understand the strengths of both current and potential employees and identify those who will be good leaders. Talent analytics start by focusing on successful leaders across the organization, identifying patterns and dominant characteristics; and this helps establish correlations between current behavior and future potential. Powered with artificial intelligence, the results help predict potential leaders in your ranks. In particular, five types of talent analytics can identify those with the “right stuff.”