I used to believe my greatest strength as an HR leader was that I was approachable. My door was always open. My tone was warm. My responses were measured. People described me as diplomatic and steady. I wore those adjectives like badges of honor. I thought that was leadership. What I did not understand at the time was that I had confused approachability with avoidance. I believed that protecting relationships meant minimizing discomfort. I believed that being supportive meant softening hard truths. I believed that if no one left a room upset, I had done my job well. In reality, I was protecting myself from difficult conversations. It took one leader and a very expensive lesson to make me see that clearly.
Category Archives: Human Resources
Analyzing the Impact of Contingent Youth Employment on Organizational Reputation
In recent times, employers have continuously introduced positive initiatives to create employment opportunities for young workers. These encompass a wide range of options, including but not limited to internships, apprenticeships, graduate programs, contractor roles, and volunteer expatriation missions to support global business expansion. While these efforts reflect a commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion within their workplaces, some employers have also started falling short in providing stable employment to their young workforce, relying too heavily on insecure contingent work arrangements after their initial purpose has been fulfilled. This analysis will explore the advantages and disadvantages of offering this type of employment and discuss strategies to mitigate the risk of developing an unfavorable employer reputation in the eyes of younger generations of workers.
Understanding Display Rules & Emotional Labour at Work: Cost, Consequences, and Coping Strategies
Imagine you work as a barista at Starbucks. A customer walks in on a bright sunny morning, eagerly anticipating your warm welcome, the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee, and your excited request for their name – which per pre-established rules, is always hand-written on the renowned coffee cup. However, that day you wake up feeling off, and show up to work as your true self – an individual battling different kinds of life stressors. You decide not to greet the client, you refrain from engaging in small talk, and avoid taking their name.
The customer looks up at you and asks: “Is something wrong?”
This scenario highlights the significance and ever-so-faint yet important presence of display rules and emotional labour in workers’ lives.
5 Ways To Enhance Wellbeing of Layoff Survivors
The majority of current layoffs have been in the tech industry, but there have also been significant layoffs in industries such as healthcare, tourism/hospitality, retail, manufacturing, construction, and transportation/warehousing. Although layoffs have always been an issue, the recent increase is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to supply chain disruptions, an economic slowdown, and inflation. According to the International Labour Organization (2022), the pandemic is estimated to have pushed global unemployment to 200 million in 2022, up from 186 million in 2021. This represents an increase of 14 million in just one year. The ILO estimates that the global labor market will not fully recover from the pandemic until 2025.
3 Science-Backed Ways To Improve Productivity In Workplaces
Workplace productivity plays an integral role in determining the overall success rate of a company, hence the reason why companies have recently begun to devise new innovative strategies to improve employee performance. According to Gallup’s (2022) state of the global workplace report, only 21% of workers are engaged at work and only 33% of overall employees are thriving when it comes to their well-being. More than ever before, companies are saddled with the responsibility of finding innovative ways to increase productivity (Guillaume et al., 2017).
La Marca Empleadora y Su Convivencia Con Las Diferentes Generaciones
La Experiencia del Empleado, la Marca Empleadora y el People Analytics son conceptos que van de la mano. He tenido la suerte de estudiarlos, trabajarlos y aplicarlos. Cuanto mayor es el tiempo que paso trabajando de lo que me apasiona, mayor es la visión que adquiero de la importancia de estos temas. Importancia a nivel económico, emocional, social y cultural del mundo empresarial. Soy un fiel creyente de que mejorando la experiencia de los trabajadores, poniendo foco en su bienestar y en su motivación, toda empresa solo tiene un camino por recorrer: el del crecimiento. Soy abogado, transformado en Analista en People Experience, y he pasado por un sinfín de situaciones en diferentes organizaciones. De algo estoy seguro: todos precisamos ser escuchados, cuidados y respetados, especialmente en el trabajo.
5 Ways Companies Can Support Women’s Inclusion in Labour Markets
The pandemic is damaging the progress towards gender equality at work. According to the World Economic Forum’s (2021) Global Gender Gap Report, 5% of employed women lost their job compared to 3.9% of men, and less women were hired into executive or senior roles in 2020 as Broom (2021) clarifies.
Through my experience as the Founder of a solutions-based platform for gender balance at work, I got to know of initiatives that I think can help companies close the gap caused by the pandemic faster and potentially accelerate gender equality in workplaces as a result.
What can companies do to support women at work? And how can companies take gender equality to the next level beyond the pandemic?
3 Reasons to Value the Power of Alignment When Hiring
There’s a moment that takes place within every hiring manager’s career: the moment they realize there are more positions to fill than they have employees. The panic. The stress. The expectation of doing their job well. Managing deadlines, and performance, and tasks.
You may be staring at a blank schedule or lengthy project list or answering questions from those above you and find yourself wondering ‘how will I ever fill these positions?!’ So you take action in a similar fashion as many. You dig through applications, make posts on social media, call recruiting agencies, sift through resources and services trying to find warm bodies to fill the vacancies that have been created.
If you have ever been in a position of hiring, you have felt this moment of stress and frustration. During these moments, what often takes place is what I like to call ‘settling.’ You settle for someone that doesn’t quite fit your culture because the project list continues to grow. You settle for someone because they have experience in the job at hand. You settle for someone because just knowing you will have a desk filled is better than the stress you have felt during this experience. But settling is never the way toward success and sustainability. Settling will have you arriving at the exact same place, walking through the same experience once again. When you settle in your hiring practices you guarantee your unhappiness, high stress, and constant turnover.
How Human-Centric Leadership Made Chiara Ferragni A Successful Businesswoman
She is recognised by many as The Blonde Salad, a blogger and one of the most powerful influencers of today’s fashion world. In the world of business, Chiara Ferragni stands as the perfect example of a successful female entrepreneur, and as a leader who is unafraid of showing her humanity. In reflection of this year’s Women’s History activism, for which the United Nations’ entity dedicated to gender equality and female empowerment, UN Women (2021) asked for more awareness around female leadership, I thought it could be interesting to highlight Chiara’s qualities as an inspiring leader.
Most women can confirm the facts that UN Women (2021) lays out. Women…
3 Steps to Boosting Employee Engagement on Mondays
We have all felt the impact of a long week. Friday arrives and seemingly everyone is awaiting the end of the day with more excitement than is ever brought to the arrival of Monday. You begin hearing statements such as ‘Do you have plans for the weekend?’ or ‘Thank God it’s Friday!’ Looking forward to the weekend seems to be a favorite pastime for so many.
The challenge of keeping employees engaged during the week has become an even greater obstacle as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and adjust to remote workers and hybrid workdays. As a leader, empowering the start of each week plays a critical role in how your team approaches success. You can greatly influence the mindset, rhythm and temperature of your team by making sure everyone begins the work week with as much positivity and excitement as possible.