With the economy and job wages improving, it is more important now than ever that business leaders make the intentional effort to implement programs designed to attract and retain employees. As a business leader, it is your responsibility to make your employees feel wanted and valued. Here are four ideas on how you can show appreciation for your employees.
Good Benefits
With competitive salaries soaring across all industries, a good benefits package can tip the balance in your favor when it comes to recruiting potential employees. Prospective employees need to know that they and their family will be taken care of with a wide variety of benefits, including medical, dental, and life insurance. A solid 401(k) plan is also a necessity when trying to recruit and retain the best possible employees for your organization.
Recognition
Savvy business leaders understand the importance of an employee recognition program. Setting a high standard of care in ensuring that your employees get their due recognition will encourage further productivity, benefitting your bottom line and paying off big dividends down the road. Offering tangible rewards for the recognition will only further motivate employees and provide an incentive for their continued hard work.
Party On
Office parties and catered meals can go a long way in improving company morale by engaging employees and encouraging personal interaction. In addition to annual holiday parties and company summer picnics, consider adding a series of surprise events during the work week. For example, a costume contest on Halloween or a spread of sweet treats on Valentine’s Day. It is often the little things that make the biggest difference when trying to show employees how much they are valued for their hard work.
Swag Giveaways
Let your employees show their pride in your company by generating company-specific swag. Take the time to research the latest trends in swag so that you are providing your employees with both practical and inventive giveaways. You can incorporate the giveaways into the employee recognition program, offer them as door prizes at company parties, or simply give them out on a routine basis to deserving employees.
Effective business leaders are those who take the time to show appreciation for all of their employees regardless of their status in the company. By doing so you will improve employee morale as well as increase productivity, benefiting everyone in the organization.
The uncertainty surrounding starting your own business can be daunting. With so many things to do before you even open shop, the feeling of there always being more work to be done can make your startup seem like an overwhelming venture. These are a few suggestions that can help you feel more secure before you welcome your first customers.
Understand the Basics of Search Engine Optimization
While search engine optimization, also known as SEO, can be quite complex, it can also be hugely beneficial for your online presence. Goins Writer explains, “having the right keyword strategy can lead to a broader audience and an increase in potential customers.” These tips can help you optimize your website effectively for search engines:
Make sure that your content consists of 1 to 3 percent keywords. This will ensure that your site ranks well with search engines without taking the risk of getting it pulled from search results.
Remember to ensure that you have plenty of long-tail keywords. This means that the keywords you choose are a string of four or more words. The reason that you need to include long-tail keywords in your keyword list is that they are more likely to be searched by people than shorter keywords and have less competition.
Make sure that your entire list of keywords is fairly long. It’s important to have a mixture of long-tail keywords and keywords that are a single word.
A franchise business will act as a safety net of sorts for your company. That is because if one branch isn’t doing well, the others will be able to make up the slack. Franchise Gator claims that food franchises “make up about 32% of all franchise establishments in the U.S. and employs over 5 million people”. Furthermore, owning a branch of a franchise rather than going into business completely on your own has advantages due to pre-existing franchises being recognized more by the general public. This is the difference between opening up a brand new spa all on your own and opening up a Hand and Stone spa.
Do Competitor Research
One of the best ways to do this research is with surveys, and businesses all over the world swear by this strategy. Another great way to do research on the popularity of your products in a specific region is to look at your competitors. Find out how successful they are with certain products that you’re considering offering and what they could improve upon. By researching what others are accomplishing as well as what they’re failing at, you can have an edge up on the competition in your market.
Be Prepared for the Ways That Your Work Life Will Change
While many people become self-employed because of the independence and freedom that it gives them, this freedom creates additional responsibilities. One of the best ways to prepare yourself for the new and exciting challenges that come along with being a new entrepreneur is to seek career coaching. Coaching can help prepare you for the world of self-employment and prevent many of the pitfalls that may accompany it, like burning out.
These are a few ways that you can make your goals more secure, but they aren’t the only things to keep in mind when starting your own business. Continually learning about successful business techniques and strategies can give you valuable confidence when starting up your business.
Most people who know me well know that I love keeping things short, sweet and to the point. Efficiency is a key ingredient to success for entrepreneurs and business owners. All time and money that can be saved while still adequately completing vital business functions have a direct benefit on the bottom line of the company.
Modern technology has done a fantastic job of providing business owners with methods to improve the efficiency of their business operations. There are three major ways technology can help a business to save time and money.
Calculate Your Time Expenses
Business owners who calculate earnings based on a per-project basis or on the hours required to complete a job know that the old saying “’time is money” has a lot of truth in it. The time that employees spend tied up in one project takes manpower away from other endeavors that could create income. Put simply, the more time employees spend engaged in a single project, the more it costs the company to complete that project while it is also not reaping income from other ventures.
An upgrade your project management software to increase the speed of company processes so that you can save money for the company.
Remote Capabilities
Companies can now utilize technology to save on the cost of office space. In some cases, this expense can be eliminated altogether because today’s technology makes it possible for employees to work from remote locations.
When employees are not required to perform their job duties by physically being in a central location, business owners do not have to commit as many resources to secure and maintain that location. In addition, today’s digitally powered business world allows business owners to employ talented individuals for specific projects but not to employ those people full-time at the company. This individual can then be classified as a virtual assistant, a digital receptionist, or a variety of other job titles. According to these digital management specialists, “save staff time, improve security, and ensure a smooth experience for visitors in your office with a digital receptionist. Digital receptionist software provides a secure, web-based interface that simplifies the check-in process for visitors.”
Less Paper Used
There are many issues that require documentation. In the past, this meant printing these documents and storing them in file cabinets or tucked into the workspaces of company employees.
Many businesses continue to use too much paper despite the existence of email and cloud technology that make it unnecessary to accumulate paper documents. The cost of producing and keeping these paper documents can end up costing a business more than the owners and management may think. These tech and business experts explain, “With the advent of photo-scanning apps, business travelers can easily back up expense reports without needing to save a pile of papers to bring back to the office. Electronic files can also be shared with coworkers over a network or via email. Shifting to paperless documentation also makes the transportation of data more efficient, without the need for cumbersome fax machines or document couriers.”
Modern technology affords business owners the opportunity to streamline business processes in ways that save both time and money. A business owner who wishes to improve the efficiency of his or her business operations should learn and implement applicable tech solutions.
These three benefits that technology can provide businesses should be all the motivation needed for business owners to investigate tech solutions.
If you’re looking for help in you business or need some additional guidance, check out how we can help! We know you won’t be disappointed by our coaching services!
There’s much talk about whether leaders are born or made, if you can build leadership skills or if they are just innate in some people. No matter what side of the argument you’re on, I think that most people would agree that there are some skills, traits, and characteristics that most great leaders share.
Personable
Most good leaders tend to be, outwardly, at any rate, someone who most people would describe as a “People Person”. This characteristic helps good leaders flex their communication style so that they can quickly put people at ease and gain their trust. This isn’t an introvert vs extrovert thing, I firmly believe that this can be a learned characteristic. It may take some people more energy and effort to win over a room full of people, but I think that most people can learn this skill.
Self-Awareness
Awesome leaders are well aware, for the most part, of their strengths and weaknesses. They come from a place of authenticity. They don’t shy away from feedback, they see it as an opportunity for growth and development. They surround themselves with people who have the strengths that they lack and are not afraid to admit when they aren’t the smartest person in the room. My vote is that self-awareness can be learned, but it isn’t always easy. I also think that self-awareness can be UN-learned so it is important that leaders stay in touch with who they are and don’t lose their sense of self as they morph, change, grow and move up the career ladder. I feel that having-self awareness is one of the most important leadership skills.
Results Focused
Really great leaders as the person that someone can hand a complex problem to and walk away from knowing that they will get things done. For my people who watched Scandal, think of Olivia Pope. It’s handled! Whether it is by themselves or through delegation, great leaders are focused on results and getting things done. Is this something that people are born with? I think that this trait can be learned. A lot of people like the feeling that you get when things are done, especially when they are done well. A procrastinator can develop the characteristic of being results focused by zeroing in on that feeling and knocking things off of a list one at a time. Before you know it, striving for results will seem like something you’ve always done.
Happiness
Who would you have rather have as a leader, Winnie the Pooh or Eeyore? Most people are going to go for the bear so that they can be around someone (something?) that is joyful and happy. It may seem corny, but smiles are infectious and moods do rub off on people. It is a lot better to have a good mood rub off on someone than a bad one. This one is a no-brainer for me. I don’t think that anyone is born in a bad mood. Also, how you respond to things is completely in your control. People who have learned to truly see the world as an awesome place full of joy and wonder tend to make better leaders. So, it’s up to you, honeypots or rain clouds, you choose.
As a Leadership Development Coach, I think that each of these leadership skills can be taught. But I’d love to hear from you. What’s your verdict, are great leaders born or can they be made? Let me know your thoughts!
A key part of the job search is knowing how and when to accept a job offer. You submitted your refreshed resume, you filled out the application, you aced the interview and now you’re waiting on that elusive offer! You get a call and it’s a number you know. It’s from your would-be employer, and suddenly, you’re unsure of what to do. If you’ve received a recent job offer, here’s a look at how to proceed.
What Does It Mean?
After interviewing, an offer letter informs you that you are being offered the job. Offers are often now done verbally before you receive anything in writing so don’t worry if you receive a call with the offer information before you get an email or letter in the mail. The offer often includes information about the salary, benefits and other pertinent information.
Now What?
You can either accept, decline, or negotiate the terms of your job offer. This is a fairly simple process—if you like with what is being offered, sign the letter (or reply to the email). Sending it back serves as an official acceptance of the job, congratulations! If you are not okay with the terms being offered, then you have to choose whether you want to ask for what you want or decline the offer. In situations like these, it can be a little difficult to know what you’re willing to settle for and what you think should fight for based on your worth and experience.
Be sure to seriously calculate what you think you should be receiving, and also take into account how long it would take you to get to your goal if you end up accepting a pay cut in the beginning. Ideally, these things should be figured out before the interview process, but now is as good a time as any if you haven’t taken the time just yet. The decision is up to you, your family, and your sanity. Don’t rush, before you sign decide exactly what you want.
What if the Position Changes After I Accept?
Unfortunately, some companies, many times unknowingly, offer things they cannot afford or can’t grant. Most times this isn’t due to bad intent on the part of the organization. In fast-moving companies, things change weekly if not daily. So, what do you do if your offer letter isn’t honored after you’ve already quit your previous job?
In most cases, an offer letter is not an actual contract—but you may still feel that you have been misled. It is a sticky situation. So before you accept the job offer and quit your job, research the company to try to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. Whether or not you have a family depending on you, you owe it to yourself to make sure you’ve done the proper research to make sure they’re a company you would be happy to work for and that they treat their employees well. However, it can be a leap of faith either way.
As you continue the job search and interview process, you’re sure to receive an offer letter sometime soon. Fortunately, you now know more about the process, and this information will help you navigate moving up in the job market. If you’re still in the job search process and you’re struggling, check out our resources and tools. We can help you to mitigate your stress, understand your worth, and set good goals for yourself.
