Performance management review
You may well be embarking on your annual performance management reviews. How much stress does this cause you as a leader and your staff? In this challenging economic and volatile climate, employees can feel that performance management reviews are little more than a box-ticking activity. With pay freezes and other budgets squeezed, it can be difficult for them to see personal incentives to achieve goals. As a leader and manager it is vital that you always engage with your employees to ensure you have their trust and commitment, to enable them to meet their goals and objectives. Here are five tips for achieving the most out of your people and their performance management reviews.
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Gender pay gap
On the 10 November it was Equal Pay Day, from late afternoon the average full-time female employee stopped earning for the year compared to the average full-time man. Before this, in October we also saw headlines that Asda faces £100m equal pay battle with shop floor staff. A tribunal ruled that thousands of women who work in the retailer’s stores can lodge a claim over the alleged gender pay gap. As a business owner it is highly likely that you have female employees. Are you fostering a culture of gender equality where equal pay is a given?
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Avoid a Christmas work party disaster
As we enter the festive season you have probably already started to organise some form of celebration or party for your staff. It should be a great event for colleagues to get together and relax. However, what happens if somebody goes too far? And then somebody else records them and it plays out on social media? Despite being out of office hours and usually away from work premises, the office Christmas party is seen as an extension of work by the Employment Tribunal, and therefore, normal working behaviour should be adhered to. Here are our tips on how to avoid Christmas party disasters and to simply enjoy the festivities.
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Managing politics in the workplace
Headlines of Brexit and the US presidential election have dominated our news this year. They may well have dominated conversations in your business too. As a leader you will no doubt have had to deal with your own office politics and may well have found yourself embroiled in a conflict between employees. Some aspects of politics will almost always occur in the workplace. As a leader you are expected to be politically knowledgeable and resolve any conflict. Read on for our advice on managing office politics and creating a working culture where conflict can be resolved.
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How to effectively manage annual leave
Christmas is fast approaching and as a leader it can be difficult to manage staff holidays. Even large corporations can find it hard but in smaller businesses with less people, covering holidays can prove really challenging. Often employees want to take their holidays in the same week, particularly at Christmas, New Years and other school holidays. Here are our tips on how you can best manage employee holidays and avoid the related issues that come with it.
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Managing social media in the workplace
Social media influences and permeates many aspects of our daily life and it is no surprise that it creeps in to our work time. As an employer you may well have concerns about how to manage the use of social media during the working day. These concerns may be about loss of time and therefore lower productivity levels, and also whilst people are on the job, are they using social media responsibly, or could they be publically engaging on social media in a way that reflects poorly on your organisation? Read on for our advice on dealing with employees use of social media in the workplace.
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Effective team building
If you think that team building is all about spending a lot of money on a day out of the office, perhaps in the wilderness or role playing. It’s time to take another look at what it’s all really about. Team building events should help to boost employee morale and create a more cohesive workplace.
The goal isn’t to alienate anyone or force your employees to socialise with their colleagues. It also doesn’t have to mean spending a lot of money on hiring external companies to run a team building event. Read our advice on how to rethink your team building strategy and get the most out of it.
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PR disaster
An organisation’s reputation can be ruined or salvaged by the way that it handles its communication amidst a PR disaster. Over the years we have seen some of the largest multinational organisations come under fire from PR disasters. Recently Byron Burger hit the headlines with an immigration sting which played out on many platforms including Twitter. News goes viral in an instant, so having a PR communication strategy that hits the ground running is vital to the recovery of your business. Is your company prepared to swiftly and decisively respond to a crisis? Read on for our advice on how to handle a PR disaster.
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Are you stamping out sexual harassment?
In August we saw headlines in the national media that half of women have experienced sexual harassment at work. Whilst you may have quickly dismissed it as not applicable at your place of work, after all no one has complained to you, take some time to consider that this survey also found four out of five cases were not ever reported. What you might consider to be friendly and light-hearted banter could be deeply offensive, or making a member of your staff extremely uncomfortable. Don’t create a work culture of acceptance of this type of behaviour, it could be very damaging to your business.
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What does leaving the EU mean for your business?
Over the weekend we saw headlines of Theresa May at the G20 summit, facing Brexit trade pressure from other world leaders. Closely followed by the headline of our Prime Minister rejecting the points-based system for controlling EU migration. There is no doubt that over the coming weeks and months the momentous referendum result to leave the EU will at times dominate our headlines. But what does leaving the EU mean for your business? Read on for advice on what you should be considering as a business owner.
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