January 2023 - Prescott HR

Kimberly Prescott
Blog
January 30, 2023

5 Tips for Virtual Onboarding

With the rise in remote work flexibility, more companies are turning to adopt a virtual onboarding process. Virtual onboarding can seem like a daunting task for your organization to take on, but there are steps you can make to simplify the process for both you and your new hire. Read more about how to adopt a virtual onboarding policy from the experts at Prescott HR.

What is virtual onboarding?

Before we begin, let’s discuss what virtual onboarding is first. Just like an in-person onboarding process, virtual onboarding helps new hires understand the capacity of their new role. The only difference is, this process takes place online instead of face-to-face. Studies have shown that the more effective the onboarding process, the more likely a new hire will stay with a company for an extended period of time. Virtual onboarding is a way for organizations to make new remote employees feel welcome at the organization. A typical virtual onboarding process can include pre-recorded messages from upper management, online learning tools, and one-on-one calls to introduce the new hire to different team members at your organization.

Tips for implementing a successful virtual onboarding process

Now that you understand the importance of a robust onboarding process, here is how your organization can shift to taking this process online:

Invest in Technology: Ensuring that your organization has provided adequate technology to your new hire is essential to a smooth virtual onboarding process. All company-issued devices should be updated to the latest software programs to allow your employee to effectively do their work. With each new hire, your organization should establish a timeline for mailing or delivering company device(s) before any training begins. Any collaborative tools that your company relies on, like Zoom or Slack, should be downloaded prior to delivering the device to a new employee. We also recommend scheduling a one-on-one meeting with your new employee and an IT professional to walk them through how to set up their device(s) and answer any of their questions.

Have an Agenda: Just like an in-person onboarding experience, a virtual onboarding experience needs to have an agenda. This written document can help guide your new employee with what the next few days and weeks will look like. Always utilize video introductions through pre-recorded messages when possible. Your agenda can also include helpful links to resources your new hire will need, like office policy manuals, employee benefits packages, job-specific documents, and more. If you are hiring more than one new employee at a time, you may want to consider hosting a virtual orientation event with all the new hires.
Check-in Often: Whether your organization already has a virtual onboarding process, or if you are just starting one, it’s important to check in with your new hire(s) regularly. The first couple of weeks at a new organization can feel isolating and confusing in person, so imagine how that feels while working in a remote setting. Make the effort to check in and keep the lines of communication open between your team and your new hire.

Work with Prescott HR

Does your organization need help with virtual onboarding? We are here to help! Prescott HR offers a wide range of services that can help your organization evaluate your current onboarding policies or provide new guidance, as needed. Our unintimated HR practices allow us to be focused and effective, providing your business with precisely what you need. Give us a call today at 443-351-8818 or contact us online.

Kimberly Prescott
Blog
January 23, 2023

Employee Retention Strategies for the New Year

Finding and keeping good employees has become a major challenge for organizations across the country in recent years. It’s not enough to just recruit the best talent, how do you provide a better work experience so they want to remain with your organization? Learn our tips for employee retention strategies below!

Why Employee Retention is Important

The American labor market is highly competitive right now, meaning it can be harder to attract and retain a good workforce. Your organization must be willing to adjust its standards to meet employee expectations and remain competitive within your field. Here are our tips for retaining your employees in the new year and beyond:

Start at the Top

One of the top reasons that employees leave their roles is poor management. Luckily, poor leadership can be fixed! Start by evaluating how your organization’s upper-level management interacts with team members. Managers must be included in annual performance reviews, where their leadership skills are assessed thoroughly. If you identify a manager who needs work, there are training and leadership development opportunities available to help them improve.

Evaluate Your Benefits Package

Next up, your organization needs to evaluate how your employee benefits package compares to other companies in your industry. A strong employee benefits package can entice even the most loyal workers to leave their current roles. The pandemic has introduced a world of new options for employee benefits that have become strong hiring tools, including more flex or remote work options, childcare stipends, parental leave, lower healthcare costs, and more.

Encourage Your Employees to Grow

Another top reason that employees leave their roles is that they feel like they cannot grow within their current position. To excel at employee retention, your organization must be willing to invest in your current team by providing opportunities for promotions and continuing education. Set up a time each year to review your employee’s long-term goals and ask how they see their roles evolving within your organization. Also, make it clear to your team that your organization is always willing to invest in its future by providing continuing education stipends or advanced leadership training.

Recognize and Reward Accordingly

Finally, a major point of contention with employees who leave their position is feeling undervalued. Strive to make consistent employee recognition a goal for your upper management team. Rewarding your employees does not even have to be an elaborate gesture; it can be as simple as giving a team member a special shout-out before a group meeting, or leaving a thank you note on an employees desk when they aren’t expecting it.

Work with Prescott HR

Does your organization need assistance with employee retention? We are here to help! Prescott HR offers a wide range of services that can help your organization recruit AND retain a dependable workforce. Our unintimated HR practices allow us to be focused and effective, providing your business with precisely what you need. Give us a call today at 443-351-8818 or contact us online.

Kimberly Prescott
Blog
January 16, 2023

Pronouns in the Workplace

Personal pronouns have become a wide topic of conversation in the world of human resources over the last several years. When your organization makes the effort to acknowledge each team member’s personal pronouns, you are conveying a message of inclusivity and equity in the workplace. Keep reading to learn about how to incorporate pronouns into the workplace from the experts at Prescott HR.

What is a personal pronoun?

Personal pronouns are an important component of a person’s identity. Individuals use pronouns to convey what they would like to be called when not using their first name. Here are some examples of personal pronouns:

He/him/his
She/her/hers
They/them/theirs

Why use personal pronouns?

Some individuals value personal pronouns more than others because they want to avoid the experience of being misgendered, which can lead to feeling alienated or excluded. Allowing your team members to express their personal pronouns can help avoid anxiety or stress in your organization.

How can my organization incorporate personal pronouns?

Now that you understand how personal pronouns work and why they are important, here are a few ideas to implement them at your organization:

Use inclusive language: Avoid using blanket pronouns when addressing a group. Instead of saying “hey [guys, girls, ladies, etc.] when starting a meeting, try saying “hello, everyone,” to communicate with a group.

Allow pronouns in email signatures: While this should not be a requirement, you should give your employees the option to express their personal pronouns in their email signatures. In addition to email signatures, you can encourage your employees to also share their preferred pronouns in their LinkedIn bios, Slack bios, or Zoom profiles.

Share your pronouns when you meet someone: This is a great practice, especially during the hiring process. When introducing yourself to someone new at your organization, get in the habit of also saying your preferred pronouns along with your first name.

Apologize when you make a mistake: Incorporating more inclusive personal pronouns in the workplace can take practice. Give yourself some grace if you make a mistake and state the wrong pronouns for a colleague or team member. Start by apologizing, then correcting the pronoun, and don’t dwell on the mistake. This can make the person feel uncomfortable or cause anxiety.
Keep job descriptions inclusive: If you allow online applications to open positions within your organization, then give the option for job candidates to provide their preferred personal pronouns. This conveys that you respect your team members’ preferences and how they want to be addressed by their employer.

Work with Prescott HR

Are you interested in making your organization more inclusive? We are here to help! Prescott HR offers a wide range of services that can help your organization evaluate your current policies and incorporate new ones, as needed. Our unintimated HR practices allow us to be focused and effective, providing your business with precisely what you need. Give us a call today at 443-351-8818 or contact us online.

Kimberly Prescott
Blog
January 9, 2023

How to Create a Healthier Work Environment

Employee wellness has been a hot topic ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gone are the days of stretching your team members to their breaking point or not prioritizing employee wellness. Now, employees expect to find value in their organization through wellness initiatives and a better work-life balance. If you want to create a healthier work environment for your team in 2023, keep reading for a few expert tips from Prescott HR!

Why create a healthy work environment?

Investing in a healthier work environment may raise a few eyebrows with upper management, but there are many benefits to implementing these changes in the workplace. Studies have shown that a healthier workplace can increase job satisfaction and team productivity while lowering employee turnover and absenteeism. When your employees are happy, your organization can thrive.

How to create a healthier work environment

Now that you understand the importance of creating a healthy work environment, here are our recommendations for implementing change:

Establish a health and wellness program: Now that we’re in a new year, many individuals are focused on living their best and most active lifestyle. Your organization can contribute to your team’s wellness goals by establishing a program to encourage a healthier lifestyle. Health and wellness programs have a number of benefits for both the employee and your organization. Investing in your team member’s health can contribute to lower stress, improved morale, and increased productivity. Also, when your team members are living a more healthy and active lifestyle, they are less likely to miss work due to sick days. One important factor to keep in mind is that not every team member will want to exercise in the same way. Consider offering a stipend to give your teammates options on how they want to live a more healthy lifestyle.

Offer Mental Health Resources and Support: Whole body health is about more than just improving your physical appearance. Employees need to have a healthy mind and mental state, too. Many individuals suffer from stress or mental illness but are unlikely to approach their employer about their issues. If your organization wants to help your team achieve whole-body wellness, we recommend offering mental health resources and support to everyone on your team. This can include stipends towards counseling services to keep your employee’s personal health private.

Stock Your Kitchen: To feel great, you have to eat great. That’s why we recommend stocking your office kitchen with healthy and wholesome snack options to fuel your team. Rather than reach for a soda or candy from the vending machine, provide your staff with complimentary nutritious foods to nourish their bodies.

Work with Prescott HR

Does your organization need help to create a more healthy work environment? Prescott HR is here to help! Prescott HR offers a wide range of services that can help your organization evaluate your current policies and incorporate new ones, as needed. Our unintimated HR practices allow us to be focused and effective, providing your business with precisely what you need. Give us a call today at 443-351-8818 or contact us online.

Kimberly Prescott
Blog
January 2, 2023

Prescott HR | Re-evaluating Your Organization’s Benefits in 2023

The start of a new year is a great opportunity to re-evaluate your current employee benefits package. A competitive employee benefits package can help recruit new talent, retain your best employees, and increase office morale. If you are ready to re-evaluate your employee benefits package in 2023, keep reading for some helpful tips from the experts at Prescott HR!

The Importance of Employee Benefits

As briefly mentioned above, employee benefits are an incredibly powerful hiring and employee retention tool that deserves your organization’s full attention. Your organiztion should prioritize a time to re-evaluate the benefits you offer at least once per year to ensure you are remaining competitive with other companies. A strong employee benefits package can help your office run more efficiently by conveying to your employees that you value them. Without a strong employee benefits package, you may see employee retention decline, lower recruitment rates, and low employee engagement.

How Can My Organization Re-Evaluate Our Employee Benefits?

Now that you understand the importance of a strong employee benefits package, what should you do next? We recommend taking the start of the new year as an opportunity to sit down with your upper management team to discuss potential changes to your employee benefits. Here’s how:

Arrange a time to sit down and discuss only the benefits package. Do not try to fit this discussion into a meeting with several other topics. Employee benefits will require the full attention of a dedicated meeting in order to be successful.
Think about what your employees want. Try to put yourself in your team members’ shoes. What sort of perks do you think that your team would benefit from?
Research other organizations. In order to remain competitive in your field, be sure to research other employee benefits packages from businesses like yours.
Don’t be afraid to ask your team! Send out an anonymous survey or poll your employees. Ask them to weigh in on the kinds of employee benefits that matter to them. You may be surprised how they answer.
Clearly write out your employee benefits package. In order for this to be successful, you need to clearly state your employee benefits in writing. Also, be sure to include when a new employee will start receiving benefits after being hired.

What are Some Common Employee Benefits?

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way that employers and employees think about their benefits packages. Here are some common employee benefits that you may want to consider adopting at your organization:

Extended paid-time-off
Flex or remote work options
Paid maternity and paternity leave
Childcare compensation
Employee wellness packages
Continuing education reimbursements
Student loan payment assistance
Retirement account contributions

Work with Prescott HR

Does your organization need help to re-evaluate your employee benefits in 2023? We are here to help! Prescott HR offers a wide range of services that can help your organization evaluate your current policies and incorporate new ones, as needed. Our unintimated HR practices allow us to be focused and effective, providing your business with precisely what you need. Give us a call today at 443-351-8818 or contact us online.