Why Does Workplace Culture Matter

Why Does Workplace Culture Matter Why Does Workplace Culture Matter? Workplace culture is a slippery topic. Pinning down a solid definition is like nailing pudding to the wall.   Because its everything.   Every choice you make creates your culture. Theres only one aspect that we have persuasive data for: your treatment of employees. How you hire, manage, and motivate employees is hands-down the most critical element of company culture.   Its the difference between making your mark on the world or just eking by with middling results. And the data suggests most of us are doing it wrong. Engagement: The Magic Ingredient For almost twenty years, Gallup has been gathering some very interesting data on employee engagement.   In other words, theyve been monitoring how mentally and emotionally committed employees are to their workplace. How many employees are putting in their best effort?   How many are checked out? How many are so miserable that theyre actively taking away from productivity? What difference do those attitudes make, and what shapes them? It turns out that cultivating employee engagement translates into big bucks. Teams in the top quartile of engagement outperform teams in the bottom quartile with: 21% Higher Profitability 20% Higher Sales 17% Higher Productivity 10% Higher Customer Metrics 24% Lower Turnover 41% Lower Absenteeism Organizations that are the best at engaging their employees see earnings-per-share growth over FOUR TIMES that of their competitors. It makes sense. Employees that are emotionally committed to their employer throw more of their energy into their work.   They innovate, problem-solve, and leverage their talents fully.   They perform at a level that youll never wring out of them with discipline or benefits. Theres a degree of discretionary effort from employees that you can only buy with love, not money. Invest Where It Counts Earning the devotion of employees isnt simple.   Theres no magic bullet.   Compensation and core benefits matter to the degree that they allow your employees to meet their needs. But they dont inspire devotion.   Exotic benefits that usually top the best workplace culture lists might attract talent, but wont help you keep them or fully leverage their abilities. To get employees invested in you, you need to demonstrate that youre invested in them. Discover and Leverage Their Strengths When you encourage people to do what theyre good at, they feel successful, motivated, and satisfied. You get their best work. People who work to their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged in their job. Theyre also more productive and less likely to quit. It comes down to the manager. Employees who strongly agree that their manager coaches them based on their strengths have a stunning 93% engagement rate. Strength-based management is, on a pragmatic level, efficient resource allocation. But it also fosters a very personalized management experience.   Employees feel seen, understood, and valued.   Not as a cog, but as a unique individual with something to offer. Recognize Employee Accomplishments It can be as flashy or as humble as you want it to be, but employee recognition is essential to an engaged workforce.   Recognition increases engagement, productivity, and loyaltyâ€" and it lowers turnover. One global study found that, the world over, feeling appreciated at work is the most important factor in happiness on the job. Dont save recognition of the exceptional.   Managers should also provide positive feedback for reliability, efforts at improvement, and smaller accomplishments. Praise means more when its deserved, so it always should be.   But nothing is more demotivating for a solid-but-steady performer than to feel like nobody notices. Encourage (and Provide Resources for) Learning Development Its a natural human need to learn and grow.   When LinkedIn conducted a workplace learning survey, 94% of employees said they would stay longer at companies that invested in their development. And yet such development has dropped precipitously in recent years.   Research out of the Wharton School says: In 1979, we spent an average of 2.5 weeks a year developing young employees. In 1995, we spent an average of 11 hours a year. In 2011, only 1 in 5 employees reported any on-the-job training in five years. So, the current average is probably very grim. The typical justification is that developing employees is a waste because theyll leave. But employees leave because they dont get the chance to develop.   See the problem? Provide Opportunities to Advance. The lack of development is tightly tangled with a problematic hiring trend. These days, 2 of every 3 vacancies are filled with an outside hire.   A generation ago, that number was just 10%.   Most vacancies were filled by internal transfer or promotion, instead. Thats a huge shift. Of course, its better to hire externally if no current employee is right for the job.   But these days, we arent even looking to promote. Harvard Business Review notes that hiring managers want to find someone who already possesses the skill set we need, so they turn to recruiters immediately.   The development of those skills has to come from somewhere, but were no longer willing to invest in potential.   We want certainty. That makes it impossible for current employees to advance their careers within the company.   Their only chance is to jump ship. The job-hopping we lament is just the logical result of our hiring priorities and unwillingness to grow talent. Invest in Team Managers that Empower Employees According to Gallups research, 70% of the variation in employee engagement is directly due to the quality of their manager or team leader. And no wonderâ€"active manager buy-in is critical to all the initiatives above. The magic of employee engagement happens when you put the right managers in place, empower them to develop employees to their strengths, and hold them to those standards. That may mean changing the way you choose workgroup-level managers.   Its a specific skill set all its own, and it doesnt necessarily correlate with subject matter expertise or technical skill. Pick managers based on their aptitude for coaching and supporting a team.   Then develop them, too.   Provide them with the tools they need to fulfill their mandate.   Make it clear that employee engagement and development is a priority. Bottom Line The only way to get exceptional performance from your workforce is to invest in human assets like humans. Not assets.   You can rely on ready-made courses for compliance and risk management.   In fact, you shouldâ€"save that time and energy for initiatives that are unique to your business needs and culture. But to cultivate employee engagement, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.   Thats a good thing.   It means not just any company can pull it off.   But those steely enough to put in the work will reap amazing rewards.

The Importance of Writing a Fishing Resume

The Importance of Writing a Fishing ResumeAre you thinking about writing a fishing resume? Do you know what kind of resume you should be putting together and what you should include in it? You will find out that some of the information that you need to put on your fishing resume is not actually what you think it is.Fishing resumes are used when an employer wants to hire a person to work for them in one of their locations. In this article, you will find out that there are some things that you need to avoid putting on your fishing resume.When you think about it, if you were to apply for a job as a fisherman, it would be easy to get yourself disqualified from the position because you would be getting too many fishing jobs. This is because you can not only catch fish but you can also talk about it to anyone who wants to hear it. You will find that when you do this, you will most likely be disqualified.One of the things that you will want to avoid on your fishing resume details about your fishing skills. Some employers will look at a resume and decide that it does not show off enough skills that will show off why they should hire you. Fishing resume should always have one to two pages. This is your opportunity to go into detail about your fishing skills.Another thing that you want to avoid on your fishing resume is to use too many numbers. If you are asked about a job, a number will not help you out much. Many times, these numbers are not telling the story that they are trying to tell. If you do not want to talk about the numbers that you have been given, avoid using them at all.When you want to avoid talking about numbers, talk about other things. If you want to talk about your ability to throw fish, talk about it. If you want to talk about your fishing boat, talk about it. This way, people will be able to see the details of your abilities and what they can do when you are fishing.Remember, it is important to be specific when you are writing a fishing resume. You w ant to be able to talk about the responsibilities of a fisherman and what you can do to help the company. People will like to see that you can get a job done when you are applying for a job. In this case, you do not want to try to write about the companies you worked for or anything else that will distract from the information you are trying to put out there.As you can see, there are some things that you will want to avoid when you are writing a fishing resume. As long as you stay away from the red flags, you will be able to get an application that will land you a job.

Office Job How to Prevent Weight Gain at Work

Office Job How to Prevent Weight Gain at Work Burn through the majority of your workday behind a work area? To begin with, the uplifting news: You presumably get more cash-flow than somebody who doesn't, as indicated by another study. CareerBuilder has discovered that laborers in work area employments are twice as prone to make more than $100,000, contrasted with the individuals who don't work behind a work area. Presently for the not all that great news: You're likewise bound to be overweight. About six out of 10 of work area racers distinguish as overweight versus five out of 10 non-work area laborers. What's more, 46% report that they have put on weight in their present employments. Scientists have since quite a while ago realized that inactive work puts grown-ups at a higher danger of heftiness. In any case, work area laborers likewise enlightened CareerBuilder concerning the clairvoyant cost. Half of the respondents state that they feel stuck inside, and 56% state they invest the vast majority of their energy gazing at PC screens. In case you're attached to a work area, here are a few different ways to remain fit and battle burnout: Work on your feet Refering to the drawn out perils of stationary work, the American Medical Association urges bosses to let laborers utilize standing work areas or isometric balls. Inquire as to whether you can roll out certain improvements to your workspace and invest more energy in your feet. Get out Specialists have discovered that even brief breaks from sitting are related with better wellbeing results. Now and again, make sure to get up and stroll around the workplace. Do some work area works out One investigation recommends that laborers today consume around 100 less calories than laborers did in 1960. Including brief times of activity, for example, these that you can manage without leaving your workspaceâ€"to your day by day schedule could help keep off the additional pounds.

5 Ted Talks to Guarantee You Succeed - Coffee Break by Walrath

5 Ted Talks to Guarantee You Succeed - Coffee Break by Walrath At this point, most people have seen a TED Talk, or at least heard of what they are.  TED is a non-profit that is dedicated to sharing ideas in the form of free video talks. These talks are usually no longer than 20 minutes (although there are exceptions) and make for easily digestible advice and/or inspiration. While there are TED talks in almost every possible topic area, today we are focusing on one: success. These 5 TED Talks will guarantee you become a smarter, more driven, and more motivated professional. 8 Secrets of Success Richard St. John (3:30 min) After interviewing 500+ people, Richard has gotten to the heart of what makes people successful. This short talk is a great way to hear what has led many people to greatness. If you can realize these traits in yourself and tap into them, you will find yourself on a better path. Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career Larry Smith (15:15 min) This TED talk is brutally honest. Larry begins the talk by saying, I want to discuss with you this afternoon why youre going to fail to have a great career. This talk is a wake up call, and he calls everyone out on their lack of confidence in themselves to find a job they truly are passionate about. If you feel like your career is going nowhere, this may be the awakening you need. 10 Top Time-Saving Tech Tips David Pogue (5:44 min) This TED talk is less inspirational and more functional. David gives a fast breakdown of computer advice that will make you work more efficiently. These tips are fast, helpful, and easy to understand. They will not only benefit your work life, but these tips will also improve your casual tech usage as well. The Happy Secret to Better Work Shawn Achor (12:20 min) Its clear from this Ted talk that Shawn is an excellent storyteller. He uses an initial story to not only make the crowd laugh, but to rope them in as well. If you want some cheerier motivation, this talk is for you. Come for the laughs, and stay for the advice on seeing the world through a different, more positive lens. How to Make Stress Your Friend Kelly McGonigal (14:28 min) Whether youre a job seeker or a working professional, you are no doubt familiar with stress. As is evident from the title, this TED talk from psychologist Kelly McGonigal is about rethinking how you process stress. For too many of us, stress is something that inhibits our work instead of motivating it along. However, thats not the way it has to be. Listen to this talk if you want to turn stress into a positive force in your life. We hope you found something useful in one of the TED talks mentioned! Ted.com is a great resource for motivational talks, and it can also be a great way to get motivated as a job seeker in between the applying process. Finally, if you have a favorite TED talk that you think is worth sharing, please let us know in the comments!