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Does a work-life balance really exist?  And what does it even mean to have a work-life balance?

Employers and employees alike have differing ideas on what it means, and if it is really even possible, to have a work-life balance. While onsite at work, employers with a more “traditional” work culture and workday structure may have long-ingrained ideas about what it is to be a dedicated employee.  Vacations should be few and far between.  Flextime and telecommuting may be unheard of or synonymous with “no structure or accountability.”   Offsite, smart phones and laptops allow us to work from anywhere, at any hour.  As employees, we are technically accessible 24 hours a day and may never truly feel like we are “off.”

Employees in exempt positions probably have the most difficult time trying to attain any kind of work-life balance. These employees technically have no real limitations on hours they can work and for them, the “work day” may never end.  In order to keep up with the real (or perceived) demands of their positions, they may work late into the night on a regular basis, or work on weekends and during vacations.   Leisure activities, personal interests and hobbies may fall to the wayside.  Long-planned trips may get cancelled.  Friends and family may get rain-checked.

A work-life balance is a true gift to employees – to all employees, and not only working parents. It helps prevents burnout (and may actually increase productivity) and the high cost of employee turnover.  Several studies have shown that the longer an employee works with no real break, no real opportunity to spend quality time away from work, the less productive he or she becomes. [1] All employees have outside interests and people they like to spend time with outside of work.  All employees need a break.  What can employers do to keep their most valuable resource – people – feel more balance in their personal and professional lives without giving over a “lawless, structure-free” workplace?

• Track salaried employee work hours. Again, while there is no limit to their hours as they are paid to get their jobs done, ideally, there should be. If the workload is so great that they are regularly working over 12 hours a day as well as on designated days off, such as weekends or holidays, there is probably too much on their plates or they may have time management issues.
• Evaluate job descriptions. If employees are putting in long hours on a regular basis, is there any part of their jobs that can be delegated to others? What is taking the most time, and is there a quicker, more efficient way of getting it done or still a need to even continue doing it? Some employees hold on to a time-consuming task simply because they’ve always done it the same way without considering alternatives.
• Manage the culture. Do employees feel like they NEED to be seen late in the workplace to display their job dedication to upper management? Are some supervisors calling employees during vacations for less-than-urgent matters, or reluctant to approve vacation time at all? Sometimes it can be as simple as kindly telling an employee to head on home at the end of an eight or nine-hour day or coaching a supervisor who is adverse to employee time off to help employees see that you as a company understand how valuable time away – truly away – from work can be.
• Take an interest. Some managers may feel uncomfortable taking conversations with their employees away from work but it might make the team feel a little less like worker bees and more like individuals if their supervisors show a little interest in their outside lives. Ask about their weekends – do they show at art exhibitions? Coach a sport? Spend time caring for a home-bound family member or volunteer for charitable organizations? Remembering that “employees are people too” is great start to a shift in thinking about trying to help employees find a reasonable balance between their home and work lives.
• Embrace – but don’t abuse – technology. Technology can be a great tool when not used to tether an employee to his or her job 24/7. Consider balance-friendly work structures, such as flextime and telecommuting. Employees dedicated to their work will continue to be dedicated regardless of their physical location or number of hours sitting at their desks. While not all types work structures may work for all positions, with careful planning and a system of goals and accountability in place, employers may find themselves with happier, more dedicated employees who appreciate their employers’ trust in them as professionals.

Employees are used to prioritizing and making personal sacrifices when needed for work – it’s part of what makes it “work.”   However, that doesn’t mean that they should sacrifice their identities and all of their free time in order to keep their jobs.  A work-life balance is a true gift – one that gives to both employees and ultimately, to their employers as well.  While true balance may not be completely attainable, it’s well worth the effort to do what we can to try to achieve it.

[1] “Workplace Productivity” SHRM, 2004 Survey and Conclusions

https://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Documents/Workplace%20Productivity%20Poll%20Findings.pdf

“Employee Vacation Leave Essential to High-Performing Organizations ” Project Time Off, 2013 http://www.projecttimeoff.com/sites/default/files/PTO_SHRM_FactSheet_Biz.pdf

“Relax! You’ll be More Productive” New York Times, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/relax-youll-be-more-productive.html?_r=0

“Crunch Mode: Programming to the Extreme: The Relationship Between Hours Worked and Productivity” 2004 Stanford University Research Project http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/crunchmode/index.html

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We’ve seen it happen time and time again, a high potential employee promoted to lead a team. This was obviously the next step.  You wanted to provide a growth and developmental opportunity that was going to engage the high potential employee by expanding their responsibility to lead people.  Sure they were great at getting the job done, exceeded your expectations in every way with the work they delivered.  So, technically, they nailed it!  But what’s going on now? They are struggling every day with the basics, and the team members are beginning to be visibly impacted as they become frustrated on having to wait for the leader to get their work done in order to do theirs. The team members may eventually start to leave – if your once high potential employee doesn’t first.

It’s simple; being a manager of others requires a different set of skills than an individual contributor. Although it seems like the right step to promote your high potential to lead others, do they really have the skills and most importantly do they really want to lead?

Here are five traits to look for in determining if your high potential has the desire and the skill to lead:

1. Makes sacrifices – Taking work home because during the day they gave their time to coaching or teaching a teammate. Use their time and energy to continue to learn and grow. They step aside and make sure that their teammates get the credit, even if they were the inspiration and the drive behind the project.

2. Acts with integrity in the workplace – Follows through, honors their word and are impeccable and honorable with their actions creating respect and professionalism.

3. Takes accountability – When the team has a problem, they consider it their problem too. They take on full responsibility for decisions without working out minor details with their leader, with full understanding of their leader’s decision-making process.

4. Motivates others – They are able to explain why something needs to be done, how it can be accomplished and the impact it will have without micro-managing thereby creating a winning environment. They are not afraid to have difficult, professional, conversations.

5. Leads by example – They understand that they are role model, not a friend. They are a reasonable person who understands how to limit liability by handling matters fairly and are not in it for “the title” or prestige.

Remember, desire and skill to lead is essential to setting up your high potential for success in leading others. High individual achiever (think of sales) doesn’t always mean they are eager to motivate others to achieve that same success.  The high performing individual might not be “wired” to train, coach, and mentor.  Finally, the best leaders are always hungry to know better, to do better.  That is why they too have mentors and coaches, inside and outside of the organization, to learn from.

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Many organizations regardless of the size should have well written job descriptions for every position within the company. The benefits include making good hiring decisions, building in employee accountability and minimizing risk. They are a tool worth the time it takes to create them and keep them current.

Employers need to acknowledge the importance of creating job descriptions before the hiring process begins. Detailed job descriptions are essential to identifying employee qualifications needed before they walk in the door for the first day of work. How can you know what skills need hired without first defining it?

Job descriptions are also effective at minimizing employment related risks, particularly those related to wage and hour (failure to pay overtime) and claims of wrongful termination.

As a general rule there are five key elements of a job description that need to be considered when creating the document.

• Job Title, as listed on the organizational chart. Be sure to list the position title, location, the team or department under that the job will be a part of, and the job title of the person considered to be the direct manager or primary leader. Include a short “primary function” summary.
• FLSA Status & Pay. Exempt or Non-Exempt status and pay range or total compensation, with the appropriate disclaimer(s).
• Essential Duties. These core responsibilities are what the employee will actually perform on a daily basis. Make sure what is listed is consistent with the Exempt or Non-Exempt status you have chosen for the role (see above). One way of organizing responsibilities is to make a list of daily tasks, organize them into groups, and identify each group as a key responsibility.
• Knowledge-Skills-Abilities necessary to do the job well.  Communication Skills? Verbal or Written? Team Play? Proactive? Organized? Soft skills are really important to reflect on. Sometimes more so than the qualifications. These should tell the interviewer how to draft open-ended, behavior based questions.
• Minimum qualifications & physical requirements, including working conditions. Only list the minimum qualifications requirements for the position so you can apply reasonable judgment and flexibility when making a hiring decision. This makes it easier for the resume screener.       What is the minimum amount of qualifications you need met to even both picking up the phone to talk to the applicant? What are the physical capabilities required to do the job? Is there heavy lifting, carrying or walking requirements? If so, how much weight will the hired employee be required to carry? Does the position require travel? Outline the amount of time, distance and travel expectations.

How do job descriptions minimize risk?  Is someone questioning Exempt status of a role?  Pull out the description and show how the role qualifies by what is documented.  Not able to honor a reasonable accommodation request?  The physical requirements should tell you why.

Job descriptions are also a tool for managers, particularly those new to leading, to measure what has been accomplished and reflect on what needs improvement ahead of the annual review. When employees fall short on what the job description requires, put some thought into if making a good hiring decisions was hindered by job description inaccuracies.  You can save the money and trouble of hiring again, but first getting that job description more reflective of the role.

What’s the easiest way to keep job descriptions current? Ask employees you are about to review to mark up what does and does not apply, and provide written feedback on updates to consider.  Marry the updates into a collaborative Annual Review session.  Then turn to your HR consultant or internal HR department to update, finalize, and circle the description back out for view and use.

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Because people are often curious what a professional employer organization (PEO) is and how it works, it seemed a good way to inform the market was to share the knowledge via a white paper. Our aim was to summarize HR complexities, trends in outsourcing, functions often outsourced, how a PEO works, PEOs at a glance, and PEO benefits.

In our research, we were delighted to discover there is a lot of support for PEO services as they significantly reduce administrative burden, cost, and alleviate resource strain. As a leading PEO organization, our PEO study shows that 2016 outsourcing meant that more companies moved toward the trend of working with a PEO than ever before. For more on 2016 PEOs and to see our findings, download the complimentary white paper by clicking the button below.

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Promoting an employee to manager isn’t just beneficial for your employees but it is crucial for you, the business owner. It boosts morale, increases productivity and improves overall profits earned.

The promoted employee has proven they are capable of managing and motivating themselves, the task in the immediate future is to ensure that the same individual contributor will now successfully lead others on their team.

How can you help? Simple.

Meet with them regularly and coach them through the following steps of transition.

• Remind them of their existing strengths: The employee has proven that they can get the job done, now help them to be clear of their new expectations of orchestrating the work of others.
• Encourage over communication: First-time managers often underestimate the importance of sharing information with staff. Emphasize the importance of sharing the bigger picture as a way of helping employees to see the connection between their role and the success of the company.
• Help the employee to rely on their own unique way to lead: Help a new manager identify what they stand for and how they’ll help their team grow. Encourage them to envision a much admired manager or answer the question, “Why would anyone follow me?” Being themselves and focusing on their strengths is an important first step in any new manager’s leadership development.
• Recognize employees for a job well done: Coach the new manager on the importance of using frequent recognition as a way to foster a positive team environment.
• Encourage transparency: You know from your own experience that establishing a strong relationship with a team needs to happen quickly. The pressure of a promotion often puts a first-time leader into performance mode where they are overly concerned about productivity. But how do you teach someone what is second nature to yourself? With a tool called Making an Impact, new managers will have a compass on how to set up a meaningful initial staff meeting. The result, the team feeling more comfortable and confident with the change and the new manager building rapport with their team.

This proven, step-by-step process will help any new manager quickly build a solid working relationship with their staff. In one initial group meeting, not only will the manager feel empowered in their new position, but the overarching goals of your business will be accomplished in the long run.

Click the link to view our recent blog: For New Managers – Never Let Them See You Sweat! or check back for more on human resources, payroll, insurance and benefits.