How to Support Staff with Coronavirus Anxiety

How to Support Staff with Coronavirus Anxiety As a global society, we are facing an unprecedented time of change and uncertainty. As more cases of the coronavirus continue to be announced, we can expect to see employees experiencing high levels of anxiety around the potential impact of the virus. The fear of becoming ill â€" and the social and economic impact that comes with it â€" can take its toll on employee health. Some stress is good for us. It triggers a ‘fight or flight’ response which helps us act quickly under pressure. In this case, it means we’re more likely to act on health and hygiene warnings. Anxiety, however, can be just as contagious as a virus. We are social animals and it is important for us to pick up on how others are feeling. If one member of our group notices danger, it helps the group if others feel it too. Anxiety is  conductive. It seeks to travel from one person to the next. The goal of anxiety is to be contagious  and ensure everyone is anxious to ensure we’re all OK.  However, chronic stress â€" staying in this heightened state of stress for too long â€" is unhealthy and has a negative impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. So, what steps can employers take to help relieve symptoms of coronavirus anxiety? The first line of defense Anxiety often stems from the unknown. Anxious employees repeatedly ask themselves ‘what if?’ and focus on problems before they’ve happened. The lack of any precedent for dealing with a global pandemic means often there are no answers â€" only uncertainty.   ‘Should I go into work or self-isolate? Is my cough a symptom and should I get tested? Should I visit my elderly relatives? Travel on the tube? Go to my friend’s party? Sharing actionable steps on how to protect themselves and what to do if they feel unwell will help rationalize the issue. Make sure, company health protocols are clear and accessible. This means keeping staff informed on the steps you’re taking as a company and giving advice on how to stay hygienic and what to do if you’re feeling unwell Share the latest updates and  health guidelines  on the virus to keep employees in the loop, however, be careful about how often you’re sharing information. Key daily updates are fine, but employees shouldn’t be overwhelmed with distressing news updates, multiple times a day. Stock the essentials Make sure you’ve got the right supplies in place. Health guidelines state the importance of basic hygiene measures like washing hands regularly, using hand sanitizer and disposable hand towels. Checking there are plenty of supplies for employees to use is the simplest way of helping relieve some of the worries, supporting staff in staying hygienic in a busy office. Remote control Much of the panic around the coronavirus stems from employees worrying about where they may encounter it, like on their commute or even in the office. Where possible, make reasonable adjustments. These may include accommodating remote working and putting unnecessary travel on hold, particularly if cases become known in your area. This will become essential if known cases are announced in your company. Successful remote working requires planning to avoid further distress. You may need to support employees in setting up a  suitable home working environment, for example, providing a company laptop to relieve financial worries and ergonomic furniture to allow them to work comfortably from home. Out of sight not out of mind It is important for wellbeing and resilience to ensure connectivity for members of staff who are self-isolating.  Remote workers face psychological hazards linked to loneliness and isolation Risk assess for these and consider increased connectivity through for example the use of virtual water coolers, so teams can stay connected Use reassuring language Be aware of how your language can impact people’s perceptions of the situation. According to  The Journal of Positive Psychology,  diagnostic terms should be avoided when it comes to discussing health concerns. For example, using terms like ‘cases’ and ‘victims’ reinforces negative connotations and can make employees even more stressed. Stick to the facts and avoid inflammatory language. Use phrases like ‘staff being treated for…’ instead, which have a more positive focus on recovery. Additional support Many employees are going to experience symptoms of distress and anxiety as the virus reaches its peak. In addition to being transparent about company policies, it’s important to provide employees with coping mechanisms. Staff who continue to show signs of distress should be guided towards further emotional support. It may be that anxiety around coronavirus is a noticeable sign of pre-existing or wider emotional struggles. In these cases, highlight existing workplace offerings like employee assistance programs (EAPs) which offer direct, confidential contact with counselors and mental health experts. Consider inviting an expert to give a company talk on general coping mechanisms for anxiety. This may help those who are worried about speaking to managers or employers about their fears.

How to Use Employer Brand Management to Attract and Recruit

How to Use Employer Brand Management to Attract and Recruit How can your organisation use employer brand management  to attract, recruit and retain the best talent? What social media channels work best for  employer branding? Richard Mosley, VP of Strategy at Universum,  provided us with some insights. Whats the difference between  brand management and  employer branding? Yes, these terms are often used interchangeably, but I think if I start with the employer branding piece first, I think if you are using employer branding in the way that branding is used within consumer marketing, it’s largely about the way you create the image through creative expression, communication and so on. And of course, this is a very important thing to be doing, and it’s an important part of employer brand management. And one way of looking at brand management is simply, as in the corporate brand sense, making sure that you’re policing that identity and that branding to make sure it’s consistent, and you’re getting your message across in a consistent way. But I think in the more advanced companies, those that are beginning to push beyond that, it’s also about managing the brand experience itself. So I guess you could describe employer brand management at its best, in terms of coordinating all of the parts that make up a positive brand experience. So that’s communication, but it’s also those elements of people management, where you’re designing processes and you’re designing experiences that are going to reinforce that brand. The    7 point plan  to employer brand management: Strategy: I think if you’re building it from the bottom up, you’ve really got to start with the strategy of the organisation. And I’m assuming, in this case, that you really are taking a more integrated approach. But you’ve got to understand the kind of talent you need. And when you think about talent, you also think about skills and capabilities, and so on.   Take the external view:  You need to understand how you’re currently seen. I mean, your employer brand is how you’re seen essentially. What kind of associations people have with you â€" awareness, consideration, etc. â€" and how that stacks up against your competitors. Have a really honest look at yourselves: Where are your strengths, where, partly because of organisational needs and performance needs and also partly because of the need to strengthen some areas to attract the right talent, you also need to think about where your stretch is, where your realistic aspirations are in terms of improvement. Building your employer brand platform: That’s partly your EVP, the priority areas, the three or four things you’re really going to focus your attention on. Plus your identity, your look, feel.   Plan and execute your communication: Ideally internally as well as externally because you want to be building engagement and advocacy, so you can fully leverage the social media, employee-generated content and so on. Build the experience: It’s a bit like any kind of marketing. One side of it is, of course, building equity externally with your communication. But you’ve got to keep improving the product. In this respect there’s no difference between an employer brand and a consumer brand. So internally, you’ve got to be mindful of how you continue to improve the employment experience â€" how you improve your learning development, various processes, orientation, and maybe performance management.   Measure it: So, we all know that HR analytics are particularly sexy at the moment and I think continuously will be. So the final part of the cycle is really just checking out where you’re making progress, and where perhaps you’re slacking behind and need to improve or adjust. Who owns the employer brand? HR or marketing? Everybody should own the brand, or at least feel ownership for it. So that’s one way of thinking about it, but of course, it’s also the responsibility and accountability for getting things done. I would say, if you’re in an organisation where employer branding is essentially still just communication, then I think marketing should own it. Because it’s a marketing activity. If it’s just communication, then the experts are the marketers and you should really let them take a degree of control over it. If, however, it extends into experiences as well, and of course, as I say, we say it should be, then I think it should be HR, because HR are the people who really understand the people management side of the business, better than anyone else. So they are experts, they are the consultants, they should understand all of the ins and outs of people management. How to  measure your employer brand: You’ve got to understand what your ratings are in terms of things that you want to be associated with. So if you want to be innovative for example, or you want to be seen as progressive, or you want to be seen as a good development company, then you’ve got to measure those things. And of course, that’s Universum’s bread and butter. We help measure employer brands from that perspective. And once you’ve got that right, you need to have the flipside of that because you’ll make your call on what you want to be associated with based on its effect on consideration and preference, etc. So you also need to measure the extent these brand associations are driving the kind of behaviours you want. Is it driving people to consider you as an employer and to prefer you versus the companies you’re competing with? So that’s one side, your external employer brand. But what’s often missing, of course, is the inside perspective. And likewise, just as your external image may be driving consideration and preference, internally you’re measuring what the strength of association with those particular qualities is internally. For example  is this is a place where we can innovate, or this is a place we get great development? And ultimately you should be checking the degree to which these associations are translating into engagement and advocacy. How does employer branding work together with content marketing? You want to make sure that the content that you get out to people is well-branded so they recognise that it’s about your company. And if they go from one site to another, from your career site to your Facebook Page, to LinkedIn, to Instagram, and other places, that it’s recognisably the same company because you’ve got good branding, and you may have some anchor taglines and so on. Okay, they’re consistent overall. But within this brand frame, you have your content marketing, and your content marketing is where you have a much richer and continuous flow of personal, story-driven content. It’s not always personal because you can have infographics about the company, and you can have all kinds of other games and quizzes and interactive things, but largely speaking it’s personal and story-driven. We found that the content marketing that’s really working at the moment is primarily focused on people and culture. But interestingly, if you look at the full range of content, this doesn’t necessarily account for the biggest chunk. There are lots of other things that people communicate about, but we found that the most engaging content is story-driven, it’s personal, it’s about the culture of the organisation, and it really appears to be giving an authentic inside view. The best social channels for employer branding: There are slightly different roles. LinkedIn is more serious, more professional, and a way of targeting individual people. It doesn’t appear to be quite as effective engagement-wise, in terms of telling the personal story or the inside story of the organisation. For some reason, it’s not. It doesn’t seem to be playing quite that role in the same way that Facebook is. I think Facebook is really emerging now as that prime vehicle for getting across the personal side of your organisation. And it’s still a bit experimental at the moment. I mean, people are posting all kinds of stuff, but I think those organisations who are putting together a good content calendar on Facebook, and really thinking through the various themes that they want to communicate are doing really well on Facebook. In some markets, Instagram is doing extremely well. I’ve been doing a fair bit of work in the Middle East, where Instagram is really big, and in some respects, bigger than Facebook, and I think that’s because it is card-based content. I mean, you get it in Facebook, but card and visually-based content is very attractive to people when they’re trying to get the feel of a company. And of course, Twitter.  It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, and a lot of companies, probably wrongly, just to tweet out jobs. But I think Twitter is increasingly being used to connect  people to the right content, depending on where they’re looking for. I think you’ve got to look at the full picture. Because it’s like in your own network, it’s not like you can necessarily just manage the things individually and think that way, or miss some of them out. Follow Richard on Twitter @RiMosley  and make sure you subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast.

College Students Fail When They Ask For Jobs Instead Of Relationships - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

College Students Fail When They Ask For Jobs Instead Of Relationships - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Within 24 hours, Ive been given the impression that college students ask for jobs from alumni, without trying to start a relationship or at least network. I just got through speaking with one of my friends who is a freshman in college and we have a networking event today for our fraternity and he goes its not gonna matter for me cuz no 1 looks for a frosh for a job or internship. First off, I had an internship when I was a freshman in college and even a senior in high school. There are simply no excuses and you must start early, at least by networking. Aside from this, I went to another college networking event earlier this week and I was one of the only alumni there because, lets face it, alumni just dont come back. They dont come back for a simple reason and that is because they know they are going to be harassed for jobs from people who dont care enough to learn about them. There is a perception among alumni (I conducted a survey with my network) that college students only set up these events to beg us for jobs. Whats even more frustrating is that when I go back for a social event, people are asking me for jobs!!! Im obviously not there trying to hire students if Im going to a social event. Another item that turns alumni off is colleges that send numerous letters asking for donations. I believe they would never have to perform that task if they built stronger relationships with alumni when they were students. How are recent graduates going to donate money back when they are trying to get a job, and have expenses such as rent, gas, car insurance, etc. Entry-level jobs typically dont extend more than salaries of $60,000. The average starting salary is about $35,000, which is hard to even live off of. If youre looking for donations, then think five years from now and start building rapport with alumni when they first enter as a freshman. Here are some tips for college students: Be sincere when dealing with alumni. Quit being so selfish and obvious when you confront us. Demonstrate your soft skills. Get out of your comfort zone. If you already know one of us, meet someone else. Have a business card on hand. There are no excuses anymore. If its a casual environment, be casual. Always follow-up with us afterward. Dont waste our time. Resumes should be delivered after the event not during it. We are there to meet and communicate, not review resumes. We recommend friends over acquaintances. Whats in it for us. Here are some tips for alumni Give college students a chance. Youre probably more successful than them, so give advice. Move around and meet as many people as you can. Dont just speak with college students, go after other alumni. Alumni from your alma mater are more likely to help you succeed than from other colleges. Remember to network more outside of your company than within. Be comfortable telling students that your company isnt hiring or that you arent the point person and they should send their resume through HR (dead-end).

Plus and Negative Points about Merchant Cash Advance

Plus and Negative Points about Merchant Cash Advance What Is It? Very often in business people need an urgent loan for their work, and it is not provided by the bank or any other organization at short notice. Previously, one had to cancel his/her plans due to non-availability of funds.   The past few years have given birth to a good alternative: Merchant cash advance. It is not exactly a loan, but rather by business details and credit cards, etc. an advance payment can be obtained and invested in the business. It is a novel concept and isn’t well known among business owners. Operation For businesses that generate revenue by credit card, they   can readily benefit from this service. For instance, restaurants would be a good option. When one applies for merchant cash advance, an advanced amount is given to the client with the agreement to have the given amount back by sharing a pre-discussed profit in the business in the future. It benefits both the lender and client. Plus Points Some golden points come if one uses such an option for her business. It is easily accessible as compared to conventional loans. It does not require extensive work on client’s side. One can save time in this phase. It does not require much business success for the lender. Since it has already been mentioned that the deals are done on prospects of the future sales of the company, it is quite a simple method. Since it is not a conventional loan, it does not have to go through tough legal procedures. Since banks and big organizations are not involved it means no complicated and long procedures. It is an ideal option for smaller retailers. Restaurants and small start-ups are good examples. It is especially a benefit for small businesses with low profits. Such endeavors are often rejected by banks and other organizations and need a supporting hand for their future sales. Advance merchant cash is a boon in their world. Negative Points Some disadvantages cannot be ignored. If on the one hand, it is a good thing that it is not a proper loan but a promised profit in future sales, it poses a serious threat to one’s authority on her own business. The client can demand 30% to 50% share in the profit. This system is affected greatly by the condition of the business. For fast prospering business, repayment is quick. However, for times when business is progressing rather slow, the repayment is very slow. It is not recognized on a large scale; regulations are not in place to govern and protect lenders or owners.

Best Online Resume Writing Services - How Yelp Can Help You

Best Online Resume Writing Services - How Yelp Can Help YouIt is better to use the best and the most recognized websites such as Yelp and several other websites that are well-known and popular among the members of the society. This is done in order to establish a good connection with the candidate's employer and because of this you will have a chance to secure a job in the near future.Yelp has over four million members in their database. The most popular job sites such as this will help you make a good impression on your employer.Yelp is a free service. You can even do away with any expenses, including membership fees. Just sign up, and get started on creating your first resume.Today, it is not only employed people who can make use of these resume writing services. The opportunity to sell their products or services online has become quite common these days. Therefore, every job seeker can have his/her own online presence through these websites.Many people are not aware of the fact th at they can use Yelp to find out about the companies that they are looking for. This will help them to compare the quality of the services offered by different companies and can also help them to identify the employees that they need to hire.If you are looking for the best service provider in the field of resume writing services, it would be better if you make use of Yelp and other good online resume writing services. There are many resumes that are being written everyday. Each of these resumes has its own unique quality that makes it stand out from the rest.This is the reason why Yelp and other well-known websites like it can provide the best services. They have a lot of people visiting their website daily. The services they offer are more effective and easier to use.Once you are done with your research, you can post your resume on the Yelp website. And you can be assured that it will be the best resume writing service ever.

The Pros and Cons of a Mobile Business

The Pros and Cons of a Mobile Business Thanks to the huge popularity in food trucks, which have sprung up to great success in recent years, many businesses, even those not in the food industry, have started to think about the prospect of taking their businesses mobile, and many have done so successfully from mobile barbershops to dog groomers, and even mobile party buses. If you run a business, or you’re thinking of starting one, you may yourself be thinking about taking your operation mobile Before you do though, you should take some time to think about the pros and cons because although it can work well for many businesses, it certainly isn’t for everyone.To help you do that, here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of taking your business mobile: The Pros Low Startup Costs One of the biggest benefits of starting a mobile business is that it typically costs less to do so than setting up in a bricks and mortar shops. So, if you’re just starting out, or you’re looking to expand into new markets, it can be a good choice. Your average mobile more trailer or truck will set you back between $5000 and $20000  size, condition and finish and this is far more affordable in the long-term than the $10,000 per year that it would cost to rent just 1000 square feet of commercial space. That’s before you take into account other property fees and taxes that you may be liable to pay in your area. More Potential Customers If your business is based in a single location bricks and mortar unit, then you clearly have a limited number of potential customers. Only those people who live or work close by, and potentially tourists if you’re based in a popular area, will come into contact with your company and maybe pop in. If, however, your business is mobile, you potentially have an infinite number of people to entice in. You are only limited by your own efforts and how many locations you choose to take your company out to. If you don’t get much interest in one area, you can simply move and try somewhere else you can basically find your target market instead of having them find you. This could save you lots of money on marketing dollars apart from anything else. Smaller Inventory Mobile businesses can typically get away with stocking a smaller selection of products because customers are well aware that trucks and trailers have a limited amount of space. This means that you can save money by not spending so much on stock in advance. Even more importantly, it gives you the opportunity to curate a really good selection of stuff. If you do this well and appeal to a particular niche, you could have customers queuing up to get their fix every single time you’re in town. Just make sure that you ask for and listen to customer feedback so that you DO stock the things that they really want to buy or your small selection could backfire on you and make your mobile business less appealing. Payment is Easy A lot of mobile businesses deal in cash, but these days, all you need is a card swiper and you can take credit and debit card payments on the go too, which means that you will never have to turn any customers away. The Cons Local Laws One of the potential sticking points with a mobile business is the law. The laws and regulations that apply in one town or state may be very much different than those that apply in another area, which means you will have to do a lot of due diligence to ensure that you can, for example, park in a particular area or sell a certain product where you are. Marketing Since you won’t have a permanent location, you won’t be able to list your business space on Google Maps or similar tools that make it easy for customers to find you. This means that you may need to do a little more marketing to ensure that the right people can find you at the right time. This could be a headache, but with social media, it is getting much easier to market your company locally to the right audience, You will need to do this diligently to see results though, so hiring a social media manager could be a good idea. You need people to know when you will be around if you want them to pay a visit and spend some money with you. Would your business suit going mobile?

Career Trends to Know

Career Trends to Know What qualities do you think your manager values in an employee? Of course, the answer can differ from company to company and manager to manager, but recently OI Partners conducted a nationwide survey asking this specific question. The results were discussed in a blog by John Hollon in the HR Blog on TNLT. Surprised by Any on the List? I would be very interested in seeing a similar list from 2007 to early 2008 to understand the impact of the economy on these traits. As is mentioned in the article, Being a Team Player was the most common trait selected by the employers which may be due to companies needing to meet goals with less individuals. It may also be very relevant as more and more companies are allowing employees to tele-commute. Tele-commuting can change the culture of work environment, so to make the new environment successful, they need employees to operate as team players in order to meet those goals. Being a team player is always important as team synergies can help companies drive toward and meet their goals, but I was curious as to the role the economy plays on making it at the top of the list. Work Harder or Work Smarter? I also thought it was interesting that work smart and work hard were chosen by about the same number of employees. For years we have heard the mantra, work smarter, not harder. This statement gets at the fact that effort does not equal results. Just because you are working 60 hours a week, does not mean your results are any better than the individual who works 40 and accomplishes the same tasks. Revisit how you are getting your work done and investigate if there are better ways to do it. John Hollons list indicates that employers are looking for the extra effort as well. It suggests that if you can accomplish your 40 hour a week task load in 25 hours, they want to see you raising your hand to take on a new project. This list also highlights areas we have covered in other blogs like tracking your results to ensure your manager is aware of how you are impacting the company and the value you bring. This article serves as a great reminder: it is a list of qualities that managers are seeking in their employees, but it is up to the employee to make sure the manager sees how they fit the list!