Businesses operating from a glass-half-empty perspective are quick to conclude you can’t. According to SHRM, concerns about productivity are driving returns to the office, even as the majority of employees seek remote and hybrid roles.

Sitting in a corporate office, with everyone wearing the same company swag, can physically bring your team together and streamline collaboration, but even that won’t revitalize weak engagement alone—it’s culture that makes the difference. And culture isn’t a place; it’s the shared values and standards that guide how people work. Virtual work can be successful.

When employees are strongly connected to their company culture, Gallup reports they’re 3.7 times more likely to be engaged at work. For any dispersed workforce, success begins with learning how to build team culture virtually. Leverage these remote work culture ideas to activate your organization’s full potential.

1. Embed Culture in Your Virtual Onboarding Process

First impressions set the tone for every relationship—and they shape the way employees interact with clients, managers, and peers. Effective virtual onboarding should not only set expectations, but also foster trust and shared beliefs to help new hires integrate into your culture.

Here are a few topics you can cover in your remote onboarding process to build team culture virtually:

• Company values: Thoroughly explain what each of your core values entails and provide examples of how team members put them into action.
• Team introductions: Ensure your new hire gets a warm, on-camera welcome from everyone on the team, and let them know who they can reach out to for different needs.
• Collaboration protocols: When should team members share ideas or work independently? How can employees ask for support? Answering questions like these about working with remote teams can help new employees navigate your culture and contribute their skills and ideas. Consider placing relevant instructions and resources in a shared virtual folder.

Adding culture-related tasks for your employees to complete, like posting a self-introduction in your company’s digital water cooler, can also help them familiarize themselves with your virtual team environment.

2. Plan Virtual Team-Building Activities

Productive company culture is grounded in mutual trust and solidarity between team members. Virtual team-building activities help your employees build rapport by getting to know each other beyond work-related interactions.

Brainstorm activities that align with your ideal remote team culture. For example, companies that want to prioritize critical thinking could host strategy-based virtual team-building games for remote workers like Werewolf or a virtual murder mystery, which challenge players to pinpoint secret “villains” within a group. Teams that value creativity could stretch their imagination with improv exercises or Pictionary. The right activities speak to your culture and make it enjoyable.

3. Create a Clear Remote Communication Policy

Great communication keeps employees aligned with the same business goals and values, while ensuring leaders stay transparent. Create a clear policy that outlines how and when each communication tool—such as email, Slack, or Zoom—should be used. For example, text messages may only be appropriate for urgent requests.

Your communication policy can also explain the frequency of team and client meetings, after-hours communication expectations, diversity and inclusion policies, vacation request processes, and how to leverage project management tools for task-specific communication.

4. Show Employee Appreciation

Recognition of employees who actively participate in your company culture is key to building a successful virtual team. It gives team members examples to follow, motivates your workforce, and makes dedicated employees feel seen. Consider giving weekly shoutouts to individuals who make meaningful contributions and rewarding those who most exemplify each of your core values each year.

Of course, it’s important not to leave any employees behind. Be sure to regularly show gratitude for all individuals on your team and shower employees with praise and gifts on their work anniversaries.

5. Celebrate Company Wins

While honoring individual successes is important, celebrating company wins as a team can bring your workforce together and boost morale. When your organization hits major milestones like an annual revenue goal, be sure to announce it at an all-hands meeting or on a company-wide channel—ideally, somewhere that sparks conversation between employees. Show gratitude to your employees for their efforts as you do so.

6. Hire Excellent Culture Fits

Building culture virtually really begins with hiring the right people. Culture fits—people who naturally align with your company values and mission—can have an incredibly positive impact on your organizational success.

To assess cultural suitability, employers must ask questions that uncover what motivates candidates. Examples include:

• What is your ideal working environment?
• Describe the best manager you’ve had.
• What excites you about this job?
• Do you prefer working alone or working with a team?

Savvy interviewers also recognize how to read between the lines, often engaging in casual conversation to assess how well employees can collaborate with their peers and managers. Partnering with a staffing firm like ATR International can equip you with the expertise needed to identify the right culture fits with accuracy and speed, all while expanding your talent pool.

Elevate Your Virtual Team Culture with Support from Staffing Experts

Figuring out how to build team culture virtually doesn’t have to feel like solving a complex equation. Implementing simple strategies—like planning monthly virtual team-building activities and showing employee appreciation—can keep your team aligned, engaged, and productive.

As your business grows, experienced recruiters can help you identify candidates who can naturally integrate into your organization while providing your desired skillsets. At ATR, we get to know the ins and outs of your company culture and business goals to ensure the right fit—and we’re constantly building our network to ensure we’re only recommending the best.

Boost engagement by solidifying a team of skilled culture fits. Reach out to ATR International about your hiring needs.

The post How to Build Team Culture Virtually: 6 Effective Strategies appeared first on ATR International.

When you’re getting to know your candidates beyond their resumes, it’s important to avoid intrusive inquiries. Certain types of questions can put you at risk for discrimination lawsuits and, ethically, lead to major setbacks in your diversity and inclusion efforts. We’ll give examples of questions not to ask in an interview and provide a simple framework for determining if a question is appropriate. 

7 Types of Questions Not to Ask in an Interview 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) deems any questions regarding protected personal characteristics illegal. Even if a candidate freely offers up the following details, the EEOC prohibits employers from leveraging this information when making their hiring decisions. 

Here are seven topics to steer clear of during the interview process.

1. Age

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects workers who are over 40 years old. Some local governments may also protect younger workers from discrimination. While you can ask for age or birthdate if there’s a legal age requirement for a role—like for commercial drivers or bartender jobs—questions like these are typically prohibited in the interview process: 

• How old are you? 
• What year were you born? 
• What year did you graduate high school?

2. Country of Origin or Birthplace

Candidates can meet a position’s language requirements and be eligible to work in the U.S., no matter where they were born. This is why it’s illegal to discriminate against someone based on their national origin. Here are examples of questions not to ask about a candidate’s background: 

• Where were you born? 
• Are you a native English speaker? 
• How did you learn to speak Spanish? 
• Where are your parents from? 

3. Disability

While employers can ask if a candidate believes they can perform the job—with or without reasonable accommodation—it’s illegal to ask about disabilities and medical conditions. Avoid questions like: 

• Do you have a disability? 
• Will you need time off for any medical treatments? 
• Have you ever filed a workers’ comp claim? 
• What is your family medical history? 

4. Gender, Sex, and Sexual Orientation

The government has long prohibited discrimination based on gender and sex. As of 2020, this protection extends to gender identity and sexual orientation, too. While asking for a candidate’s pronouns may feel inclusive—and is acceptable after an offer has been extended—being an ally starts with reducing subconscious bias in the interview process. Here are examples of questions employers shouldn’t ask: 

• What’s your gender? 
• How do you identify? 
• Are you male or female? 
• What’s your sexual orientation? 
• Have you had any gender-affirming treatments? 

5. Marital Status, Family Status, or Pregnancy

While many of us prioritize our families, personal plans don’t necessarily impact an employee’s performance in a role. Companies cannot discriminate against a worker to avoid planning around life events, like honeymoons and parental leaves, so it’s essential to avoid these questions—even in casual conversation—during the interview process: 

• Are you married or engaged? 
• Do you have a partner? 
• When are you expecting? 
• How many kids do you have? 
• What are your childcare arrangements? 

6. Race, Ethnicity, or Color

EEOC illegal interview questions include those about race, ethnicity, and color. While there may be exceptions for affirmative action programs, there are legal guidelines for where and how you ask about these topics. As a rule of thumb, avoid these questions unless you’ve consulted with and received a green light from your local government or a lawyer: 

• What’s your race? 
• What’s your ethnic background? 
• What’s your partner’s race or ethnicity? 
• Does your family follow any cultural traditions? 

7. Religion

Companies—with the exception of religious organizations—cannot ask questions about a candidate’s religion, including: 

• Are you religious? 
• What’s your denomination? 
• Do you observe any religious holidays? 

What Questions Can I Ask in an Interview? 

When you’re preparing questions for a job interview, ask yourself this: Does my candidate’s answer really affect their qualification for the job? 

If there’s a clear job-related need to ask your question, you can likely keep it on your list. Questions about work experience, professional skills, past promotions, and strengths and weaknesses are generally safe to ask. Asking about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) as a professional value is also acceptable. 

However, keep in mind there are a lot of gray areas when it comes to the legality of interview questions. Some inquiries aren’t outright illegal—but they may only be legal sometimes. For example, financial status is typically off-limits, but you can ask if a candidate owns a car if it’s a requirement for the role. Similarly, arrest records are protected unless the role is in law enforcement. Questions about salary history may be barred in some states. 

Protect Your Company and Uphold DE&I 

Understanding what questions not to ask in an interview process can protect your company from long-term consequences while helping you uphold your commitment to DE&I. Steer clear of any inquiries about protected characteristics—like gender, ethnicity, and marital status—and focus on topics that directly impact a candidate’s performance in a role. 

Gain more insights about approaching topics that fall in a gray area. Download our EEOC interview guide or reach out to learn how ATR can help you ethically build your workforce. 

The post 7 Types of Questions Not to Ask in an Interview appeared first on ATR International.

The effort, costs, and associated risks involved in managing a contingent workforce are particularly frustrating. After all, your contract workers were hired specifically to boost productivity, not add to your responsibilities! But payroll is an unavoidable task, right?

Nope. We can do it for you.

ATR International can cover all your contingent workforce payroll needs. Our contractor payroll outsourcing services help you fill gaps in your organization without adding to your headcount. We add your contractor to our payroll and act as their employer of record—they become an ATR contractor on assignment at your business. All associated payroll priorities are covered for the duration of their assignment.

We’ve been experts in staffing for 35 years, so you can trust our payroll experience and focus on your business. Our services ensure you can grow your team with no extra effort on your part—how great is that? And the best part is we go above and beyond to eliminate headaches for your team.

Eliminating Hiring Headaches Beyond Payroll

Got payroll headaches? If you’re hiring, odds are you do. While “payroll” may sound like a simple undertaking, it involves many time-consuming tasks—and if you make a mistake, there can be some serious problems. Consider this list of payroll activities to start:

• Candidate background and drug screening
• Employee onboarding and offboarding
• I-9 compliance (including E-Verify)
• TN and other foreign worker visa administration
• Employee benefits
• Employee direct deposit
• Year-end W-2 forms
• Expense reimbursement
• Weekly payroll processing
• Daily administrative support

That’s quite a list! It certainly emphasizes how much is involved from a practical, task-oriented point of view.

From a liability perspective, self-managed contractor payroll can increase the risk of running afoul of co-employment rules. Ensuring your contingent workers are classified and managed correctly is make-or-break. Mistakes can cost big money and quickly reverse the benefits of hiring a contractor.

However, employment laws are complex and vary from state to state. It can be challenging for many HR departments to stay on top of it all, and it absolutely takes their focus off the needs of your permanent workforce.

Our comprehensive contractor care program mitigates these concerns. We’ve provided contractor management and payrolling services for diverse businesses—from midsize to Fortune 500 companies—and industries, including IT, financial services, pharma and biotech. We’re well-versed in rules, regulations, trends, and best practices and invest our time and resources in staying up to date so you don’t have to. Your exposure and risk are reduced, along with your average cost per employee.

Outsourcing done right is an integral part of any good business. Knowing what you can’t and shouldn’t spend your time and energy on can be the difference between success and failure. Contractor management is one of those areas. We’re here to help you focus on making your business a success. Leave the critical minutia of contractor management to us!

Take the burden of payroll and contractor management off your shoulders. Reach out to ATR International today.

The post How Contractor Payroll Outsourcing Helps You Achieve Business Success appeared first on ATR International.

We often share advice for people looking to improve their resume and coach our personal candidates as well. You’ve probably shared similar advice: “Don’t make your resume too long.” “Remove acronyms and other jargon.” “Make it easy to find the information that matters.” It’s all good advice, and if you think about it, that very same advice can help companies and hiring managers too.

If you want to attract more applicants, pay attention to your job descriptions. Better descriptions deliver better results. When it comes to job descriptions, the recipe for success contains some of the same ingredients.

Keep It Brief

Anyone who has to review resumes would agree that a shorter resume is more effective. “TL;DR” could be the recruiter’s mantra. Job seekers feel the same way. They don’t want to read through lengthy paragraphs that cover everything from A to Z about your company. They want the key information so they can quickly determine if they are a good match with your position – the salary and compensation, specific qualifications, and the responsibilities of the position. Job seekers cull opportunities just as quickly as any recruiter.

Lengthy descriptions and too much info can cause qualified people to move on. They don’t need a lot of general information or a lengthy paragraph about your company’s mission or culture. If someone is interested, they’ll link to your website, where they should find that kind of info! Be prepared for them there. In the job posting, too much extraneous info turns applicants away. Consider using bullet points or a short summary up front to convey key information clearly and quickly. Display info visually, if possible, rather than strictly text.

Lengthwise, 300-800 words is optimal. Studies show that postings in this range receive more submissions than shorter or lengthier posts. It’s a wide enough range that should be enough for any job. If you’re thinking you need more than that, then yours is probably too long.

You know the stat that says a recruiter spends 30-60 seconds before moving on to the next resume? It’s similar for those looking at job postings.

Get Rid of Jargon  

Do your eyes glaze over when you read that someone has a proven track record of success or uses sports terminology? Well, people reading job descriptions feel the same way when they read that your company is looking for a hardworking, team player. They want language that means something, that is recognizable. It starts early, with the job title. Clever, whimsical titles like Happiness Ambassador or Ninja of any kind are an example of unwelcome jargon. It’s well-meaning to want to showcase your company culture and personality, but the job title isn’t where to do it.

A title should tell the applicant something! Something about what the job actually is, and in clear language. A good title allows a potential applicant to quickly get an idea of whether the position is junior or senior, client facing or internally focused, etc. so they can make a good decision about whether to keep reading. A good decision is the one that doesn’t waste their time. Titles like business development manager or senior data analyst key convey information that helps quickly. Also, remember search engines and job board filters are how people will find you. SEO matters when it comes to titles and using the terms people search for will get you better results.

When it comes to the meat of the description, bullet points can be a big help, again. Provide what people are looking for – salary and compensation, job responsibilities, needed qualifications. If you want to elaborate in prose, a short paragraph or two can follow. Be careful about loading your list with qualifications that would be “nice to have” but aren’t really necessary. You will lose qualified applicants who opt out as soon as they see something they don’t have. Don’t use acronyms or internal terms unless they are well-known and truly applicable to the position. Vague or undefinable language like “communicate effectively” isn’t as helpful as “experience leading internal team meetings” or “demonstrated success delivering feedback and coaching direct reports to promotion.”

Writing Better Job Descriptions Can Help

Finding the right people is too critical to a business’s success to leave any potential advantage untapped. Don’t let your job description sabotage your hiring efforts right out of the gate. First impressions count. Keeping your posting jargon-free and brief will ensure that yours is a positive one. You can’t impress a potential hire if you don’t get a chance to meet them first!

Want to chat about your recruiting process? Need help making the right hire? Reach out to us today!

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The post Writing Better Job Descriptions: What Hiring Managers Can Learn from Job Seekers appeared first on ATR International.

1. Implement Employee of the Month Programs

These traditional employee appreciation programs choose a single employee to take the spotlight for a given time period, typically a month or quarter. This can be voted on by the entire company, managers, or the c-suite. Photos and biographies are often showcased, and a reward such as a prime parking spot or nominal bonus is common.

2. Feature Online Employee Spotlights

A company website is a fun place to showcase employees, but these days social media has the most impact on recognition. The best part is that you don’t have to wait for an employee to formally win an infrequent award to showcase them on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. Feature employees for many reasons like anniversaries, birthdays, hitting a goal, going above and beyond their role, or just for being awesome. Once their friends and family start commenting and liking the posts, your employee will feel an exponential growth of appreciation.

3. Grant Bonuses

Cash may be a universally welcomed gift, but bonuses can take many forms. Perhaps the highest performer on a team receives a gift card. Maybe everyone who hits a certain threshold of work output receives a gift bag that changes each month. Even something valued at $10 can be a heartwarming gesture, so bonuses do not have to break the bank to count.

4. Hold Prize Drawings

Never underestimate the power of a great game show. However you choose to conduct it, hold random prize drawings periodically. Perhaps employees draw names out of a hat to see who wins. Maybe you can create a small Plinko type game board like the Price Is Right and allow a ball to land on an employee’s name. Let’s Make a Deal can be further inspiration with employees choosing between two secret prizes where one is a bag of chips and the other is a $25 Applebee’s gift card. Whatever the case, the point is to have fun while rewarding people for simply being at work.

5. Leverage Gamification

Creating a reward when certain role responsibilities are completed can motivate employees while making them feel appreciated. If you have a sales team, whoever closes the most sales in a month could receive one extra day of time off. If you have a call center, maybe whoever logged the most calls in a given week gets to start work half an hour later the following Monday. The parameters and rewards are practically infinite, so get creative and brainstorm what your employees will enjoy the most.

6. Start Competitions

Take gamification to the next level by creating various competitions based on skills completely outside of your roles. March Madness brackets and Super Bowl squares are common sports-related competitions, while fitness, step, and reading challenges are popular as well. If your employees love to cook, consider a chili cook off. Allowing employees to showcase personal hobbies and skills helps them feel celebrated and valued even if you don’t give out a big prize to the winners.

7. Do the Small Things

Employee appreciation doesn’t always have to be a big production. There are small opportunities every day where a minor gesture can make a big impact. Send employees home a few minutes early once in a while just to beat traffic. Tell them to take a longer lunch or to finish work from home the rest of the afternoon. Give them a $5 gift card to Starbucks and tell them they deserve a half hour break and drink on you.

8. Give Them Your Time

They say time is one’s most valuable resource, so give it to your employees. Check in with them outside of formal meetings and give them a chance to voice their concerns, problems, big wins, opinions, or to simply chat about life for ten minutes. Giving them your time shows that you value them – and makes you more accessible.

How to Recognize Your Employees

Companies that succeed at celebrating their employees enjoy 31% lower turnover, proving just how important these programs can be. Of course, there’s no formula that works for every single organization. Your company’s employee recognition program must be uniquely tailored to your environment, roles, and people. Experiment with some of the above tips in combination with your own unique ideas and you’ll keep employees productive and, most importantly, happy.

What employee appreciation initiatives have worked in your company? Let us know in the comments below!

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The post Employee Recognition Programs: 8 Ways to Celebrate Your Employees appeared first on ATR International.

So, when my family was fortunate enough to spend a day with Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr, I wasn’t necessarily surprised that I learned something I felt I could apply in my work life. We were touring the team’s facility after lunch and my father asked Coach Kerr how he integrates new players to the Warriors.

Coach Kerr said it’s important to bring them on board and ensure that they feel welcome and comfortable while getting acclimated to the team culture as soon as possible. He explained, “My staff and I spend more time with our new players than our superstars, whether they are an NBA veteran we traded for or our newest draft pick. In fact, I expect my veterans to help integrate new players.”

When I heard these comments, I immediately saw the applicability to the business world. Every new hire starts out with great promise, but a significant percentage don’t work out and companies find themselves having to hire again. What Coach Kerr reminded me of was the critical importance of the onboarding process. Whether it’s an NBA player or a software developer, making sure that a new “team” member feels comfortable and welcome is important. Properly acclimating them to the company, culture, and their role can make a big impact in terms of success and retention.

What’s troubling is that most employees expressed dissatisfaction with their company’s onboarding process. In a Gallup survey, only 12% thought their company did a good job. That leaves a lot of room for improvement!

What can we do to create a more robust and effective onboarding process?

1. Recognize that onboarding should happen for more than just the first week. A week is not enough time for someone to fully get on board. Good programs cover the first 90 days and some extend longer, even the full first year. You’ll know how to tailor it to fit your company, but keep in mind that the extra time can make a real difference. It’s natural that at the beginning there will be more activities and contact than later on in the process, but ending too soon often leaves employees feeling uncertain, unsure, and even unwanted.
2. Make sure your onboarding goes further than just payroll, passwords, and badges. It’s obviously necessary to get people on the payroll and complete all those other tedious tasks, but that’s not all there is to onboarding. Your process should include the personal touch. Consider assigning a more seasoned employee to help show them the ropes and regularly check-in to see how they are feeling. It might be once or twice a week for the first few weeks and less frequently as time passes. Having a “buddy” to ask questions and get guidance from can help a new employee learn what’s expected of them and feel more comfortable sooner about everything from client deliverables to where to get good coffee.
3. Make sure management and team leaders focus on new employees. Your process should include senior leadership and team managers. Most new hires are at the entry or more junior levels and they may not have exposure to senior staff immediately through the performance of their regular duties. The best processes include some official welcome and some ongoing contact with senior staff. Develop a process that includes interaction with senior management at the start and periodically after that. This goes a long way to helping a new team member feel connected to the company. It also helps them learn more about the company beyond their role, team, or even department, giving them a big picture view of the company and its goals.
4. Pay attention to “internal” new hires. The term crossboarding refers to the process for employees who transfer within the company via promotion or job change. It may not be something you’ve thought about before, but you should. Although a current employee knows your company and is obviously already on the payroll, they are still taking on a new role or moving to a new department. Smart companies recognize that this type of change is most successful when employees are given support during this time. They still need to learn the nuances of their new position or team. Applying a similar onboarding process with the appropriate activities and touch points can make things go even more smoothly.

The day with Steve Kerr was wonderful, from the tour of the Warrior’s facility to getting some unexpected business advice! I want to thank him for reminding me of this critical process that we all struggle to implement effectively. Whether it’s onboarding a permanent hire, a consultant for a discrete project, or an NBA superstar, making sure that they understand your organization’s culture, their role, and what’s expected of them is the key to success.

The best onboarding processes go beyond the standard paperwork and first week focus and include personal interaction and ongoing support, from peers and leadership. It treats the new employee holistically and gets them on board practically as well as culturally and emotionally. A great onboarding program can make a difference in your company. After all, it’s a big reason why the Warriors have been so successful; I’m happy to take a page out of their playbook!

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The post What Warriors Coach Steve Kerr Taught Me About Onboarding Employees appeared first on ATR International.

Use Their Experience as Your Resource

First and foremost, the experience a seasoned employee brings to the table is unparalleled. These individuals have been through the trenches, succeeding (and often thriving) despite recessions. They’ve experienced the cyclical nature of many industries while watching technological innovation change the game. As a result, they know which old-school strategies and best practices still apply today. Such a treasure trove of knowledge can be lost when older employees retire. Many companies are grappling with this now, not realizing the knowledge an employee has until they are gone and suddenly a key component is missing from a strategy or process.

How can your company leverage this vital experience? To put it simply, write things down. Take the time, perhaps in monthly meetings, to have seasoned employees (especially those nearing retirement) document their processes and share tips for solving common issues. Ask them to document all their business contacts and to provide background information on each of those individuals, describing the relationship they hold with your business. While taking these actions is practical for ensuring a smooth transition when that employee does leave, it can also be a gamechanger in the present. Such activities help spark conversation and ideas that improve operations across the organization right now, while your seasoned employees are still under your roof.

This mentality should extend into your hiring process. Today, there’s an unconscious bias in hiring that has many hiring managers overlooking older candidates simply because they expect those candidates to retire soon. Such a mistake neglects the vast amount of expertise seasoned workers can offer, even when they are new to your company. The benefits of harnessing their experience still applies. After all, bringing in individuals who have garnered experience in other companies in your industry can be extremely valuable in revealing best practices your company may be missing.

Include Them in Succession Planning

With so much experience under their belts, seasoned professionals are vital to proper succession planning strategies. At the most basic level, these individuals can help determine who is qualified to take over their role. Ask them who they would pick as their replacement. If possible, include them in the hiring process, whether they help review resumes or participate in interviews. Given the importance of candidate screening in recruiting, seasoned employees have so much to provide in that process.

Rather than slowly remove these workers from operations as they near retirement age, find ways to leverage their expertise deeper than ever before. It may feel awkward to involve them in the process of deciding who will fill their role, but openness is how the best succession planning happens. At least 30% of newly hired executives fail in the first 18 months, and a big reason why is because the outgoing executive was not involved in the process.

Once a replacement is identified and a seasoned employee is ready to retire, the practical matter of how a transition and succession takes place becomes the priority. Is the outgoing employee able to stay on for a few days or weeks to personally train their replacement? If not, have they been documenting their strategies and best practices to provide a good start for anyone new to their role? As long as employee morale is high and the culture is a healthy one, this is not an awkward situation as many companies are concerned.

Change in the workplace is difficult, and seasoned employees can help smooth transitions even if they aren’t the ones being replaced. They can still provide valuable input for the succession planning process. After all, they’ve seen many people come and go over the years and know what works in your industry and inside your unique business.

Help Them Grow as Mentors

While succession planning and the transitioning employees into retirement without disruption to the organization are crucial practices, seasoned employees can provide a great deal of value prior to that point. Form a mentoring program that pairs veteran employees with less experienced ones. Despite 70% of Fortune 500 companies implementing some sort of mentorship program, only 25% of smaller companies do so. It’s an underutilized strategy that can be a gamechanger for many as it improves efficiency, culture, and operations.

Mentoring may sound like a huge time commitment, but it doesn’t have to be. In as little as one hour each month, perhaps even during lunch, mentors and mentees can connect to discuss successes, failures, solutions, strategies, and so much more. Fostering this relationship helps younger employees feel more comfortable reaching out with questions rather than relying on Google or trial and error. On the flip side, it makes older employees understand that their experience is valuable and worth sharing throughout the company. When an organization is connected in this fashion, with knowledge disseminated more evenly and frequently, it can reach that “next level” of success.

Seasoned Employees Deserve Our Appreciation

Without seasoned generations of talent in today’s workforce, businesses everywhere would face a number of debilitating challenges. Managing older employees is an ongoing priority for many companies, but if that focus shifts to one of celebration and appreciation, the knowledge that those employees have can be better leveraged. At ATR, we hold the utmost respect for our tenured workers, and as a result, they’ve helped us achieve some of our greatest staffing wins.

How do you leverage the expertise of your most seasoned employees? Let me know in the comments below!

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The post 3 Ways to Better Utilize Your Seasoned Employees appeared first on ATR International.

In her 2006 book Mindset, Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck discussed how a growth mindset, as opposed to a fixed mindset, can positively impact businesses and their employees. Given today’s pronounced talent shortage in the market, it’s a concept that’s even more relevant now than in the year it was written. Most importantly, there are direct ways that you can leverage Dweck’s findings to improve hiring in your business.

Defining Growth and Fixed Mindsets

By sheer definition, individuals are all different. Each of your employees has a unique personality, work ethic, motivation, etc. While this type of diversity is important for maintaining multiple viewpoints inside an organization, the way employees view themselves and approach their jobs can be the deciding factors between true success or failure. Those overarching mentalities typically fall into the categories of fixed or growth mindsets.

People with fixed mindsets view talent as a quality they either possess or lack. In a bubble, that isn’t inherently a bad thing. Those who see themselves as talented with high levels of natural skill can excel throughout their careers and contribute tremendously to businesses. The issue is that many people with fixed mindsets don’t actually reach their full potential. They believe they are good at X and bad at Y, so accept roles and tasks only tailored to X. As a result, these individuals often rely on their natural talent rather than high effort, stick to old methods, and maintain a similar level of production throughout their careers.

In contrast, people with growth mindsets believe their talent and skill sets can be shaped over time. These individuals enjoy challenges, strive to learn, and seek potential for developing further in their roles and careers. According to Forbes, they learn from setbacks, understanding that they can grow from their mistakes. Think of those who always have their eye on a future promotion or regularly attend professional development sessions, industry conferences, and meetup groups, asking questions along the way. With this mentality, employees with growth mindsets are often seen as the hardest working and most dedicated.

The Right Mindset for Your Hiring

Distinguishing between fixed and growth mindsets is critical when considering your company’s hiring practices and strategy. Today’s low unemployment rate of 3.8% (even lower in hot industries like Finance and IT) means it’s harder than ever to find qualified talent to fill your open roles. This trend has been getting progressively worse for a decade, and shifting toward a growth mindset is an effective way of combating the pain points of the modern market.

A hiring manager with a fixed mindset is likely to seek out “unicorn” candidates whose credentials and past accomplishments are perfect for the position’s requirements. Unfortunately, such candidates either don’t exist in the open market or will take months to find, leaving roles open for so long it negatively impacts the bottom line. Further, Dweck’s research of Fortune 1000 companies found that encouraging fixed mindsets makes employees feel less valued and more worried about failing, meaning they pursue fewer innovative projects outside their wheelhouse. These employees often digest feedback as personal attacks since they believe their intelligence and skills are static and intrinsically linked to who they are.

On the other hand, a hiring manager with a growth mindset believes strongly in training and hiring for potential. They are more inclined to consider promoting internal employees, and open up their view of the available talent pool by considering candidates who are 85% qualified for a role but could be trained into the perfect candidate. This more realistic view of hiring is often far more fruitful, especially when a hiring manager is backed by an organization that supports training and professional development. Whether you’re a hiring manager or are hiring one, fostering a growth mindset can make a big impact.

Growth mindsets in hiring should extend past just the hiring managers and through to the employees who are hired. Seeking out candidates who also embody growth mindsets creates more value in the long run. Such employees are innovative, collaborative, and committed to learning and growing in your company. They seek out opportunities for themselves, for the tasks at hand, and for your business. According to Dweck, supervisors in growth-mindset companies expressed significantly more positive views about their employees and were more likely to say they had management potential. This can work wonders for your retention and succession planning, especially when the entire team is on the same page.

Applying a Growth Mindset Throughout Your Business

There’s a reason why growing companies feel so exciting to be a part of. Strategic growth, or growth with specific direction and intent, can do wonders, but it requires dedication. Otherwise, attempting to grow a business merely for the sake of growing creates inconsistencies and more problems than solutions. Proper growth requires strong leadership and talent that buys into the same strategies, values, and processes.

Take growth mindsets a step further by applying them throughout your business. Weave it into your culture, into the fabric of your company, so it’s present in every department, meeting, and handbook. Use companies like Apple, Amazon, and Netflix as motivation, and make a growth mindset your company’s guiding light and force for change. Look to the future, and ask: Where will my business be in five years? What innovations and people are we investing in today in order to reach the goals of tomorrow? Am I encouraging opportunity-seeking, autonomy, and risk-taking in the employees who report to me? Asking questions like these will put you on the right path to successful business development and expansion with a team of inspired and dedicated employees.

Leveraging a Growth Mindset

Consider it this way: a fixed mindset maintains, while a growth mindset seeks more. Fixed mindsets can be ok in certain cases, like if you just need to stabilize a business or department over a certain quarter or year. However, when you’re seeking higher innovation, happier employees, and a more inspired culture, a growth mindset can work wonders. Shift your mindset in hiring and throughout your business, and you can reap those rewards.

Are you interested in finding talent with growth mindsets? Want to chat about this further? Send us an email today!

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The post How a Growth Mindset Improves Your Hiring and Overall Business appeared first on ATR International.

Consider More Than Compliance

In business, simply meeting the status quo isn’t a recipe for success. Yet, this is what typically happens when it comes to addressing employees with disabilities. While there are laws and regulations employers must abide by, more must be done than just adding handicapped parking spots or larger bathroom stalls. Only 18.7% of persons with a disability are employed. This means there are many people left out who could be excellent employees and just as productive as their able-bodied counterparts when given the right opportunity and tools. While addressing and preventing any unconscious bias or barrier toward hiring this group is a start, it’s necessary to think about additional ways to actively foster equality and boost accessibility.

Implement the Appropriate Technology

A chief way to address workplace disability needs is to implement the necessary technology. Smart phones and tablets have already made a large positive impact in assisting those with disabilities in the workplace, but take things a step further. Build accessibility into your systems development lifecycle to ensure processes and products are easy to use both internally and externally. Investigate and implement AI-backed innovations that can even the playing field and give your workforce the tools they need. Further, consider specific programs created for the nuances within each type of disability:

• Whether someone is visually impaired or blind, there are many technologies that turn digital text into braille, magnify screens, read text aloud, and more. These programs include JAWS, Window-Eyes, ZoomText, and OrCam.
• For those with hearing impairment, there are big differences between being hard of hearing, losing hearing later in life, and being born deaf. Things like Bluetooth hearing aids, video relay services, different types of captioning, and SignTel Interpreter (which translates speech into sign language) are helpful here. 
• Motor skill impairments can vary widely and should be addressed specifically. Speech recognition software assists those unable to type, one-handed keyboards helps those who only have use of one hand, and physical tools like the X-AR supports someone’s arm for longer periods of time.

Rely on an Accessibility Specialist

While smaller organizations may not be able to justify hiring an Accessibility Specialist or Head of Disability Inclusion, it’s still necessary to place someone in charge of staying up to date on disability news, laws, and innovations. HR departments alone cannot be relied upon for going above and beyond mere compliance. It takes a champion of equality to monitor role responsibilities, ensure an inclusive and productive environment for everyone, sit in on interviews with disabled candidates, and speak to current employees who become disabled. The Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) is an excellent government-backed resource to rely on that provides updates, step-by-step actions, and more; it just requires someone in your organization to own this area.

Educate Your Workforce

Today we see signing happening at more concerts, conferences, and events and more braille in public spaces than ever before. While today’s culture is a much more inclusive one than in the past, you still must actively educate your employees on disabilities in the workplace. Talk about any changes happening to your building, the benefits of new software programs you’re implementing, or why all of your corporate emails are now available in mp3 format. PEAT provides great training tips, including how to underscore the benefits of accessibility technology for all employees. Further, consider offering volunteering time off to your workforce. Doing so encourages them to gain exposure to individuals with disabilities and helps them grow comfortable in the understanding that we are all the same regardless of ability level.

Spend the Necessary Money

As a business, you naturally have costs. For example, in order for a new hire to do their job, you likely need to buy them a new computer, the cost of which is quickly negated by their ability to be productive. It’s the same concept with disabled employees. You may need to spend money on braille nametags for office doors for the visually impaired or a specialized keyboard for someone with function in only one hand, but these costs will pay off when that employee is able to produce at 100% of their capacity. With studies showing that most accommodations cost less than $500, it’s better to plan on spending the necessary money in your budget rather than leave an employee without the tools they need for success.

Setting the Example for Disabilities in the Workplace

As society continues to better understand disabled individuals and treat them equally, businesses have no choice other than to get on the same page. After all, if you can’t be inclusive within your own company, how can you provide inclusivity to your customers or clients? Walgreens is known as one of the world’s most inclusive companies, with a notable percentage of their employees having some form of disability. I challenge all businesses to strive to be like Walgreens and improve inclusivity. Together, let’s make our environments, and ultimately the world, a better place.

If you want to work with an inclusive staffing partner who cares about the people they place, reach out to us today.

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The post Let’s Set the Example for Disabilities in the Workplace appeared first on ATR International.

What do General Electric, Netflix, Twitter, and ATR International have in common?

Well, one thing we share is a vacation policy! Commonly referred to as unlimited vacation, flexible vacation is more accurate. The “flexibility” part is that these policies generally do not strictly proscribe the amount of time off, they don’t dictate when or how time off has to be used, or carefully track that time. In general the policy applies to salaried workers, and has been offered mostly at startup or smaller companies but that’s changing.

People’s first reaction is often, “so you never have to come to work?” They’re joking of course, but there’s also a real question underneath. It seems too good to be true. Taken to the extreme such a policy would result in bedlam but in the extreme isn’t where or how it works. For starters, you still have to get your work done, just like you did when you had a set number of days. If you are taking time off, things need to be in good shape and/or appropriately covered in your absence.

But beyond that, it is up to the employee to make the decision on when to take time off. If you want to take every Friday and beat the traffic to your cabin in the mountains or beach house, and you can get things done with that schedule, that’s fine. If you want to take the month of February and July off so you can ski and surf, that could be ok too.

Not every company does it the same way. Some still require approval from a supervisor for longer periods away, at others no prior approval is needed. You can’t expect to take 3 weeks off in your first six months of work and not have issues. Common sense has to rule. But at the heart of it, the individual has significant autonomy over their own schedule.

There are several reasons why it works:

It is empowering to your employees to be treated as adults and trusted to make smart decisions. You are giving people full autonomy over their schedule, with the only stipulations being that work is getting done and commitments are met or exceeded. Overall it makes them feel a stronger commitment to the company and helps build a culture of trust that increases satisfaction and productivity.

It recognizes the changes in technology and the way we work.  With our increasingly connected world the boundaries between being at work and not being at work have blurred. This is not always a bad thing. Many employees relish the opportunity to leave the office at 3:00 to attend a child’s dance recital or coach a team and then check email when they return home to stay on top of things at work. Others beat weekend traffic and happily join a conference call from their back porch.

Some might question whether this is just a management ploy to get people not to take as much time off, again, funny but a serious question at the same time. These policies usually encourage a minimum amount or have other levers in place to ensure this doesn’t happen. Also, like any policy, it must have the full support of management and be modeled in their behavior for it to be believed and succeed.

But isn’t that true of any vacation policy? If the company culture discourages leaving work, expects people to be always and instantly available, and discourages taking time away, it doesn’t matter whether you have 2 or 200 days, you won’t take them. For those who worry that no one would ever come to work, there is a similar answer. If your company is not providing a respectful workplace with the opportunity to do interesting work for reasonable compensation, than people are not going to come to work whatever your vacation policy is – morale will suffer along with productivity and eventually they’ll quit.

The point really is that people want to work; they want to do the job they were hired to do and they want to do it well. Most of us take pride in what we do and want to work hard and succeed as the company succeeds. Instead of monitoring and scrutinizing people, companies should encourage them, trust them, and provide the best environment for them to succeed.

The flexible time off policy at ATR is just another part of our efforts to treat our employees as the adults we all are; with dignity and respect. It’s the same reason that we greatly changed our performance review process several years ago (The End of Performance Reviews). It’s the same reason that we give our employees a week of time to use to volunteer in the community if they want. I want to provide the best possible work environment that encourages everyone to try and achieve their best, to contribute to the collective success of the company.

At the same time, I want everyone to have a happy and successful personal life. Work life and personal life don’t have to be in opposition. They can not only co-exist, they should support each other. Work/life integration may be a better description than work/life balance. But the integration will only truly work when people have significant autonomy and are trusted to be the talented wonderful people they were hired to be!

Jerry Brenholz
President and CEO

The post Learn Why ATR International Offers it’s Internal Employees Unlimited Vacation. appeared first on ATR International.