Struggling with Work/Life Balance?

“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

These are the words of singer Dolly Parton. She’s has countless chart-topping hits, but this may be her best work yet, even though it’s not part of a #1 song.

Everyone knows the feeling when work demands pile up so quickly and so high that they drown out the rest of your life, like a balance-sucking tsunami. At times like that, you may feel stress, discontent, panic, burnout, or a combination of all the above.

To stop the rolling wave before it spirals out of control and sweeps you under, follow a few basic steps to maintain work/life balance. It’s an ongoing process, as your interests, circumstances and priorities shift – so stay with it, and even try to relax and make it fun.

“The key is not in spending time, but in investing in it.”

Dolly may never said this, but when author Stephen R. Covey penned these words, he was thinking along the same thoughtful line. Perhaps both Dolly and Stephen knew the value of:

Learning to Say No

Let’s start with one of hardest soft skills for many professionals to master. Fortunately, there are tools such as the Eisenhower Matrix that you can use to help you accurately assess your day’s demands and learn to prioritize and articulate them.

Taking Breaks

Even 30-second mini-breaks can help you improve concentration, reduce stress, and feel more engaged in your work. But don’t cheat yourself of longer ones, either. Experts recommend taking a break every 75 to 90 minutes for 15 minutes.

Asking for Flexibility

If you feel too restricted or off balance due to a rigid work schedule, have an honest conversation with your boss about it. Discuss options that may work for you, such as flextime, a compressed workweek or job sharing.

Prioritizing Personal Health

It’s important to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone or anything else. It’s like the oxygen mask on the plane: put yours on first, or you’ll be useless in helping your fellow passengers. This applies directly to your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellness. Don’t skip your check-up or screening because of a last-minute meeting or pressing deadline. The same goes for your yoga class, daily meditation or journaling, church service or social connection.

Asking for Help

Whether it’s at work or at home, don’t feel like you have to take on everything all by yourself. Just as you find fulfillment in helping others, think of it as giving your colleagues and family members a similar opportunity. The best relationships are based on mutual support.

As you grow your career – and keep this growth in balance with your personal well-being – a professional coach can be an invaluable asset. Consider partnering with an expert from Pridestaff Modesto so that, in the words of one more expert, former First Lady Michelle Obama, you can “do a better job of putting (yourself) higher on (your) own to-do list.”

Gaining the Edge in the Competitive Hiring Landscape

In the fast-paced and highly competitive hospitality industry of Las Vegas, finding and hiring the right talent can be a daunting task for hiring managers. The city’s vibrant entertainment scene, bustling resorts, and booming tourism create an intense demand for skilled and reliable employees. To navigate this challenging hiring landscape effectively, partnering with a reputable staffing agency like PrideStaff Las Vegas can provide significant advantages.

Why the Las Vegas Hospitality Industry Should Team Up with PrideStaff Las Vegas to Streamline Recruitment Efforts

Access to a Wider Talent Pool

Hospitality in Las Vegas often faces a high demand for diverse skill sets, from front-of-house positions like concierge and servers to behind-the-scenes roles like housekeeping and maintenance. A staffing agency specializing in the hospitality industry has an extensive network and database of qualified candidates ready to fill these positions. By partnering with an agency, hiring managers gain access to a wider talent pool, including candidates with specialized skills and experiences, increasing the likelihood of finding the perfect fit for each role.

Streamlined Recruitment Process

Recruiting and hiring can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially when you need to fill multiple positions quickly. A staffing agency can streamline the recruitment process by handling time-consuming tasks such as job postings, resume screening, interviewing, and background checks. With their expertise and resources, staffing agencies can efficiently identify top candidates, saving you valuable time and allowing you to focus on other essential aspects of your business.

Industry Knowledge and Expertise

Staffing agencies specializing in the hospitality industry have an in-depth understanding of the unique challenges and requirements. They stay updated on industry trends, employment laws, and local market conditions. This knowledge enables them to provide valuable insights and guidance to hiring managers, ensuring compliance with regulations and maximizing the effectiveness of recruitment strategies. By leveraging their expertise, you can make more informed decisions when it comes to candidate selection, compensation, and workforce planning.

Flexible Staffing Solutions

Las Vegas hospitality businesses often experience fluctuations in staffing needs due to seasonality, special events, or unexpected circumstances. Staffing agencies offer flexible staffing solutions that cater to these dynamic demands. Whether you need temporary staff for a busy weekend or long-term employees for a major event, a staffing agency can quickly and efficiently provide qualified candidates to meet your specific needs. This flexibility allows you to maintain optimal staffing levels and provide exceptional service to your guests, even during peak periods.

Cost and Time Savings

Partnering with a staffing agency can lead to significant cost and time savings in the long run. By outsourcing the recruitment process, you eliminate the need for extensive advertising, background checks, and other administrative tasks associated with hiring. Moreover, by ensuring you hire the right candidates from the start, you minimize turnover and reduce the costs associated with rehiring and training new employees. The expertise and efficiency of a staffing agency can help you achieve a faster time-to-hire and reduce the overall cost per hire, positively impacting your bottom line.

Partner with PrideStaff Las Vegas

In the fiercely competitive hiring landscape of Las Vegas hospitality businesses, partnering with a staffing agency is a strategic move that can provide numerous benefits. From gaining access to a wider talent pool and streamlining the recruitment process to leveraging industry expertise and flexible staffing solutions, a staffing agency can be an invaluable resource for hiring managers. By collaborating with a reputable agency, Las Vegas hospitality businesses can overcome the challenges of hiring in a competitive market, secure top talent, and ensure the smooth operation and success of their establishments.

Temp, Temp-to-Hire & Direct Hire: What Do They All Mean?

When you’re hiring, it can be time-consuming and expensive. It’s why so many businesses bring in a staffing agency to partner with. However, there might be some terms they use that you’re not familiar with.

To help ensure you understand the many ways they can help, here are a few different services most agencies offer, what they mean, and how they can benefit you.

Temporary Staffing

Temporary staffing is simply bringing short-term workers on board for a defined period of time. If an employee is away on sick or maternity leave, for instance, or traveling for business, you can bring in a temporary employee for a day, week, month, or however long you need them. This enables you to operate at optimal levels, meet demand, fill gaps when employees are away, and remain flexible without adding to fixed overhead.

Temporary-to-Hire Staffing

Temporary-to-hire is a fit if you want to test the waters with a candidate. It allows you to not only evaluate their performance but whether you truly need a full-time employee. At the end of the defined period of time, you can decide whether to offer a full-time position to the individual or not. This enables you to avoid hiring mistakes and also ensures you can sustain the demand required for hiring a new full-time employee.

Direct Hire Staffing

This is for those positions that are full-time in nature. They are for professional or leadership-level roles that come with salary and compensation, like health insurance, retirement benefits, and other perks. The process of finding the right direct hire can take longer and is often more rigorous since you’re making a full-time hiring decision.

Get Started with Our Expert Staffing Agency in Phoenix

PrideStaff is here for you. We will listen first, get to know your business, hiring needs, and culture, then can create a customized staffing strategy that implements the right mix of services to make hiring easier. Get started today!

How to Ensure Workplace Inclusion for LGBTQ+ Employees

The key to building a diverse workforce is committing to cultivating a culture of inclusivity for employees of all backgrounds. LGBTQ+ employees may not feel comfortable or accepted unless their employers proactively take steps to make it clear that they are welcomed and supported.

Explore How to Ensure Workplace Inclusion for LGBTQ+ Employees:

Assess Hiring Process

Review your current recruiting strategy to see if there are opportunities to make LGBTQ+ candidates more likely to feel comfortable considering your organization. In your job postings, make sure that all language is gender-neutral and that your commitment to being an inclusive employer is clearly stated. Offer inclusive benefits, such as paid leave for adoption, medical leave for gender reassignment, and coverage for domestic partnerships.

Request Feedback

While your company may have the best of intentions in ensuring inclusivity for LGBTQ+ employees, you could be ineffective or even make things worse unless you get feedback from said employees. Give them the opportunity to have their voices heard on what they need, whether it’s an anonymous survey or face-to-face conversation, and use that feedback to guide your initiatives.

Establish Strong Policies

It is essential to build your company’s policies around being inclusive. Evaluate the language in your company’s nondiscrimination policy and update as needed to ensure it is clearly communicated what will not be tolerated. Review other policies in your employee handbook to revise to be more inclusive for LGBTQ+ employees, such as dress code or any gender-related wording.

Provide Education

It is crucial to give any employee in a management position the practical knowledge to best establish an inclusive and sensitive workplace environment and supportively leads LGBTQ+ employees. Bringing in experts to train your managers will ensure they have the education they need to make all their employees feel accepted.

Support Causes

Make your company a public ally to demonstrate that LGBTQ+ inclusivity is a core value of your organization. Support LGBTQ+ causes with charitable donations and pay to be a corporate sponsor for any local-related events. This will make it clear that inclusivity is a part of your employer brand and company mission so your LGBTQ+ employees know you aren’t just paying lip service.

Attract Top Talent

Find employees to join your team by working with experienced staffing firm PrideStaff Akron. Our mission is to work closely with you to understand your hiring needs and match you with the candidates that are the best fit. Contact us to learn more about our staffing services.

Which Industries Are Being Hurt Most By the Sansdemic

Currently, many companies are struggling to hire. In many industries, there simply aren’t enough candidates to go around, a situation that’s referred to as a sansdemic. While every sector is feeling the pain of the labor shortage, some are harder hit than others.

Here’s a look at the industries being hurt most by the sansdemic.

Manufacturing and Skilled Trades

Manufacturing and skilled trades have been significantly impacted by the sansdemic. There’s been an ongoing decline in interest in these sectors for many reasons.

First, the broader shift toward going to college and getting a job related to a degree pulled young people away from these industries, causing many to assume they aren’t viable careers.

Second, misconceptions about the environments and work itself makes these sectors less attractive. As a result, fewer people are acquiring skills that relate to these industries. Couple that with high retirement rates among those who’ve based careers on them, and finding candidates becomes increasingly difficult as time passes.

Engineering and Technology

Engineering and technology have long had skill gaps. While there is interest in these sectors, they typically require post-high school education, and there aren’t enough people earning degrees in these fields to meet the high demand for their skills. The unemployment rate among technologists is also far lower than the national average, sitting at just 2.2 percent (as of February 2023) compared to the 3.6 percent national average.

Finance and Banking

The finance and banking industries have had a tumultuous few years. Along with the pandemic, shifting interest rates are creating new challenges. However, they’re still impacted by the sansdemic due to a lack of qualified workers. Generally, that workforce is aging, particularly in categories like financial advisors. Essentially, there aren’t enough young adults in these sectors to offset the retirements, creating a deficit. Plus, many of the roles in these sectors are high-pressure and require long hours, something that younger professionals aren’t as open to as they were in decades past.

Healthcare and Social Services

The healthcare and social services industries are greatly impacted by the sansdemic for several reasons. These sectors typically require well-developed skillsets, often making college degrees a mandatory starting point. Plus, the rate of burnout in these industries during COVID-19 lowered overall interest and drove workers who were in these roles away from the industries.

Food Service, Retail Sales, and Hospitality

In most cases, labor shortages in the food service, retail sales, and hospitality industries aren’t skill issues, as many of the entry-level positions require little to no previous experience. Instead, the shortage is driven by declining interest in these industries and high quit rates. Classically, these positions come with lower wages but also have unique stresses. In-person attendance is often the only option, and there’s a high amount of engagement with the general public. At times, the jobs fall short of a new hire’s expectations, or the challenges that come with the role make pay rates feel insufficient, leading to high turnover.

Struggling to Find Workers During the Sansdemic? Contact PrideStaff Bend

While the industries above are experiencing the most challenges due to the sansdemic, hiring has become difficult in nearly every sector. By partnering with a staffing company, employers can find the candidates they need with greater ease, shortening time-to-hire while ensuring an exceptional fit.

If you need to find workers during the sansdemic, PrideStaff Bend wants to hear from you. Contact us to learn about our services and see how they can help your organization overcome hiring challenges today.

Why is Mental Health So Important at Work?

According to findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in five adults in the U.S. experience mental illness each year, with anxiety and depression among the most common. Mental health plays an integral role in everyday functioning, especially in the workplace, since it has a variety of potential triggers for stress. Therefore, it is important to be regularly aware of the state of your mental health, practice self-care, and/or seek professional support when needed to be satisfied and successful professionally. Learn more about the importance of mental health at work:

Quality of Performance

Mental health and productivity are strongly related – your mental condition significantly influences your motivation and engagement levels and your ability to focus, retain information, and make logical decisions. The quality of your performance at work can suffer greatly, which can cause more stress and result in a negative cycle.

Coping with Challenges

All jobs come with at least some level of work-related stress, whether that’s trying to prioritize tasks in a heavy workload, meet a daunting deadline, handle a demanding colleague, or recover from mistakes. The quality of your mental health will impact your ability to cope with these challenges. An excessive amount of prolonged stress or consistently high-pressure environment can contribute to a decline in your mental well-being.

Interpersonal Relationships

How well you get along with your colleagues and your boss is also closely tied to mental health. Interpersonal relationships can be more prone to conflict if you are experiencing mental health issues, as it can cause you to be more irritable or impulsive in your interactions. Not only will it make your workdays more stressful if you don’t have connections with your coworkers, but it can also make it more difficult to collaborate and get your work done.

Physical Health

Poor mental health is also related to an increased likelihood of physical health problems, which can cause you to miss work and affect you professionally. Chronic mental health issues may make you more likely to develop physical health conditions, including fatigue, stomach pain, headaches, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Find New Opportunities

Land the right job for you by teaming up with PrideStaff Akron to explore the possibilities. We work with employers in the Akron area for their hiring needs, and can match you with the job opportunities that are the best fit for you. Search our database of current available jobs.

Where Have All the Hard Workers Gone?

Today, many companies are facing unprecedented workforce challenges. Finding skilled candidates is increasingly difficult, and once job seekers are brought on board, some aren’t performing in the way that employers hoped. As a result, many company leaders are beginning to wonder if there are simply no hard workers anymore.

Are There Really No More Hard Workers?

Employers generally assume that hard workers aren’t around anymore for a few reasons. First, some companies are seeing high turnover rates among the newly hired. The cause of the phenomenon can vary. In some cases, it’s a lack of right-fit candidates, causing companies to select new hires that aren’t perfect fits for the roles or cultures. When that occurs, the employees may fail to flourish, leading to frustration that causes them to quit.

Another potential cause of new hire turnover is the challenges created by being short-staffed. Incoming employees may want to work but aren’t prepared for situations like significant mandatory overtime. As a result, they may functionally burn out quickly due to the surprising amount of pressure they face once hired.

Second, there’s greater resistance to going above and beyond at work, a shift in mindset referred to as quiet quitting. Quiet quitting essentially serves as a counterpoint to the hustle culture seen in years past. However, the issue is that many companies still have expectations related to the hustle mindset, creating a disconnect.

Since fewer professionals are adopting a hustle mindset – often because they feel that attitude went unrewarded in the past – companies are viewing the mental shift as an unwillingness to work hard. Essentially, employees are meeting spoken expectations but aren’t meeting the unspoken ones.

Essentially, while companies facing hiring or productivity challenges may believe there aren’t any hard workers anymore, that isn’t necessarily the case. There are employees that take pride in what they do, and they’re open to pushing the boundaries of their job description to spur growth, acquire new skills, and excel in their workplaces. However, finding them is becoming increasingly challenging.

Why Is Finding Hard Workers So Difficult?

There are several factors that make finding hard workers challenging in today’s climate. First, unemployment remains incredibly low. As of March 2023, the US unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, so there’s currently limited supply when it comes to available labor. Couple that with lower workforce participation rates, and there are generally far more jobs available than people to fill them, a situation that’s been dubbed a sansdemic.

The sansdemic is caused by multiple factors. While part of the situation is related to young adults remaining at home – a scenario that can reduce financial pressures and can reduce the need for a job – that’s only one part of the equation. As mentioned above, attitudes about work are shifting.

Plus, professionals are in a situation where they aren’t required to remain in a job that doesn’t feel like a fit. Essentially, if a position isn’t meeting their expectations, they may have little trouble finding something new. That means they don’t necessarily have to go above and beyond to find solid employment, reducing the motivation to do so.

Fortunately, it’s possible to counteract many of these issues. By having an exceptional culture, solid wages, comprehensive benefits, and reasonable expectations, employers can position themselves as employers of choice, easing recruitment and retention challenges. Plus, by widening their talent pool by partnering with a staffing company, finding top talent that will flourish in their roles is easier.

Do You Need Hard Workers for Your Open Positions? Contact PrideStaff Bend Today

Finding hard workers that will thrive in your workplace requires recruitment expertise. By partnering with PrideStaff Bend, you can get the support and guidance you need, all while accessing an established talent pool filled with vetted candidates.

If you need hard workers to join your team, PrideStaff Bend wants to hear from you. Contact us to find out more about our services today.

What Can Employers Do to Retain their Best Employees?

In the wake of the Great Resignation and the new mindsets that have evolved on the part of job seekers, today’s employers must be especially vigilant about the risk of their leading employees walking out the door.

Are you doing all the right things to help drive employee satisfaction so your best players stay on your team?

The Value of Stay and Exit Interviews

Before you can effectively address employee retention, you need to know the reasons why people are leaving your company. Stay and exit interviews are a great start.

Stay interviews are conversations with high-performing employees to learn what they like abut their roles and what they would like to change. These dialogues are opportunities to both uncover what motivates an employee and to build trust with them. And, they can help shed light on what might make a great team member move on – before it’s too late.

Both stay and exit interviews can yield insight on the reasons employees resign. Among those reasons, you’re likely to hear:

Inadequate salary and/or benefits
Limited career advancement
A need for better work/life balance
Lack of recognition
Feeling overworked and/or unsupported
Boredom, or
Unhappiness with management.

Invest in Your Managers

Regarding that last bullet point: The old adage remains true: In many cases, people don’t quit their jobs; they quit their bosses.

Managers are pressed today like never before. Between the Great Resignation and its implications, employees demanding flexibility, skyrocketing mental health challenges, and general economic and social uncertainty, they have a lot on their plate as their direct reports turn to them for direction.

Support your managers so they can support others. Ways to give them a strong foundation to succeed include:

Mentoring: Don’t throw first-time managers off the deep end without teaching them to swim first. A mentor – a more seasoned or senior manager whom they can shadow and turn to for guidance and advice – can be a tremendous asset.
Peer support: Provide sessions for managers where they can share feedback and ideas with one another. Providing such forums for open discussion helps people develop together and address concerns, mutual and otherwise.

More Tactics for Successful Retention

For employees on every level, consider these additional tactics to help boost job satisfaction, engagement and retention:

Shore up your onboarding and orientation programs. Position every employee for success right from the start.
Be sure you’re offering competitive pay. Evaluate and adjust your salary structure regularly. Money isn’t always the primary reason employees stay at their jobs, but it is an important one.
Offer attractive perks, starting with flexible scheduling and remote work options. Tailor your benefit offerings to individual employees and their needs. For some, it may be paid parental leave; for others, tuition assistance or discounts on gym memberships. Get to know your people, and actively listen as you keep communication channels open – on all aspects of their work and careers.

For additional insight and guidance on hiring and retaining top talent for your team, contact PrideStaff Modesto today.

Are You Making These Common Retention Mistakes?

Your employees are the most valuable part of your business. Yet, if they’re not happy, they’ll jump ship and take your productivity and profits with them.

On top of that, due to the pandemic and Great Resignation, along with trends like Quiet Quitting, it’s harder than ever to find solid performers. It’s far easier to hold on to the ones you do have and keep them eager, engaged, and motivated.

To do that, make sure you’re avoiding these mistakes:

Hiring in a hurry.

If you hire quickly, you could bring someone on board that’s not a fit for the team. Not only will this impact morale, but if they quit, then you have to start the hiring process all over again. It’s best, instead, to be thorough and careful from the start, so you can prevent a mistake.

Lack of competitive compensation and salary.

If your salary or compensation is stagnant, then employees are going to look elsewhere for jobs that pay them more. Beyond good pay, they also want generous benefits, from health insurance to dental insurance, retirement benefits, and more. If you’re not offering a competitive compensation package, your employees will leave for companies that do.

Not offering a flexible schedule.

Today’s employees want to work on a schedule and in a way that fits their life. This is not possible for every position or industry. However, if it is for yours – and you’re not offering remote work or hybrid or flex scheduling – it will impact retention.

No internal promotions.

When employees don’t see a future at your company due to a lack of career progression, they’re not going to stay on board for long. Instead, invest in employee training and development, mentoring programs, and stretch assignments, and promote from within. You’ll keep your best performers on staff, moving up the leadership ladder.

An unhealthy work culture.

Whether managers treat people unfairly or there’s a lot of gossip and backstabbing, it can impact an employee’s overall well-being. If your culture could use a boost, then take some time to find out why and ways to fix it.

No feedback.

If employees never know where they stand, it’s hard to perform at their best. Don’t wait until a mistake is made or an issue arises. Instead, offer regular feedback, clear goals and expectations, and timelines for meeting them. This will give employees the clarity they need to stay engaged and on track.

Let PrideStaff help.

If you’re making these mistakes, it’s time to step back and evaluate how to improve your retention. If part of the problem is due to hiring or lack of manpower, PrideStaff can help.

As a leading recruiting agency serving Tempe and Phoenix, we can create a staffing strategy customized around your unique business and provide a range of staffing services, from direct hire to temp-to-hire, contract, and temporary staffing. Contact us to learn more.

Need to Boost Your Mental Health? Here Are a Few Tips

Your mental health is just as crucial to your well-being as your physical health and plays a major role in how you perform in the workplace. And just like with any health condition, prevention, and monitoring symptoms are essential for alleviating issues. Make it a point to assess your mood, stress levels, and coping strategies regularly and take action if you notice negative changes. Do you need to boost your mental health? Here are a few tips:

Try Out Relaxation Techniques

Learn what works best for you to calm yourself down instantly during stressful situations. Try out relaxation techniques to narrow down what is most effective for you, such as deep breathing, counting, focusing on a particular visual point, or repeating a positive word of phrase in your head. Being able to remain in control of your mind during circumstances that could trigger you can prevent you from ruminating and causing yourself more stress or anxiety.

Practice Gratitude

When your workday is exacerbating your mental health struggles, it can improve your mood if you try to approach your thoughts about work in a new way. Practice gratitude by actively looking for aspects of your job that you are thankful for and enjoy and listing them in your head or writing them down. This can help you pay more attention to the good things so your mind doesn’t remain distracted by what is causing you distress.

Reframe Your Self-Talk

If your mental health is in need of a boost, it is highly likely that your self-talk or the internal dialogue or thoughts you have about yourself are in a negative tone (i.e., “This is too complicated for me to learn,” or “I don’t have what it takes to do this.”). Reframe your self-talk and proactively speak to yourself in a positive way to counteract any automatic negative thoughts that are impacting your confidence and mood, such as “I have overcome mistakes before and I will do it again.”

Prioritize Leisure Time

Often drops in mental health are due to being overwhelmed and exhausted, so give yourself a break. Prioritize leisure time so you can recharge. Include more moments of joy or peace in your day, such as reading a book, having a cup of coffee, going for a walk, playing sports, etc.

Connect with Colleagues

Sometimes just having someone else to listen and validate your feelings is enough to make you feel better, even if nothing is resolved. Connect with your colleagues, who are in the position to truly understand your workplace stress. Reach out and spend time together, such as group lunches or outings. Share your experiences and give each other tips on how to prevent work issues from keeping you down.

Explore New Opportunities

Are you ready to get started with your job search? Find opportunities that are right for you by working with an experienced staffing agency like PrideStaff Akron. Our team of recruiters can match you with the jobs that are the best fit from employers across industries. Search our database of current available jobs to get started.