5 Tips for Motivating Employees in 2021

Keeping employees motivated is an ongoing challenge. But as 2021 begins? Like everything else in the past year, it’s taken on a whole new meaning. Circumstances around work – and life – have changed dramatically for everyone. And it’s more complicated than ever to stay engaged at work when you’re worried about your own safety or that of your loved ones.

Let’s Look on the Bright Side

Start on a positive note in the New Year by using these five tips to keep your team members motivated, regardless of the circumstances:

1. Reward and recognize.
Even though people may be working remotely, provide appropriate individual and team recognition for jobs well done. Managers should be attuned to extraordinary efforts, especially at this time. Since acknowledgment goes a long way, recognize people during meetings or in some other way. For instance, send a gift card tailored to them, especially if it helps ease their daily strain. Maybe it entitles them to some online family entertainment, for instance, or a hot meal delivered to their door.

2. Encourage socialization.
Employees who have gone remote may feel isolated or burned out. Encourage them to share ideas and set aside some time to chat, so they can tell you what they’re doing well and how they’re life hacking. If people experience Zoom fatigue, consider something different, like a Slack channel for people to share articles, photos, and even favorite recipes. And start or continue virtual Happy Hours and coffee klatches.

3. Offer continuing education opportunities.
The chance to advance – personally or professionally – can be highly motivating. There’s a plethora of online content currently available due to public events and programs being canceled. Especially for furloughed or underutilized employees, continuing education can be a major boost. And it doesn’t always have to be directly related to their job. Show that you truly care by giving people the chance to learn a musical instrument, second language, or tai chi basics online. You get the idea.

4. Keep communication lines open.
People may feel out of the loop at this point, especially if they’ve been working remotely or furloughed while others are on site. Keep everyone appraised of business news and developments – good, bad, or otherwise – as much as possible. Continue to ask for their thoughts, ideas, and feedback actively, and follow up on the suggestions they make. Foster their sense of company ownership.

5. Lead by example.
Always a good rule of thumb, make it a point to lead by example. Stay positive and enthused when you interact with employees, even if you feel like you’re having a down day yourself. It will rub off on them. After all, how can you expect others to be motivated when after meeting with you, they sense that you’d rather be anywhere else rather than there?

For more ideas on how to build and motivate your industry-leading workforce, contact PrideStaff Modesto today. We’ll help you make 2021 your best business year ever, whatever the months ahead throw at you! And have a healthy, prosperous New Year!

6 Tips for Managing Employee Performance in the New Year

If your company is like most, the way you operate has changed dramatically since this time last year. You might have all your employees working remotely; some in the office and others at home; or your whole team on-site, following strict new protocols.

It’s a lot to deal with – especially when you still have to ensure you’re maximizing employee performance. How can you stay on top of it in the New Year? By getting back to basics and following these tips:

Make expectations clear.

If employees don’t know what you expect from them, both in the short-term and long-term, they’ll falter. To avoid this, meet with each one individually to talk about duties, expectations and timelines. Also, get together and have a conversation with your team as a whole to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Ask for feedback.

It’s typically the manager who’s giving feedback. However, it’s also important to ask for it, especially considering the unprecedented times employees have been operating in. To ensure you’re supporting them in the ways they need it, ask for feedback and talk about challenges, concerns, questions and issues. Doing so will keep you both on track and help to avoid unpleasant surprises in the road ahead.

Set goals and coach performance.

Each employee should have certain short- and long-term performance goals they’re working toward. It’s up to you to collaborate together to set them. In the process, make sure your employees have the knowledge and resources they need to complete their objectives. Also, consider offering performance coaching to increase their knowledge base, help them gain new skills and, consequently, enhance their performance.

Measure performance.

Measure progress periodically to ensure your team is meeting milestones. Doing so helps you find out about any small problems or issues before they escalate into bigger ones. This means going beyond the annual end-of-year performance review and providing regular feedback to your people.

Give your team more freedom.

If last year taught companies anything, it’s that employees can maintain productivity in even the most chaotic situation. It’s time to reward them for their ingenuity, flexibility and effort. To do so, empower them with more autonomy. Allow them to set their hours, choose whether they work in-house or remotely, and maintain a better work-life balance overall. They’ll not only be happier, but more loyal too.

Communicate regularly.

As the saying goes, “communication is key,” now more than ever. Don’t leave your employees worrying and wondering. Instead, provide a regular flow of honest information. When you share the good and the bad, they’ll trust you more and come together, stronger.

Is your team stretched thin due to lack of manpower?

Let PrideStaff help. As one of the leading staffing agencies in Phoenix, we can provide the talented professionals you need, adding to your full-time staff or providing relief in the form of temporary workers. Whatever your needs, we’ll work hard to meet them, so you can achieve optimal employee performance in the New Year ahead. If you’re ready to learn more, simply contact us today to get started.

Will Networking Be The Way You Find Your Next Job?

The start of a new year gives you the opportunity to jumpstart your career development. How do you accomplish this? Networking, of course! By connecting with people, you can find hidden possibilities and increase your chances of landing your ideal position. That makes networking the best way to find your next job.

One study suggested that up to 85% of jobs are filled through networking connections. This is on the high end of estimates, but even low-end projects put the number above 70%. No matter what numbers you find most credible, it’s clear that networking gives you the best entry point for most organizations.

It’s not just a matter of increasing your odds of landing jobs. Without networking, you might not even know about certain positions. One survey showed that 80% of jobs never receive public advertising, meaning you can only find them through connections.

It should be obvious by now that networking gives you the best chance to advance your career. But how do you do it well? Here are a few tips that will make sure networking is the way you find your next job:

Always Be Networking

When you need it, a broad professional network can help you land the perfect opportunity. However, you can’t start from scratch at the crucial moment. You need to have the network in place to start with.

Actively expand your network now. (When you need a new job, it will be too late.) The critical work has to be done ahead of time. As such, keep nurturing your professional connections. The effort will pay off when the time comes.

Routinely Check-In with Your Contacts

Imagine the scene: You haven’t heard from a coworker for years. Then, all of a sudden, they reach out to you for help finding a job. How likely are you to exert yourself?

Now, consider how your attitude would be different if you had regular contact with them over the years. Those occasional exchanges – holiday greetings, periodic text exchanges, intermittent email discussions – make a huge difference. Suddenly, you’re more motivated to give your best effort.

Seek Guidance

How do you connect with the people in your network? That can be a tricky question. It’s not always clear what to say or how to approach someone you haven’t spoken to in a while.

However, there’s an easy way to spark a conversation: seek out guidance. Asking for advice provides an excellent way to engage your network. You complement your contact by soliciting their expertise. At the same time, you create a conversation centered around your career – without directly imploring for help.

Offer to Help

Networking goes both ways. Sure, you get assistance in your time of need. But you earn this help by giving aid to others when they require a leg up.

If you get stingy with your efforts when others need it, you might get a cold reception when your time comes. As such, aggressively offer help when people in your network are searching for opportunities. They’ll remember your interest when you need a boost down the road.

Your personal network might not be wide enough to find the perfect opportunity. Don’t worry. You can supplement your connections with professional assistance. Partnering with a strong recruiting firm, like PrideStaff, is like tapping into a massive web of corporate connections.

Contact PrideStaff Bend today to find the ideal placement for you.

How to Prepare a Hiring Plan for 2021

There’s a lot of talented people searching for job opportunities in Las Vegas right now, and you’re ready to capitalize on that. Now that the new year has — finally — arrived, you’re excited to get to work expanding your team.

You know you want your company to achieve big things this year, and hiring the right people is the most important part of that. Here’s some advice to help you map out your hiring needs and get to work building the best team you’ve ever had.

Four Tips to Prepare a Robust 2021 Hiring Plan

Set SMART Goals for the Year

No doubt about it, your company is going to achieve big things in 2021. The question is, what specifically do you want to happen? Setting SMART — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound — objectives will allow you to narrow your plans down, so you can start focusing on your hiring needs.

Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis

Your team is great, but it’s possible they don’t have all the abilities needed to achieve the goals you’ve set for 2021. Therefore, performing a skills audit is a must, so you know what abilities to seek in new employees. This is a must because, without the necessary talent, your company will not be able to achieve its objectives.

Assess Your Financial Situation

Expanding your team doesn’t come cheap, so create a hiring budget to determine the number of employees you can afford to hire — use the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find industry-standard salaries for the positions in your local area. You might also consider working with a staffing agency to hire on a temporary or temp-to-hire basis. This option offers more flexibility, as the economy is currently unstable due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Create a Recruiting Strategy

Bringing new employees on board is a big deal, so decide how you’ll proceed with hiring activities. This can include where you’ll post jobs, who will participate in interviews and when hiring will take place. Or, if you opt to join forces with a staffing firm, they’ll work with you to figure out a plan that meets your needs.

Hire Your Next Great Team Member

Need a little help finding the best person for the job? PrideStaff Las Vegas is here to assist, every step of the way. Contact us today to discuss a partnership!

How to Help Your Team Achieve Their 2021 Goals

After an unprecedentedly challenging year, 2021 especially feels like a clean slate for many people. However, just because your employees’ motivation levels may be high, that alone isn’t sustainable for keeping them on track to accomplish their goals. Learn more about how to help your team achieve their 2021 goals:    

Collaborate for Clarity   

You can’t effectively support your employees’ endeavors if you don’t have a clear idea of their goals. Collaborate with your employees to help them set goals – brainstorm together regarding what’s most important to them, what their personal and professional values are, what motivates them, etc. Once you and your employees have gained clarity on their goals, you can narrow down the ones on which to focus on achieving.   

Develop Small Milestones  

Lofty goals can be intimidating to tackle, even for the most ambitious of your employees. Make goals feel more within reach to your team by developing small milestones. Break down the main goals into smaller actionable steps. As your employees accomplish these smaller milestones, they can realize they are making progress, even if the finish line to the main goal completion feels so far away. These smaller milestones can give them a confidence boost to keep your team going.   

Provide Opportunities for Growth  

Goals should ideally encourage your employees to stretch their current skill sets. Provide opportunities for your team to grow professionally in order to help them make progress on their goals. If you prioritize short-term needs to the detriment of their professional development, they won’t be able to get closer to achieving their goals. Build in the time for employees to take on work that is beyond the scope of their daily tasks but will allow them to gain experience related to their goals.   

Check-in Regularly  

A main reason goals are not achieved is because of a lack of accountability. Keep your employees on track with their goals by checking in regularly with them, such as quarterly or monthly meetings, where you discuss the current status of their milestones and address any challenges that have arisen, and give advice and support.   

Celebrate Progress  

Maintaining motivation can be challenging, especially when the end goal is still far into the future. Help your employees stay on track to achieve their goals by celebrating their progress. Whenever they accomplish a smaller milestone, make a big deal out of it. Congratulate them with a nice message, or give them a token gift as a small reward to make them smile and keep going onto the next milestone.   

Call Us Today to Learn More

Find top talent to join your team with PrideStaff Akron. Our experienced team of staffing experts will work with you to understand your needs and provide you with qualified candidates. Contact us for more information on how PrideStaff Akron can help you with your staffing needs.   

Learn About the Importance of HR Marketing in 2021

As an HR leader in 2021, you need to see yourself – and by extension, your department and your team – as more than just another ho-hum cog in the corporate business wheel. Instead, HR is – or needs to become – a key player at the business strategy table as your company continues to adapt to new products or services and handle change and crises. If 2020 taught nothing else, this was the business lesson to be mastered. And marketing plays a leading role.

Be Candidate and Employee Centered

Marketing isn’t just for that sparkly new or time-tested product or service that your company offers. If anything, attracting and retaining the best talent to create and innovate that product or service is the most important thing your business can do.

So, with that in mind, what should your HR marketing strategy look like and accomplish in the New Year?

At the heart of it all, you need to stay focused on your people – the current and prospective superstars that make the magic happen at your company day in and day out.

• The candidate experience is the bedrock of your employer brand image. A strong brand is essential to stand out from the competition as you recruit and retain talent. And if an applicant’s journey through your hiring process is negative, the bad news will quickly go viral.
• Put both candidates and current employees at the center of your marketing plans. You can’t afford bad reviews. Laser focus on applicants and current team members, so they make only positive comments, both on and offline, and recommend your company to others.

Showcase the People Behind the Brand

Use messages communicated by your people to further build your brand in 2021. Provide ample opportunities for your current superstar employees to share good news about your company online and via word of mouth. And if you don’t already have an employee referral program, start one. Now.

• Lead by example. Take steps to promote your company and recommend jobs, using your personal and professional networks to be a matchmaker.
• Embrace the new normal. It’s been a tough year. In times of uncertainty, a successful employer brand and the marketing efforts that support it need, above all else, honesty, trust, and authenticity. This is even more reason to identify your most valuable brand ambassadors. Artificial intelligence and related HR technology are among the tools to assist you as you move in this direction.

It’s a New Year marked by new challenges that will likely continue to challenge HR and business leaders like never before. If you need a trusted partner as you move forward with your HR business and marketing strategy, turn to the experienced pros at PrideStaff Modesto. We pride ourselves on a philosophy of building trust and rapport with each of our clients and becoming a core part of their team and their short and long-term talent management objectives. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.

A New Year, A New Search: 4 Simple Tips for Getting the Job You Want

With the New Year almost here, career resolutions might be on the top of your mind. Is finding a new job in 2021 one of them? You’re in luck! As one of Tempe’s top employment agencies, PrideStaff connects talented professionals, like you, with rewarding opportunities at a range of employers across the area. It’s what we do and we’re here to help you through the process. To launch your search on a positive note, here are a few steps to follow:

Create a Recruiter-Ready Resume

When’s the last time you looked at your resume? If it’s been a while, you need to invest some effort into updating it, reworking areas and making sure it’s ready for recruiters and hiring managers. Your resume is your ticket into the interview process, so you want to make it as persuasive and compelling as possible. You’ll also need to tailor it around each unique job opportunity.

Polish Your LinkedIn Profile

When a recruiter or hiring manager gets your resume, they’re going to seek you out online if they’re interested. This is where your LinkedIn profile comes in. You need to ensure it’s up-to-date and aligns with your resume. You don’t want any inconsistencies or discrepancies between the two. In addition, this is a great place to add samples of your work, testimonials from past employers, and other details and information that can help you put your best foot forward.

Reach Out to Your People

These are old bosses, colleagues, classmates, friends and anyone else in your network who can help you find a new job. Let them know you’re looking and ask around if they’ve heard of potential openings that are a good fit. Also, start networking as much as you can. In today’s climate, it’s difficult to attend in-person events. However, join groups, industry forums and associations and take advantage of all the opportunities to network they offer.

Focus on the Right-Fit Jobs

If you’re not happy in your current role, you want to find a new job fast and may be willing to accept any offer. However, you need to be discerning about which positions are truly right for you. From the beginning, go with your gut and only apply to employers who are offering great opportunities that match your background, career goals and personality. It’s better to focus on quality not quantity when it comes to the positions you’re applying to. If you invest in applying to a few jobs, rather than the masses, your time will be better spent and you’ll likely find a new position faster.

Need Professional Help with Your Job Search in Phoenix?

PrideStaff is here for you. As one of Tempe’s top employment agencies, we can help you polish your resume, prepare for interviews, get in front of decision makers and more, all so you get an opportunity that’s a match for you. If you’re ready to learn more, simply contact us today to get started.

Keep Your Employees Right Where They Are With These Retention Tips

Building the perfect team requires great hiring and exceptional management. But those aspects are only part of the equation. It’s also crucial to invest in retention so that you can keep your best employees right where they are.

Losing workers is expensive. One data set showed that an hourly worker costs between $4,000 and $7,000 to replace. Meanwhile, the departure of a mid-level salaried employee can lead to up to $40,000 in expenses.

Beyond the dollar value, you lose much more when a top employee walks out the door. Production slows, key projects go on hold, and important institutional knowledge leaves with them. To get the most long-term benefit from your budget, you should invest in developing a lasting relationship with your employees.

But how? How do you create unbreakable bonds with your team members? To answer these questions, here are some retention tips to keep your employees right where they are:

Offer Competitive Compensation

This is the baseline requirement to keep your employees. Ultimately, your relationship with them comes down to a core element: you pay them a fair wage to work from you. If you don’t have this component, little else you do will matter.

Identify Your Top Performers

Target your retention investments toward your top employees. Identify the team members who consistently overperform and who contribute the most to your success. Give them the most attention when you make retention-related decisions. That way, you can get the most value out of your efforts.

Offer Incentives

Employees want to feel like they are recognized for their efforts. They want to be rewarded when they go beyond expectations. Make this dynamic part of your compensation structure. Consider tying bonuses and other added benefits to performance. This strategy will incentivize high achievement and ensure that success gets its due.

Eliminate Annoyances

Sometimes the little things build up. Put too many roadblocks in front of your employees and they have trouble doing their primary tasks. Think about those annoying little add-ons that don’t relate directly to the responsibilities at hand. When these become a significant portion of a worker’s day, they can dramatically undercut satisfaction. As much as possible, eliminate these unnecessary irritations.

Support Advancement

Even if you make an employee’s current situation as comfortable as possible, you can still lose them. Without the prospect of career advancement, they’ll look to leave at some point. Ambitious workers will seek out chances to drive their professional development forward. Make sure this can happen within your organization.

Promote From Within: When higher-level positions open up, look to your current workforce first. Show your best employees that they can move forward within your organization.

Provide Training Opportunities: Let your employees expand their skills. This will make them more valuable to you and give them the opportunity to expand their horizons.

Encourage Mentorship: Relationships provide the mortar that holds a team together. Create programs that connect employees to each other. They’ll learn from one another, you’ll get a closer-knit team, and you’ll create another reason for your employees to stick together.

Make the Right Hiring Decisions

Long-term team building gets easier when you have the right employees to start with. When you perfectly match a candidate to an open position, you build the basis for a long-lasting relationship.

This becomes more likely when you have professional assistance. By teaming with a strong staffing agency, like PrideStaff, you maximize your chances of finding the ideal fit.

Contact PrideStaff Bend today to learn how to improve your team-building efforts.

How to Find the Job You Really Love

Bad Work Habits You Should Ditch Immediately

The wrong work habits can be easy to fall into and hard to climb out of – especially this year, when so much in both your personal and professional life may have been turned upside down. As 2021 dawns, you may still feel like much is out of your control – but it’s a good time to draw in the reins on bad habits and replace them with good ones. This year, more than ever, job-related New Year’s resolutions are needed, stat!

Do any of these sound alarmingly familiar? If so, start now to turn them around.

Not Establishing Boundaries

If you’re working from home, this may be more challenging than ever. But you still need structure and boundaries in your workday.

• Take lunch and other breaks and set a quitting time, even if you work remotely. Be intentional about it, even if your 9-to-5 schedule went out the window a long time ago. Breaks can be beneficial when you fall into an unproductive spell or rut – rather than chaining yourself to your desk because the human mind doesn’t work that way.

Failure to Plan

This applies to more than just your daily schedule. Make to-do lists for both short and long-term tasks. This way, when you stop working (planned or unplanned, such as when your child needs help with their Zoom math class), you have a guide to come back to. It will help answer the question of “Now, where was I?”

• Put high-priority items at the top of your list, especially if you tend to postpone them because they’re boring or unpleasant. It’s true: tomorrow is another day. But crossing those undesirable items off your list is an amazing mood lifter, not to mention a real boost to your productivity.
Working When You’re Sick
This habit has always been bad, but it has never, ever, ever been more critical. You may tend to shrug off feeling less than 100 percent when you work from home. And higher powers willing, it may not be coronavirus. But it’s not open to debate: This is, undeniably, Priority Number One.
• It’s not a good work ethic to push through it. You’re not doing yourself or anyone else a favor. And it goes without saying that if you’re sick, you must be home. Period. Even when the pandemic cloud lifts, don’t slip back into this habit.

Dreading Your Job

You spend way too much time working not to enjoy it or find it rewarding. If the first feeling you have in the morning before starting your job is dread or negative stress, and it’s persistent, it may be time to find something new. Without acting rashly, make a vow to yourself to at least consider all your options.
Is it time for a job change in 2021? This, too, may seem daunting right now, but some opportunities are just right for you. A temporary assignment is often a great way to try something new and maybe the first step down a long and successful career path. To learn more about your options in fields including customer service, IT, accounting, finance, legal support, healthcare, and production, contact PrideStaff Modesto today.