Helping Employees Deal with Workplace Stress Tips From The Manager’s Answer Book

Managers in our fast-paced business environment face many challenges but none perhaps greater than how to help employees deal with ever changing priorities and the stress it can cause.  Many people don’t respond well when, just as they’ve started a big project, they’re told that that work is being discontinued or put on hold and now they have to switch to a whole new set of deliverables.

Manager’s Tips:  We address that topic in our latest book—The Manager’s Answer Book.  The question is” This organization moves quickly and priorities shift frequently. This puts a lot of stress on our teams. As a manager, what can I do to mitigate stress for my team?”

Here’s some of the answer:  “I am so glad you recognize that the work environment can be highly stressful to your team—and to you as well. In addition, there’s the reality that your employees are trying to balance work needs with family and life needs. You’re probably not going to be able to change the fast pace of change in your organization, so what can you do?”

• Encourage your employees to take breaks during the day. Even a minute of deep breathing can reduce stress and anxiety.
• Exercise is an important factor in reducing stress. Stretch breaks can work wonders, as can short works outside. Fresh air can be invigorating.
• Be as flexible as possible about time off so that employees can take care of issues in their personal lives. It will give them peace of mind.

For more ideas on how to help your staff deal with stress, see page 84 of The Manager’s Answer Book.

Will You Take Returns?

 

Many organizations are finding the competition for new hires to be challenging at best so why not consider bringing former employees who left in good standing?  These are sometimes referred to boomerang employees and are typically people who left  you to pursue a job they thought was perfect—but maybe it didn’t work that way so they might be willing to return.

The good news is you know the quality of their work and they know your culture.  They will return having had new experiences and hopefully, new ideas but before you go after former employees, you will want to give this some serious thought and consider:

• How will your current employees react to a former employee returning? 
• How will the returning employee react to perhaps having to report to someone who was a peer (or even a direct report) before they resigned?
• Will you grant them their original hire date for benefits purposes? If yes, is this fair to people who’ve stayed with you?
• How will you bring the returning employees up to speed on changes you’ve made since they left? Caution: they may think everything stayed the same as before.

Re-hiring former good employees might be part of your overall recruiting strategy so you may want to give it a try.  In today’s highly competitive war for talent, you want to be sure you are casting a wide net for new hires. Some other sources might include using social media including 

Twitter and LinkedIn as well as networking and your own career page on your organization’s website.   And we have more information about recruiting former employees on page 62 of The Big Book of HR.  

Don’t overlook a highly cost effective source—a well crafted employee referral program which we will discuss in future blogs.

The Essential HR Handbook

We all know that to survive in today's increasingly challenging world of work, we have to be lifelong learners. We have to be open not only to learning new things, but also to incorporating those things in our everyday approach to our jobs. 

Simple, right? Not if you know that HR is a complex field. Human Resources tools and techniques draw on a wide and growing body of knowledge and requirements. The challenge is to stay informed of the field's best practices and ever changing requirements.

I'm delighted to announce that the newly revised and updated book, The Essential HR Handbook (10^th Anniversary Edition), has just been officially released. So much has changed since the original was published, but one thing remains the same – people issues can be challenging and good people management is critical to the success of any organization. This edition covers the critical functions within HR – what it means today to acquire, train, and compensate employees while managing their performance and attending to their concerns about labor relations, health and safety, and fairness, and the management actions – both big and small – that support them.

The book provides practical, step-by-step information, tools, and techniques to help managers and HR professionals excel. In it you’ll find out how to:

• Attract talented staff through social media recruiting
• Identify legal pitfalls to avoid lawsuits and regulatory interference
• Train a diverse and inclusive multigenerational workforce
• Provide the compensation and benefits package that will make your organization an “employer of choice”
• Streamline your orientation and on-boarding practices so new employees hit the ground running

The Essential HR Handbook also includes a variety of checklists, forms, tables, links, letters, laws, further reading and resources to assist you with the process.  Use it as a reference document.  Each chapter stands alone so you can pick it up and read it when you need it.

Join me in congratulating Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell on this latest edition of The Essential HR Handbook.  I know that it is no small feat to revise a book!

Be sure to pick up your copy on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/y95n2rkb, Barnes & Noble or from any independent bookseller.

Big Sky – Big Ideas

“There’s so much sky here,” my friend exclaimed.  “No more than where you live,” I answered.  “The difference is that you can see more of it in the west.”  Where I live now – with wide open spaces and the ability to see over 100 miles from my backyard – is much different from where I used to live – where he still lives – with trees obscuring your line of site and blocking the ability to see as much of the sky or distances as far as I now can.  

Here in New Mexico the topography is different than the topography in Virginia.  The first time I lived here I used to say that I’d never seen the horizon on land – just at the beach where the water met the sky.  That probably wasn’t true, but I marveled at how wherever I looked, I could see the sky touching the earth.  This new horizon – or view of it – gave me a different perspective.

Did you ever hear people say that they’re most creative when they are not at work? There’s something about stepping out of your usual routine and environment that allows new ideas to flood our brains.  When you expand your perspective, you expand your horizons as well. 

What do you do to expand your perspective? How do you break free from your routine and environment in order to find your creative self?  Some people crave solitude and serenity, others the bustle of big cities. The fact is, you can find energy and creativity in different places and situations – you just have to expand your perspective!

As leaders in your organization, you recognize that creativity and innovation are critical – whether it’s developing new products or services or just finding improved ways of doing things.  You want nurture that innovative self inside each and every employee. One way you can encourage that is to have tech-free zones within the workplace, or tech-free times such as no emails or texting at certain times, days, over weekends, or on vacation.  Insist that your team members take the time to clear their minds and broaden their individual perspective.  

You can read more about innovation on page 98 of The Manager’s Answer Book.  And remember “What you imagine you create.”