3 Signs Your Company Culture is in a Rut How to Fix it

3 Signs Your Company Culture is in a Rut How to Fix it When it comes to company culture, even the most successful companies can find themselves stuck in a rut. It can be difficult to tell when things aren’t working like they should be, and even more difficult to tell if your company culture is to blame. However, there are three key signs that can show your company culture needs some work. Read on to learn what those signs are, and how you can improve. Poor Company Culture Sign #1: Low Retention Rates In a recent study, 87% of human resource leaders said improved retention was a critical priority. A low retention rate/high turnover is a leading indicator. Are you hiring based on shared ideals and values? If not, you can bet that’s going to have detrimental effects on your retention rate. Why would employees want to keep working with coworkers and leaders who don’t share their ideas? Feeling a sense of belonging is essential to the human experience, and it absolutely extends into the workplace. Of the 70% of employees who did not have a best friend at work, 63% were not engaged and 29% were actively disengaged. Poor Company Culture Sign #2: Low Engagement Rates A recent study by Gallup revealed that 16.5% of employees are actively disengaged. All things considered, that may seem fairly low. However, when you know that active disengagement costs between $450 billion and $550 billion per year in the U.S., you start to pay close attention. And if your company culture is stagnating, you might have much higher than 16% of employees disengaged. In fact, only 1 in 150 employees who say their organization does not have a set of values are fully engaged. Those values are what define and drive your company culture. They ensure your employees know what they’re working for and gives them purpose. If you’re seeing very low engagement rates at your organization, take a good look at your culture and values. Poor Company Culture Sign #3: Low Application Rates You appeal to talent through your employer brand. If you’ve experienced low application rates, it may be time to evaluate your employer brand and what it’s communicating with job seekers. One contributing cause may be your online reputation as an employer. Does your company have a bad reputation as a workplace? You might not even be aware of it! Take a look at employer review sites like Payscale and Glassdoor to see what’s being said about your company. 69% of employees stated they would not take a job with a company that had a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed. The Solution? Corporate Social Responsibility Low retention, engagement and application rates are going to take a serious toll on your organization over time. If you don’t get your company culture out of that rut, the damage may be irreparable. Find something that reignites your employees’ passion for their job, and fast. Fortunately, there’s a solution to all of your problems: corporate social responsibility (CSR). By investing in corporate responsibility programs like employee volunteer programs or matching gifts, you will attract, engage and retain the right talent for your organization. Here’s how it works: Your employees have values and ideals, and your company does as well. CSR provides your employees with opportunities to make a difference in the world and the causes they care about. Providing paid time off for volunteering or hosting a company volunteering event can be a great way to engage employees off-site by giving them a chance to step out of the office, bond with co-workers and help the community. You may be surprised to learn that 76% of Millennials say they would take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company, and we expect the next generations to be on board as well. Today’s employees are eager to make a difference through their work, and CSR provides them with that opportunity. It’s one additional asset companies need to attract and retain talented employees. And while most of us don’t have the time or energy to make company culture a 24/7 priority, investing in CSR is a way to get your culture jumpstarted! About the author: Liz Bardetti, is the Marketing Director at CyberGrants with seasoned advertising and marketing professional with 15+ years experience, including work for Gatorade, Welch’s and most recently, CyberGrants. CyberGrants is the preferred CSR software provider to the best philanthropic corporations around the globe.

Hiring Tips - How to Write a Customer Service Executive Summary Resume

Hiring Tips - How to Write a Customer Service Executive Summary ResumeWriting a customer service executive summary resume is an effective way to present your resume in front of employers. To be successful, you must keep the details precise and the following tips will help you do just that. You can also find some bonus tips for this resume format in the resource box at the end of this article.First, when writing a customer service executive summary resume, think about the history of your company and the problems or successes that have been its drivers. The summary should capture the interest of potential employers. When writing a customer service executive summary resume, think about the history of your company and the problems or successes that have been its drivers. The summary should capture the interest of potential employers. Find out what's important to the potential employer in order to know if you should put in the extra time needed to write a customer service executive summar y resume.Second, use bullet points to indicate the points you want to make in your summary. The extra points are an added touch of style to make your summary stand out from others in your field. No one reads a resume, they read to apply. Using bullet points to make your summary stand out from others in your field. Using bullet points to make your summary stand out from others in your field.Third, set your company's key focus. For example, if your company is about to go on vacation, start your summary by listing what you will be doing in the next few weeks and months and your highlights. Describe what the vacation will teach you and how you will be using the time to improve your company and your career.Fourth, use the four C's to persuade employers that your resume has solid reasons for getting their attention. These are: Can they see you in your position? Does this position call for new skills and new learning? Will you need help or training in order to make your move?Fifth, summari ze your accomplishments and skills. Give specific examples of examples that prove you are a valuable asset to your current position. Be specific when describing how you can contribute to the company's future needs.Finally, follow up with a dedication to your employer, setting forth a personalized statement of why you deserve a job in a position that requires solid customer service resume writing. Make sure to use some personal touches and remain respectful.By following these basic tips you can generate a customer service executive summary resume that will wow an employer. Your resume will do even better if you take the time to follow through and make it professional in your own unique way.

Leveraging Professional Development for a Supportive Workplace

Leveraging Professional Development for a Supportive Workplace Professional development is that perk within the organization that everyone knows they have access to but is still often not utilized in a way that can help to keep the company culture and support.   Employees take university classes, get certifications, but what if professional development was leveraged to develop a spirit of inclusion and support within your company?   In our book, From Sabotage to Support: A New Vision for Feminist Solidarity, we discuss some tools that companies can implement in order to create a supportive work environment for women specifically, but everyone more broadly. Professional development (PD) training can cover a wide range of topics, including best practices for talking about race, sexual harassment, and microaggressions. Does your company offer PD training, and if so, what does the training look like? Do they address race and racism or sexism specifically? When training stays more generalized and less specific by looking at universal or shared concerns and not addressing concerns that speak to converging identities, they tend to avoid specific issues that challenge the diversity your organization may lack. You can’t just pay someone to do an hour-long presentation. Cultivating the skills to detect bias in policies and procedures is a long-term effort. Individual accountability, small groups, teams, units, and organizations are all responsible for examining their biases in their recruiting and retention practices, as well as their professional development. Implicit bias training is one way, but there are also difficult dialogue workshops a nd workshops on microagressions in the workplace. After the trainings, what’s the follow-up and how is it sustainable? The problem we have seen with these trainings is that folks think, “Well, we had that training, so we’re good. We don’t need to do more work on it. That box has been checked.” This is exactly why these particular types of trainings don’t stick. Yes, they open the door, but you have to hire an outside expert to help guide the entire organization so that diversity and inclusion policies are sustainable and are flexible enough to change when the organization gets bigger or otherwise changes. The policies should reflect the evolution of the times, such as implementing gender-neutral bathrooms or ensuring that women are being paid the same as their white male counterparts. We might not have seen those concerns even six or seven years ago. However, now, because times are changing, we want flexible policies to reflect the needs of today’s workforce. How can your organization leverage professional development for your employees that will not only be supportive of your diverse workforce but also attractive to new hires?   What trainings can be implemented in this final quarter to start that work? About the author: Kami J. Anderson, Ph.D., is the founder and executive director of Bilingual Brown Babies, a company that focuses on fostering bilingualism in black families. She received her doctorate from Howard University in intercultural communication and culture. She is the author of Language, Identity, and Choice. Her co-authored book with Joy L. Wiggins, Ph.D., “From Sabotage to Support: A New Vision for Feminist Solidarity in the Workplace” published by Berrett Koehler is available now at Amazon and your local booksellers.

How do you choose a job when you could work anywhere, but dont know anywhere University of Manchester Careers Blog

How do you choose a job when you could work anywhere, but dont know anywhere University of Manchester Careers Blog Photo by Artem Bali on Pexels.com Graduates and final year students have a dilemma to face, where do you want to work after Uni? Going back home is an option if the jobs you are interested in exist there. If they dont and you really want to be near family you have to be realistic about what is available in the area. Manchester is a big city so staying here would give you access to many (but not all) jobs. And theres the rest of the world option. thats a pretty big choice right there. So how do you choose? Whats important to you? Friends relationships Family The commute time The area you live in and access to facilities whether thats countryside or city life. The job Many graduates are torn between the familiar and just going for what they want to do.   Its a hard choice there are financial emotional barriers and you must decide how you prioritise. You  may want to stay in Manchester because  your friends are here, but eventually some will move away, they will get jobs, they may start families. It will never be as it was when you were a student, life just moves on.   So are you the one that stays behind or the one that is first to move on? Relationships are tricky, its almost easier if one of you has a good job and the other one has to decide whether to stay or move away. What do you do when you are both looking for jobs and could be anywhere, its not easy. You both need to look at the jobs you want and decide if there is a location you would both be happy with, then its a matter of applying and hoping you both get jobs in the same area. If not, what will you compromise on? Going back home for a while may seem a good option but it really depends where that is and what there is on offer in the job market.   It can be good financially though if your family will support you while you are looking for work or in your first job.   For some though it can be a loss of independence that is difficult to deal with. Once you have ruled relationships and family in or out there are some objective decisions you need to make. The dreaded commute. You thought getting the bus from Uni to Fallowfield at rush hour was a pain? Well. First pick your transport mode.   Do you want   a job where you can walk, cycle, bus, tram, train or drive.   This will determine your commute time and the cost! Many people commute an hour or more each way every day, sometimes  they will cover long distances via car or train, but it can take an hour to go 5 miles on a bus!   It can be helpful to use journey planners to work out how far out of a city you can live and commute in in a time limit.   There is also the cost factor, costs differ dramatically around the UK for what may seem like a very similar service.  If as a student you use buses up and down Oxford Road that is about as cheap as it gets, ask students who live in North Manchester, its more expensive and less regular. Whats important to you, town, country, price?   We all have different priorities,  I want access to nice bars, shops, restaurants an easy / cheap commute  access to a gym. I dont necessarily want to live in the city centre but  I certainly dont want to be in the countryside. My wishlist is a pretty popular one and therefore where  I live is pretty expensive, but my commute is cheap and  I dont need to travel to get the facilities want. Its a trade off. and finally the job. Youd think this would be first on the list, but for many people the other decisions have much more of an impact in determining which jobs you can do. Jobs are not distributed evenly across the country, it sounds like a blindingly obvious statement but its not something everyone considers. Even if a company has offices across the country the function you are interested in may only be based in selected locations, so if geography is important to you check before you apply. Businesses small and large are often not located in city centres, they may be in business parks, suburbs or small towns that you have never heard of.   Just because you dont know where it is dont rule it out.   Visit the area, if you dont love it as somewhere to live, how far is it to somewhere you would consider? If you want to work overseas, you need to consider language, cultural differences and dont forget visas! Check your eligibility to work, different countries have different rules. Check embassy websites. Tools: Map of commutable universities from Manchester Try travel time sites  To make a map of where you can live within a commute time. Many local authorities have journey planner sites like TFGM All Careers advice Graduate jobs Undergraduate Undergraduate-highlighted advice careers Graduate jobs graduate schemes location

Top Resume Writing Services

Top Resume Writing ServicesIn our Top Resume Writing Services 2020 guide, we ranked the top 10 resume writing services across the country. One of the best resume writing services in the country is certified to assist in creating a winning resume.Resume writing services can be found all over the place, and we narrowed down our list to just one in each state. Many companies will hire individuals with no experience to create their resumes for them. It takes a lot of work to create a successful resume; most companies prefer to have someone who is skilled at the job.Creating a resume can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The first step in creating a resume is to gather the necessary information and the necessary documents, such as a current resume, letters of recommendation, etc. There are a number of factors to consider before filling out a resume. When creating a resume, it is important to make sure that you tailor it to the job opening or position that you are applying for. An important factor to consider when creating a resume is to find out what is needed. Some jobs will require more than others. For example, if a job requires certification, then you will want to have this on your resume. If you need a resume cover letter, then these must be included as well.All these things should be added to your resume, but it is important to note that it must also be specific. As a result, you should also add any information that is necessary such as: qualifications, education, certifications, and so forth.A sample resume is very helpful, and most companies will offer some sort of sample to download. Most resume writing services do this as well, but some might offer a fee for downloading a sample. If you are unsure about the type of resume that you want, you can download samples for free. You may even be able to purchase sample resumes, but this is not a common practice.The next step is to determine which format you want your resume to be. You can choose between a standard resume, a customized resume, and an executive resume. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and you will need to weigh the pros and cons of each to make the right decision. Once your resume is completed, you will need to use it.Choosing a reputable service can be difficult. While there are plenty of top-notch resume writing services in every city, there are many scam artists and people who only want to take your money.

Time For The Team Getting Your Workforce To Pull Together

Time For The Team Getting Your Workforce To Pull Together It is amazing what even the smallest business can achieve if they all pull together in the same direction. However, sometimes getting very different people to sing from the same hymn sheet can be anything but easy. Luckily, there are some tried and tested ways to improve teamwork in your business, just read the post below to find out what they are. Space. The actual environment and amount of space that you provide for your workers can have a significant effect on how they get on as a team. In fact, if everyone is space out across the country and working remotely, it can be beneficial to provide additional ways of instant communication such as messengers, email, and phone conferences to ensure that the team can work together cohesively as a whole. However, it is also interesting to note that sometimes teams can spend too much time in each other space and this can be detrimental to the work dynamic. In particular, this may happen if everyone is too friendly and the focus shifts away from work to fun and acting up. Alternatively, if there are members of the team that work better in an isolated environment, they can find it incredibly distracting to have to interact with people all of the time. Of course, this is something that needs to be addressed on a team by team basis. It can be incredibly useful to ask for feedback from the team members themselves on this, as there is no one better place to comment on how things can be improved than them. Focus. Next, the focus of a group can have a massive impact on how well your employees work as a team. They need to feel as if they are working towards an overall goal, and that the tasks they are focusing on are making a difference to this target, each, and every day. This isnt always something that is easy to achieve, however, and it can sometimes help to foster positive feedback from other team members concerning the contributions that particular individuals are making. Yes, people may even complain about this out loud. However, secretly everyone likes to be appreciated and told they are doing something well, and it can help your team pull together in the long term.   Bonding. Providing opportunities for your work team outside of the 9-5 is an excellent way of promoting teamwork. Most companies do this by organizing nights out, although often these can result in cliques that have already been defined ending up spending additional time together and alienating the rest of the group. Instead, why not shake things up a bit and offer team building activities like escape rooms, assault courses, and raft building days?  Then you can put those that are having trouble relating to one another together and hopefully they will gain some empathy and understanding for how the other person approaches things that can be used in the workplace in the future. Identity. Next, creating a strong corporate identity can be something that can help your workforce feel as if they are part of a team. To do this, it can be useful to outline a clear code of conduct and to make sure that this is consistently enforced across the board. It can also be helpful to give people a uniform to wear during work hours. Something that can be easily created with the addition of simple embroidered patches, something you can see more on by clicking the link. You can even designate company colors, so people dont have to wear a set uniform but still identify themselves as part of a particular company, or department by the shades that they are wearing.   Dont forget the individual. Sometimes running an effective company seems like it all about working out how to make the group pull together and work as one. However, it is also important to remember that a group is always made up of individuals and they all have separate needs, and preferences. OK, so it may not be possible to fulfill all of these, but it can certainly help to make things run smoother if some of these are addressed. For example, some people will have excellent ideas but not want to contribute them because they are afraid of being laughed at or shouted down. This may be a problem with the management style of the team not fitting its members, or they may be particularly sensitive to this sort of criticism. To solve such an issue and get the best out of the whole team it may be necessary to change the way that things are done. In particular, brainstorming sessions where there are no wrong answers can be helpful, as can the inclusive of an anonymous suggestion box so those with great ideas but less dominant personalities can also be heard. It’s all about caring. Lastly, to get your team to pull together as a whole its important that they care about three things. The first is that they care about the goal you are trying to achieve. That means your employees must be suitably motivated with economic rewards or other bonuses. The second is that they must care, to a certain degree what their superior thinks of them. Yes, a manager or supervisor must command respect, otherwise motivating a team to work for them in incision will be almost impossible.   Lastly, they have to care about each other as well. Which of course can be a tall order, especially if you have people that arent getting along so well. However, It is possible for a team to work efficiently with mutual respect for each other rather than outright friendship. Luckily, there are many ways to foster this in the work environment including positive feedback and other methods that you can find more about here. In summary, to get your team to all pull in the same direction can be tricky, but not impossible. It just takes a little investment in the individual as well as the whole and should result in a much more efficient and planet workplace for everyone involved.

Being a human at work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Being a human at work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Any workplace that fosters and celebrates this kind of behavior in their people is OK by us. Watch this video and ask yourself if an employee who did something similar in your workplace would be encouraged or punished. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related