By Lynne Curry After nearly two years of being whipsawed by the pandemic, increasing numbers of employees have gone left work. The trend picked up speed in the middle of 2021, when twenty million U.S. employees quit their jobs between April and August 2021.1 4.3 million employees quit in August 2021, a figure 40 percent higher than in August 2020, and 20 percent higher … [Read more...] about Find out what your employees want before they join the Great Resignation
Managing staff
A staffer hands you a two-week notice: What’s next?
By Paul Edwards It’s 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, and one of your employees knocks on your door asking to come in. They’re avoiding eye contact, they’re fidgety, nervous… This can’t be good news. You imagine accidentally shredded payroll reports, stolen laptops full of client information, or something equally catastrophic. But when the employee tells you what’s going on, it’s … [Read more...] about A staffer hands you a two-week notice: What’s next?
A manager tries to hold it all together during Omnicron surge
By Lynne Curry “I’m overwhelmed,” the manager said when he called. “Senior management pressures us to maintain high levels of productivity, but nearly a fourth of our employees call in sick every morning. On our last all-manager Zoom call, our CEO said our productivity is down and made it clear we’re expected to handle our employees’ anxiety and get them refocused on their … [Read more...] about A manager tries to hold it all together during Omnicron surge
What stops you from saying what you want to say?
By Lynne Curry A law office manager must be able to have difficult conversations with staffers, speaking up with the right words at the right time. Is this difficult for you? Why can't you say what you want to say? Is it: You’re afraid if you speak up or try to fix things, you’ll make them worse? You’re afraid you’ll make someone angry and lose a relationship or job? … [Read more...] about What stops you from saying what you want to say?
How you can lure your employees back to the office
By Lynne Curry Question: Like many law offices, we want our staff to return to working on-site, but don’t want to force them to return and have many of them quit. We want our employees to want to return. How do we do that? Answer: A recent Wall Street Journal article said, “There is a magical land where the temperature is always 72 degrees, the Wi-Fi never goes down, and … [Read more...] about How you can lure your employees back to the office
Employees say job pressures take bigger mental toll than COVID-19 fears
Managers, take note: As the pandemic drags on, the mental health of your staffers may be deteriorating as new survey results would suggest. In a recent survey, 57 percent of workers surveyed say their mental health has degraded since the start of the pandemic. The driving factor behind this decline: their workload. In fact, work pressures are so great that half of respondents … [Read more...] about Employees say job pressures take bigger mental toll than COVID-19 fears
You knew she was depressed, but suicidal? Now what?
By Lynne Curry You knew your coworker felt depressed, squeezed by the financial hit she and her husband took when laid off, and the overwhelming pressure when her kids hated school by Zoom. Now, she worries every day that sending her kids to school exposes them to danger. Throughout the pandemic, she made off-hand comments that concerned you, but what she said this morning … [Read more...] about You knew she was depressed, but suicidal? Now what?
How to improve employee experience and organizational culture as COVID-19 takes toll on staff
The pandemic dramatically changed how, when, and where work gets done. And while a majority of businesses reported that productivity increased as employees settled into working remotely, for many, it came at the expense of the employee experience. Employee burnout, time spent in meetings, and the number of employees with mental health problems increased, while work-life … [Read more...] about How to improve employee experience and organizational culture as COVID-19 takes toll on staff
Making hybrid work: Charting a new playbook for a future-ready workplace
By Lynne Curry Employers thought employees would want to come back to their offices, where they had easy access to equipment, coworkers, and managers. They were wrong. COVID-19 untethered us from our traditional workplaces and many employees don’t want to return. Employees enjoyed the flexibility and freedom, sometimes from micro-managing supervisors, they had when working … [Read more...] about Making hybrid work: Charting a new playbook for a future-ready workplace
Embrace on-job learning and listen to employees for more resilient teams
Leaders who encourage their employees to learn on the job and speak up with ideas and suggestions for change have teams that are more effective and resilient in the face of unexpected situations, according to new research from Rice University and the University of Windsor. "A Resource Model of Team Resilience Capacity and Learning" will appear in a special issue of Group & … [Read more...] about Embrace on-job learning and listen to employees for more resilient teams