When you have a team made up of remote workers, there are a lot of things to take into account: what type of equipment the employee will need, are you responsible for their chairs and desks, how do you keep in touch and what are the best tools to measure success…the list goes on and on.
But before you ever get to that point, you have to find the right person. Here are three myths we’ve debunked while hiring remote workers:
Myth #1: They must have previous remote working experience to be successful
Yes, it would be wonderful to hire all remote employees who have already shown their capability to work this way with no issues. Sure, more and more people are able to say they have worked remotely, but there are plenty of people who still work in an office. So, what are you to do if no one who has applied to your position has remote working experience?
Ask the right questions. Remote working is nothing more than having less direct supervision. If you take away the ‘working from home’ aspect, you’ll find there are a lot of ways to see if an employee has the ability to thrive in a less-structured environment.
A few questions to ask people who are applying who do not have telework experience include:
Tell me about a time that you managed a project with little to no supervision. How did you break down the work? How did you keep your manager updated and how did you work with your team throughout it?
Have you ever worked with another team at a different office, or a vendor not on site? How did you prefer to keep in touch with them? What were the pros and cons of working at different locations?
Questions like this will help gauge the employee’s self-management skills and allow you to see their work style when they’re not next to someone.
Myth #2: Remote workers don’t necessarily need to be a good culture fit since they aren’t in the office as often
It’s pretty easy to spot a new hire who isn’t a great culture fit. Even if an employee is working remotely, being a good culture fit is a necessity for so many things including productivity, efficiency, and team morale. I would argue it’s even more important as a remote employee to understand and be part of the company’s culture.
Here’s why: as a remote employee you have less time to interact with your team since you’re not all sharing the same physical space. In other words, you don’t come in and say hello to Janice at the water cooler, then pass by four other desks before you get to your own where you’ll have four separate potential opportunities to interact with your co-workers. These interactions may have nothing to do with work, but have everything to do with building quality relationships that help you get better work done together.
When you’re remote, you only see a co-worker during a scheduled meeting or in a chat or ping when you need to speak with them. This makes being a good culture fit imperative to get work done. If personalities and values are clashing in a remote environment, there are less ‘chance meetings’ to fix it, and there’s rarely an opportunity to do a lot of in-person team-bonding experiences.
Making sure you have someone who fits into your team’s culture from the get-go makes their success in your company even more possible.
Myth #3: Remote workers automatically understand your exact definition of what ‘working remotely’ means
False. There are so many descriptions of remote working that it should never be assumed you and the applicant are talking about the same one. For example, some remote workers also work a ROWE schedule (results-only work environment). This means they are not required to work set hours each day. Instead, they work whenever they feel most productive – whether that’s 3 am or 3 pm – so long as they are producing results.
Other remote working positions require you to have a desk or a home-base that you report from daily with little distraction. Therefore, calling in to a team or client call from a coffee shop would probably be highly unacceptable.
Whether or not your potential employee has worked remotely, it’s best to truly lay out what remote working means to your company, and provide examples of how your team is successfully doing it now.
A great question to ask a potential employee is, “What is remote working to you?”
It opens up a discussion about remote work in general, and allows you both to share your experiences while ensuring they know your definition of it for this particular job.
That ends debunking three myths that usually tag along with hiring remote workers. What other myths would you like to see cleared up when it comes to hiring?
By Alex Yohn
Aug 29, 2016
In an effort to help keep you informed (and reduce possible fines!), we’ve begun a new series on workplace compliance. We’ll be posting these ‘roundups’ with the latest policy updates that could impact your company. The new rulings and updates are coming fast and furious so stayed tuned!
Most recently, there’ve been many policy changes to sick leave and minimum wages in the United States, on the city, state, and federal levels. These updates are affecting millions of employees across the country.
Federal Policy Updates
In May, the DOL (Department of Labor) issued the final order set under the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) to take effectDecember 1, 2016. This is the first time since 2004 that the FLSA has had a revision, and the wage threshold has nearly doubled as a result. The fundamental change will address who is authorized for overtime pay and who should see a salary increase based on the duties test.
OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) has issued a final rule to improve the tracking of injury and illness at the workplace. The revisions clarify how incidents are to be reported and submitted, as well as provisions to encourage employees to report incidents without the fear of retaliation. Employers must inform employees of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation. This obligation may be met by posting the OSHA Job Safety and Health — It’s The Law worker rights poster from April 2015 or later.
The DOL has made revisions to federal labor law posting requirements. By August 1, 2016, posters must reflect the updates being made to the OSHA notice and reporting requirements, Federal Minimum Wage, and Employee Polygraph Protection Act.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released an update to penalties that are associated with failures to post articles under The Civil Rights Act, ADA and GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act). Starting July 5, 2016, fines for not complying with Equal Employment Law will increase to $525 from the current rate of $210. Fines are incurred for all locations that you operate.
State Policy Updates
California
The city of Emeryville has a new minimum wage increase that takes effect July 1, 2016. The change requires a minimum wage of $12.00 an hour for employers with 55 or fewer employees. If you have 56 or more employees, you will be required to comply with $14.82 an hour.
Emeryville also introduced paid sick leave and hospitality service charges. The change must be displayed within your workplace on a poster that is easily seen by all employees by July 1st.
Beginning July 1, 2016, Los Angeles county introduced a new minimum wage compliance. Based on the size of your business, the requirement calls for either $10.00 per hour or $10.50 per hour. Increases are slated to increase every year on July 1st, until 2021 when minimum wage will reach $15.00 per hour.
Employees in San Francisco will receive a 6.3% increase with a new minimum wage compliance, also beginning July 1, 2016. The first of the increases raises minimum wage from $12.25 to $13.00 an hour, and continues to increase until $15.00 an hour is reached in 2018.
An increase in minimum wage is also coming to the city of San Diego. The first increase, which does not have a defined time, will be set at $10.50 an hour. San Diego passed and introduced earned sick leave. Employees who work a minimum of two hours a year, within the boundaries of the city, will accrue one hour for every 30 hours worked, capped at 40 hours. Earned time begins to accrue on the first day of employment and is eligible for use after the 90th calendar day.
On July 1, 2016, Sunnyvale announced they will also have an increase in minimum wage to $11.00 per hour. This is the first of the increases that lead to $15.00 per hour by 2018.
The city of Los Angeles has added an amendment to the recently released minimum wage increase that notice posters must also include information on the city’s paid sick leave. The city had previously not decided whether this would be required on workplace posters, but has now revised the ruling to update current posters.
California’s Governor has updated the workplace smoking rules to include independent contractors and volunteers. The update no longer provides an exemption to warehouse workers and break rooms. Lastly, the law expansion now covers additional guidelines to include parking lots, lobbies, lounges, waiting areas, elevators, stairwells, and restrooms.
Connecticut
Connecticut has introduced the ‘Ban the Box’ initiative, under the Fair Chance Employment Law, taking effect January 1, 2017. The bill places limits on businesses from conducting pre-employment criminal screenings (arrests, criminal charges, or convictions) on candidates.
Georgia
If you have 3 or more workers (part- or full-time) be advised that there have been updates made to the state of Georgia’s Workers Compensation law.
In the event an individual endures a catastrophic injury in the workplace, the payment has increased to $575 from $550 weekly.
Non-catastrophic events are now capped at $383 weekly, from the previous $367 rate. Still capped with no more than 400 weeks pay.
Workplace fatalities and widow payments have increased from $550 weekly to $575. The lifetime maximum has also received a capped increase to $230,000 from $220,000.
Posters now include a phone number to the Board of Workers Compensation: (404) 656-0849
Illinois
Chicago announced that beginning July 1, 2017, employees who work a minimum of 80 hours in any given 120 day period will earn paid sick time. The law introduces one hour for every 40 hours worked. Time starts accruing for the employee on the first calendar day after beginning employment. After 180 days of employment, the time accrued can be used for the care of a family member. Time is capped at 40 hours. Employers who are not subject to comply with FMLA, must allow up to 20 hours to be carried over. Employers who are compliant with FMLA practices, must allow up to 40 hours to be carried over.
Minnesota
Beginning July 1, 2017, employees in Minneapolis will start to accrue one hour of “sick and safe” time for every 30 hours worked. Employees can accrue up to 48 hours per calendar year and any unused time can be carried over to the following year. To be eligible, an individual must be employed at the business for a minimum of 90 calendar days.
The state of Minnesota also announced it will increase minimum wage requirements, effective August 1, 2016. Unlike several other states that have made increases recently, Minnesota’s wages will be based on an employer’s gross dollar value. Business with annual gross dollar sales volume of $500,000 or more will be required to pay at a minimum of $9.50 an hour. If your business does less than $500,000 in annual gross dollar volume of sales, minimum wage is $7.75 per hour. Each year, beginning January 1, 2018, the minimum wage rate will increase, based on cost of living, with a cap of 2.5% of the previous rate.
Oregon
Beginning July 1, 2016, employers in Oregon have a new minimum wage requirement to comply with. Increases are tiered and based on location.
Pennsylvania
The City of Philadelphia’sWage Theft Law took effect July 1, 2016. The law was introduced to stop abuse by employers who are intentionally underpaying or withholding payments to workers. Weekly penalties apply for violation.
Virginia
The state Department of Labor and Industry (VOSH), has made changes on how you report accidents in your workplace. The division of Job Safety and Health Protection, for employers and workers rights and responsibilities, were updated under the Virginia Workplace Safety Regulations.
West Virginia
The HRC (Human Rights Commission) updated the Human Rights Act and Fair Housing Act to protect those with disabilities who require assistance from service animals from discrimination.
Pregnant employees are allowed to request modified duties during pregnancy.
Pregnant employees are authorized for additional bathroom breaks.
Pregnant employees are granted assistance with manual labor tasks.
Provide nursing mothers time to express breast milk during assigned working hours.
Prohibits employers from making hiring decisions based on current pregnancies or the possibility of them in the future.
Wisconsin
If employees are considering donating bone marrow or being an organ donor, effective July 1, 2016, the state of Wisconsin introduced the Wisconsin Bone Marrow and Organ Donation Leave Act. Similar to FMLA, the law impacts employers with 50 or more employees. Employees are allowed to take up to 6 weeks of unpaid leave each year. To be eligible, an individual must have worked 52 consecutive weeks and a minimum of 1,000 hours with the same employer.
Historical Fun Facts!
In May of 1971, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. After much resistance, it was determined that Memorial Day would be one of four holidays moved to create a three day weekend.
In June of 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act amending the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The priority of the act was to first recognize wage gaps between genders and move forward with demolishing the disparity.
Since 1941, July 4th has been recognized as a Federal Holiday. The historic document was drafted by Thomas Jefferson after the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776. The delegates voted upon the topic on July 2nd, and two days later, July 4th, it was adopted. Hope it was the happiest 240th Birthday for you United States of America!
An interview with the team at Cinnamon Toastby Lindsay Sanders
Cinnamon Toast is a full-service marketing and digital agency located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They consider themselves a work family and thrive on the dynamics of the office. Read on to learn more about this hard working team and how Kin has given them even more time to focus on what matters: their creativity and their clients.
Who are you, what’s your role, and your favorite hand-held food?
I’m Bronwyn Mondoux, the Creative Director and Owner, at Cinnamon Toast. My fave is a sandwich all the way!
What’s the story of Cinnamon Toast?
We started off as a small design agency in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 2008. Over the last eight years, we’ve grown to be a full-service ad agency with locations in Ottawa and Hamilton, Ontario. We specialize in creating strategic action plans, memorable and engaging brands, unique and captivating web experiences, and effective marketing campaigns. We’re a young group of 15 people that focus on creating polished creative that adds value to the companies we work with. We foster a culture that knows the benefits of working hard and never just doing what’s under your “job description.”
Hustle goes a long way at CT!
What’s great about working at Cinnamon Toast?
We’re a young, small team and because of this we are all hungry to learn, evolve and become even better. Our office dynamic is our perk. We’re a work family that not only supports one another, but also challenges each other to be their best.
We’ve got full-time office dogs, cocktail Fridays, monthly themed potlucks, staff retreats and, honestly, a happy workplace. The crazy power of happiness and kindness goes a long way and we aren’t cool enough to pretend we don’t believe in this as a core value. Our jobs are high energy, highly creative and incredibly rewarding. No one at the office takes advantage of that, and because of this, Monday blues aren’t a thing here. We spend way too much time at our jobs to not want to be there!
Share some insight into Cinnamon Toast’s approach to employee and workplace operations. How has Kin played a role?
HR is hard. It took us a long time (and we’ve still got a lot of room to grow) to understand how to manage this. People are the best part of our job, but they are also the hardest. As we grew, it wasn’t possible to keep track of everyone’s sick days, holidays and details. Kin was the perfect solution for CT. We aren’t big enough to have an HR department and even if we were, Kin is still so useful for both our employees and managers.
Tools like Kin make our process easier so we can spend more time being creative and working with our clients.
By Alex Yohn
Aug 22, 2016
This is the third in a multi-part series about career development in small businesses. This article looks at the valuable insight mentors can provide as well as how to establish a mentoring program that positively contributes to employee development while also having a positive impact on your business.
Small business owners understand the importance of employee development, but daily operations can get in the way of making it a priority or putting a plan in place. Not to mention the idea of creating an extensive career development program can be slightly intimidating. However, as we discussed in the first article of this series, the value of having a learning and career development program extends beyond the obvious benefits to the individual and can have a positive impact on your business.
Before you start feeling overwhelmed by the idea of creating a career development program, let us assure you: your program doesn’t have to be elaborate. In our Creating a Career Development Plan for Small Business Employees article, we mentioned a few ways to provide learning opportunities that require minimal—if any—expense. One cost effective method for delivering career development is via a mentoring program. Mentoring isn’t a new concept, and it’s one that many businesses embrace. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2013 Employee Benefits survey found that 20% of organizations surveyed offered a formal mentoring program to their employees.
If you’re considering a career development program, an easy place to start is to make coaching, feedback and mentoring a priority in your company culture by creating a mentoring program. When you have a program, and match the right mentor with the right mentee, it’s likely both employees will experience career and professional development—at very little cost to your bottom line.
What do mentoring programs involve?
In a Harvard Business Review article, Anthony Tjan, author of Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck, categorizes mentoring into three types:
Peer Mentoring
Career Mentoring
Life Mentoring
Each of these mentoring types serves a purpose within the workplace, and is somewhat dependent on timing in one’s career or tenure in a particular role. Perhaps the most common type of mentor and the focus of this article is the career mentor.
According to Tjan, a career mentor is a more senior-level employee who provides advice and serves as an “internal advocate” for the mentee. This mentor also helps to reinforce how the mentee’s role contributes to the larger organization.
Basic components of a mentoring program
You’ll want to create a mentoring program that fits your business and your budget, but in general, there are five key elements that you should include in your program:
A declaration of support from business owners. If there’s no indication of high-level support, employees won’t participate in the program.
An understanding that mentoring benefits the mentee, as well as the mentor. It’s important to inform both participants about the personal and professional benefits of participating in the mentoring program.
A willingness from mentees to drive the process. The developmental goals are focused on the mentee. As such mentees need to be responsible for setting the agenda, communicating about the schedule, and working to meet the goals they establish with their mentor.
A commitment to confidentiality. When mentors and mentees meet, they need to be able to ask questions, discuss issues, identify goals, and share ideas without the fear that what they talk about will be discussed with others.
A set duration of time (e.g., six or 12 months) for the mentoring relationship. Mentors and mentees will, ideally, remain connected; however, it’s best to set a timeframe for the “formal” mentoring program to begin and end. A schedule helps keep the sessions productive and focused.
Making a good mentor-mentee match
Finding the appropriate mentor-mentee combination is critical to the individual experience, as well as to the overall success of your mentoring program. A sense of collaboration and connection between partners contributes to the value of the experience.
Formal process in which someone from HR or the leadership team assigns mentors to their mentee.
Self-selection process based on what mentees state they want to learn, and what mentors indicate they have to offer.
How do mentoring programs benefit the business?
Millennials and Generation X employees are often said to be the people who want to receive professional development from an employer. But we’d argue that growth and development are common desires for most employees, regardless of their age or era. When your company helps employees develop professionally—or personally—it can become a competitive advantage in attracting, developing, and retaining the best talent.
“When people feel that they understand their current role, its impact and where it can take them next in a company, it leads to higher levels of satisfaction and motivation,” writes Tjan, the author of Heart, Smarts, Guts and Luck.
When you offer a mentoring program as part of career development, your small business can benefit in a variety of ways:
Engaged junior-level employees who are focused on developing their skills are more likely to perform at a higher level.
Senior-level leaders are engaged by the opportunity to learn from their mentee while also passing on what they know.
When company knowledge is shared between mentors and mentees, knowledge transfer occurs, and may reduce the loss of institutional knowledge when key employees leave.
This method of informal learning requires only a small investment to deliver a big employee benefit.
You’re building a strong organizational culture focused on learning and growth which will expand your business potential.
The mentor-mentee connections will aid in succession planning discussions, thanks to the wider exposure that mentors have to internal talent within the employee population.
What does a mentoring program look like in small business?
“The goal of our mentorship program is to put employees in control of their development,” says Liza Dettoie, Founding Principal at Dittoe Public Relations.
“Good mentors understand that the goal isn’t to create another version of themselves—it’s to recognize their mentee’s unique interests, strengths and weaknesses to better guide them toward their individual goals. To that end, our mentors are focused on setting an overall direction, but empowering each employee to decide the best way to get where they want to go. People support what they help build, so we wanted to create a mentorship program that put employees’ personal goals at the center. Everyone wins that way.”
Dettoie’s Public Relationship agency, which has 17 employees, began their mentoring program eight months ago. The program pairs entry and mid-level employees with a senior employee who serves as their professional mentor. So far it’s a huge success.
“It’s working very well,” says Ryan Simpson, an Account Executive who participates in the program.
In the mentoring program at Dettoie, the mentor and mentee meet at the beginning of every financial quarter and discuss the mentee’s professional goals. The expectation is that they work together to draft an action plan with steps to reach the goals, and then they meet every two to four weeks to discuss progress towards the goals.
“Our mentor will also connect us with various resources that help us both personally and professionally. For example, I’ve received professional books and podcast suggestions from my mentor,” says Simpson.
Not only has Simpson experienced a personal benefit by participating in the program, but he also sees the impact this career development opportunity has on the business.
“One of our core values as a company is that ‘Businesses don’t grow, people do.’ With this mind, we’re always looking for ways to advance employees in their professional career. Happy, skilled and productive employees can help our agency reach new heights.”
Conclusion
After you put a mentoring program in place, continue to gather feedback from mentors and mentees. Confirm they have the tools and resources they need, and that the experience is meeting their expectations. Also, be sure the program is helping you achieving the goals you set for the organization around career development. If you’re not getting results, look for ways to modify the program to more effectively address employee and business needs.
When organizations provide opportunities for employees to connect with mentors who challenge them and encourage professional growth, the impact extends beyond that mentoring relationship. The overall workplace environment shifts to one focused on creating an organizational culture that supports and encourages career development. That focus does wonders in helping a small businesses recruit, retain, and make the most out of all the talent their workforce has to offer.
An interview with the team at YLDby Lindsay Sanders
YLD is a software consultancy and training company that helps businesses achieve the transformation they need to stay relevant in their markets and grow whilst saving costs and improving productivity. With offices in London and Lisbon, YLD values their employees and offers a FUN work environment. Read on to learn more about this awesome team and how Kin helped them say farewell to spreadsheets.
Who are you, what’s your role, and your favorite hand-held food?
[MH] I’m Milly Hume, VP of People at YLD. I love crips, of any kind!
What’s the story of YLD?
[MH] YLD is a Software Consultancy & Training company with offices in London and Lisbon. The company was founded by Nuno Job in November 2013 and quickly went from a one-person band to a team of 37 software engineers and digital transformation enthusiasts. Nuno realised pretty early on that software could be written in a much better and efficient way, and that there weren’t many companies out there capable of doing this.
A strong believer that in the future all companies will be technology companies, he created YLD to bring the Silicon Valley engineering culture to businesses to the UK, helping them make their company successful and benefit from properly written software. To do this, he’s put together a team of engineers with a similar mindset who have dedicated their life to working with modern software engineering best practices, and have built and run technology businesses for several years. Supported by our amazing back-office crew, YLD is now enabling its enterprise clients to achieve digital transformation globally.
What’s great about working at YLD?
[MH] The one thing that makes our workplace unique is the great people working for us and the overall office environment! We are a very social bunch, our office is very informal and there is always something going on, either organised by YLD or people’s own initiative.
We are technology enthusiasts and very active in the developer community. Our engineers regularly talk at conferences and meetups that many of us attend. Every once in awhile we hold office “Craicathons”, internal events where we get to work on specific IT projects, or learn the basics of coding for the non-technical YLDers on the team. Additionally, YLD actively supports its employees’ personal development and encourages everyone to attend conferences or take specific training courses that could be beneficial for their personal growth.
We are passionate about craft beer and every Friday at beer o’clock the whole company gets together to celebrate the end of the week and spend time socialising while sipping great British craft beer, sometimes even our own (yes, we’ve got quite a few home brewers among our people!). Sometimes we even have an international food tasting to experience the best from the great variety of nationalities that make up our team.
Every day someone on the team chooses the music we’ll be playing in the office as our soundtrack for the day. We even have our own YLD playlist on Spotify!
Our running club has been active for a while. Quite a few of us love running and we usually get together on our lunch break once, sometimes twice a week, to run together. Our running team recently entered a 10K race to support the Winnicott Foundation, a charity we are actively contributing to as part of our CSR efforts.
At least once a year the whole company gets together for a company trip. This year we went to Lisbon, and it was great! In November we usually have our annual party to celebrate the company’s birthday, where we get to celebrate another year at YLD with our employees, clients, partners and friends. In short, we enjoy spending time together and always try to make the most of it!
Please share some insight into YLD’s approach to employee and workplace operations. How has Kin played a role?
[MH] When I first joined YLD, as with many startup businesses, everything was held on spreadsheets, google docs, and personal drives so finding out who we actually employed was a lengthy process! Now, everything is held in Kin. Who they are, what they do, when they started, when they are on holiday, how much we pay them, where they live….the list goes on.
“Kin has totally transformed the way we manage people data.”
More recently, we’ve started using the review functionality for new employee probation periods. It’s so helpful to have everything stored in one place, against the employee file so as the HR Director if someone asks me about an employee, it’s just a few clicks and I have the data for them. It makes me look like a total pro! Pretty soon, we are going to start storing individual objectives in Kin too. In fact, it’s one of my own personal KPIs to have this in place by the end of Q3 and for this to lead on to meaningful development conversations too!
By Alex Yohn
Aug 8, 2016
This is the second in a multi-part series about career development in small businesses. This article looks at how to create a career development program and plan that works for your employees and enhances your business.
As we mentioned in the first post of this series, most business owners understand the importance of developing employees. Unfortunately, intentions and action don’t always match. Most employers admit that they don’t devote the necessary time and resources to career development.
But it’s worth devoting some time and resources to determine how you might be able to implement some type of development plan for your employees. It’s not just a “nice thing to do”— the value of having a learning and career development program extends beyond the obvious benefits the individual employee and positively impacts the business.
“Our research shows that the #3 priority issue is the need to revamp and improve employee learning. This is not only a problem of skills development, but also one of engagement. The research shows that companies with high-performing learning environments rank in the top for employee engagement—demonstrating how important learning is to engaging and empowering people.”
These career development opportunities help small businesses recruit candidates and subsequently retain their engaged employees. Positive “people results” in the form of more engaged employees also makes it more likely that the bottom line will benefit, too.
According to Training Magazine’s Training Industry Report, in 2014 small businesses spent an average of $1,238 on training expenditures per learner; with an average of 42.2 hours of training per employee. While it’s important to calibrate what you’re spending on development against other businesses in your market it’s also important to keep in mind that there’s more to learning and career development than hours used and dollars spent.
Development can occur by providing more responsibilities and increasing an employee’s level of influence. For example, development might look like inclusion in strategy discussions or an expansion over what products and services the employee manages. These types of development can be more meaningful for an employee’s long-term career than a new title in their email signature.
The best way to approach career development for your small business is to create a unique program that works within your business structure, begins as part of the onboarding process, increases employee retention, and hopefully has a positive impact on productivity and profits. A basic approach to building a career program includes integrating essential features by:
Identifying the roles your business requires
Talking with employees about careers
Providing the process and the possibilities for development
Helping employees succeed
Identify the roles your business requires
Small businesses have different duties and positions that must be handled, but may not have the luxury of a dedicated employee to manage each task. Start looking at career development for your organization by creating an “ideal” organizational chart that outlines your ideal structure:
Identify all the roles you need to conduct business.
Define each role.
Determine existing employees that hold the position now, or could do so in the future.
Create career maps
This organizational chart helps you understand the immediate needs of your business when it comes to talent, and it provides a preview of the areas that will grow so that you can start mapping out career development opportunities for your employees.
For example, maybe the person you hired to work at the front desk has demonstrated his financial acumen. He might be able to develop into the role of assistant account. The person who manages shipping and receiving also speaks Spanish. Your long-term plans involve Spanish-speaking international markets—could this employee develop her sales skills to eventually work on the team that launches your product internationally?
To have an organization that makes career development a priority, it’s important to regularly review the organizational chart. Look at the possibilities and keep an open mind so you can develop the employees who are performing well and who have a desire to grow within your organization.
Talk with employees about careers
Career development is a two-way street on which the employer and the worker travel together. This mutual obligation to look for growth opportunities requires regular performance conversations. During these conversations, employees can bring up their professional aspirations as well as ideas for how they can reach their goals. At the same time, managers are more likely to gain an understanding of employees’ goals, and can support their team by offering suggestions and possible development opportunities.
For small businesses, in which moving “up the ladder” might be impossible, it’s important to talk about career development in a way that supports any movement. An article in the Association for Training and Development’s magazine described this approach as “lattice development”. This approach:
Views all career movement—whether up, sideways, or down—as successful.
Supports career progression that meets the employee’s desires and current life situation.
Evaluates performance in outcomes, not in hours spent at work.
In a small business, it’s perhaps even easier for employees to take advantage of their development and proactively seek out opportunities to learn new skills and contribute to the company. They shouldn’t wait for management to assign new responsibilities.
“If someone wants to grow in their role, all they have to do is volunteer for new kinds of work. This allows for continuous learning and growth,” says Kate Salmon, who works as a Communications Specialist at Learnography an organization with about 20 employees.
“Most small organizations don’t have the capacity to hire specialists in every area of their work, so the team is comprised of generalists taking on a wide variety of things. At Learnography, our marketing team is cross-functional, so our assignments are often based on our work load and interests instead of a clear-cut responsibility,” she says.
Provide the process and possibilities
A career development plan should include a set of objectives and the path to achieving those goals. The employer’s responsibility is to provide a framework for the process, as well as some options and ways for employees to increase their skills. Historically, the standard approach to development may have been to send an employee to a workshop, but that’s not the only answer. Other less-expensive options include:
Time-limited assignments
Look for areas in the organization that could use some extra help or attention. Uncover problems that need a solution or roles that need to be filled. Assign an employee with untapped skills or an interest in that area to fill that role for a designated amount of time, or put them on a project to review an issue and deliver a solution.
Books and education
It may be seen as dated, but when it comes to training and development, books still work. As Josh Bersin reported in Forbes, younger companies such as the tech firm HubSpot are focused on development. At HubSpot, employees receive free books and education.
Create mentors
Look around for employees who have accomplished significant goals, or who have expertise in a given area. Set them up to mentor other employees in those areas. A mentor can help provide employees with ideas about how to improve, how to address career obstacles, or provide insights and valuable information about what has worked in their career.
In-house workshops
Employees don’t have to leave the comfort of their work environment to learn something new. Set up a way for existing employees to share their knowledge by offering in-house workshops led by their colleagues. Let the technical expert share his word-processing tips and tricks in a 1-hour class each week. Ask the marketing lead to teach everyone how to use Twitter. Using internal instructors not only saves money, it also offers the instructor an opportunity to develop their facilitation skills and helps establish a community focus on development.
Salmon has first-hand experience with a few of these approaches to career development, including the opportunity to expand her current role for a trial period.
“I’ve always expressed a desire to grow in my role, and an opportunity presented itself a few months ago as my team grew and my boss became less available to help with the day-to-day task management,” she says.
“I offered to take on more managerial responsibilities, and we worked together on a proposal that determined the scope and the objective of this new role. We presented the idea of a ‘trial promotion’ to our CEO who, after doing her due diligence and asking some very important questions, agreed to a four-month trial to see how it worked. We’re in the fourth month now, and I think we’re all comfortable calling it a success,” Salmon adds.
Use career development to help employees succeed
With a career development program, employees can set goals, learn from what they achieve, and demonstrate positive business results. As employees actively work to develop in their career, be sure that you’re providing a way for them to track what they do and capture any relevant results. It can be as simple as starting a journal or online document that tracks what the employee does, and any results those efforts had on the company. The employee and their manager should use this tracking document during their regular status meetings. This way the manager always has the information required to discuss performance and growth opportunities with the larger management team.
When employees know that their organizations encourage career development, they feel hopeful about their long-term career path and are more likely to engage with the team on a deeper level. These programs help boost employees’ confidence in their skills; they enjoy putting their new strengths to use at work, and they appreciate the support of their manager and other coaches within the company.
“I think internal coaching is a great way to approach career development. The informal feedback and advocacy that’s afforded by assigning someone to take responsibility for another person’s development is incredible,” says Salmon.
“I’m fortunate to have a boss who not only supports my career goals, but my personal and interpersonal needs. That human connection is the strongest asset of a small organization, and it should be used to its fullest advantage.”
Conclusion
As you put a career development program in place, include an annual program evaluation as part of your process. Make sure you’re achieving the goals you set out to achieve. If you want to increase employee engagement, ask employees to complete a satisfaction survey. Did you meet your goal? If you were you trying to improve your retention rates, identify any changes in employee retention since you implemented the program. If you’re not achieving results, look for ways to improve or modify the program to better meet employee and business needs.
Recognizing individual talents and assigning employees to roles that make the most use of their skills is one of the keys to successful talent management. Organizations that provide opportunities for employees to grow and develop can maintain institutional knowledge, save on costs associated with turnover, and most importantly create a place where people enjoy working for the long-term.
