Entries by Achievers

7 Actionable Tips: How HR Programs Can Foster Employee Engagement During Tough Times

October 30, 2018 /0 Comments/in , , , , , , /by

When your company is undergoing change, you already face plenty of challenges. One issue that might not make it to your short list of priorities is actually crucial: the need to maintain employee engagement. Organizational change efforts have a startling failure rate of 70 percent, and one major reason for this failure is that executives don’t do what it takes to get buy-in from their employees. An Aon Hewitt study found that the number of actively disengaged employees rose by more than 50 percent during situations where job duties were impacted by their company being acquired.→ Read More

Manager and Employee Relationships: The Importance of Mentorship

April 10, 2018 /0 Comments/in , , , , , , /by

The title of “manager” makes it sound like your entire responsibility is simply keeping track of your employees and maximizing their performance. Of course you want to elicit high-level productivity from your team, but your fastest route to success is to offer something back to the people who work for you. The most successful managers enter into a mentoring, or “coaching,” relationship with their direct reports. Here’s a look at why mentoring is so important, together with some best practice tips for putting together a mentorship program that really works.→ Read More

Social media feeds contribute to meaningful recognition

August 23, 2016 /0 Comments/in /by

Hi there, A Advisor,

I’ve been looking into some employee recognition programs for my company, and I notice that some of them resemble social media sites; they even have a newsfeed like Facebook or Twitter. If a recognition program operates like social media sites, I don’t see how my employees will take it seriously—won’t it just be a game? I want my employees to engage with our company’s values, and I don’t want them to recognize frivolously. What’s the benefit?

Sincerely,

All Work, No Play→ Read More

6 Tips to Tackle Performance Reviews for Managers and Employees

August 15, 2016 /4 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Employee performance reviews are often awkward and uncomfortable. Feedback, whether positive or critical, can be difficult to deliver or accept. Yet providing feedback to employees is an important way for a company’s leadership to guide the organization. Employees also want feedback; employee engagement increases when employees get more feedback, more frequently; and, they’re less likely to quit.

Tips for Managers

  1. Review expectations. Take a look at the feedback employees received last year, along with their self-appraisals and development plans.
  2. Evaluate performance.

→ Read More

Achievers employees, we appreciate you!

March 2, 2016 /0 Comments/in , , , , /by

In honor of Employee Appreciation Week, we wanted to highlight a handful of our A-mazing employees. While we didn’t have the space to feature everyone, all members of the Achievers family deserve recognition. We hope you’ll be recognizing your employees this week as well!

Need ideas for how to do it? Get 30 fun, fresh ideas for celebrating Employee Appreciation Day!

2016-EAW_social_4 2016-EAW_social_6 2016-EAW_social_8 2016-EAW_social_10 2016-EAW_social_12 2016-EAW_social_14 2016-EAW_social_16 2016-EAW_social_18 2016-EAW_social_20 2016-EAW_social_22 2016-EAW_social_24 2016-EAW_social_262016-EAW_social_2→ Read More

Send recognitions for Employee Appreciation Week!

February 29, 2016 /0 Comments/in /by

Happy Employee Appreciation Week! At Achievers, this is one of our favorite times of year. While we believe strongly in appreciating our employees all year long, there is something special about a week when companies across North America realize that it’s time to do something extra special.

For those of you who aren’t using the Achievers platform, we wanted to give you an easy way to send recognition cards to your hard-working colleagues. That’s why we’ve created an Employee Appreciation Week tool where you can pick from a variety of different digital cards and email them to anyone who deserves to be appreciated.→ Read More

3 HR skills you need to be successful

February 9, 2016 /1 Comment/in , , /by

The business landscape is evolving rapidly, and HR skills that were once highly prized are becoming obsolete. HR professionals no longer spend their time keeping records, and new technology has transformed how employees engage with their work. The best HR leaders have traded in paper pushing and business-as-usual management methods and have instead become strategic business partners, actively contributing to company growth. In order to keep their seat at the table, HR professionals have had to take advantage of the rich employee data that’s at their disposal.→ Read More

What is Topgrade interviewing?

February 5, 2016 /1 Comment/in /by

Employers today are more focused than ever on hiring for “fit.” They’re trying to find and vet employees that will jive with the culture, pace, and expectations that are unique to their workplace. With this evolution in priorities, there has also been an evolution in interviewing approaches. There are a wide variety of interview styles and question techniques out there, and Topgrading is one approach that claims to help you find better-quality candidates and reduce your number of mis-hires. In fact, it’s the approach that the recruiting team here at Achievers uses to make A-Player hires.→ Read More

3 high-powered onboarding tips for new executives

February 3, 2016 /0 Comments/in , , /by

The cost of losing an employee at any level is significant. Losing an entry-level employee can cost you up to half their salary, but losing a senior level executive can cost more than 400 percent of their salary.

Those are just the direct turnover costs. When you lose executives, there are other costs to the company, including loss of momentum and sometimes damage to the company’s reputation. That’s why companies invest so much time in the executive search process. Despite all that effort, 40 percent of executives who take a new position fail during their first 18 months in the job.→ Read More

Why you need to celebrate employee milestones

January 27, 2016 /0 Comments/in , , , , /by

As a manager, you’re aware that it’s important to give employees everyday recognition, praise, and feedback. You’ll do a better job of effectively delivering this recognition, however, if you understand the reasons behind it. Here are three primary effects you’ll experience from building employee recognition into your daily workplace culture:

  • Better morale: Acknowledging the hard work and dedication that employees invest in your company is a good way to give them “a sense of ownership and belonging,” according to HR Council.

→ Read More

The non-tech-savvy manager’s guide to hiring tech employees

January 25, 2016 /0 Comments/in /by

Tech employees are a hot commodity in today’s job market. Your company has to compete with a lot of other popular employers if you want to hire the best web designers, IT professionals, software developers, and app builders. In many cases, the hiring managers tasked with technical recruiting have no background in tech themselves, and so they may find it difficult to identify, interview, and assess tech candidates. If this predicament sounds familiar to you, then you’ll benefit from using a few straightforward techniques to find the best person for your team.→ Read More

The best new employee engagement ideas for 2016

January 22, 2016 /0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Employee engagement is “the top human resource challenge organizations anticipate facing in the next three to five years,” according to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management. If you want to stay ahead of this challenge, you need to keep your employee engagement strategy fresh, relevant, and exciting for all of your employees. Here are a few employee engagement ideas we think you should implement in 2016:

Introduce gamification

One coffee company found that their employees were having trouble retaining detailed information about their products, so it introduced a game-like quiz designed for mobile devices.→ Read More

New Year’s reflections on job engagement

January 20, 2016 /1 Comment/in /by

by Kevin Sheridan

This time of year, it’s natural to become reflective; to reflect on the last year and on resolutions you have for the New Year.

One of my central messages in my keynote presentations is to encourage more reflection on job engagement. Roughly 60% of the worldwide workforce is not Engaged or Disengaged in their job, otherwise known as the middle category of Ambivalence.  A large reason so many people are stuck in this “blah” middle category is that they have not reflected on whether they are in the right job in the first place, or as Jim Collins said in his best-seller Good to Great, “the right seat on the bus.”

The great news is that we, as managers and employees, are already empowered to do something about it and re-cast ourselves into the right job or seat on the bus. → Read More

3 biggest talent management challenges for 2016

January 14, 2016 /3 Comments/in , , , /by

The workforce is changing rapidly, and many companies are struggling to update their talent management process to keep pace with new workplace cultures. Companies that can’t keep up with the expectations of today’s employees will see a decline in engagement — and a corresponding decrease in their bottom line.

A 2015 report by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) gives a look into current levels of staff engagement. According to the report, only 39 percent of respondents are “very satisfied” with their job, indicating that there is a lot of work ahead for managers in the upcoming year.→ Read More

4 ideas for celebrating employee anniversaries

January 12, 2016 /11 Comments/in , , , , , /by

We’re big advocates of everyday recognition, but we agree that there are some employee milestones that deserve extra-special recognition. Whether it’s anniversaries, retirements, or other major accomplishments, observing milestones is a great way to show an employee that you care about their contributions. Here are a few ideas for how you can celebrate milestones with a bigger bang:

  1. Collaborate on a personalized reward

HR can collaborate with team leaders to figure out what type of employee rewards or celebration would be most meaningful to the employee, whether it’s a gift certificate to a favorite restaurant, or a cake in their favorite flavor and color.→ Read More