Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.
Have you ever worked for someone that made your life a living hell ?
I definitely would never wish for any one of you to be in a situation where your horrible boss is intolerable. But if you are in such a situation, then this article will definitely help you.
You can’t choose your boss, but you can choose how you react to a bad one. After having so many bosses, I can tell you there will be a boss at one point who will make your life miserable.
Bad bosses are everywhere. About 50% of employees are said to quit their jobs because of a bad boss. Everyone, at some point in their career, has had a boss from hell. The person that crushes your spirit on a daily basis and makes, going to work, one of the things you hate most.
Quitting is hard
People stay in jobs with bosses they don’t like for a multitude of reasons. Some of the most common reasons I’ve heard during my 16 years of organizational consulting and coaching include:
– I don’t have the energy to look for a new job.
– I love the job I am doing
– I love the vision of company
– Things might get better.
– I really like my job/colleagues/commute.
– I need the salary. I can’t afford to take a pay cut.
– There aren’t any other jobs that would be better.
– I don’t want to lose the benefits.
– I ’ve invested too much to start over in a new organization.
– This job pays too well to leave.
– I don’t have the skills to get a different job.
It happens to the best of us — we start a new job only to find that our boss is not ideal. They might be a micromanager, a visionary that lacks the ability to get the job done, a boss who likes to take all the credit for their team’s good work, a poor communicator, a non-communicator, an absentee boss … the list goes on.
Characteristics of a Horrible Boss:
A Blame-Shifter
Angry and treat others wrong
Takes away your freedom of choice
Arrogance with their ostentatious personality
Controlling Delegator
Driven by emotion not on confidence
Favoritism towards certain employees
Indecisive in nature
Micromanage their employees
No Long term Vision
Demoralize you and your self-worth
Resist Change in the workplace
Stubborn and think they’re right
Use fear as a form of management
Throttle your growth
They come in late, but expect you to arrive early and leave late
If you’re working for someone that fits any or all of the above, it may be time to run for the hills. Your future is at stake.
Two rules for success when you have a bad boss:
Rule #1: Your boss’s boss won’t correct the situation. This is true if your bad boss has longevity and he was hired by his current boss. When these two things are true, don’t expect things to change. Adopt other strategies to improve your life.
Rule #2: Bring your best self to work. Be pleasant, helpful, productive, kind, positive, and energetic. Adopt positive behaviors because it’s who you are.
Never let a bad boss make you a bad employee.
I gave a frustrated coaching client this feedback. “Your best self comes out when you talk about work, projects, and vision. But when you talk about your bad boss, your worst self comes out.”
“Which self do you want others to see?”
If you want to keep top talent, make sure that your bad boss habits don’t get in the way of productivity and growth! Bad Bosses are a common occurrence in any workplace, but there are ways for you to help them become better managers and leaders.
What rules might you suggest for people who have a bad boss?
If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.
Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.
Returning from maternity or parental leave can be an incredibly stressful time for your employee, so you need to help make the transition as easy as possible for them. They have probably got a lot of mixed emotions about coming back, and it is likely that this will be the first time they have been away from their child for any extended period of time.
While they might be excited about returning to work, they will probably also be a little nervous. A lot of things can change in a business over six-months to a year, and this article aims to provides some tips to help with their return.
Prioritising new parents in your workplace is a form of equity. Any organisation that commits to that value should dedicate resources to bringing parents up to speed when rejoining the workforce.
Most companies fall somewhere in between, but there are a variety of things you can do in addition to your policy to make new and even experienced mothers feel comfortable and welcome them back after their maternity leave or leave of absence
Returning to work after a lengthy absence on maternity leave can be a daunting experience, so the employer should take steps to ensure that the employee’s reintroduction is as smooth as possible. Every Employer has to ensure an employee’s smooth reintroduction to the workplace after maternity leave.
Now the big question is, How can we achieve that smooth reintroduction. ? How can employers manage employees returning from maternity leave to make sure they feel fully welcomed back to work ?
Here are some suggestions to support an employee returning from maternity leave.
Remember that maintaining contact with an employee on maternity leave can help them to stay in touch with the workplace and ease their return to work.
Check that you have notified the employee of the date that their maternity leave will end and consider sending them a courtesy letter to remind them of their expected date of return from maternity leave.
Send out a Welcome back letter and do onboarding and take feedback after a week.
Make sure that the employee’s workstation is ready for their return from maternity leave and that they have the materials necessary to do their job.
Make the time for a coffee with your returning employees, preferably OUT of the office. Maybe invite the broader team to say hello. Allow them to share their experiences as new parents and ask them to show you baby photos!
Encourage mental well-being and Allow flexible working options.
Bear in mind that returning to work after a long period of absence on maternity leave can be a daunting experience for an employee.
AVOID inviting your returning employees to large meetings for the first two weeks until they’ve had a chance to settle back in. During that time they would have gained more context and could confidently attend and actively participate.
Consider what changes need to be made to the employee’s workload if they are returning to work from maternity leave on reduced hours and what arrangements need to be made if they are going to be working with a jobshare partner.
Arrange meetings to update the employee and discuss any training needs or necessary support for them to get back up to speed with the job. Ensure that an employee who has returned to work from maternity leave is not treated less favourably because they have been out of the workplace for some time.
Carry out a risk assessment if an employee has returned to work from maternity leave within six months of the birth or is still breastfeeding.
Provide suitable facilities for a breastfeeding employee to rest, and remember that it is good practice to provide a clean, private room, access to a fridge and time off to express milk.
Ensuring that the logistics are in place for the employee to begin work on their return, for example that their workstation is ready and that they have the appropriate systems access and passwords.
Showing empathy and understanding during this difficult time will make a big impact. If the pandemic taught us anything, I believe it was to find compassion for each other’s full lives — at work or at home, which are now not as separated as they once were.
If you are a manager and have read so far- kudos to you. All that’s left now is to put the wheels in motion and change the statistics If you are a parent who’s reading this and are finding it relatable- share this around. You too can change the statistics.
If you want your business to be more human, you have to invest in your humans.
Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!
If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook
Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.
A new trend is emerging in the pandemic-era workplace. People are rethinking their priorities and beginning to make new career moves. Several factors seem to be playing into this reshuffling, including work-life balance concerns and the pursuit of passion projects that people were able to consider during the past year. Other people are focusing on their families, taking time off after a year of strenuous work, or starting their own companies.
The Great Attrition is happening, it’s widespread and likely to persist—if not accelerate—and many companies don’t understand what’s really going on, despite their best efforts. These companies are making ineffective moves based on faulty assumptions.
As per recent surveys, a record number of employees are quitting or thinking about doing so. Organizations that take the time to learn why—and act thoughtfully—will have an edge in attracting and retaining talent. The top three factors employees cited as reasons for quitting were that they didn’t feel valued by their organizations (54 percent) or their managers (52 percent) or because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (51 percent).
More than 19 million US workers—and counting—have quit their jobs since April 2021, a record pace disrupting businesses everywhere. Companies are struggling to address the problem, and many will continue to struggle for one simple reason: they don’t really understand why their employees are leaving in the first place. Rather than take the time to investigate the true causes of attrition, many companies are jumping to well-intentioned quick fixes that fall flat: for example, they’re bumping up pay or financial perks, like offering “thank you” bonuses without making any effort to strengthen the relational ties people have with their colleagues and their employers. The result? Rather than sensing appreciation, employees sense a transaction. This transactional relationship reminds them that their real needs aren’t being met.
If the past 20 months have taught us anything, it’s that employees crave investment in the human aspects of work. Employees are tired, and many are grieving. They want a renewed and revised sense of purpose in their work. They want social and interpersonal connections with their colleagues and managers. They want to feel a sense of shared identity. Yes, they want pay, benefits, and perks, but more than that they want to feel valued by their organizations and managers. They want meaningful—though not necessarily in-person—interactions, not just transactions.
By not understanding what their employees are running from, and what they might gravitate to, company leaders are putting their very businesses at risk. Moreover, because many employers are handling the situation similarly—failing to invest in a more fulfilling employee experience and failing to meet new demands for autonomy and flexibility at work—some employees are deliberately choosing to withdraw entirely from traditional forms of full-time employment.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If companies make a concerted effort to better understand why employees are leaving and take meaningful action to retain them, the Great Attrition could become the Great Attraction. By seizing this unique moment, companies could gain an edge in the race to attract, develop, and retain the talent they need to create a thriving post-pandemic organization.
But this won’t be easy, because it requires companies and their leaders to truly understand their employees. It requires leaders to develop a much deeper empathy for what employees are going through and to pair that empathy with the compassion—and determination—to act and change. Only then can employers properly reexamine the wants and needs of their employees—together with those employees—and begin to provide the flexibility, connectivity, and sense of unity and purpose that people crave.
As these shifts begin to take place in your company, know that internal communications will become more important as well. This starts with inspirational leaders communicating core values and the mission of the company, as well as culture-building among team members. Use this time of reshuffling to shore up your communications infrastructure, brand values, and company culture, and you’ll build the new team that will take you successfully into the years ahead.
There will always be employees who want to leave your business. They will find jobs they’re more interested in, change career paths, decide to become a stay-at-home parent, or maybe start their own business. Employee turnover can’t be completely eliminated. But, you can reduce it by providing a workplace where employees want to stay.
With that in mind, here are a few tips on how you can slow down the revolving door at your company. Some may be familiar, some may be new to you, but all should help you inspire long-term loyalty from your best employees.
Making Remote Workers Happy
Do everything possible to make remote workers successful and happy. This includes those who are going to remain in their home office five days a week, as well as those who will be allocating some of their time in the corporate office and some of their time at home (a.k.a. hybrid workers). “Successful” means equipping them with the technologies and tools they need to be productive, efficient and organized. And “happy” means paying attention to their wellbeing and protecting them from micromanagers.
Hire the right people
The best way to ensure employees don’t leave you is to make sure you are hiring the right employees to begin with. Define the role clearly—both to yourself and to the candidates. And then be absolutely sure the candidate is a fit not only for it, but for your company culture.
Fire people who don’t fit
As the old saying goes, “a stitch in time, saves nine.” The same goes for cutting employees loose when necessary. Sometimes even when you follow the advice above, you get an employee who — no matter what you try to do — just doesn’t fit. And, no matter how effective they might be at their actual work, an employee who is a bad fit is bad for your culture, and that creates “culture debt.” They will do more damage than good by poisoning the well of your company. Cut them loose.
Employee-Centric Culture
Focus on practical and meaningful ways to build an employee-centric culture. Compensation is always going to matter, but it has never been the number one thing that most employees focus on when it comes to joining an organization or staying in one. Organizations that establish and evolve a culture that is characterized by transparency, inclusion, respect, support, and empathy are much better positioned to recruit and retain vs. those that might offer higher salaries, but only pay lip service to these values and principles.
Keep compensation and benefits current
Be sure that you are paying employees the fair going wage for their work (or better) and offer them competitive benefits, or — really — who can blame them for ditching you? This might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how few companies offer raises that keep up with an employee’s development and actual rising worth.
Pay attention to engagement
This one sounds obvious, but for too many leaders interest in engagement is limited to the results of engagement surveys. It’s not enough simply to run an engagement survey once a year. You need to save most of your energy to take action based on the results and you need to work to build a culture of engagement in your company all year long.
Retention and Exit Surveys
Make retention surveys and exit interviews a top priority — and if this means spending more money on staff, tools or both, then make it happen. Organizations that assume what their workforce is feeling are often shocked to discover that their beliefs are rooted in wishful thinking instead of reliable data.
Prioritize employee happiness
Happiness may sound a bit soft and squishy to many execs, but the numbers behind it are anything but. Employee happiness is a key indicator of job satisfaction, absenteeism, and alignment with values–just for starters. Investing in the happiness of your employees will pay dividends in engagement, productivity, and yes, retention.
Make opportunities for development and growth
Employees place HUGE value on opportunities for growth. In fact, a Cornerstone survey drew a direct connection between lack of development opportunity and high turnover intentions. If you aren’t developing your employees then you aren’t investing in them. And if you aren’t investing in them, why should they stay with you?
Encourage generosity and gratitude
Encourage pro-social behavior in your employees. When they are given the opportunity to connect with one another through acts of connection and appreciation, employees will be healthier, happier, and less likely to fly the coop. And by encouraging them to be on the lookout for good behaviors to commend, you give people a sense of ownership of the company.
Recognize and reward employees
Show your employees they are valued and appreciated by offering them real-time recognition that celebrates their successes and their efforts. Make it specific, social, and supported by tangible reward, and you, too, will be rewarded—with their loyalty.
Offer flexibility
Today’s employees crave a flexible life/work balance. That impacts retention directly. In fact, a Boston College Center for Work & Family study found that 76% of managers and 80% of employees indicated that flexible work arrangements had positive effects on retention. And more and more companies know it. That means, if you’re not offering employees flexibility around work hours and locations, they might easily leave you for someone who will.
Clean up performance reviews
Our Workforce MoodTracker survey painted a frankly dismal picture of how employees feel about performance reviews. Only 49 percent of them find reviews to be accurate, and only 47 percent find them to be motivating. Performance reviews offer a prime opportunity for a big win to increase trust and fortify your relationship with employees. Improve performance management by overhauling reviews, and watching employee trust and satisfaction grow.
Provide an inclusive vision
One key factor in employee engagement and happiness, according to experts, is to provide them with a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. Offer employees a strong vision and goals for their work and increase their sense of belonging and loyalty to your organization.
Demonstrate and cultivate respect
Finally, don’t discount respect when it comes to creating a magnetic culture. In fact, in one study, respect in the workplace was revealed to be a key factor involuntary turnover. Find ways to cultivate and nurture respect in your workplace and it will pay off in higher retention.
Use these tips to help build a culture in your organization that will keep your turnover rates low, and your best employees on board and productive for years to come.
Sources: McKinsey, Forbes, Workhuman, HBU
Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!
If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook
Thoughts To Inspire 