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3 Benefits Of Examining Behaviour At Work

Bring your whole self to work — that’s the commandment every employee-friendly company wants workers to live by. Bring your cat to team meetings. Post photos of your trip to Barbados on Slack. Host a brown bag on how to create the perfect cheese board.

I’m in favor of all these things. Who wouldn’t want to learn more about cheese pairings? But the “bring yourself to work” movement misses a fundamental element of the human psyche: behavior. We can encourage workers to show off their quirks and display their passions, but until we include behavior in our definition of “whole self,” the strategy does little for business.

That would be a huge lost opportunity: By accounting for behavior, employers can encourage openness at work and harness that freedom by aligning employees’ passions and opportunities. There are a million ways this strategy will boost your business, but today we’re going to talk about three areas where behavior spawns benefits.

#1: Revved up recruiting

Imagine recruiting without the resume and cover letter. There’s less work for recruiters and candidates alike. There’s fewer formalities, headaches and papers. But what’s left?

A behavior-enabled recruiting process should eliminate the frustrations once caused by the recruiting tactics of old. Instead, it provides data-driven insights into a candidate’s skill, potential, and passion. It helps you see where job seekers belong in your organization, streamlining and fireproofing the talent decisions that were once messy and haphazard.

#2 Spurred employee growth

Employers that invest in upskilling wield a powerful tool capable of both stalling resignation rates and bolstering engagement.

Upskilling works best when you know something about the workers you’re offering it to. A training on public speaking may terrify someone who excels at independent, numbers-based work. But it could offer incredible motivation to the worker who’s keen on scoring a leadership position in the next couple of years. You just have to know the difference.

#3: Synchronized teams

Organizations can enable teams by respecting individuals, and I’m convinced that the best way to do that is through knowledge. When we understand how and why workers thrive, we can match them to the right teams and the right assignments, respecting their natural inclinations and passions better than we ever did before. With AI-driven insights into how workers operate, employers can study their teams in seconds to determine who excels where and why.

To find out how you can revitalize your people approach with behavior insights, book a demo with PeopleBest and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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The Two Sides of Work Arrangements

There’s a great debate going on right now among employers around the globe. To work remotely or not to work remotely — that’s the question. 

The stakes are high on either side. On the one hand, employers have expensive real estate that’s going totally unused. And they know collaboration could use a boost from in-person work.

But there’s another side: The employees who adapted to at-home work almost over night two very long years ago demonstrated real resilience. To resume the commute, the business casual wardrobe, and the office drama would cost something — maybe their employment.

I can’t know the exact costs you’re weighing on either side of the work arrangement debate. So I’m not going to tell you I’m all for remote work or ready to get back to the office for good. Instead, I’m going to tell you what I think is missing from this conversation: The “what’s next.”

Moving forward, no matter where you land

Whether you decide to pull workers back to the office or let them continue working remotely, you need to have a plan to support them.

Workers returning to the office will deal with a fresh spate of problems. They’ll have to plan their commutes around their kids’ schedules, while factoring in that dentist appointment and those workout classes. And what happens when someone gets sick? Will remote days be back on the table?

Consider now the workers cleared to continue their pandemic arrangement. They may be thrilled to keep working from the comfort of their home and the coffee shop down the street. Despite the perks, many workers are feeling lonely. They’re estranged from their colleagues, disconnected from their managers and looking for ways to get involved, even from afar.

In either situation — or in some hybrid world in between — we must support these workers. At PeopleBest, we’ve developed the technology that allows employers to predict whether workers will thrive in a remote environment. The tech is based in knowledge: You have to get to know your workers to find out how they’ll perform and why.

Similar logic applies to supporting workers in any type of work arrangement. Determine how workers tick, respond accordingly, and watch them start having fun in their job. To find out how PeopleBest can help your team reach its potential, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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Taking Pride In What Makes Us Thrive

June is Pride month here in the U.S., and many employers are celebrating by re-casting their logos in rainbow. Don’t get me wrong — a striking change to an emblem as steady as a logo can  signal support. But the move rings hollow if it’s not matched by an underlying framework of inclusion and care.

Lots of businesses have realized the importance of making good on their public-facing promises, including those made during Pride month. After all, developing a strong diversity, equity and inclusion program isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s good for people, it’s good for business. Inclusive employers have been shown to earn higher revenue and grow faster. Such organizations are also much more likely to capture new markets and outperform competitors.

I probably don’t need to convince you of the benefits you can reap by doing DEI right. Most business leaders want to nail it. But the problem isn’t the wanting — it’s the doing. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Don’t let fairness be the enemy of individuality

Why do employers fret over their plans to support their LGBTQ+ employees? One reason, perhaps, is that employers received clarity regarding LGBTQ-related workplace discrimination only two years ago. Up until then, agencies, courts and employers were split on whether our nation’s foremost anti-discrimination law banned workplace bias in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity, like it did with other characteristics such as race and religion.

The Supreme Court justices have now made it perfectly clear that employers may not discriminate against workers because of their sexual preference or gender identity. The edict leaves organizations to act in accordance with the standard set by Title VII, which generally states that employers treat workers the same and without regard to their protected characteristics.

This rule is a good one. But in the age of “bring your whole self to work,” it can feel a little stiff, especially during months like this one. Can we treat everyone the same while celebrating what makes us unique?

I believe that we can and should chase after fairness and individuality, all at the same time. In fact, that’s what PeopleBest is all about. We’ve created a tool that allows employers to uncover the precious and unique talents of their team members. Our technology generates information that informs business leaders where their workers thrive, allowing them to equip individuals with the right opportunities, training and challenges. Our platform allows organizations to go deep with their DEI initiatives, seeking to support and further everyone, all the time.

To find out how PeopleBest brings real solutions to understanding your people, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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The 5 Generations

The office is a complicated place for managers right now. First of all, that word “office” — what does it even signify today? It’s more than the space between four walls cement walls. It now encompasses corporate-owned locations, coworking spaces, and people’s home offices, living rooms, and dining room tables.

If that weren’t enough, the office is also home to a wide expanse of people. Five generations now occupy the business world, and managers need to have a plan to navigate each group or risk a number of consequences, from frustration to failure.

The 5 Generations

Five groups inhabit the office:

  1. The traditionalists: Those who are between 76 and 99 years old.

  2. The baby boomers: Workers ranging from 57 to 75.

  3. The Gen Xers: Anyone from 41 to 56 years of age.

  4. The Millennials: The 26-year-olds to 40-year-olds.

  5. And Gen Zers: The youngest of the crop — ages 25 years and below.

Manage people, not age groups

We could spend our time today discussing the common behaviors of these groups. But that so often devolves into age-based stereotyping, even when it’s meant to be positive.

Instead, I’d like to discuss a people-based approach to managing the multigenerational workforce. When managers are mystified by generational differences, they’re actually confronting differences in humans. Sure, these differences may be informed by life experiences related to the year of their birth. But they could just as easily be related to the place where they grew up or the style with which their parents raised them.

My point is that generational gaps may create challenges in the workplace, but the origin of the challenge is less important than the way managers surmount the challenge. In an article for Harvard Business Review, Megan Gerhardt, the director of leadership development at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business, put it this way:

“Just as we wouldn’t expect our actions to be accurately understood or universally agreed with when we travel to other places,” Gerhardt said, “we shouldn’t expect our reasons for approaching our work in particular ways to be clear to people who have grown up and started their professional lives at different points in time.”

Communication is key. So is empathy and understanding. So don’t focus on generational gaps or any other cause of differences in the workplace. Instead, get to know the people you’re working for — unlock their strengths and weaknesses, and connect them with opportunities that will make them soar.

PeopleBest can help can help find the unique opportunities inside each of your people and unlock the potential inside all generations operating on your team. To find out how, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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Why Team Dynamics Still Matter

In many workplaces, teamwork ain’t what it used to be. The pandemic replaced good old fashioned meetings with Zoom calls, Slack standups and other tech-enabled solutions. Those fixes got us through a terrible time, but they couldn’t reproduce the camaraderie and collaboration of in-person coworking.

Meanwhile, essential workers reported to work, masked up and ready to go. But teamwork faced stressors in those environments, too: safety, resources, turnover and other issues threatened the success of teams working in-person during the pandemic.

In-office operations are possible again these days, but many have decided to forgo a total return to the “before times.” And while workplace safety has grown more dependable, other problems spawned and strengthened by COVID still exist. So where does that leave teams?

Why is teamwork at risk?

The pandemic threatened the success of remote and in-person teams alike.

For workforces that could transition to online operations, many leaders attempted to galvanize teamwork by doubling down on employee engagement. This strategy wasn’t necessarily bad, but it didn’t always have the intended effect.

A recent Paychex poll asked respondents to rate the effectiveness of certain team-building measures. Nearly 40% of those whose leaders allowed them to vent about current events during meetings said they felt closer to their teams. Compare that to the 9% who said the same thing after attending virtual or in-person workplace social events.

All those online trivia nights and outdoor happy hours? They didn’t work.

Getting to good

If employee engagement isn’t the answer to broken team dynamics, what is?

A panel hosted in December by the Academy of Management discussed this very topic. California State University’s Hakan Ozcelik concluded that organizations must focus on respect and relationships as they set out to mend and bolster teamwork.

“Organizations and leadership should find ways to foster an emotional culture of love—my research indicates that relationships sustained people during turbulent or trying professional environments, much like we have seen with the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “Respect is a huge phenomena right now that we all have to think about—companies who foster a culture of respect will create great teams and will also allow the company to perform better over the long run.”

Hakan is right. Organizations can enable teams by respecting individuals, and I’m convinced that the best way to do that is through knowledge. When we understand how and why workers thrive, we can match them to the right teams and the right assignments, respecting their natural inclinations and passions better than we ever did before. With AI-driven insights into how workers operate, employers can study their teams in seconds to determine who excels where and why.

To find out how PeopleBest can help your team reach its potential, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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Translating Passion into Purpose and Possibility

Everyone knows the famous story about President John F. Kennedy’s visit to the NASA Space Center in 1962. As lore has it, JFK stopped a man carrying a broom, introduced himself, and asked the worker what he was doing. The janitor’s next words would be repeated for years to come: “I’m helping put a man on the moon, Mr. President.”

The story is a favorite among motivational speakers, TED Talk hosts, and, yes, bloggers because it illustrates the importance of purpose so well. When workers don’t understand the greater significance of their job, they lose a sense of purpose. Without this, they’re not oriented toward the overarching mission of their organization, and they’re bound to be less satisfied with and engaged in their work.

The multifaceted mission

The man stopped by President Kennedy possessed a keen sense of his employer’s mission. His efforts as a janitor were helping put a man on the moon as much as the work from engineers and mathematicians.

It’s important workers have a sense of mission in other ways, too. They need to feel that their work connects to their personal passion — it motivates them, and it impacts the bottom line. For example, employees who feel that their day-to-day tasks relate to their interests and strengths are happier and more productive. Happy employees are linked to higher customer satisfaction. And according to MIT research, organizations offering a top-quartile employee experience “achieve twice the innovation, double the customer satisfaction, and 25 percent higher profits than organizations with a bottom-quartile employee experience.”

Unite purpose with possibility

There’s another way to think about purpose and mission in the workplace. Companies that teach workers to understand their skills as scalable are in a much better position to retain talent. When workers see how their current job prepares them for another position — one that also furthers the company mission and their own passion — they’ll dig into their work and stay.

This strategy requires a thorough understanding of a worker’s skills and interests. Your moonshot challenge is to make darn sure you know what each person on your team or in your company is passionate about. Your next mission is to help them take that passion into the vision and objective you are trying to achieve.

I’ll leave you with a scene from Alice and Wonderland:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

Our job is to ignite the passion to help them find their path with purpose! To find out how PeopleBest can help you discover what makes your workers tick, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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It’s Time to Challenge the Recruiting Status Quo

Many job opportunities unfold with a predictable cadence: A candidate submits a resume and cover letter, gives a couple of interviews, and waits to hear the news. This sequence has been standard for years, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best way.

This tired recruiting flow causes both candidates and employers too much grief. It’s exhausting for job seekers, who are crafting, tweaking and submitting resumes and cover letters for every opportunity they’re even slightly interested in. The process is just as miserable for the people on the other side. Recruiters and hiring managers are besieged by documents, scheduling and meetings — and that’s before they have to approach the decision-making process.

Here’s the good news: There’s no law that says employers have to require resumes, cover letters or interviews. You’re free to design a recruiting process that works for you and your candidates. In today’s blog, I’m going to discuss the shortcomings of the status quo and the opportunity of a reimagined recruiting.

Rethink the Resume — Look Harder, Faster

Did you know 40% of hiring managers spend less than one minute looking at a resume? Resumes communicate a list of accomplishments that help hiring managers quickly decide whether to grant a candidate any more attention.

But the data resumes provide for this incredibly important decision is inherently flawed. It’s a widely known fact that many applicants lie on their resumes. Even when resumes are 100% honest, they don’t do a good job feeding hiring managers valuable information. They may sum up a candidate’s experience, but they can’t provide a deep knowledge of someone’s skills, talents and potential. It’s just a piece of paper.

The Cover Letter Doesn’t Have You Covered

A cover letter communicates more about a candidate’s capabilities than a resume, and hiring managers’ reliance on them backs up that fact. 83% of HR pros say cover letters are important for their hiring decisions.

But do cover letters offer insight in a way that’s fair and illuminating? I say no. A candidate with decent writing chops may be able to tell a convincing story about their professional abilities. Meanwhile, a job seeker with less prowess for the written word might come off as inexperienced or dispassionate. Ultimately, cover letter-writing skills may not say much about a candidate. If the workers are applying to positions that have little to do with writing, their ability to showcase their experience in a short essay shouldn’t matter to you.

Reimagine recruiting

Imagine recruiting without the resume and cover letter. There’s less work for recruiters and candidates alike. There’s fewer formalities, headaches and papers. But what’s left?

If you take resumes and cover letters out of the recruiting equation, you have to find something to take its place. Are you recruiting 24/7?  Are you announcing your open positions to everyone in the company, so THEY are your hidden recruiters? Remember the great person at Starbuck’s who always seems to know what you order and has it ready?  Don’t laugh — one of our clients found their best reps this way.

A reimagined recruiting process should eliminate the frustrations once caused by the recruiting tactics of old. Instead, it should provide data-driven insights into candidates’ skill, potential, and passion. It should help you see where job seekers belong in your organization, streamlining and fireproofing the talent decisions that were once messy and haphazard.

PB takes the guesswork out of the candidate search. No bias, no discrimination, no opinions, no agendas… just looking at who can or can’t do a specific job. To find out how PeopleBest can make this dream a reality at your organization, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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PeopleBest Expands PeopleDNA™ Profile for Finding the Best Candidates with the “Right Stuff”

The PeopleDNA™ Profile matches a person’s behavioral DNA with the exact job iin your company that’s right for them, using your exact requirements. PeopleBest offers several options to provide pin-point accuracy exactly when you need it most.

Pursuit of top talent poses a competitive challenge in a marketplace where job seekers are plentiful in many job families. Candidates are more discerning about culture fit as well as job expectations. With so many in the talent pool, how can recruiters and hiring managers identify the most capable candidates?

Talent science offers predictive data identifying success factors on job performance that can be measured by assessments. PeopleBest’s agile talent system offers a completely automated, web-based SaaS solution for recruiters and hiring managers an efficient online assessment that measures job specific competencies establishing a “code of success” that will delineate candidates’ capabilities. 

The results can address questions such as: Who can build productive relationships and enlarge them over time?  Who can manage and engage a team located in multiple time zones? Who can master detail and correct gaps in a time efficient manager?  The PeopleDNA™ profile will save hours of time searching for insights on how candidates can contribute.

Winning the war for talent requires strategic positioning and efficient tools, processes and execution to ensure that no quality candidates drop out or are hired by a competitor.  PeopleBest clients determine the competency sets measured that fits their unique needs. Candidate results are available instantaneously and reports can be sent directly to the hiring manager for review.  No time lost to find out critical information to inform talent decisions.

Using the PeopleDNA™ profile, a hiring manager can easily compare and contrast candidates and use interview questions to further understand the value individuals bring. The Profile will also show areas where performance can be boosted through training or mentorship so that the new hire has a positive onboarding experience.  

Tech Specs:

Competency sets are available to measure capabilities of external or internal candidates related to the role or leadership level.  Once the job is set up, a link is sent to candidates who then take the PeopleBest assessment by responding to a series of statements.  The assessment gathers responses to score behavioral areas related to the competencies being measured.

Content Summary: 

Avoid the pain and heartache of back hires, low retention and poor performance — all upfront.  Allow PeopleBest to show you how you can rebuild your hiring and development process more accurately and quickly, with no obligation. Call us today at (714) 685 1020 to see how we can help you! 

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What Does It Take To Beat Boredom

Why do employees quit? It’s a question that keeps business leaders up at night, and it’s also a question that’s hard to answer. Thankfully, research helps us pinpoint a couple of the most common factors that cause employees to quit.

A recent Korn Ferry survey asked job hunters why they were planning to look for a new gig. Nineteen percent said they were on the lookout for a higher salary. Twenty-one percent said they lost their job. And a quarter said their employer’s culture or values didn’t align with their own.

The rest, a whopping 33%, said they were looking for a new job because they were bored. That’s it. They weren’t frustrated, overworked or underpaid. They were just plain bored.

My fellow employers: We cannot let boredom be the reason our workers leave our ranks. Let’s dive into the ways we can defeat boredom and help our employees’ reach their full — and most fully engaged — potential.

What’s the opposite of boredom?

When workers aren’t bored, they’re engaged. Engaged workers understand what’s expected of them, know how to navigate opportunities for growth, and feel like their voice matters. They’re involved and enthusiastic.

These characteristics don’t just make them pleasant coworkers. Engaged workers are linked to many business outcomes, such as profitability, productivity, customer service, and — surprise, surprise — retention.

Getting engaged

Now that we understand the ingredients of engagement, we have to review the steps to get there. Employers can thwart boredom by understanding their workers’ strengths and weaknesses, alongside their motivations, fears and passions.

For instance, an employee who has a natural inclination for learning may thrive in a job that requires them to synthisize vast amounts of information. A worker with a lower capacity may flourish in a role that functions on short, clear and factual pieces of information.

The benefit of knowing your workers extends beyond productivity. Employers face tough people decisions constantly: Who should we hire? Who should we fire? Who will stay? Who will leave? You don’t have time for these decisions — you need a tool that will fireproof your people decisions and boost worker engagement. To find out how PeopleBest can help you beat boredom, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies.

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Examining the call to strengthen the long-term care workforce

What are the hallmarks of a high-quality workforce? How do employers develop those traits in their employees? These are questions every business leader asks themselves, especially in this tricky employment landscape of 2022.Employers face a challenging, changing, shifting landscape as they try to find, motivate, empower, and pay for today’s best workers. 

This reality has not been lost on employers in the long-term care industry. In early April, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued a report calling for improved care at nursing homes. The group identified a number of measures to achieve the goal. High among them: A recommendation to strengthen the nursing home workforce.

What makes a “high-quality workforce”?

The report envisioned a nursing home workforce that is “well prepared, empowered, and appropriately compensated.” To strengthen these characteristics, the group emphasized the importance of education. “Nursing homes and state and federal governments should advance the role of and empower certified nursing assistants by providing free training and career advancement opportunities,” the report said.

The report also encouraged nursing homes to provide diversity, equity, and inclusion training for all workers and leaders.

Making progress possible

The report’s call to action is one that is both necessary and challenging. While the group recognized the need for government assistance, much of its push for improvement placed the onus on one group: employers.

Any employer needing to bolster its workforce understands the weightiness of the task. How do you shift skill, performance, and expectations for an entire group of people?

I’m sure we’re not surprised by these findings, but the report’s call to action is easier said than done.  We DO know there are certain people who thrive in their working with seniors. But why?

We know there are better ways to manage and bolster a workforce: finding each person’s motivation.  Let’ find the “why” inside what makes people thrive so we can help support them exactly where they need it most. With tech-driven insights into how workers operate, employers can examine swaths of their workforce in seconds to determine the strengths their workers naturally possess — and the areas where they most need improvement.

The right tools make a broad call for education much more doable. With a little bit of time and a dash of effort, progress becomes possible.

To find out how PeopleBest can help your team reach its potential, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies.