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Building Trust in a Hybrid Workforce

Organizational Health Practice

For a team to work well together there needs to be trust between the employees, leaders, and organization. For hybrid teams, building trust essential.

As hybrid workplaces are becoming more common, leaders may wonder how they can trust teams as they work in different environments. To answer this question, it is important to consider how leaders trust in-person teams. If we can work off the premise that employees who are trustworthy in person will be trustworthy no matter where they are working, it may make this question less concerning. By considering employees’ past and current performance, you should get a good sense of what can expect from them. Do they do what they say and get their work done? If so, there is no need to worry if you can trust your employees. 

While leaders shouldn’t worry about how to trust employees in different environments, the questions remains: how do you build trust in hybrid workforce if it’s not there yet?

Types of Trust

First, let’s look at some of the types of trust. Trust has layers. It can take time to build and breakdowns are inevitable. The ASC DOC model, as seen below, was originally tested in healthcare and is now being used across all industries. There is a lot of value in understanding how the types of trust are related, as there may be times when you have Task Trust and not Relational Trust or vice versa. 

Relational Trust (ASC)

  • Authenticity: your words and actions can be taken at face value
  • Safety: others feel safe, secure, and protected with you
  • Consistency: your behaviour is predictable

Task Trust (DOC)

  • Dependability: others can expect you’ll do what you say you will do
  • Ownership: others see you own the outcome
  • Competence: you have the skill and experience to do what’s expected

In the early stages of a team’s life, developing relational trust is the most important. As relationships within the team mature and you have built the required foundation, the shift to task-related trust becomes a focus. 

Why Trust Matters on Virtual or Hybrid Teams

Trust is important in every relationship, personal or professional. When it comes to the workplace, fractures in trust are far more visible and fragile in virtual teams than in teams that can interact face to face. 

When trust exists within your team, you will experience a different relationship with employees —they are more likely to experience a level of contentment, cohesion, and commitment. As well, individuals are more likely to feel confident in risk-taking, which helps us get better at what we do.

“We innovate at the speed of trust” – Stephen Covey

Priorities for Building Trust in a Hybrid Workforce

Now, how do you build trust within a hybrid workforce? With these five priorities, you will naturally build trust within your teams. 

  1. Psychological safety – This is the shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. Without this sense of safety, employees don’t raise their hands with new ideas, or with emerging concerns.
  2. Empathy – Leaders that apply empathy put themselves into the shoes of their team members and take interest in the problems they face in the course of their work.
  3. Relationships – Cut loose a bit by encouraging non-work talk. This may seem counterproductive, but is a vital tool for building authentic, trust-based relationships that make work go smoothly. 
  4. Trust model – Test the trust model with your teams by inviting feedback. Ask how the team rates on these measures. Where are we excelling? How can we improve in the future?
  5. Shared leadership – Shared leadership occurs when the roles or behaviours of leadership shift from one person to another by giving team members decision-making authority over their area of work. Shared leadership is also a time-tested way of developing leadership. 

Lastly, as you consider your team’s work environment and how to assess or build trust, think about the resources you have internally. These will support and impact your environment specifically your HR practices, benefits program, and health and wellness programs. 

Resources

https://davidirvine.com/building-high-trust-high-engaged-accountable-culture-power-attunement/
https://hbr.org/2021/03/what-is-your-organizations-long-term-remote-work-strategy
https://www.economist.com/business/2021/06/10/remote-workers-work-longer-not-more-efficiently
https://www.economist.com/business/2020/12/03/how-the-pandemic-is-forcing-managers-to-work-harder

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How to Have Effective Career Conversations

Career Management

A career conversation is a critical tool used to engage employees and support organizational development. Gallup suggests that leaders can increase engagement and productivity on their teams by providing more meaningful feedback and support. Holding effective career conversations is a strategic way to do this.

So, what establishes an effective career conversation? It’s crucial to understand that a career conversation is not a performance review or one-off chat. Each meeting should be an intentional discussion to learn about employee goals, align their aspirations with organizational goals, and enhance employee engagement. Exploring conversation themes that identify an employee’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction in their role, readiness for role enrichment, or new position supports having effective career conversations. People First Career Management consultants recommend considering the following elements to have more effective career conversations with your employees.

  • Prepare for the conversation
  • Ask the right questions
  • Move the conversation to action
  • Summarize next steps

Prepare for the conversation

Preparing for a career conversation sets the table for more meaningful discussions and ensures you can guide the conversation and keep it on track.

Plan to keep the conversation informal. Pick a setting that doesn’t give the impression that the employee is heading into a performance review. To do this, avoid booking a formal meeting room and instead consider going out for coffee or lunch. If you’re working remotely, you can host a virtual conversation. Arrange a coffee or lunch delivery to your employee to provide a similar feeling as going together in person. If you’re going to meet in the office, look for an informal meeting space.

To have a productive conversation, it’s also valuable to review the conversation themes ahead of time to determine the purpose and establish an outcome of the conversation. Providing the employee with a chance to prepare is also valuable. When you send the meeting invite, share an overview of the purpose of the conversation and the questions you plan to ask.

Coworkers talking at a coffee shop

Ask the right questions

Talking about an employee’s career plans can clarify uncertainty and align individual and organizational goals. It allows you to gather information, identify obstacles, and establish the next steps in their professional development. Asking the right questions and encouraging your employee to be accountable for their career development is key to a successful conversation. More importantly, it shows your interest in their career by building connections, identifying employee interests and opportunities, and fostering a learning environment within the organization.

Questions to consider in your next career conversation include:

  • What do you enjoy most and least about your current role?
  • In what settings or circumstances do you think you make the greatest contributions?
  • What would you like to learn this year and why?
  • What are some successes you’ve had in your current role that you’re most proud of and why?
  • What projects, responsibilities, or positions are you interested in and empower you to pursue your career goals?
  • What can I do to help you progress towards achieving your career goals?

Plan to ask open-ended questions centred around self-reflection and self-discovery to keep the conversation focused on the employee’s career development. This can provide insight and direction for what steps you can take to assist with the employee’s career development.

Move the conversation to action

To have an effective career conversation there needs to be action afterwards. After talking about the employee’s career goals, focus the conversation on what you can each do to help reach those goals.

Often these discussions result in a manager providing the employee with additional resources and information to support their career development journey. Whether you’re introducing them to other people in the company or providing development resources, you need to gather and share that information right away. Other follow-up considerations for managers include:

  • Providing constructive feedback and insights on how to proceed with career plans.
  • Looking for opportunities to align employee development with the organization’s goals, and
  • Offering information about potential career paths available within the organization.

Follow up considerations for an employee could include:

  • Finding professional development training opportunities that interest them and align with career goals.
  • Asking for feedback and putting it into action right away to enhance their development and take ownership of their career.

Assigning follow-up items to yourself and your employees shows them that you genuinely support their career development and care about their future with the organization. It also encourages the employee to take ownership over their career development.

Manager and employee talking at a table, with coffee cups and snacks. Manager is sitting causally with one leg crossed over his knee.

Summarize next steps in the wrap-up

As the conversation comes to an end, take a moment to summarize what you heard, confirm the next steps in terms of actions the employee should take, and set a date for a follow-up. Always close with encouragement and appreciation for the time and effort the employee took to prepare for the discussion.

Career conversations are an easy yet effective way to support your employees, learn about their goals and provide feedback. But an effective career conversation only happens when both the manager and the employee are prepared. Using the advice above, you can hold better career conversations with your employees.

View Our Solutions

For additional support, contact us to learn how People First’s career consultants help managers and employees participate in effective career conversations.

Jen Oleson
Manager, Operations, Career Management

Jen believes that adopting an intentional and focused approach to one’s decisions and choices can lead to a more fulfilling and purposeful life. Her purpose and passion are to serve, inspire, and empower people and organizations to achieve their goals.

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Leadership in the Post-Pandemic World: How to influence a sense of belonging

By Ardele Karaganis, Strategic HR Consulting

Whether your employees are returning to the workplace, working remotely, or balancing a hybrid of both, leaders have a role to play in creating a sense of belonging among employees.

The pandemic has disrupted many leaders’ relationships with their employees. As the new normal emerges, these disruptions could impact how employees view their contributions or level of belonging in an organization. According to Deloitte’s 2020 Global Human Capital Trends research, 44% of executive survey respondents said contribution was the biggest driver of belonging at their organization. How is contribution evaluated within your business? And how can you influence your employees’ sense of belonging in this new, ever-changing post-pandemic environment?

For leaders to effectively manage results and encourage a sense of belonging they need a well-rounded set of skills and abilities.

Effective communication

Right now, every leader should be over-communicating with their teams. This means ensuring that each team member receives the information they need when they need it, regardless of their physical work arrangement. This will require leaders to do more frequent check-ins with employees using tailored communication methods (i.e., email, text, chat platforms, video conferencing). Ask your team what method works best for them (for the individual and the group). By using their preferred communication methods, you can demonstrate care, show interest, and express gratitude in a way that is meaningful to your employees.

Sharing expected & actual outcomes

One approach to show your team members the value of their contributions is to emphasize outcomes in performance management. Outcomes speak directly to a worker’s contributions toward organizational objectives. Deloitte’s data indicates that the shift toward outcome-based performance management is already underway. It’s no longer about how much time employees spend working — especially when leaders may not be able to monitor how long their remote teams worked. More than 65% of executives in Deloitte’s report agreed that they believed metrics would need to shift from capturing outcomes rather than outputs in the next five years.

Coaching

Coaching your employees, whether for developmental purposes or preparing them for their next promotion, is essential to successfully support your organization’s new way of working. Team members can experience an increased sense of belonging and engagement with frequent, quality coaching from their leaders.

A pre-pandemic example of how coaching can support your organizational objectives in a post-pandemic environment is that of the 2016 shift in Microsoft’s approach to leadership from “command control” to coaching their 130,000 employees. As part of this shift, Jean-Phillipe Courtois (their newly appointed CEO) encouraged his leadership team to focus on asking coaching-oriented questions including,

  • What are you trying to do?
  • What’s working?
  • What’s not working?
  • How can we help?

These types of questions can further demonstrate to your staff that you care about them not only as employees but as people.

Motivating and team building

In work environments where team members may be remote and in office, motivating and creating team cohesiveness can be challenging. Effective leaders acknowledge this and embrace new and innovative ways to motivate and bring teams together to accomplish organizational goals. Celebrating successes through virtual and in-person interactions including meetings, emails, chat rooms, and virtual get togethers can support your team building efforts. Themed days to celebrate various holidays (i.e. Halloween, etc.) that bring your staff together may look different than the pre-pandemic approach. There is no shortage of well tested strategies available through a quick search on the internet when you are looking for ideas in this area.

During the pandemic, leaders have had to pivot their leadership style to meet the new needs of their employees and business. As they face the new way of working, whatever that may look like for their organization, they should consider these questions:

  • How can we see without being “there”?
  • How do we support and engage our workforce?
  • What are the ways we can create high-quality connections? Connections that will keep employees engaged and feeling a sense of belonging.
  • How can we, as leaders, demonstrate care and foster inclusion?

These questions represent just a few of the qualities that leaders will need to possess to be successful as organizations moves forward into the post-pandemic world.

When challenges are multiplied, the basic skills of leaders also become more critical than ever. Leaders need to learn and practice proven approaches to motivating, coaching, and communicating effectively. 

Ardele is a senior human resources professional with over 18 years’ human resources leadership experience. In the past number of years, Ardele has specialized in employee and leadership development through her senior roles in Learning and Development.

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Creating a Pay Equity Plan

Strategic HR Consulting | Total Rewards Practice

The Pay Equity Act is new legislation that requires most organizations with federally regulated employees to create and maintain a pay equity plan. The goal of this act is to address and correct the gender pay gap in Canadian businesses. Starting November 1, 2021, affected employers are required to post a dated announcement stating the organization’s obligation to comply with the act and to create a committee to govern the work. Depending on your organization’s current policies and structure, the amount of work needed to comply with the legislation may vary. By September 1, 2024, all affected organizations will need to post a pay equity plan.

“Pay equity is equal pay for work of equal value.” – Canadian Human Rights Commission

It’s important to understand that pay equity is more than equal pay for the same job. The Canadian Human Rights Commission defines pay equity as “equal pay for work of equal value.” 

Pay equity plan requirements

To create a pay equity plan, federally regulated companies will need to create a committee of employees to guide the work to complete the following tasks:

  • Create job classes
  • Determine which job classes are predominantly female and which ones are predominantly male;
  • Determine the value of the work done in each job class;
  • Calculate total compensation in dollars per hour for each  job class;
  • Compare compensation to determine whether there are any differences in compensation between job classes of equal value;
  • Prepare the contents of the pay equity plan; and,
  • Post the final versions of the pay equity plan. 

Approaching your plan

Before starting the steps above, it’s important to understand the current roles and responsibilities of your workers and the demographics of who is working in those roles. We suggest you complete a job and workforce analysis to gather this important data.

  • Job analysis – review and update, revise, or create job descriptions based on work that is completed by employees.
  • Workforce analysis – analyze HR and employee self-disclosure data to generate a list of all positions held in your organization by employee demographic data.

The results from the job and workforce analysis will allow you to accurately evaluate each job, place jobs in proper classifications, and assess the internal/external pay equity. Internal equity is most often achieved through a formal job evaluation system where each position is evaluated against compensable factors that results in a value of a given role. External equity is established by assessing the roles to the external market through benchmarking.

There is a lot to consider when creating a fair and accurate pay equity plan. No matter where your organization is at in the process, our People First HR consultants can guide your organization, through facilitated consulting, to help ensure your organization complies with the act. We’ll partner with you to assess your organization’s current program against the requirements and customize our approach to fit your needs.

If your organization is required to comply with the new Pay Equity Act, or if you’re looking to create an equity plan, contact us to see how we can support you and employees through the process.

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Retaining Talent through the Great Resignation

Strategic HR Consulting

The pandemic has created a new normal for many: working from home, juggling work and balancing family priorities. It has also given people a chance to reflect on their life and careers. Many are choosing to quit what they are doing and seek jobs with improved compensation, better work life balance, or to follow a calling or passion.

This phenomenon in employee behaviour is known as the great resignation and is affecting employment rates and companies around the world. The US and UK are seeing record high resignations, and while the trend is not as high here, Canadian companies are also experiencing changes in retention. In a recent People First HR survey, 62% of respondents said their companies are seeing higher resignation rates. In August 2021, Canada’s unemployment rate was the lowest it has been since February 2020, while the job change rate is back up to pre-pandemic levels (Stats Canada).

With more Canadian workers choosing to leave their current jobs for new employment, we are not only seeing a great resignation but a great migration. This leads us to ask, how are businesses and leaders retaining talent through the great resignation?

Through our survey and conversations with knowledge leaders, executives in key Manitoban companies, we have identified three strategies companies are using to retain talent through the great resignation; 

  1. Strong communication
  2. Engaging and supportive organizational culture
  3. Career conversations / stay interviews

Strong communication

Communication with employees has always been key to keeping employees engaged and creating a sense of belonging. A Gallup study found that employees are more likely to want to stay with an organization that has open, timely, and accurate communication.

Companies that focused on communications through the pandemic say they have been able to maintain higher retention rates. If your organization has not been communicating enough, it is time to start. While we move into a new normal, organizations will still experience change and need to keep employees informed.

  • Share news and be honest with your teams. Keep employees in the loop about change, so they are not surprised.
  • Use a variety of channels to  reach your employees: virtual town halls, team meetings, emails, in person, etc.
  • Get feedback and listen to it. The best communication is two-way. Use surveys and small team discussions to learn how your staff are feeling. Report back to employees on your findings and tell them what you are going to do about it.

Engaging and supportive organizational culture

LifeWorks’ Mental Health Index indicates that managers are experiencing greater mental health issues and more stress than non-managers. When managers and people leaders are not engaged in their work, it  can negatively affect their teams, workplace culture, and productivity. This results in resignations of managers and employees.

Some organizations shared that focusing on supporting their people leaders has helped maintain retention rates. Communicating with leaders through change, talking to them about their needs, offering flexibility, and providing tools and training are a few ways to keep your managers engaged and ready to lead their teams.

Additionally, cultivating culture means creating a workplace that people want to be part of. Organizations that have been successful at retaining their employees have engaged in practices like socially distanced get-togethers to create community, inviting staff to run their own workshops for co-workers, like painting or other hobbies and interests. Finally providing flexible working arrangements (hybrid, work from home, flexible work hours) has given employees the ability to make choices that accommodate their circumstances and make it easier to stay.

Career conversations / stay interviews to retain talent

With so much emphasis put on exit interviews, some companies are stemming the flow of resignations with “stay interviews” to discover what it will take to keep employees on their team. Career conversations can be a powerful tool that aligns employee goals with organizational objectives, enhances engagement, and improves retention. For an effective career conversation, managers should follow these five steps:

  1. Prepare for the conversation
  2. Communicate the goal of the meeting
  3. Keep the conversation informal
  4. Talk about their career path and where the individual wants to go
  5. Follow up with feedback

It is best to have career conversations before your employee tells you they want to leave. It is important to be ready to address their needs and interests by offering realistic and meaningful changes to help them stay, while considering their long-term career goals.

Moving through the great resignation  

While we wish the pandemic was long behind us, the reality is that we will continue to see it affect workplaces for a long time. Our industry executives predict that companies will have to do a better job providing technology and tools while people work from home, create better cultures, and be prepared for continued change.  To help retain talent through the great resignation, it is time to focus on your employees and strengthen your internal communication, culture, leadership support, and career conversations. Remember that employees that feel valued and engaged are less likely to leave your organization.

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Conflict, Communication, and Covid-19: the impacts of the pandemic in the workplace

By Deanna Lanoway, Vice President – HR Consulting

As Canada begins to resurface from its 18-month encounter with the Covid-19 pandemic, employers and employees are taking the time to reflect on how this pandemic has impacted their organizations — both positively and negatively. Through the pandemic, our HR Consultants have partnered with employers and employees, and are now shifting to help businesses identify and address the after-effects of the pandemic. As our clients start the long-awaited process of returning to their new ‘normal’, we encourage everyone to pause to reflect and reassess strengths and opportunities for success.   

Although this pandemic brought on unprecedented challenges for businesses, the positive outcomes should be celebrated, and built on as we move forward. We are seeing new opportunities for work-life balance through hybrid or work-from-home models, increased efficiencies in business operations, and adaptability from employers and employees; driven by resourceful approaches to business differentiation, increased customer and stakeholder focus, and the ever-present strong survival instinct. 

People First HR is happy to celebrate these positive results and opportunities with our clients, however, all change comes at a price — even if this is realized later. We’ve been hearing about the negative impacts in the form of increased requests for support related to conflict, complaints, and culture across workplaces during the pandemic. Many of these concerns have a direct link to changing business practice and the work environment, brought on by necessary responses to the pandemic. The old saying that nothing unites like a common enemy has not rung true for many.

Although the virus presents a common enemy for individuals, organizations, and communities, it feels like it has divided us, not brought us closer. Why has this been happening, and what can we do about it?

Assessing your conflict style

Photo of a woman who looks anxious

Understanding ourselves is the best place to begin addressing tension or conflict in the workplace. There are many ways to assess your conflict style, but in the most basic form styles differ in the degree of avoidance or engagement. The widely known ‘fight or flight’ response to stress can easily be applied to how employees experience and respond to conflict within the workplace. 

Employees who respond to conflict with flight may quietly gossip, withhold information, avoid the other individual(s), slow down their work, be absent, or decide to quit. Generally, they use activities intended to get them away from their adversaries. Employees with a tendency to fight might seek to get others onto their ‘side’, raise their voice, place blame, threaten, or escalate to a leader – activities intended to defeat their adversaries.  

Your employees’ responses to conflict can create other side effects that impact the overall culture within your organization. If any of these fight or flight responses to conflict sound familiar to you – it may be time to re-evaluate how conflict is addressed within your workplace.   

Managing conflict productively

Individuals can gain skills in managing conflict productively, no matter their natural tendency. Leaders can help employees identify conflict within their working relationships and give them the tools and support to effectively overcome conflict in the workplace.  

A focus on optimal communications within the group is foundational to conflict management, and it’s one thing that has suffered in almost every workplace during the pandemic, whether employees are working in the office or remotely. 

In the fall of 2020, Communications Researcher Tim Levine (University of Alabama) was quoted in the UAB News saying that “There is some interesting and important research on the effects of social isolation on communication. One impact is that, the less contact we have with other people, the more we become suspicious of other people. This can make others more defensive and lead to a vicious spiral where isolation leads to suspicion, which begets defensiveness, which reinforces the suspicion and leads to further isolation as a self-fulfilling prophesy.”

Photo of three women in a virtual meeting.

Employees working from home, or in new shift patterns to create distance, are experiencing less contact with their colleagues. Essential workers who have been in the workplace all along are likely to have experienced a similar separation in their home and social lives, even if they have not been distanced from coworkers.  

Distance is impacting the way employees communicate with one another. Employees working from home are spending copious amounts of time in virtual meetings, where facial expressions can be gauged, but may not be an accurate representation of how people feel. Essential employees may still speak in person, but through masks, facial expressions and some of the tone of voice is lost. Distance can create space for miscommunication, frustration, conflict, and in turn, a deteriorating workplace culture.  

Lead by example to support your organization’s culture 

To help support your organization’s culture and your employees, take some time to speak to your employees about what effective communication looks like, modeling this behaviour in your communication.

Leaders should encourage open conversation about issues that arise and create a safe space for employees to communicate when they are experiencing conflict at work. Exploring different perspectives in group discussions can help your team normalize healthy, constructive conflict to encourage early and respectful conversations when issues do arise.  

It is important to remember how effective communication can not only help us to avoid conflict in the first place, but also set the stage for a quick and painless resolution of conflicts in the workplace.  

If your organization is feeling the effects of the pandemic on your workplace culture and employee relationships, our HR Consultants are available to help with a customized approach that fits your organization’s needs. Contact us to get started.

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Reap what you have sowed – tips for a successful job search

Career Management

You have worked hard to create materials that demonstrate who you are and what you are looking for in a job. Now it is time to get out there and start your job search. Whatever your reason for making a change, we understand it can be challenging. You will rarely land the first position you apply to or interview for, so having a variety of prospects is important. Here are a few tips to help you have a successful job search and find the opportunity you have been looking for.

1. Be flexible on job titles

While it is a common way to search for a job, searching based on job title alone is not the best approach. By focusing on job titles, you narrow your potential job opportunities and can end up interviewing for a role that you don’t even want.

“Some organizations even use impressive titles to disguise a job that no one wants, or to justify longer hours or lower pay,” says Katharine S. Brooks.

Instead of focusing on a job title, Brooks suggests that you think through four key questions to help kickstart your job search. 

  1. Who do you want to spend your workdays with?
  2. What do you want to spend your time doing?
  3. Where do you see yourself working?
  4. And why are each of these things important to you?

You can use your answers to help you decide what industry or job function to focus your search on or to screen out jobs.

2. Search on a broad range of platforms

Once you have an idea of what is important to you in your new position, it is time to start searching.

A great place to start is on a specialized job board for your industry where you can find multiple opportunities in one place.

Another option is general online job sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor.ca, and ZipRecruiter. Across these sites, you will likely find duplicate postings, but sometimes there will be unique ones as well, so it is worth looking through more than one.

Of course, we also recommend you check out the People First HR job board as we are recruiting for jobs across Canada and frequently add new positions.

Tip: et up alerts for the opportunities you’re interested in so you don’t have to do all the searching.

3. Don’t forget about networking

Did you know that 85% of job openings are filled through networking?

Networking is a great way to learn about opportunities, expand your prospects and land a new job. It doesn’t have to be a formal or stuffy process either.

A simple conversation among friends about your job search or a message to an acquaintance in your field could bring up new opportunities. You might even find out about jobs before they are posted.

If you’re currently looking for a new opportunity, don’t discount the power of reaching out to a few connections. 

It’s estimated that 70 – 80% of available jobs are never posted.

4. Talk with a recruiter 

Lastly, if you are looking for a new job, we suggest you build a relationship with a recruiter in your industry. Look for recruiters who are searching for candidates for the opportunities within your skillset. Recruiters receive new positions to fill every day, and you never know when they may be looking for someone just like you.

Having a conversation with a recruiter gives them the chance to get to know you, understand what you are looking for, and keep you in mind for future searches.  

We hope these tips help you expand your job search and find your next opportunity.

For additional support developing your resume and marketing materials or preparing for interviews, please contact Heather Christensen at hchristensen@peoplefirsthr.com

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Networking over the summer? “Absolutely!” say People First Career Management consultants, who encourage using networking – regarded as the best tool in your career development toolbox – 12 months a year.  Summer can afford time to strengthen, plan and flex your networking muscles. Opportunity can be around any corner – so it’s important to know and be comfortable with your plan and skills. People First consultants provide guidance to clients in all these areas.

The summer is generally seen as a time when “things slow down”. Folks often pause and escape to a favorite location or activity — making the most of sunsets, the outdoors and time with friends and family. So, how does networking fit into this easy-going summer vibe, when it seems like “work” slows down?

Time To Reimagine, Plan and Practice

Being on “summer-time” creates space to relax and reflect on your career path. Let your mind wander to imagined possibilities. Take stock of your job knowledge, experience and strengths.  Journal what your next job looks like and how to make it happen. Perhaps you already have identified your next dream job. Summer can be a fertile time to plot a vital step in your pivot – savvy networking.

Networking is essentially building and retaining relationships with key people to grow your circle of contacts in a purposeful way.  Friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, past co-workers and suppliers are examples of key people. Brainstorm a list of such people in your life. Create a script of information about yourself and questions for your networking target with the goal of a two-way exchange of knowledge. You want to present yourself in the best light as well as gain insight on potential opportunities. People First Career Management consultants coach clients to achieve optimum networking experiences using active listening, strategic interrogative skills and open-ended conversation, as well as caution to avoid dead-end pitfalls like the expert-agreed number 1 “No-No” – asking for a job during a networking exchange.

“Ready, Set, Go” Approach to Networking

Networking can take many forms.  For example, there are planned exchanges over which you have some control.  And unexpected – surprise if you will – networking situations that happen organically.  Summer can be delightfully sprinkled with informal, casual networking moments on the dock, patio or golf course.  Conversations often flow to topics of work or people in common, therefore bridging to your networking messages can be a natural extension. It is important to be able to recognize these instances and be sufficiently prepared and comfortable with your script in order to genuinely and naturally respond.

Considering that 80% of jobs are not posted, in-person networking – whether orchestrated or organic – is the single most successful pathway to the “hidden job market”.  Keep your career marketing profile up to date for a “ready, set, go” approach to networking this summer and every season of the year.

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Pivoting Careers

Career Management

People First Career Management consultants listen first and consult second – providing customized, objective advice and direction to help our clients move forward. This is especially true in cases where clients have lost employment and want to capitalize on the opportunity to research, pivot and try something new. They may not have had this chance before, feeling stuck in a job with no other alternatives. This newfound time allows room for self-evaluation to see with fresh perspective previously unconsidered options and directions.  

More than ever, we are finding individuals invested in using this time to reflect, strategize and pivot. Our consultants guide their clients through this change process in several measurable and strategic ways:

  1. Strengths Assessment – We provide various assessments enabling clients to better understand not only their range of skills, but also how to translate those skills in interview settings or networking situations. Assessment outcomes also highlight the work environments most suited to clients’ skill profiles and goals.
  2. Functional Resume – This is a must when pivoting careers! Our consultants help clients to develop a functional resume with a focus on transferable skills.
  3. Prepared Script – Improvising in networking or interview settings is not a recipe for success. For maximum impact in these often stressful and unpredictable situations, a prepared script is key to making an impression and communicating clearly. Our consultants are trained to help clients refine and strengthen messages that impress and resonate.
  4. First 90 Days – Once a new role is landed, our consultants support the transition and continue to work with clients to help them adjust and be successful.  In any new position, it is critical to understand the environment, yet it can be particularly daunting when a client has pivoted to a completely new field. A consultant is available to be that impartial and trusted sounding board as an individual navigates these changes.

Transition Program leads to career pivot success story!

A senior level client lost her employment after working in an industry for over 25 years and managing hundreds of individuals and many site locations. Because a continued income was critical, she took a position with a new organization far below her capabilities and made the best of it.  In her short time with this organization, she recognized many opportunities for improvement which she discussed with her Transition Program consultant.  After encouragement from her consultant, she addressed these improvements with her manager and was subsequently promoted to a position in line with her skills and experience. This client transitioned to a different sector, yet her new employer recognized her skills as transferable thanks to the relationship between client, organization and People First.  

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Five Ways Career Transition Services Supports
Employee Mental Health

Career Management

It’s easy to say that providing career transition services is the right thing to do. After all, it helps departing employees to find new opportunities. However, career transition support is more than helping someone find a new job; it’s a way to support employees during times of change – both those departing and those remaining with the company. Specifically, career transition services can help support employee mental health. Here are five ways a partnership with People First HR’s Career Management team supports employee mental health.

Getting Home Safely

After receiving the notification, an individual may experience a range of emotions: stress, shame, sadness, anger. Having a consultant onsite ensures support for the individual immediately after the notification. The consultant can assess the individual’s emotional state and help them exit the workplace. The consultant can provide taxi chits if the individual is not okay to drive home or doesn’t have a ride, which allows the individual to exit the workplace right away. This helps eliminate waiting time which can result in an increased range of emotions including anxiety, sadness and anger.

Post-Notification Support

Once the termination is complete, it is normal for you, as a manager, to worry and wonder about your employee and their emotional state. It’s unlikely, however, that you’ll be able to communicate with the departed employee. With career transition services, a consultant can check in with the individual later in the day to ensure they are doing okay. The consultant will talk to the individual about the emotions they may be experiencing, helping them to refocus and move forward.

Professional Referrals

While our consultants are great at providing emotional and practical support to departing employees, they can recognize when an individual should see a health professional.  Asking for help is not easy, and an individual who is in a fragile state may not realize they need assistance. Our consultants are there for your departed employee when it is needed most.

Leader Support

Businesswoman using mobile phone

Letting someone go is never an easy decision or conversation. For some, this may be the first time notifying an employee of job loss, and for others who have already had this experience, it might make you feel stressed and anxious to do it again. With career transition services, a consultant is with you every step of the way. As you make decisions around the process, your consultant will help ensure you feel comfortable and confident with the messaging and logistics for the notification meeting. Your well-being and mental health are just as important during this process.

After the departed employee engages in their career transition program, you will receive high-level updates, giving you peace of mind that the departing employee is being taken care of and supported.

Minimize Disruption and Fear to Remaining Staff

Often during times of transition, the focus is on the departing individual. You may forget to think about how the news may affect the remaining employees. Learning that a colleague has lost their job can cause stress and uncertainty, which may impact performance going forward. Career transition consultants can help guide you through the delivery of the message to the remaining employees to help the team feel safe and secure, especially for larger group notifications. As well, by providing transition services, your remaining employees will know that their organization cares and, if they find themselves in the same situation in the future, they will be treated with the same respect and dignity.