Author: Spine Tech

Corporate culture: an organisation’s shared norms, values, attitudes and beliefs that characterize its policies and behaviors, and communicate its vision and purpose to stakeholders

In his book The Culture Cycle, James L. Heskett wrote that effective culture can account for 20-30% of the difference in corporate performance compared to “culturally unremarkable” competitors. Deloitte’s research also found that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe corporate culture is important to a business’ success.

Here are 5 ways to build a strong, coherent, remarkable corporate culture and boost your company’s chances for success:

1. Define your company’s vision, mission and goals

A healthy corporate culture cannot exist without goals. Define clear goals that are aligned with the company’s vision, mission and aspirations. Make sure employees are aware of these goals and how their work ties into these objectives. If possible, involve them in the goal-setting process so they know that their inputs matter.

2. Make work meaningful and purposeful

The modern employer-employee relationship is no longer strictly transnational and driven by a ‘9 to 5’ schedule. Employees want to do work that has meaning and purpose, and goes beyond workflows and simple ‘profile-building’ to provide professional and personal satisfaction. To create a healthy company culture, provide meaningful work and let employees know their contributions make a difference to the company’s vision, mission and goals. Institute a reward and recognition programme to acknowledge their efforts and let them know their value.

3. Promote open communication focused on ‘listening’

According to research by Culture IQ, 86% of employees at companies with strong cultures feel their senior leadership ‘listens’ to employees. It’s not enough to encourage employees to ask questions, provide feedback and offer suggestions. It is critical to do something with those suggestions and that can only start with listening. Make sure employees know that their ideas are valued even if they are not implemented. And needless to say, punishing employees for their honesty will not create a healthy culture.

4. Make employee wellness a priority

The issue of mental health in the workplace is garnering attention all over the world. What does your company do to ensure that employees are mentally fit and therefore able and motivated to do the work assigned to them? To help them deal with pressure, institute a wellness programme or provide an on-staff psychologist. Encourage them to eat healthy, exercise and pursue hobbies outside work. Promote work-life balance and telecommuting.

5. Ensure zero tolerance for disrespect

A company where disrespect, bullying and worse, harassment, are accepted as ‘normal’ will never be able to build a healthy culture or enjoy business success. Define the meaning of ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ behaviors. Design policies that ensure zero tolerance for employees (or management) who indulge in unacceptable behaviors. Institute a confidential helpline to promote openness and honesty. Encourage positivity and interactive social connections.

Culture-building is not a one-time, passive activity but an ongoing effort that incorporates elements of employee engagement and percolates across every level of the hierarchy.

What do you do to promote a healthy corporate culture in your company?

When jobs are aplenty, employees have plenty of choices. In the modern world, people no longer spend their entire career with one company and are willing to change jobs as soon as something better comes along. For employers, such job-hopping employees can be a nightmare.

So what can firms do to retain employees and keep replacement and retraining costs down?

Here are 5 employee retention strategies that really work:

1. Don’t take shortcuts with on-boarding

On-boarding goes beyond simply handing new employees their access card and laptop, and assigning them a seat.

A 2007 study by consulting firm Wynhurst Group found that when new employees go through a structured on boarding process, they are 58% more likely to remain with the firm even after three years.

During on-boarding, make sure your employees are given all the information they may need to do their job well. This would include inputs about their role (responsibilities, KPI, goals), company reporting structure, payroll data (salary, bonus) and company policies.

2. Make them a part of the company’s culture

Culture is made up of people. It’s not enough to simply publish your vision and mission on your website. Communicate your values, aspirations and purpose so your employees feel as if they’re part of something valuable and tangible. Institute a genuine open-door policy and foster an environment where they are encouraged to ask questions, provide feedback and offer suggestions without feeling as if they’ll be punished for their forthrightness.

3. Target their motivation levels through performance improvement

Motivation affects how employees do their job and how well they do it. Are your employees motivated by monetary incentives like medical coverage and retirement benefits or do they care more about performance improvement initiatives? For the former, it’s important for firms to offer attractive compensation that is at least on-par with industry benchmarks. Use HRMS software like Spine HR Suite to simplify payroll calculations and focus on developing your most important asset – your employees. Also, a well-run reward and recognition system will let employees feel acknowledged for their good performance. Opportunities for performance improvement can provide a sense of achievement that can improve employees’ motivation and performance levels manifold.

4. Mentoring and training for career progression

Employees tend to be more loyal to employers who invest in their training and development. When firms provide opportunities for up-skilling and re-skilling, employees feel valued and motivated. Help them meet their ongoing training needs (say through certifications), provide a well-defined mentorship or ‘buddy’ programme and design employee development plans to keep employees invested with the company for the long term.

5. Get your hiring right – there is no ‘I’ in ‘Team’

Hire people that are open to working in teams rather than soloists looking for individual glory. Clarify team and company objectives and promote a culture of collaboration and teamwork. Everyone is different so make sure you hire people who bring valuable synergy to the table despite their differences. Celebrate milestones and achievements. Even ordering some pizzas can work wonders with morale and teamwork!

Bring Your Own Device or BYOD is a rising trend in almost every region of the world. In the workplace, BYOD may either take place ‘under the radar’, or it may be part of official corporate policies that everyone in the organisation must adhere to. With BYOD, employees can access their corporate email or other technology, join tele- or video-conferences from other locations and even stay in touch with work while they’re out of office.

• Companies that encourage and adopt BYOD enjoy several advantages:
• They can garner employee loyalty
• Boost productivity and efficiency (a direct result of allowing them to work with familiar devices)
• Cut costs (hardware devices and software solutions)
• Improve employee morale

On the flip side – although BYOD can be a workable solution for both employers and employees, it may involve a security risk, not only to the device itself (theft), but also to company’s data and applications (through data breaches, malware and cybercrime). Privacy protection is also a concern.

BYOD Trends in 2019

Reports and analyses have found that:

• The BYOD market was worth just $30 billion in 2014. It is likely to hit almost $367 billion by 2022 (BetaNews)
• BYOD at work saves employees 58 minutes per day and increases productivity by 34% (Frost & Sullivan)
• Companies supporting BYOD save $350 per employee per year (Cisco)

These numbers show that the number of people who use personal devices for professional use has steadily increased, blurring the lines between professional and private lives. This means that many companies will probably embrace BYOD, albeit as a complementary measure rather than a stand-alone one.

BYOD Trend in India – are Indian companies open to BYOD?

In general, the ‘largest’ BYOD market is North America, although the ‘fastest-growing’ market is Asia-Pacific. Thanks to a tech-savvy population and changing attitudes to ‘work-from-home’, many organisations in this region are adopting BYOD to save costs to company and motivate employees.

In 2014, 42% of Indian firms had a BYOD policy. However, a more recent survey by IBM India found that this number had increased, with about 57% of enterprises planning to invest in BYOD. Key BYOD vendors like Cisco report increased revenues from their BYOD business from India, which shows that there is a notable shift towards BYOD in Indian enterprises. In particular, BYOD is rapidly gaining popularity among India’s huge base of over 50 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Of course, not all industries in India (and companies within industries) uniformly implement BYOD. Among those that do, the IT/ITeS vertical leads the pack, followed by BFSI, telecom, media and entertainment.

Thanks to growing internet and smartphone penetration, surging data telecommuting needs and demand for increased workforce productivity, India’s BYOD market is projected to grow exponentially in future. However, concerns around privacy and data security may slow down BYOD adoption. Thus, although some Indian firms are embracing BYOD, its adoption may not be on the same scale as in other regions or countries.

There are various reasons as to why change has become such an important factor in many organizations, including increased transparency, mobility of labor, flow of capital etc. This has resulted in a constant shift across the state of market, but the list of companies who are able to effectively implement ‘change’, and come out the other end as successful comprise in total only about 30%. There are several factors at play in a multitude of directions, which can cause any ‘change’ within an organization to go awry. Proper planning, and projection of what can be the consequences are perhaps the most important factors at play when such a situation should ensue, or might be required at large. A starting point would be to look at the entire scenario, and execute an effective plan of asset management.

The importance of asset management in terms of properly bringing about organizational change

Assets of any organization or company can be anything that could be attributed to as being essential properties of the same. They can be tangible, such as objects and properties, and intangible, which mostly refers to such entities and considerations as human capital, intellectual property, financial assets etc. These are the factors that comprise, and define any current state of organization- specifically providing the profit and loss figure in addition to other outcomes. The ‘human problem’ is a major one, considering that a workforce may feel disenfranchised with the change being exerted. In addition to that, financial assets may take a hit when the change is being implemented, but the organization should be able to recuperate if the change progresses through each stage of probable status quo. As a result, one can see how important company assets could be in the face of change. Under such, circumstances asset management considerations come to the forefront.

How to properly implement asset management in the given scenario?

First of all, any organizations should make sure that all its component details of assets are not only encompassing to every last measure all across the organization, but regular updates are necessary as well. Take, for example, the human capital; the knowledge, ability, and potential for growth of any employee, irrespective of whatever position he/she occupies, should become a deciding factor in the entire presentation of the problems at large. Proper planning of all assets would bring about what is known as automation of asset management, which is the scaling of assets in association with a multitude of different perspectives. It would ensure that not only there would be proper allocation of resources, but also how their asset definition could get changed. Such techniques and theories as depreciation calculation, asset disposal, import existing asset data etc.

With respect to a holistic facilitation of automating asset management, change can be brought about with respect to a dynamic nature of all resources possessed by the company in general. However, in order to truly bring about a change with no decided problems or issues, proper communication channels should be broadcasted so that the company could quite effectively work with employees who welcome change, and those who don’t. Other factors could also be implemented, but all the organization apply these approaches to full effect, and have been known to be successful in the face of this constantly shifting market scenario.

Alyssa Gregory says, “Technology can be a small business owner’s best friend”. It helps with the smooth functioning of work, efficiency, find more clients and save money for the future and will ultimately help the business to become more profitable and productive.

As an owner of a small business you need to know your desire to continue growing and expanding our experience. With limitless time and an unbound budget you can travel the world and participate in business training. This can also be educational events. But because you have started a small business you have limited finances and time restriction with daily challenges. So instead of taking a live training, you can opt to take a free online course. You can expand out your experience and knowledge by sitting in the comfort of your home or office. Once you know this the possibilities are endless.

Nowadays small business owners are not bound to their office chair or computer to do their work. One of the ways the owner can carry their business anywhere is by using telephone service. Cell phones are highly used. Instead of having face-to-face conferences with employees a small business owner can take up the idea of teleconferencing. Not only is it free of charge but it is available anywhere and everywhere. Instead of taking bills from your clients hourly by paper, you can stick to the online way of doing so. You can use time tracking tools and desktop applications with online software to keep you, up to date, accurate and save time.Instead of getting paid in cash technologies now provides many online payment options.

Screen casts can be used for a number of purposes including teaching, demonstrations and lessons. This causes a variation in the level of complexity and functionality. Instead of having hard files it is better to use necessary software that lets you store all your files in the form of software. If you have an important picture on your screen you will not need to pull out your phone to click a picture of the screen. Rather you can use our screen short tools to capture the screen. In case of a presentation instead of just speaking about the topic you can use color graphs and graphic tools to make your presentation colorful and also insert videos to liven up the presentation.

Customer service is important for business owners. Hence you can use your own website you have consumer feedback about your company and its services. These tools enhance your ability to be responsive to your customers’ needs and can manage a company-consumer relationship in a smoother and better way. Technology also helps in reaching your primary computer with a click of a button on your phone. Hence being able to manage work anywhere and everywhere. Open source software provides many alternatives to using commercial applications in the day-to-day management. Open source software is attractive to many businesses because it typically requires no financial investment and provides flexibility. For example, and office software suit with spreadsheets, presentations, word processing, graphics and data bases. Online appointments can help you manage your company in the most effective and efficient way possible. Hence these days technology is highly used in the small business forms

In today’s cut-throat world of work, there is no shortage of candidates for just about any position. However this surfeit of human resources does not mean that recruitment is easy (despite the automation offered by HRMS systems!). The reality is that getting the interviewing-hiring-on boarding process right is often one of the biggest challenges a company faces.  This is because the costs of hiring a ‘wrong’ candidate can be very high. And if that person suddenly quits after you’ve spent time and money training them, the consequences can be painful and even catastrophic.

So how can firms improve their recruitment process and increase their chances of hiring the ‘best’ candidate every time?

Here are 5 tips!

1. Be clear on what you’re really looking for

What are you looking for in the person you want to hire? Skills? Behaviors? Experience? Strengths?

Do you know which goals the person is expected to achieve? What KPIs will they be judged against during performance appraisals?

Spend some time with profile-building and establish ‘baselines’ by considering all these factors before you start interviewing.

2. Don’t just ask questions – test!

Instead of relying on simple question-answer interviews, use other methodologies to test your candidates’ skills and suitability. Give them a problem to solve, place them in a group discussion, ask them to give a sales pitch or give them some data to analyse and summaries. Take them out of the ‘interview zone’ and make them uncomfortable enough to reveal their real selves.

3. Run a social background check

To get to know your candidates, asking them personal questions may not be the best route. Why not check their social media presence instead? This will help you learn more about them as a person. Their LinkedIn profile may offer a better insight into their skills, strengths and experience than their resume. This activity can also give you a good starting point to assess their cultural ‘fit’ with your company.

4. Pay attention to what they say…and what they don’t

Some candidates are articulate conversationalists while some are awkward stutterers.  Regardless, when conducting interviews, it’s important to pay attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues. Does the candidate speak confidently because they’re truthful or is their verbosity hiding some mistakes or worse – lies? What does their body language say?

Ask them about an experience that left a deep impression or about something that’s important to them. You can learn a lot about a person by listening to their stories – and body language – about being pet owners, foster parents, caregivers or migrants.

5. Ask for feedback from other people

Find ways for other employees to interact with your candidate. Then ask them for feedback to help with your decision-making. What do they say about your candidate? What were their first impressions? Last impressions?

Hiring great candidates is often a process of trial and error. There is no magic pill or instant formula to ensure that you’ll get it right every time. However, with time and effort, you will be able to hire the candidate who is best for your company.