4 Reasons Not to Be a a Stiff about Employees Working From Home

Flexibility boosts productivity and lowered stress. That's science, baby.

For decades now, employers have been staunchly divided over the merits of working from home. Some see it as a way to appease workers, making them happier and more productive. Others view work from home as a sort of business fool’s gold, a theory that works well in principal, but ultimately leads to distraction and a lack of results.

Truth be told, I believe the answer lies somewhere in between. Instead of insisting on an all-or-nothing approach at my firm, I’ve formulated a hybrid composed of elements of both camps: Employees come into the office four days a week but may work remotely Fridays if they prefer.

And, here, I can visualize more than a few CEOs shaking in their loafers at the notion of taking this leap of faith with their employees. While the solution is ultimately subjective, based on an employer's particular industry and environmental preference, here are five reasons why your business may thrive when employees work from home one day per week or every two weeks:

Employee satisfaction

Let's face it: The 9-to-5 office model is going the way of the floppy disk -- it's obsolete. People are sick of the formal, inflexible work environment and are seeking a more comfortable and informal schedule, even if that means cutting into their own paychecks. 

A poll from Global Workplace Analytics found that of 1,500 tech professionals surveyed, 37 percent would sacrifice 10 percent of their earnings if they could work from home. More so, 36 percent would opt for a work-from-home day instead of a raise. 

Environmental impact

Aside from the favor CEOs are accruing with their employees by moving the workplace to home base, they’re also positioning themselves as stewards of the environment -- massively cutting down on carbon emissions employees avoid when they don't have to commute, and instead participating in meetings from their livingroom couch. 

This argument has actually been quantified: One innovative approach to eco-responsibility, the Open Work Program, adopted by Sun Microsystems in 2007, was said to ward off 32,000 metric tons of Co2 from the atmosphere because employees were driving less often to and from work. 

Even before wide adoption of communication apps like Skype and Slack took the stage, workplaces like Sun Micosystems, with its 24,000 employees, allowed work from home. Through its Open Work program, Sun Microsystems allowed its entire staff to work from home or a flexible office, either part or full-time. 

Stress relief

“No stress, no stress, no stress. You deserve nothing but the best.” Sometimes, you can’t help but quote Jesse McCartney’s last chart topper. It's no secret that workplace stress is a serious problem -- in fact, a study last year by researchers at Stanford and Harvard showed that stress from work can be as dangerous as secondhand smoke. 

So, maybe working from home is a solution. By subtracting a commute and the potential mental anxieties that come with being physically present in the office, a workday from home every week or two weeks can go a long way.

Not to mention that the physical proximity to family members can be comforting in the event of Armageddon. Yes, working from home takes a bit of willpower, with laundry and daytime soap operas as easy distractions, but with all the comforts nearby, it can be a stress relief as well -- which helps everyone.

Recruiting ploy

Boy, do job candidates' eyes light up at an interview when I tell them that we’re at home on Fridays. I get it: People have lives as well as other interests. Whether it’s religious responsibilities, kids at home or a thriving side hobby, the bit of extra flexibility and time-savings that working from home provides can go a long way. 

Ultimately, the best employees are those who enjoy balance and harmony in all aspects of their lives. Letting people work from home one day a week, is a huge perk and powerful recruiting tool for nabbing and keeping the best and brightest talent.

Perhaps that's why many of the greatest tech companies offer this perk.

So, don't go crazy -- oversight is still needed and too much flexibility can be a bad thing -- but allowing employees to work from home one day a week or  every other week can be the greatest thing to happen to your team. Try it and see.

Written By: Zach Cutler

Credit: Entrepreneur.com

Why Your Coworker Gets Special Privileges

our co-worker seems to get special treatment all the time and it drives you crazy. Now, it's possible that your boss is simply a bad manager who plays favorites (or who is too wimpy to stand up to an employee who doesn't take her job seriously). However, while some managers totally stink, most are doing the best that they can and have very good reasons for why your coworker gets privileges that you don't have. Here's why her life seems to be better than yours:

What is emotional intelligence? And why does it matter?

Most people are conditioned to believe that knowledge is power, when, in fact, knowledge is only potential power. In my life, I’ve been blessed enough to have many meaningful conversations, yet the one I had this past week on emotional intelligence with a young woman, Ashley Zahabian, who I met at the entrepreneurial incubator that I recently launched, Fownders, really resonated with me. 

We were going through her pitch deck and stumbled across the topic of “EQ” emotional intelligence. As the conversation grew more in depth, she told me a powerful story of a young boy and his grandfather that truly altered my perception.

“A young boy and his grandfather were sitting in a car on their way to a restaurant to grab dinner,” she said. She went on explaining how the grandfather was curious as to what his grandson’s choice of food would be.

Google Is Blurring the Line Between Humans and Software

Imagine a future in which you have long-running personal conversations with the software that controls your home entertainment system while letting an algorithmic chatbot handle texting your mom for you. Google pretty much showcased that vision of the future at its annual developer conference, I/O, which kicked off Wednesday in Mountain View, California.

In his first I/O appearance since he was named CEO last August, Sundar Pichai opened by introducing Google Assistant, a voice-activated virtual assistant akin to Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. Like Siri, Google Assistant will be accessible to users through Google's Android phones and tablets; like Alexa, she'll also live in a stylish new standalone wireless speaker, which will go on sale later this year. (Evidently, tech companies can't help but make all their assistants female: In the demos, Google Assistant speaks by default in a woman's voice, like both Alexa and Siri.)

"We want to be there for our users asking them, 'Hi, how can I help?'" Pichai told an audience of developers and journalists. "Think of it as a conversational assistant. We want users to have an ongoing two-way dialogue with Google."

When Your Employer Breaks Its Promises to You

Alison Green answers questions about workplace and management issues-everything from how to deal with a micromanaging boss to how to talk to someone on your team about body odor.

A reader writes:

I work for a mid-size nonprofit doing fundraising. I have been here for 3+ years in a position that was a lateral move from my previous job. When I started, I took the same salary as my previous position because it was work I wanted to do, but was promised a raise and better title when it was available. That was three years ago, and I have not received a raise.

How to Interview When You’re Hiring for Soft Skills

When interviewing potential hires for roles that rely on soft skills--such as customer support--you always run the risk of repeating the same questions, receiving the same answers, having the same small talk, and then promptly forgetting all the important details.

The antidote? Think creatively, establish a system, and then stick to it. You won't be left groping for questions, your interactions will be more memorable, and you'll be able to standardize the circumstances under which you assess candidates.

Want a Better Employee Experience? Start By Simplifying Tech

Technology is intended to make things easier -- especially in the workplace. Employers are implementing more and more platforms in the hopes of simplifying everyday tasks and communication.

However, technology can inadvertently contribute to a negative employee experience, if you’re not careful. When tech suffers from clunky integration, non-intuitive interfaces and weaknesses in the configuration department, employees get frustrated by the complexity and poor design of the very thing they rely on every day to succeed at their jobs. Plus, working with too many software platforms at work can contribute to information overload.

10 Workplace Trends That Will Change the Way You Manage

From the rise of the sharing economy to the flexibility of remote work new technology provides, the workplace landscape as we know it is evolving faster than it ever has before. Some changes are subtle and others are great, but all will impact the way you hire, fire and manage in the years to come.

Ten entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) share their predictions for what emerging trends will shape our workforce for the better in 2016.

13 Key Strategies to Attract and Retain Highly Talented People in 2016

Image: Getty Images

The way we attract and retain highly talented people has been one of the major priorities for Human Resources for a number of years. As the competition for the best talent grows; businesses must reduce the disconnect between their talent requirements and the strategies and processes which underpin them. 

Attracting Highly Talented People

It will come as no surprise to you that research shows the power has shifted from the employer to the candidate. This means attracting the best talent is not just about profiling the role and your organizational fit, it's much more about finding out what likely candidates will want from you as an employer. Your new talent strategy should include:

How To Answer "What's Your Current Salary?"

You are almost guaranteed to get the question "What's your current salary?" or "What are you earning now?" when you're looking for a new job. You have to be ready to answer the question with a smile while keeping your personal salary-history information private.

Lots of in-house recruiters and third-party recruiters take it for granted that they are entitled to know your current and past salaries, but that is a bad assumption on their part.

3 Tips To Create A Workplace Culture That Employees Love

Workplace culture has made the news a lot lately — and it’s not always pretty.

This summer, the New York Times reported on Amazon’s “little-known experiment” in pushing its white-collar workers. Between internal competition and long hours, they revealed that pressure is so high employees regularly see their office mates in tears.

Maybe this works for Amazon, but for the rest of us, neglecting company culture (and making people cry) isn’t an option. Culture impacts morale, hiring, productivity and — ultimately — your bottom line. More than that, it’s about choosing whether you want an organization that benefits just you and your shareholders — or one that’s good for the entire team.

In 1994, I fired my entire company – all 11 employees. Having made some major hiring missteps, I had an epiphany and realized that culture is everything. From that moment on, I decided that our people and our culture would come first. To reinforce that choice and make myself accountable, I even posted “It’s all about people” in the front entrance of our office, in huge vinyl letters for everyone to see. It’s still there today reminding us of that commitment.

Here are three culture building tips from my experience on the frontlines.

Tip 1: Create a high-energy workplace. 

People spend more than half their lives at work – it should be fun. At O2E Brands, we have a casual, open-office environment that enables interaction and collaboration. Our president and I don’t have private offices (no one does), and it turns out that set-ups like this are good for business: open-offices boost communication, interpersonal relations and job satisfaction while reducing conflict.

But it’s not just the floor plan that keeps our people engaged. Every morning, the sound of a ringing marine bell cuts through the office buzz, signalling the start of our seven-minute standup “huddle”. The entire company attends to hear good news, numbers and even a (surprisingly non-cheesy) cheer. The huddle fosters transparency, collaboration and an opportunity to appreciate that we are working together as a team.

Other companies have amped up the workplace in different ways. Silicon Valley’s tech titans are famous for having everything from in-house massage and yoga studios to slides and fire poles. And you’ve probably seen video games or a ping-pong table at a workplace near you. The underlying goal of these efforts is similar: Create an environment where people love to do the work they love and everyone benefits.

8 steps to negotiating your employee's salary

So you believe you have found the perfect candidate for the job. You're sure this person can deliver transformative results in a short amount of time. She is definitely a performer. You've decided to extend her an offer.

You crosscheck salaries on Salary.com and PayScale to make sure you deliver a package that's competitive and ready for her signature. Heck, you even feel the salary is a bit out of your comfort range, because you really want to hire this person. As far as you're concerned, the company just extended her a great offer that she couldn't possibly refuse.

And then she refuses it.

She even has the audacity to counter your offer, requesting $10,000 more in base salary. What do you do?

Tolerance Stack up and Recruitment

Let us say 100 precision engineered components when assembled together will make a fully functional car. On each of the 100 components, a maximum error margin of 0.5% (half a percent) is permitted. Let us also say that we have used the maximum allowed leeway for error on each of the 100 parts. How faulty will the finally assembled car be, when made out of these 100 parts, each of them having an error of 0.5%?

How do you always deal with top performers who resign

Image Credit: ShutterStock

It’s understandable that a leader feels unhappy when a top performer resigns. The employee is intentionally ending the relationship, so there is an element of personal rejection involved. In addition the leader now needs to replace that person, which could be a daunting challenge given that the person is a top performer. As a result, the employee who resigns is often treated poorly by the leader. And sometimes, after the employee has left, the leader speaks negatively about that person. What are the consequences of these types of behavior?

The truth about wasting time at work

If you look at the standard organizational model, the first thing you notice is that it’s a pyramid. It is narrower at the top than at the bottom. There are a lot of worker bees at the bottom of the pyramid — that’s why the base of the pyramid is broader than the top of the pyramid is. There are fewer managers than employees, and there are a very small number of executives at the top of the organization, calling the shots. 

Bad mistakes that make good employees leave

It’s tough to hold on to good employees, but it shouldn’t be. Most of the mistakes that companies make are easily avoided. When you do make mistakes, your best employees are the first to go, because they have the most options. If you can’t keep your best employees engaged, you can’t keep your best employees. While this should be common sense, it isn’t common enough. A survey by the Corporate Executive Board found that one-third of star employees feel disengaged from their employer and are already looking for a new job.

When you lose good employees, they don’t disengage all at once. Instead, their interest in their jobs slowly dissipates. Michael Kibler, who has spent much of his career studying this phenomenon, refers to it as brownout. Like dying stars, star employees slowly lose their fire for their jobs.

The Evolution of HR

HR is undergoing a major overhaul. Advances in data mining technology and the emergence of mobile workers are creating a tectonic shift in the way companies manage their workforce in the field and the way employees get work done. Not only that, but it is also having a major impact on the way companies are meeting staffing and hiring needs.

Managing a Mobile Workforce

Mobile, on-demand workforce are on the rise and while they provide flexibility for both the employer and employee, with them come a new set of challenges, such as managing where your employees are at any give time. Questions HR managers often ask themselves pertain to productivity and whether their employees are completing the task at hand in a timely manner.