Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Jillian Miles Massey

  • Is It Time For A Workcation?

    Is It Time For A Workcation?

    Research and personal experience tell us that American employees often underutilize or “save up” PTO, sometimes leading to disengagement and burnout. Could the workcation trend be an option for employees who don’t need time off but need a little inspiration and a change of scenery? 

    “Workcation” is the combination of work and vacation, where an employee works remotely from a destination other than home or an office for a short period of time. With the significant expansion of the remote/flexible workforce, are more people taking workcations? How do workcations impact organizations? These questions inspired a research project by Daniela Hodges, which you can read about on The Fit Blog. Here’s an excerpt: 

    I saw mixed reviews from the 135 respondents. Let’s take a look at one respondent’s reason they would not take a workcation: PTO. This respondent was concerned about frivolously using PTO and admitted that they safeguard it for emergencies and then it usually expires before it gets used. This struck me because the point of a workcation is not to use any PTO.

    You can read the full post here. This research has sparked an ongoing conversation about workcations amongst our team. We all work remotely, and we’ve each taken workcations over the years without having a name for what we were doing. In the last six months, I’ve worked from the beach twice. Two big facts about my workcation experiences: 

    1. I am equally – if not more – productive when I’m on a workcation. The change of scenery helps my brain and body feel newly energized. 
    2. I feel a special appreciation for my job, my team, and our organizational purpose when I take a workcation. 

    Workcations are not just for full-time, remote employees. Any employee that is remote-capable, whether or not they typically work in an office, can take a workcation. Even working from the local community park or your favorite coffee shop can provide some new perspective and re-energize employees. So, where are you going for your next workcation? 

     

  • Resources are the Bread and Butter of Career Planning

    Resources are the Bread and Butter of Career Planning

    Take a look at the diagram below of the Career Planning Process. Did you follow this process in your own career? Did you know a model like this even existed when you were making critical decisions in your career planning? At Horizon Point, we use this model to train educators and career counselors as part of a Facilitating Career Development course, and we spend a lot of time focused on the center of the diagram: resources.  

    Source: https://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/105650/_PARENT/CC_layout_details/false

    Looking at the basic model, resources are generally defined as materials you can lay hands on, whether print or digital. There are fantastic resource materials available through the National Career Development Association and National Association of Colleges and Employers. If you are a student or educator, there are likely resource materials available through your institution. 

    Resources also include people. Teachers, counselors, coaches, mentors, friends, family. People we learn from, people we live with, people we know through someone else in our personal or professional network. Resource materials are necessary, but resource people bring materials to life and practical application. Who are your resource people? 

    The career planning process follows 7 steps that repeat on a loop throughout our lives. Each step requires the use of resources. Let’s explore potential resources. 

    Step 1: Become aware of the need to make a career decision

    Typically the first step occurs at or after a milestone like graduating high school or college, losing or quitting a job, moving to a new city, etc., and resources are likely heavily weighted in people like our friends and family. 

    Step 2: Learn about and/or reevaluate yourself

    Resources for understanding the self can be both material and people-oriented. There are many formal and informal assessments available in print and online versions, and there are trained career coaches and counselors who can drive critical thought around self-exploration. 

    Step 3: Identify occupational alternatives

    Step 4: Obtain information about identified alternatives

    Step 5: Make tentative choices from available occupations

    Step 6: Make educational choices

    For steps 3-6, the quickest resource is of course the internet. A great, free tool is My Next Move through O*Net. However, the most comprehensive resource is a career coach or counselor who has detailed information and insight about occupational alternatives and which might be the best fit. 

    Step 7: Get a job

    Getting a job also requires the use of resources such as resume guides and recruiter relationships. We know from research that about half of all jobs are filled through relationships, also referred to as the “hidden job market”, as opposed to the “public job market” of online job boards. People resources are equally critical to career planning as resource materials. 

    Repeat 

     

    Every decision we make relies on resources. The questions for you to consider today are: What resource materials do you use or need? Who are your resource people and/or how can you grow your network to include more people resources?

  • Satisfied or Standing Still

    Satisfied or Standing Still

    I’ve been thinking a lot about satisfaction at work and in life. If you’re a fan of Hamilton, you know the iconic song, “Satisfied”, about the struggle of feeling dissatisfied with your life when you’re aware of other possibilities. I’ve felt this personally, and we’ve seen it in others through our work helping individuals and organizations find mutual FIT. We believe person-organization fit leads to job satisfaction and engagement.

    If you know “Satisfied”, then you also know the line “I am not standing still, I am lying in wait” from the song “Wait For It”. (Is it obvious I just rewatched Hamilton on Disney+?) That line – and the entire song – describes those of us who find ourselves waiting for something better to come along. A better job. A better boss. A better company. We’re waiting for something better, but we’re not taking any action.

    My message today is to stop standing still and take action toward satisfaction. That doesn’t have to mean leaving a job, although the timing for that might be right. It could simply mean taking a moment for self-reflection to understand yourself and identify why you might not be satisfied. Is it a values mismatch?

    We know from research and our work with organizations that a mismatch of values or work environment preferences is likely to lead to dissatisfaction, disengagement, and eventually turnover. Long-term FIT is more likely to occur when individuals and organizations share a common approach to work and balancing that work with life.

    Question of the day: Are you satisfied or standing still?

     

    Jillian will be speaking at the NASHRM September Workshop on Tuesday, September 8th. Find out more information or register here.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Want to learn more about finding your fit? Check out our sister company MatchFIT. Visit thematchfit.com

  • Tails and Tales of Remote Work

    Tails and Tales of Remote Work

    “I’m sorry, I’m working from home and my dog is barking.” How many times have you said or heard this lately? I have a mini schnauzer with a not-so-mini personality, so I’m an experienced “I’m sorry my dog is barking” professional. So is the HR leader who said that exact sentence on our call this morning. 

    By now, many of us have been working remotely for months. Some for years. We’ve adopted new methods, like wearing pajama shorts under that sharp shirt and blazer because no one really ever sees below our shoulders. We’ve found a new rhythm. We work when the kids are doing homework or the baby (and/or dog) is napping. We’ve got this. 

    But are we engaged? Are we growing? Do we feel connected to our colleagues, our leaders, our organizational and personal purpose? We’re working longer hours and producing great work, but we don’t know if it’s sustainable. The events of 2020 are taking a collective toll on our mental health. If you are an HR leader or a manager of people, consider some best practices for supporting remote workers. 

    1. Offer options. Remember that employees have different learning styles, different engagement preferences, and different abilities. We have more options to accommodate differences when we can be in person in an office setting and use technology. Our options shrink when we’re forced to rely exclusively on technology. However, shrunk isn’t nothing. There is really great HR tech out there. There are free online tools. We’re not stuck. We can still offer different options for communication, learning, and engagement. Employee wellbeing is negatively impacted when they’re boxed into a corner. Give them some wiggle room.  
    2. If it ain’t broke, don’t break it. If you had systems in place prior to the disruption that still work in a remote environment, leave them be. For example, if you used to send an email or pick up the phone and call when you had a question, but now you’re defaulting to a video call, take a step back and ask yourself why. Do you feel required to use video calling because it’s “more engaging” than phone calls? Video calls certainly add value to a remote work environment, but they should be limited to scheduled group meetings that you would normally have in person, just like scheduling a conference room. Video fatigue is real, and our mental health slides when we feel forced into unnecessary camera time. If the good ol’ telephone ain’t broke, don’t break it.  
    3. Seek feedback. I know you know this one. Are you doing it? Openly, regularly, meaningfully? The only source that can tell you if employees are feeling energized or overwhelmed, engaged, or burned out (or Zoomed out) is…drum roll…employees. Talk to them. Remember #1 and offer options to talk to them by email, phone, video, anonymous survey, etc. Pay attention to the options they choose; that’s immediate feedback. The employee who always uses video calls may be signaling that they need social interaction. The employee who emails at midnight may be navigating a schedule with a newborn baby. Next time you’re in a virtual meeting with everyone, use a polling feature or link to a 3-question survey in the chat feature to ask for anonymous feedback about wellbeing and engagement. Here are some tips for effectively using pulse surveys. 

    We all have barking dogs and laughing children who are equal parts of our remote work environment, and with the right support and good leadership from HR, we can find high work engagement and general and mental wellbeing in this new worklife. We’ve got this. 

  • A Pound of Prevention

    A Pound of Prevention

    “A pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure” is a phrase I heard for the first time this week.

    I was at lunch with an attorney who specializes in employment law, and she said that phrase as we were talking about clients who don’t see the benefit of proactive, preventative measures and instead just hope everything turns out alright. I immediately wrote it down and googled when I got home, and the internet says it’s a Benjamin Franklin quote. Apparently, Franklin wrote an anonymous letter to his own newspaper in Philadelphia in 1735 about the importance of preparing for possible fires ahead of time versus waiting until the fire is burning to make a plan. 

    How many of us have waited until the metaphorical (or literal) fire was burning to actually do something? 

    One of the common “fires” companies face is invaluable leaders retiring or leaving for other opportunities. Many organizations do not spend enough time proactively planning for succession, and then they find themselves without a VP or other critical leader and have to scramble to find a suitable replacement. We speak to this in our recent blog post “Who Is Your Successor?”. 

    Another fire that can burn quickly is non-compliance – knowingly or unknowingly failing to comply with employment law. This is common for small businesses who see rapid growth and suddenly find themselves crossing the FTE thresholds for various legislation (e.g. the Affordable Care Act typically applies at 50 FTEs). As a business owner and/or leader, you are responsible for ensuring that your organization complies with federal, state, and local employment laws. If you operate your business in more than one state, you may need to take another look at your policies. Having an updated employee handbook – and actually having every employee read and agree to it – is a pound of prevention that every single organization needs to take seriously. 

    We don’t wait until the fire is burning to buy an extinguisher. Let’s not wait until there’s trouble to protect our organizations and our employees.