Horizon Point Consulting

Search results for: “productivity”

Mental Health in the Workplace… What Can You Do?
Recently I talked about authenticity during employee hardships. With recent events in the news, including the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, I wanted to dive deeper into how employers can help employees in need.

Mental health is an ever-growing concern in our nation. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness:
- Approximately 1 in 5 adults (43.5 millions) in the U.S. experience mental illness in a given year.
- One in 25 of those Americans suffer a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.
- 9% of adults in the U.S. have had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.
- 1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as PTSD, OCD, or specific phobias.
With mental illness so prevalent in our nation, what can employers do to help employees who suffer from mental illness?
1. Understand, and make sure employees understand, what mental health benefits are covered under your health insurance plan. Going over the benefits coverage annually during open enrollment is a perfect time to educate employees on what is covered. If an employee comes to you, remind them that their insurance includes coverage for mental health services.
2. If you don’t already have one, consider adding an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to your benefits package. Employees can contact the EAP confidentially, receive immediate counseling services for work related or personal issues, and if needed, the EAP will assist the employee with finding a mental health professional in their local area. Employers see an increase in productivity, reduced time off, reduced turnover, reduction in work related injuries, and more. It’s a win-win.
3. Listen. Listen to your employees and take what they say seriously. If you have an employee who comes to you concerned about a co-worker, don’t take their concern lightly. If an employee comes to you to discuss a problem they are having, take the time to sit and really hear what they have to say. Sometimes all that is needed is someone to listen and show compassion. Sometimes more is needed, and that is when #1 and #2 may come in handy.
4. Understand that sometimes it is bigger than you. There may be cases in which you aren’t equipped to help. I once called the local police and had them conduct a welfare check on an employee who showed signs of extreme mental distress and made an insinuative comment to a coworker one day before leaving work about what he’d do if he had a gun. (I had also provided this employee with information on his mental health coverage and the EAP).
There are also many programs and resources that employees can access within their communities, as well as online. These include:
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline- 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
- Alabama Department of Mental Health- 1-800-367-0955
- National Alliance on Mental Health- 1-800-950-NAMI
- Project Semicolon- projectsemicolon.com
Remember that mental illness may be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If an employee comes forward with their mental illness and requests accommodations, be sure to follow your organization’s ADA accommodation request procedures. If an employee needs to take leave for a mental illness, be sure to see if they qualify for leave under FMLA.

For more information on mental health in the workplace, check out the Center for Workplace Mental Health.
June 14, 2018
Do You Need to Raise Your Wages?
Steve Boese had a great blog post recently titled “CHART OF THE DAY: Your semi-regular labor market update”. In it, Steve shares charts that show the unemployment rate dropping below 4% for the first time since 2000 and the average time to fill for positions continuing to trend upward. It’s a great post, read it. If you’re a business owner, HR pro, recruiter or anyone that remotely has a pulse on hiring, it gives credence to the pain you are probably already feeling.

Where can we find good people to fill positions? Heck, I had someone tell me the other day, “I don’t know where I am going to find the bodies?” Forget great or good employees. This guy just wanted people that have a pulse!

Of all the information in Steve’s post, I found the following quote most relevant:

There is more to this story, and I need to take some time to look at what is happening with wage data, labor force participation, and the openings and quits rates, but these two charts and their data are both pretty revealing.

By the number of calls we have been getting recently for compensation studies and an increased rate of participation in the ones we typically conduct, I will tell you wage rates are being considered as a part of this equation, and I think they should be.

In general, wages have not risen in comparison to cost of living and especially productivity. Many people will argue that this is contributing to the erosion of the middle class and the widening of the gap between the have and have nots. Some will even say this wage problem will cause our next economic and social collapse. You can read more about this and find more resources related to this topic here: Economic Policy Institute: The Productivity- Pay Gap.

This isn’t a post to exert a specific economic philosophy, but a post for business leaders to consider how much pain can you bear? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing you’ve always done- i.e.- paying the same thing you paid during the recession, which is now ten years ago- and expecting a different result.

You can change a lot of things when it comes to increasing your competitiveness for people, but one of the most cut and dry things you can do is raise your wages.

If you’re struggling with this:
1. Get market data and see where you fall on the wage spectrum by geographic location, job title and other relevant criteria.
2. Based on your comparison:
  1. If you are leading the market, you shouldn’t be feeling as much pain as others. If you are, you need to examine what is causing this. An employee engagement survey may be a good place to start.
  2. If you are meeting the market, can you afford to move your wages and/or other direct and indirect compensation offerings up a notch to attract the best active and entice some passive job seekers? If you are in this bucket, I would suggest looking at a variable wage component like a bonus structure to move your packages up a notch and tie it to business outcomes. Do an analysis of what an increase in varying degrees would cost you relative to what turnover and positions going unfilled for a long time costs you. If you want to talk details about how to quantify what turnover and unfilled positions are costing you, email me.
  3. If you are lagging the market, can you afford not to move your wages up? Whereas in the matching the market scenario, variable compensation like a bonus structure may be the best way to get competitive, if you’re lagging the market in base wages, something like this probably isn’t going to help you all that much. Again, do an analysis of what an increase in varying degrees would cost you relative to what turnover and positions going unfilled for a long time costs you. Again, if you want to talk details about how to quantify what turnover and unfilled positions are costing you, email me.
There are micro and macro forces that impact your ability to hire and retain people just like there are macro and micro forces at work in whether or not your business is and can remain profitable.

With the market (aka the macro) strong in economic indicators leading to what should be increased profits for most, it is imperative to examine where you are in wages relative to that macro picture. It will help you make wise decisions that will sustain your profitability through the talent you recruit and retain.

Are you lagging, meeting or leading the market in wages?

Like this post? You might also enjoy:

The Conundrum of Incentive Pay

What You Pay Does Matter
May 29, 2018
Company Values: Are You Learning?

During a recent workshop with junior high students, one topic we discussed was becoming an apprentice for life. Now, more than ever, continuous learning is relevant regardless of your industry (or your age). At Horizon Point, it is one of our core values, and it is one of my favorite things about my career and the company I work for.

Continuous Learning. We believe continual learning is a key driver in creating passion and productivity in life and in work. To that end, we invest in the personal development of our people because we know that people are a company and community’s greatest asset (People First). We work with clients who believe in continuous learning and take steps towards continual self-improvement in order to maximize their passion and productivity.

Soon, HPC will be having a quarterly planning meeting. Unlike most meetings, it’s not something we dread. We look forward to sharing successes, checking in on our annual goals and determining priorities for the upcoming quarter. One item that is always on the agenda is continuous learning (or professional development). Again, this isn’t something we dread, we select our own professional development and as long as we keep the budget in mind, we always get the “go-ahead” to do it!

This is yet another way we live out our company values. We also incorporate this into the work we do with companies and individual clients. Is continuous learning part of your career? Check out these reads to learn more about continuous learning:

How to Plan Time for Self-Learning

Lifelong Learning is the Key to Career Shifts

5 Reasons to Create a Culture of Learning in Your Organization

April 26, 2018
Continuous Learning.. Are You Cheating Yourself?

I was recently presented with the opportunity to start hosting a monthly event that brings HR professionals together to discuss issues we are facing and to learn from each other’s experiences. I volunteered for the opportunity without hesitation, knowing that my co-workers would both be excited for me in my new endeavor and support me in any way needed.

Continuous Learning. We believe continual learning is a key driver in creating passion and productivity in life and in work. To that end, we invest in the personal development of our people because we know that people are a company and community’s greatest asset (People First). We work with clients who believe in continuous learning and take steps towards continual self-improvement in order to maximize their passion and productivity.

At Horizon Point, continuous learning is in the forefront of everything we do. We learn through meeting with new clients and assessing their HR needs, researching HR issues to help better assist our clients, and sharing articles and books that help us become more authentic leaders. We are encouraged to attend conferences, workshops, and networking events that feed our passion for HR and we are given the flexibility in our schedules to do so. We also pull from each other’s strengths, taking the opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and expertise.

While we strive for continuous learning within our organization, we also strive to provide continuous learning opportunities for our clients by helping them strengthen their HR foundations, providing leadership development training, assisting with talent management, and assessing and addressing employee engagement issues. Through these learning opportunities, organizations are able to strengthen their leadership teams, improve employee morale and retention rates, and ensure that they are meeting the needs of their employees and their organization through sound HR policies and procedures. We share our expertise at workshops and conferences, through The Point Blog, and through our monthly Workplace Innovation and CDF newsletters.

“If you are not learning while you’re earning, you are cheating yourself out of the better portion of your compensation.” – Napoleon Hill

Are you cheating yourself?

Join The Point Blog: Sound Advice for Career and Leadership Development mailing list here.

April 19, 2018
People First
People first is one company value that I feel we do right at Horizon Point. As I prepared to step on the treadmill last night around 5:30pm, my phone rang. Knowing it was a work-related call that might take a few minutes, I answered it anyway. The person on the line was in California and seeking guidance on a credentialing application. Working with individuals across time zones means, we often get calls that aren’t in our “scheduled working hours”, but it allows us to make a difference in a much larger circle, even if we are conducting virtual training at 7:30am for a group in another country.

People First. We believe people are a company and community’s greatest asset. This is why we work to foster passion and productivity in people. We realize that in all our decisions, relationships come first, and we help our clients act as leaders by cultivating and building relationships that help drive passion and productivity.

Working in the realm of development, we are tasked with helping companies and individuals grow. To that end, “People First” truly is a priority. Here are just a few ways we strive to put people first:
1. As HPC employees, our families always come first. Whether it’s a sick child, or a co-worker’s, we ensure our priorities are in order and lend a helping hand (for work or family) whenever we need to.
2. Sometimes we realize Horizon Point might not be the right choice for a client, and we refer them to another organization that can better serve them. In the long run, clients appreciate placing their needs above making a sale.
3. To touch on another company value, “Give Back”, another way we put people first is to volunteer in our community. Sometimes that means serving on a board or conducting a pro bono career coaching session to help someone who has been through a rough patch and needs guidance. This is personally my favorite way to put people first – by offering to help.
As I came on board with Horizon Point, I developed a personal mission statement that I feel fits nicely with our people first value. It reads: I will strive daily to present the best version of myself to clients, family, friends and others. I will work to empower others and help them in their journey to lead better lives.

To read more about our company values, check out Moving BEYOND WORK – Our Company Values.
April 12, 2018

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