Bianca, Author at Spice HR

Social Responsibility: Are You Adapting For And Attracting Gen Z?

Generally speaking, every new generation is passionate about something in the workplace.

The Boomers wanted career progression, Gen X wanted independence, Millennials wanted flexibility, and now as Gen Z start to enter the workforce in their droves, they are passionate about social responsibility.

So, is your workplace adapting to embrace this new focus?

In order to set your business up to attract and retain this new generation of workers you’ll need to show accountability in the areas that really matter to them.

Let’s look into this in a little more detail.

Gen Z And Social Responsibility

Gen Z workers are often more socially and environmentally conscious than those from previous generations. They tend to prioritise working for companies that share their values and contribute positively to society.

Because they are passionate about social responsibilities, they will often change their personal behaviours to minimise their own impact on the environment. They want their employers to do the same. So, if your company can show accountability on the environmental front and prove you are serious about your social responsibilities then you will not only attract a new generation of workers, but you will retain employees who share your company’s values and interests.

Globally, companies are starting to invest in climate adaptation. That means, instead of trying to prevent climate change, they are adjusting to the reality that it is going to happen and what we need to do in response.

Gen Z expect your business to be resilient and prepared for environmental change. So, there are some things you will need to consider in this space to ensure you are up to the challenge.

What Is Workplace Social Responsibility?

Workplace social responsibility refers to the ethical obligation your business has to act in a way that benefits society at large. It involves considering the impact of your actions and decisions on employees, customers, communities, and the environment.

Emphasising your social responsibility can be a powerful way to attract Gen Z workers to your business. They are really interested in:

Purpose-driven work

Gen Z workers are drawn to companies that have a clear sense of purpose beyond purely making a profit. By prioritising social responsibility, you can demonstrate that you are committed to making a positive impact on society. This can be highly appealing to Gen Z workers as they are often seeking what they see as meaningful employment.

Employee engagement

As an employer, you know how important it is to have an engaged workforce. Not only do you get more out of your team, but it creates a positive working environment along with personal and professional success for everyone. In today’s climate, workers are more likely to feel engaged and motivated when they believe in their company’s values and social mission.

By giving your team socially responsible values to connect with, you can create a more inclusive and fulfilling work environment with excellent employee retention rates.

Brand reputation

Prioritising social responsibility is not just talking about your environmental values, it is about your actions too. If you can positively contribute on both these fronts, it will create a strong reputation for your brand and company.

Gen Z workers value transparency and authenticity in the companies they choose to support and work for. Building a positive brand reputation as an ethical and socially conscious organisation can help you attract top talent as well as gain the trust of your customers.

Positive community impact

What does your company do to ensure you are positively impacting your local community and the environment? Because Gen Z workers are passionate about social and environmental issues, they want to work for companies that share their commitment to sustainability and social justice.

By prioritising social responsibility, you can make a meaningful difference in your community and reduce your environmental footprint. Plus, you can resonate with Gen Z workers who are looking to make a positive impact through their work.

The Big Issue: Climate Change

The Government recently passed legislation making climate-related disclosures mandatory for some companies. The requirement applies to large publicly listed companies, insurers, banks, non-bank deposit takers and investment managers.

The legislation came about because the majority of large NZ companies provide very little information about what climate change might mean for them. By having these big businesses make mandatory climate-related disclosures it ensures the effects of climate change are routinely considered, that responsibility is demonstrated in the consideration of climate issues, and it creates a more efficient allocation of funds to build a more sustainable, low emission economy.

The purpose is to ensure NZ stays on track to achieve its target of net zero carbon by 2050. While these mandatory reporting stipulations only apply to around 200 big NZ businesses currently, it is worth considering your own business’s impact, especially as this is a key issue for Gen Zers.

So, what is your business doing to be socially responsible on the climate change front? Are you adapting your business practices to invest in the future of our country and our planet? These are big considerations for Gen Z and as such they should be considerations for your business too.

Adapting And Attracting

Social responsibility is a huge topic right now. Not just because it is vitally important to Gen Z, but because we all need to adapt our attitudes and actions to protect our futures.

How socially responsible is your business right now?

If you aren’t sure of the answer to that question, now is the time to remedy that. And our team of HR experts can help you do it. We can help you develop social responsibility policies and procedures that will not only position your business as a thought leader in this area, but also attract amazing talent from all generations.

Chat with us today.

Is Your Business Equipped With Change Readiness?

Change.

In the current business climate, it seems to be the only constant for organisations.

So, when you don’t know what to expect in an ever-changing world, how can you manage your people and your business successfully?

The secret is not to manage the change.

Rather, your organisation should focus on increasing its change readiness to better navigate uncertain circumstances.

We’ve assembled our best tips for how you can do that. So, let’s explore the concept of change readiness in greater detail now.

What Is Change Readiness?

Change can be a nerve-wracking thing. Whether it is planned or forced upon you, it has the capacity to unsettle even the most stoic team members. That’s why change readiness is a powerful tool. It refers to your organisation’s ability to effectively anticipate, plan for and respond to change.

Change can encompass many areas. It can be as large as global or nationwide change, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, or smaller scale change within your business, like operations, strategies, technologies or structures.

Common areas of change that can trigger the need for change readiness include leadership capabilities, team culture, staff rotation, and external forces like market trends, regulation changes or technology advancements.

Being ready to navigate change is a skill that every organisation needs to develop as change is the only constant in business!

What Does Being Change Ready Mean?

Is your business change ready? Do you possess the necessary capabilities to adapt to both internal and external change? Being change ready entails several key elements and they are:

Understanding Change

Humans can be creatures of habit which means that any kind of change can be hard. As a business, it is vital that you understand this and how any change might impact your team culture, morale, productivity and behaviour. Having this knowledge can help you to make appropriate decisions that empower leadership and team members to embrace and navigate change effectively.

Leadership

Like everything, the ability to react to change needs to come from the top. Your leadership team should demonstrate a clear vision for handling specific changes, provide effective communication to the entire business, and be committed to guiding the organisation through change. They also help to drive a culture that fosters resilience, innovation, and continuous learning.

Agility

Change can sometimes be fast paced, so it is important that your business and team can be agile in your approach. Yes, that means being adaptive, but it creates a real forum for innovation too. When you empower your team members to contribute ideas and adapt to evolving circumstances, you encourage readiness and evolution – two key components in handling change.

Flexibility

Successful change and flexibility go hand in hand. If your business is stuck in its ways, you can’t possibly react to change in a positive manner. If you can design your structures, systems and processes to be somewhat flexible, then it will be easier to be responsive to change. Key areas for flexibility include team and project management, decision-making processes, and organisational structures.

Engagement

When your team members are actively engaged with your business, values, and the results you are trying to generate then they will feel empowered to contribute positively. They will also feel more comfortable with change, knowing that they will have the support, training and resources to navigate whatever is thrown at them. Change may even become a good thing if they have the opportunity to develop new skills and competencies.

Resilience

Resilience is all about having the ability to absorb stress and thrive in unexpected situations. Preparing you for absolutely anything, resilience can help your business to anticipate, identify and mitigate possible challenges while also positioning you to capitalise on opportunities as they arise. Instead of seeing challenges when change occurs, resilience helps you to see the potential for learning and growth.

Awareness

It can be easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day aspects of business. This can be dangerous as it doesn’t prepare you for the potential of change. Having an element of awareness allows you to look beyond those daily tasks and see the bigger picture. This can help you to see potential change before it becomes an issue. It can also help you identify opportunities for growth or collaboration.

How To Create Change Readiness

Ready to be ready for change? If so, the following steps will help:

1: Assess Where You Are At

Knowing what your organisation needs and how you can navigate specific changes will depend on the current state of your business. So, the first step is understanding where your business is right now. That way you can have clarity about what you really need. Examine your culture, processes, structures, capabilities and readiness for change. This will give you a clear starting point.

2: Know Your Mission

When you are clear on your mission and company values, you can make sure you are acting in line with them when change does occur. Aligning with your mission will allow you to develop a clear vision for change and be able to communicate it effectively to your team.

3: Develop Your Leadership

As we just mentioned, your leadership teams should be leading from the front and understanding the impact change can have on the business and the individuals within it. Invest in programmes to develop your leaders so that they are equipped with the skills, knowledge and behaviours they need to positively drive any change that might arise.

4: Cement Your Team Culture

Having a great culture and team morale will help your team feel supported while they navigate change. This can be fostered through developing a culture that encourages collaboration, innovation and open communication. Create opportunities for your team to share ideas and learn from each other’s perspectives so these concepts are not foreign when change arises.

5: Promote Flexibility

Foster a mindset of flexibility and adaptability among your team by encouraging them to embrace change as an opportunity for growth and learning. Create a supportive environment where employees feel empowered to innovate and learn from any mistakes. In return, let your team know where they can access support and resources to allow them to continue succeeding in their role throughout periods of change.

6: Consult The Experts

Sometimes it can be hard to know what areas you need to focus on when developing change readiness procedures. For times like these, you can call the Spice Gals! As professional HR experts, we understand the impact change can have on a business and the individuals within it. That’s why we want to help you develop effective change readiness. Get in touch with us now to discuss how we can help you prepare for inevitable change.

Understanding The Compliance And Ethics Involved With AI

Let’s talk AI.

One of the most impactful business innovations of the last few years, you are probably already enjoying some of its power in your workplace.

But, like Uncle Ben said to Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility!

Yep, it is your responsibility to ensure your business is utilising AI without breaking any rules, laws or regulations.

It’s time to consider whether you are using AI ethically and in compliance with privacy legislation.

Let’s look into these key aspects to see if you are playing by the rules.

What Is Considered AI?

What exactly is considered to be AI? In the workplace, artificial intelligence (AI) is the use of computer systems or software that perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Because they are designed to mimic human behaviour and automate processes for efficiency, they improve accuracy and overall business performance.

These are some common examples of the kind of AI found in a standard workplace:

Chatbots or AI-powered Assistants: The components that handle routine customer or internal queries and admin tasks.
Automation: Software solutions that handle mundane or repetitive tasks like data entry, calendar management, triggered communication and more.
Machine Learning: Software that focuses on the use and analysis of data, along with algorithms to learn in the same way a human would, to improve its accuracy over time. Examples of machine learning can be as simple as product recommendations based on previous purchases, or as complex as talent acquisition and employee retention software.
Data Analysis: By using certain algorithms, AI can analyse large amounts of data quickly and accurately to identify patterns and trends that can be used for business improvement.
Predictions: The analysis of historical data can help to form predictions or forecasts for the future, allowing for insight into staff turnover, financial performance, or inventory management.

Your Responsibilities

By utilising AI in your business, it is your responsibility to ensure it is being used both ethically and legally. That means paying attention to these areas in particular:

Privacy

New Zealand has very strong privacy laws under the Privacy Act 2020. Among other things, the Act regulates how you collect, use and handle personal information. This applies to the data belonging to every individual who interacts with your business, including employees, team members, contractors, suppliers, clients, guests and inquiries.

The Privacy Act states that you need to gain consent from the people whose data you are using and only use the data for the purpose that it was collected. You also need to protect that data. So, you need to ensure that any AI tools comply with these principles.

Be mindful that simply uploading people’s private information into an AI data system may breach privacy laws. Before doing anything, check the security and privacy parameters for each individual AI tool to confirm it complies with NZ privacy standards. You might have to gain consent to use any personal data within AI technology systems.

Intellectual Property

One of the major things individuals use AI for in the workplace is content creation. Emails, marketing posts, images – all these things can be created by AI. But is it ethical to do so?

By the nature of what AI is, it draws information from many sources on the internet to form your content. That means, it harvests thoughts and ideas, even direct quotes, from content that has already been written and published. What takes seconds to pull together with AI took the original authors hours to craft. You are benefiting from their hard work before you.

Not only is this ethically questionable, it also puts you in danger of potentially breaching copyright. While New Zealand does not yet have specific laws relating to content created by AI tools, it’s important to recognise how the content is formed. Rather than copying and pasting the content that is generated by a tool like ChatGPT, it is best to use it for idea generation or a content starting point.

Business Assets

Speaking of intellectual property, it is vital that you take steps to protect your business’ own intellectual property when using AI. As many AI software solutions are new to the market, we don’t fully understand how they process the data that is input or who can access that information in the future. That’s why you and your team should be cautious about what you load into AI programs.

It’s best to avoid inputting extremely sensitive business information. Translation: don’t put your trade secrets into AI as you don’t know where they might end up! After all, we highly doubt the Colonel is going to be loading his secret ingredient blend of 11 herbs and spices into ChatGPT! That info is just too precious to risk getting into the public space.

Using AI Responsibly

How can you ensure you are using AI responsibly in your business? These are some of the ways:

Policies

Rather than blindly using AI in your business, you need to form policies around what tools you will utilise and how they will be used. Think consciously about which ones you intend to use and how they will impact the data you have an obligation to protect. Are there any risks that need mitigating or could a non-AI tool be used instead?

Then, choose tools that do not jeopardise privacy laws and be transparent about their use by documenting everything in an AI-specific policy. Once the policies are in place, the job is not done. Technology evolution always moves at a lightning fast pace, so you need to instigate human reviews regularly to ensure your AI tools are not retaining or disclosing data incorrectly.

Team Training

Your policies are only going to be effective if your people understand them! So, you will need to arrange training for your team members to ensure they are aware of their obligations when using AI tools. They need to be able to use the tools effectively and responsibly and understand their limitations.

Training should be practical, showing your people how to physically use the tool, such as inputting data and examining the results generated, along with the AI-generated decisions. But training should also delve deeper, highlighting that AI should still respect an individual’s privacy rights, their intellectual property and that it should avoid discrimination and harm.

If they feel that AI is creating any negative impact within your business, encourage your people to speak out so that it can be remedied.

Help And Support

In the greater scheme of business, AI is a relatively new technology that we are all learning to navigate. If you have concerns about the potential impact on your business, now is the time to take action. Reach out to our team if you would like assistance in forming the policies and training program surrounding AI in your workplace.

How To Finish The Year On A High And Relax!

You know it’s coming.

You can literally feel the change of season in the air.

Yet somehow, the end of the year always has a habit of sneaking up on us.

We get so caught up in doing all the things throughout the year, that suddenly it comes as a surprise that we are going to stop for a bit.

The good news is that it is almost time to relax and celebrate the end of another year.

Keep reading to see how you can do that in a positive way and appreciate your team for all the hard work they have put in.

Let’s get into it.

How To Finish The Year On A High

Show Appreciation

Every day your team members ideally show up and work their hardest. The end of the year is the perfect time to show your appreciation for their dedication. The great thing is, there are plenty of ways that you can express your gratitude.

Here are a few ideas:

Gifts: Probably the most traditional form of showing gratitude is giving a gift. Choose something thoughtful that is both practical and appropriate. Gift cards, personalised choices, or something that aligns with their hobbies will show that you appreciate and respect what they do.
Personalised Notes: You don’t have to spend up large to show your appreciation. A handwritten, personalised note can be a lovely way to highlight the individual achievements or qualities you respect about each of your team members.
Gratitude Day: You could offer each of your team members a bonus day of paid leave as a special gesture of appreciation for all of their hard work throughout the year.
Appreciation Meal: Hosting a special meal simply to show thanks will give you a special space to highlight and acknowledge the individual contributions your team has made.
Gratitude Wall: Share the love around your workplace by setting up a physical Gratitude Wall where your team members can leave messages of appreciation for each other. Not only does this show your thanks, but it also helps to promote a positive team culture.
Awards Ceremony: Host a fun Awards evening or afternoon where everyone gets to dress up and receive their very own certificates for performance, innovation, teamwork, or being the one in the office who empties the kitchen bin the most!

Celebrate Successes

Celebrating the achievements that your team have made during the year is an awesome way to maintain a positive work culture. While you will (hopefully) have acknowledged the successes at the time they occurred, it can be fun and rewarding for the team to recap the greatest hits of the year.

You can do this in any way you feel is appropriate. It can be done at an end of year celebration, during a team meeting, or individual personalised messages to each team member.

You should also encourage everyone to share their own success stories, and give recognition to their peers and colleagues where appropriate. Using a holistic approach where everyone shares will really make it a meaningful experience for all.

End Of Year Celebration

The term “Office Christmas Party” can be a loaded one! So, let’s scrap the traditional terminology and bring everyone together for an end of year celebration instead. That way, you don’t have to worry about the cheesy connotations or potential bad behaviour!

Instead, you can focus on the main purpose of the event – to celebrate a job well done together.

This is particularly important in the post-Covid work environment where people might not all be in the workplace together at one time. Remote working, flexible hours, and multi-location working are all wonderful additions for your team, but it might mean that they don’t get to spend the same amount of time in each other’s company that they did previously.

An end of year celebration can be the perfect time to reconnect, interact, and generally enjoy a fun experience together.

Planning Your Celebration

While in the workplace, your team will be very conscious of displaying their professional persona. But, the great thing about an end of year celebration is that they get to relax and be themselves. Your team might even get to learn a bit more about themselves and see some personalities shine through.

In order for that to happen, you need to build a fun and interactive environment. Holding your celebration away from the workspace is a great way to encourage this as you can literally leave the work behind!

Choose something that all of your team can participate in and enjoy. You can choose anything! Here are some fun ideas:

Beach BBQ
Family Day Out
Spa Day
Canvas Painting Session
Cocktail Mixing
Cooking Classes
Go Karting
Bowling
Mini Golf
Escape Room
Arcade Afternoon
Ropes Course
Rock Climbing
Comedy Club, Show or Concert
Team Lunch or Dinner

The whole idea is to create a positive vibe that they can carry into their holidays and the new year.

Creating A Holiday Vibe

While it is exciting to close off for the end of the year, there is still the last of your year’s tasks to finish before that can happen. December can be an exceptionally stressful time as there are plenty of deadlines to meet, lots of jobs to tidy up before the holiday break not to mention the end of year family commitments to fit in!

Here are some ways you can keep the stress levels down and the productivity flowing:

Prioritise: help your team manage their workload by prioritising their tasks, setting realistic goals about what can be achieved and ditching the things that can wait for the new year.
Communication: open and clear communication about expectations, deadlines and priorities is essential in the busy season. Quickly advise of any changes in schedules or tasks too.
Flexibility: if possible, offer flexible working times and locations so that your team can balance their work and personal commitments.
Support Wellbeing: the end of the year is the prime time for burnout, so encourage self-care practices amongst your team. Help them with stress management, mindfulness and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Encourage Collaboration: emphasise the power of teamwork, collaboration and sharing responsibilities to get things done. Have your team support each other so that no one has to feel stressed and isolated.
Embrace Holiday Spirit: create a festive atmosphere and get people in the mood for the holidays by decorating for Christmas, playing holiday themed music, and organising a Secret Santa. These fun things can keep morale high and build a positive vibe.

Call For Help

If there is anything your team cannot manage, then make sure you call in the experts to help. Here at Spice HR, we want you to roll into the end of the year feeling accomplished, relaxed and productive. So, we are on hand to help with any of your HR related inquiries both now and into the new year.

Get in touch with the Spice Gals now if we can help with anything related to your people-focused solutions.

Extended DISC®: The Secret To A Better Workplace Environment

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have insight into who your team members really are?

To understand their behaviours and how you can make them gel as a harmonious team.

Well good news, Extended DISC® can provide you with this information and more.

A form of psychometric testing carried out through a simple self-survey process, you can learn everything you need to create a fantastic working environment as well as establish how new candidates might fit into that dynamic.

Nope, it’s not witchcraft. Such a tool does exist!

Read on to find out more about it.

Extended DISC®: The Secret To A Better Workplace Environment

What Is Extended DISC®?

Extended DISC® personality assessments can help you maximise the performance of your business by giving you a greater understanding of the personalities within your team and how they might work together. Sounds pretty fancy, right?

As Extended DISC® practitioners, we can help you delve into who your people are and how they approach their work. Using a short self-assessment tool, current or potential employees answer a number of questions. The answers to those questions will reveal helpful insight into their unconscious behaviours and the adjusted conscious traits they have in the workplace.

Knowing more about your team’s personalities can help you manage them better and maximise the key skills they possess. DISC profiling can also be helpful as a recruitment tool to give an indication of how someone might fit into your existing team dynamic.

What Does DISC Mean?

DISC is an acronym created by the four primary personality types that the psychometric testing reveals. It stands for:

D – Dominance

When individuals present with the Dominance characteristic, it means that they show assertiveness, competitiveness, and are direct in their communication and decision making. Many D type personalities are results oriented and like to be the ones in charge.

I – Influence

If Influence is the main characteristic of someone’s personality, then they are people oriented, sociable, enthusiastic and persuasive. They love to make social connections in the workplace and often relish collaborative opportunities where they can work with others.

S – Steadiness

Having Steadiness produces individuals who are patient and dependable, preferring stability in their working lives. They tend to be very loyal and trustworthy team players who can listen well and work autonomously. They have a good balance between being task oriented and people oriented.

C – Compliance

If Compliance is the main trait, then people tend to be analytical, logical, and conscientious. That means they like structure and rules! But they are also excellent problem solvers, able to think deeply about challenges and issues that arise.

While most people will have a dominant trait, they will also have signs of the other traits in their working behaviour too. That’s why DISC reports can be so insightful.

Where Can Extended DISC® help?

The Extended DISC® process is really helpful in two main areas of your business:

Recruitment

One of the biggest challenges of recruitment is establishing whether a candidate is going to be a good fit for your existing team. They might have the right skills and experience on paper, but paper doesn’t tell you about their personality. Well, unless that piece of paper is a printout of a DISC report!

By understanding the behaviours of candidates or internal applicants, you can ensure they are placed in the right roles within your company. Set them up to succeed in the role and you will enjoy greater staff retention and better productivity from your whole team.

Ongoing Business

When you understand your team better, you can achieve more. Communication, conflict resolution, development, and workplace culture can all be improved with greater insight into your team’s behaviours. You can even enhance sales and customer service strategies by adapting them to appropriately fit the behaviours of your sales and service teams.

The Benefits Of Using DISC

Better Recruitment

Truly establish who is the best fit for the role by having the Spice Gals link your Job Description to an Extended DISC® Recruitment Report. This can help you to shortlist the right candidates by measuring the values and competencies that are non-negotiable for your business during the recruitment phase.

Couple that with other assessments like skill and cognitive ability testing, along with matching their job-relevant competencies based on their personality traits, and you will position yourself to find the ideal candidate every time.

Better Team Culture

When everyone understands each other better, it helps to create a positive team culture. People feel more valued, so become more invested in their roles and in creating good outcomes for the business. This positivity reduces conflict and creates a better working environment. And when people are happy in their work, they are more productive and give a consistently better performance.

All of this adds up to increased staff retention, better engagement from individuals, and an overall positive team culture.

Better Development

Ongoing development is essential for good business performance. DISC can help you identify the areas of development that are going to be most beneficial for your individual team members.

Not only can you help your team develop better communication and increase their skill and knowledge base with ongoing learning, coaching and leadership development, but you can also boost team dynamics.

Finally, you can be consciously aware of the common stress triggers for each of your team, allowing better leadership development and people management.

Time To Be Better?

Extended DISC® can help your business be better in so many ways. And if you’d like access to this amazing tool, we can bring it to you.

As Extended DISC® Accredited Practitioners, we can use the Extended DISC® system to help with recruitment, personal growth, team building and leadership at your workplace.

We have a number of different DISC reports that can give you the insight we’ve just discussed. So, we’d love to get to know you and your business better so that we can recommend the best option for your organisation.

Chat with the Spice Gals today.

Ideas to Help You Create an Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Being an employer of choice can help you attract the best kind of candidates and turn them into loyal team members, and in the current market that’s got to be a business goal!

But, it isn’t something that happens by accident and there is one key strategy that will help you drive your approach – a rock solid, values focused Employee Value Proposition (EVP).

So, firstly what is an employer of choice, why is it important to be one and how can a well-crafted and thought through EVP help you achieve it? That’s what we are going to discuss right now.

What Is An Employer Of Choice?

When it comes to employment, there are many choices that a candidate can make. The most important choice is probably which company they will work for. Lots of things can drive that decision, but one thing will put your organisation at the front of the list before any others.

That is, being recognised as an Employer of Choice via your EVP.

An employer of choice is a business that has a reputation for being a preferred place to work. Basically, it means people want to work for your organisation as they perceive it to be a highly desirable employment opportunity.

A business can earn this title for many reasons, but the main ones that stand out in an EVP are having a positive workplace culture, offering attractive compensation and benefits, providing opportunities for career development, and displaying values of diversity, inclusion and a focus on employee wellbeing.

Why Is It Important?

Why is it important to be an employer of choice and have an enticing EVP? Well, put quite simply, it will make it easier for you to attract and retain top talent, helping your business thrive in any market.

Because your employees are fully focused on your business and not looking for other opportunities, they will be motivated and productive in their work. They will have your business’s best interests at heart, and because they also usually share your company values, they will work in alignment with your company mission.

Being an employer of choice does not only serve you on an employment front. A positive employer reputation will set you apart from your competitors. It can also be a key differentiator when potential clients, partners or investors are considering working with you.

Key Strategies To Creating a Rockstar EVP to Become An Employer Of Choice

Becoming an employer of choice should be your ultimate goal but the roadmap to get you there will be defined by your EVP. Here are some key strategies you can use in your EVP to position yourself in this space:

Work/Life Balance

This is the elusive balance that every worker is looking for! Achieving it is not simply about correctly splitting your time between home and the office. True balance is about far more than that.

Flexibility is a really important aspect of your EVP. Allowing your team to work from home is definitely part of it, but you’ll also want to consider flexibility in working hours and working location. Then, there could be the option for job sharing and flexitime.

Basically, it is about allowing your employees to have job control. That is, providing the autonomy to recognise an agreed output and empowering your people to focus on that, rather than clock watching the specific hours worked in a set location. And because you have this fantastic reputation as an employer of choice, your employees are not likely to abuse this privilege.

Defined Business Values

Values can help to shape your organisational culture and are an important inclusion in your EVP. When your employees understand, embrace and most importantly share your set of values, it fosters a sense of belonging and unity. A strong, shared culture can improve teamwork, morale, and overall job satisfaction.

Those values also serve as a compass for decision making, helping leaders and team members to make choices that align with the company’s core principles. A consistency in decision making can lead to better business practices – another reason that people will consider you to be an employer of choice. And you’ll attract customers who share the same values.

Valuable Employee Benefits

It makes sense that you need to offer competitive remuneration to be considered an employer of choice. But you don’t want to stop there when it comes to your EVP. Attractive employee benefits can help to support your company values and enhance your overall workplace culture and EVP.

Yes, you can offer traditional benefits like insurance, enhanced KiwiSaver contributions and performance bonuses, however, to really enhance your EVP it doesn’t need to cost the earth. Why not embrace and take advantage of new and relatively inexpensive trends like:

Digital recognition platforms where your team can interact with each other, you can celebrate key milestones and identify top performers.
Gamification which allows fun activities or training modules where employees can score points, participate in competitions and top leader boards.
Peer-to-peer recognition where colleagues and teammates can recognise each other, rather than managers simply handing out rewards.

Defined Career Pathways

Part of being happy in your work is knowing that there is a chance for progression or new challenges. Seeing potential for growth within a business from the outset via an EVP could also be extremely important to a potential team member when they’re making their employer decision . Clearly defining the career pathways within your organisation helps people recognise where they could move to next.

Offering internal advancement opportunities can only help the reputation of your business. It demonstrates that you value your existing team members because you are willing to promote from within.

As part of the pathway definition, you should also include the training and development opportunities for your employees to obtain the necessary skills or knowledge to progress along the pathway.

Support The Important Things

Your people are the lifeblood of your business and clearly showing this within your EVP will pay dividends in attracting high calibre team members. You can demonstrate that you acknowledge and understand their value by supporting the things that are important to them:

Wellbeing programmes show that you value good mental health and help your team members maintain a positive mindset.
Advocating for diversity and inclusive workplace practices demonstrates that every team member is valued equally.
Your local community will support your business, so show your social responsibility by supporting your community through involvement, participation and support.
We only have one planet, so adopting sustainable business practices where possible will help to show you care.

Become An Employer Of Choice

Is it time to give your business brand a boost and really become an employer of choice? Then, you’ll want to make sure you are backed by a skilled and knowledgeable HR team.

That means you need the Spice Gals on your side. If you wannabe an employer of choice with a strong and attractive EVP, then we can definitely help you make that happen. Chat with us to find out how we can help you create a team culture that attracts and retains THE best talent around.

Are You Prioritising Employee Wellness?

Mental Health Awareness Week is 18-24 September this year.

It’s a fantastic initiative that shines an annual light on the importance of employee wellness and good mental health.

This year the focus of Mental Health Awareness Week is equipping yourself with proven tools to boost your mental health.

We thought we would explore this concept in relation to the workplace, as this can be an area of prolific stress for many people.

So, this September (and beyond), let’s shine a light on how important it is to prioritise employee wellness and the ways that you can do that in your workplace.

Are You Prioritising Employee Wellness?

Prioritising employee wellness is an important part of being a responsible employer. But wellness is not just attributed to one thing. To achieve true employee wellness, you should look at things holistically. These are some of the areas you should be considering:

Physical Health

Physical health and mental health are closely connected. So, it stands to reason that encouraging good physical health can positively influence your team’s mental health.

Regular physical activity triggers the release of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin in the brain. These chemicals are known as “feel-good” neurotransmitters and play a crucial role in regulating mood and reducing feelings of anxiety and depression. Getting active also helps to lower your cortisol levels, allowing your body to better manage and reduce stress.

All this activity contributes towards better sleep, improved cognitive function, stronger self-esteem, and greater emotional regulation from a strong mind-body connection. Basically, strong physical health is good news for employee wellbeing!

How can you achieve it?

Here are some strategies you can use to encourage good physical health in your workplace:

Wellness Programmes: Fitness challenges, health assessments, and nutrition workshops are all examples of ways you can get your team to focus on their own physical health.
Active Workspaces: Give your team the chance to be passively active with things like standing desks, walking meetings, and space for stretching or moving around.
Active Commuting: Make it easy for your team to use a bike or their feet to get to work by providing bike racks, showers and changing facilities.
Workplace Fitness: You could even arrange on or offsite fitness classes, yoga sessions, or group walks – promote them well and make the options easily accessible.
Supportive Policies: Support good physical health with policies like paid time off for medical appointments, discounted gym memberships, flexible working hours to play sports or participate in other physical activities and allocated physical activity breaks.

Financial Health

Financial problems can be a common source of stress and anxiety, which can negatively impact mental health of your team. After all, it’s hard to be relaxed and happy when worrying about money.

Financial health is a growing concern in the current climate. The cost of living seems to rise weekly (without much sign of slowing), and it doesn’t help that a potential recession is looming. Protecting the financial health of your team can give them a greater sense of security, improved relationships and better quality of sleep, which all contribute to stronger mental health.

How can you do it?

The first step in creating an environment of good financial habits is to ensure you pay your team correctly and on time for every pay cycle. Then, the second step is providing opportunities for good financial education.

Education around Kiwisaver, budgeting, medical insurance, and general financial awareness are very important to share. It’s also important to educate your team that good financial health is a gradual process and can require consistent budgeting, saving and planning to achieve. There are some excellent resources to support this education process on Sorted.

Finally, keep an eye on the individual members of your team to ensure that financial stress isn’t having a significant impact on their mental health. Make sure you have the appropriate support from trained mental health professionals to call on if you feel that financial stress is setting in.

Checking In

Regular check-ins with your team can help to promote good mental health in the workplace. It is an opportunity to foster open communication, show recognition and appreciation, offer feedback, problem solve, and affirm the support system that is available to them. These check-ins contribute towards maintaining a positive work environment and fostering wellbeing amongst your team.

How can you do it?

Make regular check-ins a priority for team members that are on site and those that work remotely too. That personal touch will remind them that they are a key part of the organisation.

These catch ups can be an informal chat or a more structured meeting. Try to connect with each member of your team monthly at least, or more regularly if you see that anyone is struggling.

Work/Life Balance

Striking the right balance between professional responsibilities and personal life can result in reduced stress levels, increased happiness and improved mental wellbeing, which are all essential for good mental health.

But it’s important to remember that balance can look different for everyone. Depending on the individual, balance can involve setting personal boundaries, managing their time effectively, having flexible conditions, and having their needs communicated and heard. Achieving balance is an ongoing process and adjustments might be needed as circumstances change.

How can you achieve it?

As an employer, you can play a crucial role in helping your team achieve a healthy work/life balance. And it is worth achieving it too. Managing to create an environment of balance can lead to increased job satisfaction and productivity, plus all-round positive vibes.

Here are some ways you can help your team find their balance:

Flexible working hours and the potential to work remotely (if possible)
Set clear job and performance expectations and listen to feedback about whether the expectations are realistic and workable
Cut out unnecessary meetings and encourage collaborative communication channels instead
Monitor and manage workloads to prevent excessive stress
Encourage regular breaks during the day and longer-term annual leave to recharge batteries
Provide time management training
Encourage disconnecting from work related duties outside working hours
Have your managers model healthy work/life balance behaviours to lead by example
Provide training on how to set appropriate boundaries so that work does not encroach on personal time

Lead From The Front

There is a reason that flight attendants tell you to put your own mask on before helping others in an emergency. You can’t possibly help anyone else if you don’t have your own ducks in a row first! This applies to mental health in the workplace too.

It is important for leaders to consider their own mental health and lead from the front in this area. Burnout is a real threat for everyone, you are not immune just because you are management. In fact, you can be at greater risk due to the pressure of the role. So, ensure your managers and team leaders continue to look inwardly as well as caring for their teams.

Let’s Talk About It

Encourage your team to talk about any problems they are experiencing in the workplace. This will help to encourage perseverance and consolidation at the same time.

Communication will be a big part of highlighting the importance of good mental health in the workplace. So, you want to empower your managers with valuable tools that allow them to help others through effective communication and understanding.

How can you do it?

Having a mental health first aider in your workplace can be invaluable. If you don’t currently have one, visit Tepou for a list of accredited instructors.

You should also ensure there are plenty of Mental Health resources available for your team. A great place to find these resources is on the NZ Mental Health Awareness Week website.

Prioritising Employee Wellbeing And Mental Health

We don’t have to tell you that employee wellness is really important. Without it, you can’t hope to have a positive workplace with happy and productive employees.

So, how do you put employee wellbeing at the forefront?

A great way to do it is to engage the services of an expert HR team. HR will ensure you shine a spotlight on the HUMAN element of your workplace; after all, it is literally in the name! Rest assured that HR experts know a thing or two about building great, positive spaces for humans in the workplace.

Sometimes it can be difficult to establish whether you have effective employee wellness policies or if there are some areas that might need work. The team at Spice HR are some of those HR experts that can help you to establish the right wellness practices to suit your team and management.

Get in touch with us today to make your employee’s wellbeing a priority.

How To Become An Employer Of Choice (And Why You Should)

Do people want to work at your organisation?

Or probably the bigger question, rather than just wanting to work there, do they want to stay long term as it’s just a fantastic environment that can’t be beaten elsewhere?

If you can answer yes to both of those questions, then you have conquered an immense challenge and become an employer of choice.

If you think you might have some work to do or simply want to delight your staff, then this is the article for you.

We are going to discuss how to become an employer of choice and how to stay one so that your business can reap all the benefits that come along with this. Let’s dive in!

How To Become An Employer Of Choice (And Why You Should)

What Is An Employer Of Choice?

Being an employer of choice means being a company that is highly regarded by job seekers and employees. It is a place that stands out from other businesses as a preferred place to work due to the positive work culture, opportunities available and strong employer brand.

If you have managed to be recognised as an employer of choice, it means you have successfully created an environment where your team are engaged, motivated and satisfied with their work.

Ultimately, as an employer of choice, you will be able to attract and retain top talent, have low employee turnover rates, and have a great reputation in the job market. As well as that, you’ll typically enjoy greater productivity and loyalty from your team. You will be seen as a desirable employer and people will actively seek you out, aspiring to work for you.

Sounds pretty good, right? So, here are some of the ways you can foster this feeling at your workplace.

Your Brand, Their Choice

When it comes to being an employer of choice, reputation is everything. So, you want to develop a strong brand highlighting your company ethics, employee growth opportunities, a great culture, and stable finances.

How can you do all of that? Try some of these tactics:

Core Values

What makes your organisation different from other companies? It is your value proposition. So, part of building a strong employer brand is articulating what is unique about your business and why people will want to work with you.

Identify your core values, mission and vision and weave them into everything you do. Develop strong communication channels and ways to recognise your team’s achievements when they demonstrate these core values and help your business work towards your collective goals.

Purpose

A strong HR team can help to shape a company’s purpose. A purpose is about more than generating productivity and the work that your team will output. A purpose is about building a strong employer brand, displaying your ethics and giving your team something to connect with.

When the company and the team align behind strong values and a purpose you all become invested in something you believe in.

Connecting your company’s purpose to environmental, social and business goals and making those goals a part of your employer brand gives your company a powerful way to make an impact on the world and attract better talent along the way.

Growth Opportunities

Becoming an employer of choice will help you to retain quality team members. But, in order to retain those people long term, you will need to provide opportunities for growth and development. That can mean the chance to enhance their skills in certain areas, work on projects in their field of interest, and even ways to advance their careers.

Make sure your business offers training programs, mentorship and clear paths for progression.

Remuneration And Reward

It is important to back up your strong company culture and values with attractive remuneration. Obviously, you want to offer competitive salaries that align with (or better) industry standards. But it’s not all about money. There are other ways you can give your employees great benefits, such as flexible working conditions, rewards programs, and tailored incentives.

Being A Modern Employer Of Choice

In your quest to become an employer of choice, it’s vital to take stock of the current market conditions and what people are looking for in 2023. As we mentioned above, one of the fundamental changes we’ve seen is the importance of purpose in today’s organisations.

There are several driving forces behind this:

Demographic Changes

Both Millennial and Gen Z employees prioritise values and purpose more than the previous generations have. It’s not simply about the work they are doing, it is about the impact the business can have.

Meaning is becoming a key differentiator for company’s to retain and attract talent. A clear purpose not only helps to attract the right kind of talent, but it helps to engage your existing talented employees and boosts productivity.

Automation

We’re sure every one of you could list a boring or mundane task that you have had to complete in your working career that drove you up the wall. Thankfully, with the advancement of technology and the rising popularity of automation, those tasks might just be off your plate now.

Automation allows for repetitive, manual tasks to be handled by technology, rather than team members. And as these tasks are generally the first to be automated, they leave behind the more meaningful and rewarding tasks. Again, this gives your team the opportunity to work for a stronger purpose than data entry!

COVID

Yep, we mentioned the C word. While Covid provided a rather tumultuous season in our working careers, it actually helped a lot of people to realign their priorities when it came to their personal lives and career. As a result, the dramatic shift in feeling is that a company should have a purpose to make working life more meaningful.

Globalisation

Geography is no longer the barrier it once was. In days gone by, you had to live locally to the company you worked for or be willing to travel there. Now, it is easier than ever for companies to recruit staff or to have staff work from anywhere in the world. And there are compelling reasons to do so.

Globalisation means greater international collaboration and being able to work for an even wider purpose. So, this should be incorporated into your communication, onboarding, engagement and management strategies if you can make this happen.

Becoming An Employer Of Choice

As you have probably gathered, a strong HR presence is going to be key to becoming an employer of choice. The people are your company’s’s most important asset. And creating a strong purpose for them to unite under is the first step to becoming an employer of choice.

It can seem like an imposing task if you aren’t sure where to start. Luckily, the Spice Gals are here to help you. As experienced HR professionals and business owners ourselves, we understand the importance of uniting your team under a collective purpose.

Let us help you define and implement that purpose so that you can become an employer of choice. Book a time to chat with our team and take the first step towards purpose now.

How To Make Sure Your Policies and Procedures Are Followed

Policies and procedures! Yep, we know they are two of the most boring words in business.

But, if you don’t get them right, it can cause a few headaches you won’t want to deal with.

So, let’s look at these super exciting documents in a little more detail.

Which policies and procedures does your business need, how can you make sure they are followed by your team, and what can you do if they aren’t?

How To Make Sure Your Policies and Procedures Are Followed

What Are Business Policies and Procedures?

Policies and procedures are essential components of your business operations. They provide a framework and guidelines for employees to follow while carrying out their duties. Your workplace’s specific policies and procedures ensure consistency, compliance with laws and regulations, and efficient business operations.

While the specifics and tone of your policies and procedures may vary depending on the nature of the business, here are the policies we feel every business should have:

Code of Conduct

A business code of conduct is a set of guidelines and principles that outline the expected behaviour and “conduct” for individuals working within an organisation. It helps to serve as a moral compass and establishes a framework for ethical decision-making and responsible business practices. It promotes integrity, transparency and compliance throughout all levels of the business.

Disciplinary Policy and Procedure

A disciplinary policy outlines the guidelines and procedures of how an organisation handles disciplinary matters like employee misconduct or performance issues. It provides a structured framework for addressing violations of company policies, rules, or standards of behaviour and defines the consequences that may result from any misconduct.

The reason it is documented into a policy ensures consistency and fair treatment of employees while maintaining a productive and respectful work environment.

Health and Safety Policy

Your Health and Safety policy outlines your organisation’s commitment to providing employees, visitors, and customers with a safe and healthy work environment. It includes procedures for identifying and managing hazards, reporting incidents, and implementing safety measures.

Drug and Alcohol Policy

A Drug and Alcohol policy is exactly as it sounds. A set of guidelines that demonstrate how to deal with issues related to drug and alcohol use in the workplace. It is meant to ensure a safe, healthy, and productive work environment for all while mitigating the risks associated with using these substances. It sets out the company’s stance on drugs and alcohol, names prohibited substances, explains testing and screening, and specifies consequences and disciplinary action.

Vehicle Policy

Your company vehicle policy sets out the rules for vehicles owned or provided by the company for business purposes. It should include the expectations, responsibilities, and procedures that relate to the use, maintenance, and safety of the company vehicles.

Why You Need These Policies and Procedures

The various policies and procedures we just mentioned are what you can use to put your company rules and expectations into practice. Here are just a few of the ways these documents and processes can help you do that:

Set clear expectations for your employees
Identify and manage risks within your organisation
Allow for easier management decisions
Reduced risk of misunderstandings when it comes to employment conditions
Become a reference point for legislation and other compliance matters
Maintain consistency throughout all company branches and locations
Support good training and onboarding
Act as a backup for your employment agreements
Aid with crisis management and business continuity

Creating and Maintaining Your Policies and Procedures

If you don’t have any of the ‘must have’ policies that we mentioned in the above list, then now is the time to create them. You can get assistance with this from trained HR professionals, like the team here at Spice HR.

It’s also important to seek the input of your team when putting these policies together. Often, they are the ones on the ground, keeping the business running, so their thoughts and feedback will be invaluable for creating appropriate policies and procedures.

If you do already have these documents created, think about when the last time was that you updated them. If it’s been a while, then it might be time to review them. This will help to ensure that your policies and procedures remain relevant to your business. Look to review these on an annual basis and when there are any major changes within your organisation.

Communicating Your Expectations

It is all well and good to have these policies in place, but it is important that the information contained within them is communicated to your team.

Here are a few ways that you can do that:

Onboarding: When a new team member joins your organisation, ensure that instruction on the relevant policies and procedures is given during the onboarding process.
Easy access: Ensure your policies and procedures are stored in an area that is easily accessible by all your team. An intranet or cloud-based shared folder is ideal.
Share updates: When you conduct your annual policy review, make sure to share any changes with your team so that they are aware of any new expectations.
Provide training: Ongoing professional development will be one of your companies KPI’s. So, relate your training and education back to your policies and procedures where appropriate to ensure the information stays current and relevant.
Role modelling: Leading from the front is a technique that all your managers and leaders should be adopting, and this is no different from role modelling the good behaviours set out in your various policies and procedures.

What Happens If a Policy Is Breached?

Inevitably, there will be times when policies are breached by members of your staff. Whether it is intentional or accidental, it is important that any such breaches are dealt with efficiently.

Of course, the first step is to look at your Investigation and Disciplinary process. This will set out how to deal with the issue and who should be involved in the process. Depending on the severity of the issue, you may choose to include your HR team (or an HR expert like Spice HR) to make sure everything is handled correctly.

Whether the consequence is simply a conversation, performance management or disciplinary action, you want to ensure that you use timely and open communication and feedback throughout the process. Also, document everything so you know what has taken place. Then, if you need to seek advice, you can show your HR expert what has taken place.

Get Those Policies Put Together

How are the policies and procedures looking at your workplace? If they need some attention, now is the time to do it, as you don’t want to be caught short without the necessary processes in place.

And if you need support, help or guidance on how to put them all together, reach out to the Spice Gals today. We can make sure you have all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed when it comes to your policies and procedures. Book a time to chat with us now.

When Automation Meets Human Leadership

It’s no secret that we are living in a world of developing technology.

And one of the biggest advancements in recent times is automation.

Incredibly helpful for streamlining processes and creating capabilities, automation is a useful tool that can aid with HR functions in your business.

However, it is important to remember that ‘Human’ is right there in the name when you are talking HR!

So, let’s explore what happens when Automation meets human leadership and how you can strike the right balance in your workplace.

When Automation Meets Human Leadership

What Is HR Automation?

HR automation refers to the use of technology and software to streamline and automate various Human Resource processes. This can include tasks such as record management, employee onboarding, performance management, payroll, and other administrative tasks.

There are a variety of HR automation tools available, with the most popular being an HR Information System (HRIS). These tools can help businesses save time and reduce errors by automating routine HR tasks, enabling employees to self-serve certain HR functions, and providing managers with better insights into employee performance and engagement.

Some of the benefits of HR automation include improved efficiency, increased accuracy, reduced administrative burdens, and better compliance with employment laws and regulations. Additionally, by automating certain processes, businesses can free up their HR team to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as employee development and engagement.

How To Use HR Automation

HRIS can help enhance engagement and productivity when it comes to the HR functions in your organisation. An HRIS can offer transparency and real-time data to allow for better feedback and reward and recognition.

Here are some of the benefits of using an HRIS in your business:

Easier onboarding

An HRIS can help to streamline your onboarding process as many of the manual tasks (like paperwork, orientation scheduling and sending welcome emails) can be automated. This can save your HR team time and creates an efficient process where nothing is missed. Onboarding progress can also be tracked, ensuring new team members are always fully onboarded and ready to start work.

By having a central platform that employees, managers and new hires can communicate through, it reduces confusion and ensures everyone is on the same page. Generally an HRIS also integrates with your other HR systems, such as payroll and recruitment platforms, so it makes it easy to have your new team member accurately set up in all the necessary systems and onboarded effectively.

Better training experiences

Even though automation is a big part of an HRIS, you are still able to personalise training programmes within the system, allowing managers to create tailored learning plans for individual team members based on their roles, skills and development needs. This is especially helpful as it means each training module is then relevant and useful to the individual employee, creating a more effective learning experience.

Having an HRIS that your team can log into means training material is easily accessible in one location, and everyone’s progress can be monitored.

Performance reviews

The automation capabilities of an HRIS can streamline your performance review process. Automate the tasks of scheduling review meetings, sending reminders to employees and managers, and collecting feedback from the right people to create an efficient, consistent and standardised review process.

Your system can also help you deep dive into performance data to identify high performing employees and areas of improvement. This helps with remuneration and creating plans for additional training and support where needed. Helpfully, this can also integrate with your payroll system too!

Having the review process standardised allows for timely feedback to be provided.

Staff engagement

You can use an HRIS platform for sharing employee appreciation and recognition. You can also track and monitor employee engagement outside formal review times via pulse surveys.

A wealth of data

Over time, an HRIS becomes a repository of HR documentation and employee history. It means you will always be able to lay your hands on specific HR detail when you need it.

It also allows for quick and easy reporting on HR data, creating the opportunity for analysis and prediction of trends that might influence your people strategy.

This data portal is not only of benefit to HR, it also has self-service elements to ensure leave requests and employee information remain up to date.

Keeps people connected

Workplaces have evolved in the last few years. While we used to all sit side by side in the office, things are quite different now. So, your HRIS can be used as an internal communication hub. This provides a seamless connection for all team members, whether they are in the office, working remotely, or a hybrid of the two.

Considering Human Leadership

Technology is clearly a massive part of our daily functions. But, we can’t rely solely on robots yet! There are simply some things that AI and automation systems cannot do. We still require strong human leadership to complement technological advancements.

Employees still want to be able to connect with their leaders on a human level. They don’t want leaders who are emotionally distant. They need connected, empathetic leaders who value investing in relationships with their team members.

Part of that is creating an environment of positive role models. It’s also about creating a great team vibe and leaders who provide personal and timely feedback on employee performance. Finally, today’s team members don’t simply want to work for managers, they want to collaborate on projects together and work for common business goals.

Leaders may need further training in soft skills to facilitate all of this. This will help them to develop trust and share accountability with their team. Remember that “Human Leadership” prioritises employee wellbeing and corporate culture. There is no longer a cookie-cutter approach to managing humans.

Balancing Humans And Automation

Creating the perfect working environment is about balance. You want to incorporate the benefits of automation that an HRIS offers, but ensure that your team is still backed by strong human leadership.

Need some help striking that balance?

Then the Spice Gals are here to help you do it. Have a chat with our team today!