Your work as a team leader can easily be compared to that of a coach. It is all about handling your team members’, mentality, collaboration strengths, and weaknesses to extract the most from them. You must always try to take 110% of your colleagues’ capacity in a collaborative manner that allows team spirit and cooperation to flourish.

Is it an easy job? No way. The difficulties lie down to collaboration, hence the lack of true coaches. Finding a very talented employee is easier than an average talented team leader. So, if you want to lead your team successfully, you should think twice and be certain that what you want to improve is through your team’s performance and not through your actions.

In this article, you will get 8 tips for improving team collaboration at work so that you can succeed and reach your business productivity goals.

8 Tips to Improve Team Collaboration

Building a strong collaborative team takes a lot of effort but is worth it as it boosts the productivity, creativity, and morale of your team. Here are some tips that will help you improve team collaboration at your digital workplace:

1. Set Key Milestones and Goals

When people with different roles work together, establish a common goal between all parties. Having a clear understanding of what they are working toward can help team members use their time effectively. This ensures they understand the company’s goals and plans.

Once you establish a common goal, your team can direct the conversation and workflow toward idea creation or problem-solving. The common goal also guides you and your team throughout the collaboration process to keep everyone on track.

Also, each one should have a very clear short-term target. If targets are long-term or if they are not set precisely, you will end up having people working on the wrong tasks, overlapping tasks, or even not working at all. Short-term targets help you follow up with their work and evaluate it correctly.

2. Define Roles and Responsibilities

When your team members know their specific duties, they will work with more focus and be better aligned with the goal. Moreover, there will be no duplicate work done.

As a manager, define clear roles and responsibilities for your team members. Collaboration does not mean that everyone will do the same tasks or that all resources can be reused. Having straightforward roles will help avoid conflicts and/or unassigned tasks. However, you should redefine these roles from time to time.

What’s more, accepting your errors early in role assignment can reduce the cost of the error. It will also give you the ability to try each member in different roles. Productivity measurement tools will help in the right way.

3. Use Collaboration Software

We don’t live in the middle ages anymore. Many enterprise collaboration platforms can help you assign tasks, create projects, track the team’s progress, add milestones, share documents online, share tasks, handle events, etc.

For instance, ProofHub fosters a collaborative environment by providing a central platform for communication, file sharing, and task management. This streamlines workflows, improves efficiency, and empowers teams to achieve their goals together.

On the other hand, Comidor focuses on enterprise collaboration by offering a digital workspace that helps improve process optimization and automation to perform business tasks more efficiently.

You can find any feature in these tools you could ever imagine about team collaboration. So, there is no excuse even if you have to manage teams in different locations. Even if you are a small company, implementing effective strategies and using the right tools can streamline communication and collaboration across diverse geographical areas. You could even use live video or audio chat to have a daily meeting. They usually offer powerful business intelligence tools to export analytics and reports.

4. Encourage Open and Transparent Communication

Encourage open communication and mean it. Collaboration happens when everyone feels like they can bring their whole selves to work.

As a manager, motivate your team members to participate, innovate, and communicate. Make sure that everyone is allowed to speak their minds and share their ideas. This means that instead of holding back their thoughts or reigning in their feelings, they can be themselves and bring all of the great ideas that come with it.

But, open communication also means that, sometimes, they are going to disagree. Disagreements are not counter to team collaboration. Healthy disagreements and open conversations are critical to unlocking successful team collaboration.

5. Manage Resources Effectively

If you are responsible for selecting your team members, think carefully about who you choose. If you choose members with identical abilities you will end up in conflicts between their roles. Balance in capacities is always the key to harmony.

Try to make at least two people work on a certain type of task periodically. Small groups of 2-3 team members can exchange ideas on accomplishing a certain task more efficiently. The knowledge inside the team should be shared and distributed evenly, ensuring that no single individual becomes the sole expert on a particular task or process.

6. Create a Sense of Community

You cannot collaborate with a stranger. Even open-source projects maintained by programmers located far from each other try to have a closer relationship.

This does not mean that everyone must be best friends with anyone, but that everyone sees the others as equivalent members. Respect and understanding are of top priority in a community. Egoism on the other side can have disastrous effects.

7. Hold Regular Meetings

A short meeting per day is helpful to see where the team is heading, what problems they face, and even get a hint on the relations growing among them. It also creates a light feeling of competition which often has creative results.

Nevertheless, you should try to keep a balance in your number of meetings frequency and duration, because long meetings especially in the middle of the day will end up reducing your team’s productivity dramatically.

8. Reward and Recognize Good Work

Justice and objectiveness are what team members want to have from their managers. Rewards can help in this direction. Personal rewards may lead to positive competitive feelings by other team members and more often end in everyone’s efforts to achieve the same good performance.

A team leader should be able to praise and thank the members of the team who try harder. The reward does not have to be something expensive. The gesture is what counts. Additionally, investing in employee upskilling is crucial. Providing opportunities for professional development not only enhances individual capabilities but also strengthens the overall team performance. When employees feel valued and see tangible growth in their skills, it fosters a culture of continuous improvement and commitment.

Conclusion

Building a cohesive and effective team is crucial for achieving success. By implementing the above team collaboration tips, you can build a highly collaborative team.

Successful teamwork means open communication among team members, clearly defined roles, and a sense of community. Effective team collaboration boosts efficiency and lets you and your team achieve your productivity goals.

*This article was written by the Comidor team in collaboration with an external guest author.

Author Bio
Vartika Kashyap, CMO at ProofHub, is a renowned B2B SaaS marketer with 17+ years of experience. She’s a prolific writer with 200+ articles on productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, and entrepreneurship. Vartika is a three-time LinkedIn Top Voice recipient and a thought leader in people management. Her work is featured on various top-tier publication platforms such as Muck Rack, Medium, eLearning Industry, Business2Community, DZone, Social Media Today, G2., and TweakYourBiz.

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Having systems in place to coordinate and track employee time management ensures that your business doesn’t miss deadlines because it is operating inefficiently. However, even if you meet all your deadlines, your business must operate smoothly and cooperatively to maximize growth and profit.

To boost your business, we’ve shared our 7 best tips and tricks for effective task scheduling and employee time management. If you implement these strategies, your business will run like a well-oiled machine in no time.

Understanding Task Scheduling and Time Management

Before we dive into best practices for task scheduling and time management, we need to explain these two concepts and how they benefit your organization and employees.  

Task scheduling and time management are tools and frameworks that assist your employees in visualizing their goals. They help employees break their goals down into small, achievable tasks and prioritize the most important tasks to make the best use of their time and resources. Juggling numerous appointments, to-dos, and deadlines can feel overwhelming even to the most capable employee. However, proper task and time management structure tasks and make it easier to tackle each day’s work as it comes. 

Using smart strategies or task management software to manage tasks and time usage also allows your employees to schedule more demanding tasks for their peak focus times, use tools like planners, calendars, and lists to their advantage, and remain flexible, even when unexpected challenges or responsibilities arise. Ultimately, task scheduling and time management help employees create a workflow that balances productivity with energy levels, resources, and well-being, promoting progress without overstepping limits. 

Practices to Implement Task Scheduling and Time Management

Below, we’ve outlined the most effective ways to implement task scheduling and time management in your organization. This will help your employees streamline their workflows, maximize their productivity, and ensure that they reach their goals in a fast and sustainable way.

1. Utilize Enterprise Collaboration Software

One of the best ways to improve task scheduling for efficient company-wide time management is through enterprise collaboration platforms. The ultimate goal of this kind of software is to enhance company-wide communication to support synergistic collaboration efforts. It ensures clarity on shared targets and goals, allowing greater flexibility when working in teams.  

Enterprise collaboration software allows you to view organizational charts, thus clearly illustrating the business architecture that dictates the appropriate lines of communication. This software also includes reminders, scheduling features, and workforce monitoring. Additionally, it allows external collaborators to utilize the channel seamlessly. It streamlines communication by offering direct messaging services alongside email and video conferencing. It’s also important to note that scheduled tasks can be synced across features.  

Another attractive feature of enterprise collaboration software is that it’s highly secure. This means that employees can communicate without experiencing anxieties surrounding the potential leakage of sensitive company information. If you want to begin task scheduling while boosting employee time management, Comidor’s enterprise collaboration software is the ideal solution.

2. Improve Your Scheduling Process

Many businesses overlook the vital role that scheduling plays in daily productivity and effective task scheduling. Countless potentially productive hours are lost every day to poorly planned schedules. When you utilize Comidor’s process scheduling feature, you can avoid wasting precious time when scheduling repeat or rescheduled tasks and processes. This feature manages your schedule in a highly organized and time-efficient manner so you don’t have to.  

Scheduling offers several optional details such as assigning “importance,” “priority,” “responsible group,” and “supervisor” specifications, to name a few. The layout of a high-quality schedule management tool should be intuitive and user-friendly, too. This will help you in your task scheduling and employee time management endeavors. 

3. Utilize a Task Management Tool

Another important step to implement effective task scheduling alongside employee time management involves utilizing a helpful task management tool. Task management tools streamline processes that would otherwise be laborious and include inevitable slip-ups and miscommunications. Tools like Comidor Task Management manage personal and team tasks. It manages tasks assigned to you and tasks assigned to others.  

Task management tools allow you to get as intricate and detailed as you require per task. They boast exceptional organizational capabilities that ensure tasks and relevant information are meticulously ordered, grouped, and shared with relevant colleagues.

4. Customize Your Digital Workplace

While there are many recommendations everyone should follow for effective task scheduling and time management, you must establish a system solution tailored to your individual preferences and needs. Every individual in a business will have different daily priorities—not to mention completely different jobs.  

It’s important that every employee can customize their digital workplace to bolster their productivity. To optimize efficiency and productivity within your organization, it is highly advisable to leverage customizable online workspaces, dashboards, or productivity tools provided by platforms like Comidor. By incorporating such tools, employees gain the flexibility to manage their schedules, tasks, meetings, documents, and notes in a manner that suits their preferences, leading to enhanced organization and effectiveness across the board.

5. Your Manager Matters

At the end of the day, you can have the best software tools at your disposal. But you still need a passionate individual to oversee your business’ coordination and time management. The good news is that the availability of digital workspace platforms can enhance the insights and capabilities of a good manager.  

Digital workspaces are famously supportive of collaborations among various employees in a company. Managers can utilize this to its full potential by streamlining communication and the assignment of tasks. Furthermore, depending on the business policy, they may have access to behind-the-scenes insights into the activities and overall productivity of individual employees and different departments.   

6. Be Flexible

It’s vital to remain open and flexible when working towards increased efficiency and organization in any business. As mentioned above, your manager is responsible for overseeing the practical pursuit of this goal.    

Managerial insights from your online workspace are often generated through statistics. This allows managers to track and compare internal company progress in a highly accurate and accessible manner. With careful thought and skill, task scheduling strategies and time clock or tracking data can be compared to weekly productivity insights. This can help a manager assess which task scheduling system works most efficiently. This information can then be utilized to inform a more long-term strategy for improved employee time management.  

7. Embrace Automation

Automation is an essential tool for any business. It offers the ability to automate and streamline repetitive tasks to save time and money while maximizing efficiency. It can provide an enhanced experience for your customers or clients, boost productivity, and help you gain a competitive edge in your industry. Automation can also free up your team to tackle more creative tasks and problem-solving requirements, leaving your organization with more room to grow without sacrificing efficiency or customer satisfaction.  

Utilizing automation software to implement effective task scheduling and employee time management can take a little time to integrate and get used to. However, the best platforms are intuitive and user-friendly, making the learning curve short and sweet.   

All-in-one business process automation tools like Comidor offer a unique collection of automation features that work together to achieve highly effective task scheduling and time management. Features like process automation, low-code application development, project management software, CRM and sales automation, accounting and finance modules, and quality, risk, and compliance tools ensure that every part of your business can be partly or fully automated to reduce the pressure on your workforce. You can also integrate Comidor with popular cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive, making it easier to store and share large files securely, or incorporate the use of tools like Google Search Console into your business operations”.

Conclusion

If you follow our recommendations, we are certain that you will effortlessly gain mastery in the art of effective task scheduling and proficient employee time management in your projects. With the right software tools at your disposal and a positive attitude driving your team forward, success is not only achievable but also inevitable. Embrace these strategies wholeheartedly, and witness unparalleled efficiency and productivity within your organization unfold before your eyes!

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Offer more job benefits instead!

Wouldn’t this request from a staff member sound a bit out of the ordinary to you?

Turns out 4 out of 5 workers prefer employee benefits to a pay raise.

Why is the benefits package so crucial for your workers? What are the best benefits for employees and how to implement them successfully in your company?

Read this ultimate guide on the most valued employee benefits to find everything out.

Why Job Benefits and Perks Are Vital for Your Employee Happiness and Your Business 

Look at the following statistics to see how people treat additional job bonuses and non-salary compensations: 

• According to a GlassDoor survey, 57% of employees state that benefits and perks are their #1 priority when they make a decision on a job offer. 
• 69% of workers would feel more loyal to their employers if they had a wider benefits package. 
• Better work benefits increase job satisfaction, as emphasized by 72% of employees. 

By offering the best employee benefits, you make your staff feel happy. And it turns your business game for the better. Satisfied workers are typically 20% more productive than dissatisfied ones, while the happiness of salespeople can help boost sales by 37%. 

As you can see, your people are one of the keys to your operational excellence and company success. That’s why it’s worth implementing a people-first approach and giving your staff the greatest employee benefits. Consider the top five of them below. 

5 Best Employee Benefits to Make Your Staff Happier 

1. Healthcare Benefits 

The mental and physical well-being of your staff should be your predominant concern, as 86% of employees rate healthcare and wellness benefits as extremely important for their workforce. 91% of organizations have already started providing mental health coverage from 2022. 

Your company can offer various insurance types to your workers: dental insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, etc. Then there’s a broad range of wellness programs that people would like to have in their benefits packages: 

• Salon and spa visits 
• Fitness incentives 
• Massage and gym memberships 
• Yoga and meditation courses 
• Nutrition marathons 
• Vaccinations 
• Stress reduction and tobacco-free programs 
• Preventive health screening, etc. 

“During the past two years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of employers who provide sponsorships for senior living options: continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), residential care homes, memory care facilities, and so on,” observes Nancy Mitchell, Director of Nursing Care at Assisted Living Center. 

“In 2020, for example, we cooperated with 7 organizations who were interested in adding such healthcare benefits to their packages. In 2022 already, this number grew to 29.  Remarkably, companies make these benefits available to employees’ family members as well,” Nancy emphasizes. 

2. Flexible Schedule and Remote Work

According to 51% of employees, work-life balance is one of the highest priorities companies should focus on. That’s when flexibility comes into play. 

In fact, Logan Mallory, VP of Motivosity, states that “The 9-to-5 workday has been slowly replaced by adjustable schedules. Flexible working hours and opportunities to work remotely allow brands to boost employee engagement and motivation, improve retention, attract top talent, and more.” 

Many companies let everyone set their own working hours. After this implementation, the employees report a greater feeling of control and job satisfaction, an increase in productivity, and a better balance between life and work. And what’s more, they have cut expenses on commuting and have been taking fewer sick leaves since then. 

During the COVID-19 outbreak, some businesses were forced to move to the digital workplace entirely. Some of them remained in that work mode even post-pandemic and now run business 100% remotely. Others took a hybrid approach because that’s what their workers actually wanted to see among essential employee benefits. 

As many as 83% of workers prefer a hybrid work model nowadays, based on Accenture’s research. Still, employers often hesitate to switch to a hybrid work mode so as not to worsen the communication and interactions between teams. For this not to happen, they take advantage of automated solutions for remote workers to bridge the gap between an office-based system and a remote workspace and maintain the flow of projects. 

3. Paid and Unpaid Time-offs 

The following benefits are among the most valuable paid time-offs: 

• Vacation days 
• Jury duties 
• Voting time 
• Family and medical leave (FMLA) 
• Military leave 
• Adverse weather time-off 
• Compassionate (bereavement) leave 
• Sabbatical leave or personal time-off, etc. 

Personal time off (a paid mental-health day, for instance) may be a good idea if your worker faces burnout. In this case, you can help your employee stabilize one’s condition and enhance individual productivity. 

What about unpaid time-offs? 

“It’s highly advisable to create two lists of time-offs: paid and unpaid leaves,” says President of Business Loans, Andrew Gonzales. 

“The unpaid time-offs at our company mostly concern volunteer work and furloughs (involuntary leaves or temporary layoffs due to particular economic conditions). All other leaves are paid. Additionally, we have a shared leave policy so that our employees could donate their vacations and sick leaves to their teammates, whenever they feel it’s appropriate and necessary,” Andrew mentions. 

4. Financial Benefits 

To support your employees financially, consider the top three employee benefits and weave them into your financial plans: 

• Student loan repayment 

Commenting on this financial benefit, Jeff Zhou, CEO at Fig Loans, notes that “Employer-assisted student loan repayments have become an indispensable part of non-salary compensation packages. By addressing the burden that is laid on the shoulders of your workers, you can retain more educated and productive talents. Paying student loans on time will also positively impact their credit score and help them remain more financially stable. Importantly, under the CARES Act that has been extended until 2025, employers don’t have to pay income tax on up to $5,250 of student loan payments per employee annually.” 

• 401(k) retirement plan 

A 401(k) plan, as defined by The Annuity Expert, “is a retirement savings plan that allows employees to contribute a portion of their pre-tax income to the plan.” 

US employers have started applying changes to their 401(k) plans recently, new studies show, in order to increase worker retention and offer more secure retirement options. They want to let employees make contributions to the plan from bonus payments as well, not only from the salary. 

You can learn from Adobe, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and other companies with great retirement plans and do your best to prepare your employees for financial security in retirement. 

• Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) 

Nate Tsang, Founder & CEO of WallStreetZen, explains how it works: “ESPP is a company-run program when a staff member can buy shares of company stock at a reduced price. Typically, it’s between 10%–15% off the fair market value. Let’s take the fair market value of $20 per share on the applicable date. In case you offer a 10% discount, the price for your employee will be $18 per share.” 

PayPal, for example, offers the ESPP with a 15% discount for shares. The plan is open to everyone who works at least 20 hours per week for the company. 

5. Benefits for Professional and Personal Growth 

A whopping 94% of employees acknowledge they would work for an organization longer if it provided opportunities to develop their professional and personal skills for career advancements. 

“You should have a solid Learning and Development (L&D) program for your employees to grow both professionally and personally,” highlights George Tsagas, Owner & Founder of eMathZone. 

“At the start, 14 years ago, we concentrated on strictly math-related courses and certifications. Later, we refocused on the 360-degree approach to enable an all-round development of our colleagues,” George says. 

He also shares their company’s 360-degree view of L&D:  

• Paid courses and seminars on any preferred topic 
• Professional certifications 
• Internal and external mentorships 
• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) programs 
• Cybersecurity training and online survival guides 
• Tuition reimbursement grants for both math and non-math university programs 

Another example of a great L&D approach is AT&T University created by AT&T, a provider of telecommunications, media, and tech services. It offers employee training programs focused on leadership and management particularly. 

Continued training can help you enhance team skills and work effectiveness if we talk about team productivity. To do that, Etsy, a global eCommerce company, launched Etsy School with workshops and educational modules for Etsy Teams to learn and develop together. 

How to Incorporate Employee Benefits Into Your HR Strategy 

Use the below tips to set up a competitive employee benefits package. 

• Partner with others 

Amazon’s Career Choice program is a bright illustration of such a partnership. The company collaborates with hundreds of education partners across the US to pay full college tuition for their workers. 

• Establish an extensive and unique benefits package 

Go beyond the basic incentives and offer some unique perks like, for instance, Hotjar does. Among other bonuses, the company grants each employee €2,500/year as a Home Office Budget, €2,400/year as a Working Space Budget, and €2,000/year as a Holiday Budget. Plus, their paid holiday leave consists of 40 days/year. 

Another great example is a “Perk of the Week” initiative by Gymshark, a fitness wear and accessories brand. 

Once you decide on the proper benefits, bonuses, and perks for your workers, make sure you enumerate all of them when you advertise a job to attract quality candidates and get the top talent on board. 

• Automate processes to the fullest 

Flawless employee benefits management can be easily achieved with an automated HR system. You can define your workers’ benefits automatically and ensure guidance for your employees throughout the process. Such a system can calculate employee benefits in an error-free way: health insurance, sick leave payments, vacation days, etc. 

It goes in line with payroll automation so that you don’t have to worry about absence time tracking and payroll management overall. 

Create a Happy Workplace with the Most Desirable Employee Benefits 

As a key takeaway from this article, let’s remind you of the five best employee benefits: 

1. Healthcare and wellness benefits 
2. Flexibility + remote work options 
3. Time offs 
4. Financial benefits (repayment of student loans, 401(k) plan, ESPP) 
5. Personal and professional development programs 

Show that you value your employees’ needs and desires, integrate the above benefits seamlessly into your business process flow, and foster a happy workplace. Start now with Comidor and see how it works in action. 

The post 5 Most Valued Employee Benefits That Your Business Should Offer to Unlock Employee Happiness & Retention appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Employee Upskilling has proven to be a very effective talent improvement strategy for companies looking to scale and empower their workforce and bridge the skill gap. Any company interested in staying ahead of its competition must start by making its organization future-proof by investing in its people today through Upskilling.  

In general, many employers are already taking advantage of Upskilling programs to boost productivity at their organizations. A study showed that nearly 70% of companies invest in Upskilling to handle changes within their organization and increase the efficiency of their workforce. 

 In this article, we’ll explore everything you need to know about Upskilling Employees – what it is, its importance, and steps that companies can take to upskill their employees. 

What is Upskilling of Employees?

Employee Upskilling is a process by which companies invest in their workforce by providing them with knowledge and skills that can help them advance their careers. Upskilling ensures that companies and their employees stay in tune with in-demand skills and improve their processes in line with current trends. 

As a company, Upskilling your employees is vital if you want to achieve your goals and stand out in the industry. Upskilling allows employees to enhance their capabilities, increase their efficiency, expand their skill set and provide better quality work to your company. It is a win-win for everyone! 

According to a survey, 80% of employees say Upskilling training has boosted their confidence. Better employee morale will ultimately translate into a better working environment and organizational success. Want to put your company on the desired path to greatness? Upskilling is the way to go! 

Difference Between Employee Upskilling and Reskilling 

Upskilling and Reskilling are essential concepts in enabling a company to stay competitive. Even though these terms have some similarities, they are fundamentally different. 

While Upskilling focuses on increasing an employee’s performance and knowledge in a current profession or field, reskilling aims to teach an employee new skills to perform a different job.  

Upskilling helps employees adapt to changing market conditions, enhances their value, and positions them for the future. When a company takes time to Upskill its employees, it makes them feel appreciated and valued. And this may be what is needed to get the best performance out of them. 

Reskilling allows employees to test new waters and try a different role in another department or company. Companies may employ reskilling when an employee’s specific skill set is not needed anymore. The employees are then taught the skills necessary to be relevant in a new role. 

By leveraging upskilling or reskilling, companies can focus on developing and retaining existing talent within and avoid the cost and stress of hiring someone from outside the company. 

The Importance of Upskilling Employees  

Upskilling has become increasingly relevant in recent years, and the reason isn’t far-fetched. Many companies are experiencing a digital skill gap. To solve this problem and prepare for the future, companies must embrace innovative strategies such as Upskilling. 

Here are a few reasons why companies should invest in upskilling:

It Boosts the Performance of Employees 

Want to get more out of your employees? Try Upskilling. Not only does upskilling upgrade employees according to the latest trends and developments in the markets, but it also enables them to perform their tasks easier, faster, and more efficiently. Better employee performance will ultimately translate into more success for your business. 

 It Saves Time and Money

Hiring new and qualified candidates in a company is a challenging process, especially while working remotely. Companies have to invest a lot of time, money, and effort into searching for candidates who have the required skills and share the same values with the company.   

According to a study, the average cost of a company trying to fill a vacancy is about $4000. That’s a whole lot of money! Upskilling gives companies a cost-effective alternative by allowing existing employees to learn skills that make them perform better in their current roles without needing a new hire. 

Bridging the Skill Gap

 Undeniably, there is a growing digital skills gap today. Companies now demand more from their employees to stay competitive and keep up with current innovations such as robotic process automation solutions, artificial intelligence, and other technologies.

According to Catherine Schwartz, Finance Editor at Crediful, “Digitalization has created a skill gap that will only continue to get wider with time. Companies now have the responsibility of identifying and narrowing this skill gap through the use of proven strategies such as upskilling.“ 

It is essential that employers first conduct a detailed analysis to understand where the skill gaps exist within the organization. After identifying the priority areas where development is needed, the company should focus on upskilling employees appropriately. Employee Upskilling is arguably the most effective method of bridging this skill gap. 

Greater Employee Retention

The majority of employees will only enjoy working in an organization that shows genuine concern about investing in their upskilling. A report showed that about 94% of employees would stay longer at a company that invests in training them.

There is enough evidence to prove that upskilling can make employees more motivated, focused, dedicated, and loyal to a company that values them enough to invest in them, thereby boosting employee retention.  

Steps Involved in Upskilling Employees  

Now that we’ve seen how important upskilling can be in the success of a modern-day business, the next step is to look at the steps companies should take to upskill their employees. 

1. Evaluating the Workforce

The first step in upskilling is a detailed study of your workforce. You need to assess your team to find out where the gaps are. It is also good practice to survey your employees to find out specific aspects they feel they lack and would like to improve. 

It’s also possible for employees to desire to learn without knowing the areas that need to be worked on. So, you’ll be charged with helping them clarify their need for upskilling. 

2. Research the Latest Trends and Developments 

The next step is to do your research and deep digging. What skills are needed to stay ahead of the curve and relevant in the industry? Find out if your team is currently equipped for the present and the future. If not, how can you begin that journey that will always keep you a step ahead of your competition? 

 3. Implement the Plan 

Now for the most exciting part. How do you go about putting all your research into action? Is learning and development all that is needed? Do you take charge of the process? Or do you bring in experts? The answer to all the questions? Listen to your employees. 

Communicating and collaborating with your employees helps you know the best strategies for executing your plans and achieving the desired results. Even though you can implement some developments generally across the board, there are chances that different employees and departments will need unique training to develop improved skills. 

Remember to be flexible during this stage and customize your upskilling to the specific needs of every employee. Above all, avoid employing a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Conclusion 

Without a doubt, Employee Upskilling is the future of work! As digital technologies and innovation continue to grow, companies and their employees will need to embrace upskilling to stay relevant in today’s market and prepare for the future of work. 

The post Is Employee Upskilling the Future of Work? appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

The goal here is not to downplay the many benefits of working 100% remotely. Instead, organizations must acknowledge these potential pitfalls and take steps to mitigate them. By proactively managing efficiency and productivity during this time of transition, businesses can fully reap the benefits of going remote without experiencing any significant setbacks along the way. 

1. Communication 

The first process challenge that businesses face during remote work is communication. This can be particularly tricky since employees may be located in different time zones or parts of the world. Businesses need to implement clear and effective communication protocols to overcome this hurdle. For example, headless eCommerce requires high coordination and communication between the front-end and back-end teams. 

One way to do this is by establishing regular check-in times for all employees, regardless of location. It will ensure everyone is on the same page and that potential issues are addressed quickly. Additionally, businesses should encourage employees to use project management tools to communicate with one another, as these platforms make it easy for team members to collaborate no matter where they are.

2. Productivity 

Another critical remote work challenge for businesses during remote work is productivity. It can be a particular challenge for companies that are used to having all their employees in the same physical space. To help offset this, businesses should consider implementing some of the following strategies: 

• Define clear roles and responsibilities for each employee, and make sure everyone is aware of them. It will help ensure that everyone knows what they need to do and who they need to contact if they have any questions or problems. 
• Encourage employees to take regular breaks throughout the day, and set specific times for lunch and breaks. It will help ensure employees from working too long without a break and becoming overwhelmed. 
• Ensure all necessary tools and resources are readily available to employees online and offline. It includes software subscriptions, login information, and contact details for key stakeholders. 
• Create a task management system that works well for your team, and encourage employees to use it religiously. By tracking what each person is working on, you’ll assess better whether anyone is falling behind on their tasks. 

3. Flexibility 

Another important consideration for businesses during remote work is flexibility. This means being willing to adjust your processes and protocols as needed to accommodate the needs of your employees. For example, if you have employees who need to care for young children during the day, you may need to be flexible with their hours or allow them to work part-time. 

Additionally, businesses should be willing to offer employees additional paid time off (PTO) if they need it. It can help relieve some of the employees’ stress during this uncertain time. 

4. Social Isolation 

Businesses need to be aware of remote employees’ potential for social isolation. It can happen when people feel like they’re not part of a team or community, leading to disengagement and depression. 

To help prevent this, businesses should encourage employees to stay connected with one another outside of work. This can be done through social media groups, virtual happy hours, or even regular check-ins via text or chat.

5. Security

Security is a remote work challenge businesses must be aware of during remote work. This is especially important for companies that handle sensitive data or information. To help mitigate any security risks, businesses should consider the following: 

• Implement a secure VPN for all employees to use when working remotely. It will help protect company data and information from being accessed by unauthorized individuals. 
• Require employees to use strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on all company accounts. This will help prevent hackers from gaining access to company data. 
• Encourage employees to only access company data and information on secure, password-protected devices. This will help reduce the risk of data being compromised if an employee’s device is lost or stolen. 

6. Working Around Children 

If you have employees who are working around children, you need to be aware of the potential challenges this can pose. First, work schedules and communication may be interrupted as children need attention. Additionally, there is the potential for sensitive company data to be accessed by children if they are using the same device as their parents.  

To help mitigate these risks, businesses should consider the following: 

• Encourage employees to create a dedicated workspace for themselves that is away from children. This will help minimize distractions and interruptions. 
• Require employees to use strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on all company accounts. This will help prevent children from accessing company data. 

7. Hiring Remote Employees 

When hiring remote employees, assessing a candidate’s qualifications and skills can be more challenging when you can’t meet them in person. However, there are a few things you can do to help make the process a little easier: 

• Conduct initial interviews via video call. It will allow you to see how the candidate communicates and interacts with others. 
• Ask for examples of past work. It will help you better understand the candidate’s skills and abilities. 
• Check references. It is always a good idea when hiring anyone, but it’s imperative when you can’t meet the candidate in person. 

When it comes to hiring remote employees, businesses should keep the following in mind: 

• Be clear about the expectations and responsibilities of the role. It will help ensure that employees can meet the demands of the job. 
• Ensure your remote hiring process is secure and compliant with all applicable laws. It will help protect your business from any legal liabilities. 
• Automate the HR onboarding process to provide new employees with a unique experience and excellent first touch of your business
• Provide remote employees with the resources and support they need to be successful. It will help them adjust to working in a remote environment and be productive members of your team

8. Right Work Setup 

Last but not least, businesses must ensure their employees have the proper work setup at home. It includes having a quiet and comfortable place to work, a reliable internet connection, and all the necessary tools and resources.  

Additionally, businesses should provide employees with guidelines on how to set up their workstations ergonomically. By doing so, businesses can help prevent employees from experiencing pain or discomfort while working remotely. 

9. Work/life Balance

Work/life balance is a topic that has been discussed for a while now. It includes the idea that people should have time outside of work to do things they enjoy. Work-life balance is a difficult thing to achieve, and it is hard for some people who work remotely to have a sense of time and set boundaries in order to avoid constantly working. Generally speaking, work/life balance is necessary for the employee’s health and well-being.

The first step in enhancing work-life balance is by setting boundaries between work and personal life. This can be done by setting up boundaries with your coworkers, boss, and customers. It is important to set boundaries so you can have time for yourself without being interrupted by work or other responsibilities. Setting up boundaries will also help you focus on your tasks at hand instead of getting distracted by other things going on in your life. Another way to enhance your work-life balance is by organizing your schedule effectively so you know what needs to be done before the business day starts and after it ends.

10. Right Technology

There are many smart moves you can make to help you reach success and stay ahead of the rest without compromising the quality of your operations. Using technology in the right way will save you time, stress, and resources. Streamlining processes with efficient tools and integrating systems will make all aspects of your business easier and more effective. The right tools and automation software can help you overcome remote work challenges so that you can focus on what matters most: your work.

Comidor is a flexible, comprehensive automation platform that enables teams to work efficiently regardless of where they are located. It allows remote workers to collaborate by sending internal messages, and files, participating in discussions, or commenting on business processes in real time while they work on different projects together.

Conclusion 

If you implement these strategies, you’ll be on your way to successfully manage your business during remote work. Remember to be flexible, communicative, and organized, and you’ll be sure to set your team up for success. 

Author’s Bio:
Tim Davidson is just another Australian who likes geeky technical stuff like headless eCommerce, JAMstack websites, and Progressive Web Apps. He and his team at Clean Commit design and develop blazing-fast websites and web applications. 

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