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Christine O’Reilly’s appointment as a non-executive director of ANZ Banking Group marks another important milestone in the progress towards gender diversity on the boards of the largest ASX companies.

From November, ANZ, which is chaired by former Optus CEO Paul O’Sullivan, will be ahead of its banking rivals with an equal number of male and female independent non-executive directors.

That is significant for ANZ shareholders given the extensive research over the past decade showing boardroom gender parity is correlated with higher financial returns.

O’Reilly has impressive credentials. She is a director of BHP, Medibank Private, Stockland and the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and a former CEO of GasNet Australia and co-head of unlisted infrastructure investments at Colonial First State Global Asset Management.

The accompanying graphic, which shows the leaders and laggards in the gender diversity stakes at the top 20 ASX companies, serves as a timely reminder of the extremely low percentage of women sitting at the heads of Australia’s top board tables.

Only 10.5 per cent of S&P/ASX 200 companies have female chairmen, according to the latest statistics from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

But this percentage is inflated by the inclusion of a number of women who have stepped down, or are about to step down, including Kathryn Fagg at Boral and Helen Coonan at Crown Resorts.

Elana Rubin, who is chairman of Afterpay, will be out of a job when Square completes its takeover of the buy now, pay later company early next year.

The woeful progress in the elevation of women to the top of the corporate governance tree is evident from the AICD data showing women hold about 33.6 per cent of ASX 200 directorships.

Also, the data shows that in the six months to June 30, women have comprised about 44 per cent of new appointments to ASX 200 companies, up slightly on the 43 per cent in 2020.

Three obvious questions arise from these statistics: Why is it so rare for male-dominated boards to appoint women as chairmen? Is there a structural impediment to women getting the top boardroom jobs? What will it take to break the male grip on these positions?

Senior female directors interviewed by Chanticleer suggest that most male directors believe that a non-executive director cannot be a chairman unless they have been a CEO.

This has worked against women seeking chairmanships because the current generation of female non-executive directors were not given the same operational management opportunities as men over the past 20 years.

This issue may be resolved over the next five to 10 years as there is now a growing pipeline of women in line management roles responsible for businesses generating significant revenue and profitability.

But it will take some time for these women to complete their executive careers before making themselves available for non-executive directorships.

The default position that you must have been a CEO of a public company to be an effective chairman does not stand up to closer scrutiny. There are many successful companies among the 20 chaired by women who were not CEOs.

These companies have well-functioning corporate governance thanks to the right mix of collaboration and independent thought.

There is anecdotal evidence that men can only stomach a woman at the head of the board table when the company is facing a crisis.

Examples of companies that turned to female chairmen at a time of crisis include Debra Hazelton at AMP, Fagg (Boral Group), the appointment of Catherine Livingstone as chairman of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Helen Coonan (Crown Resorts).

There is currently a live test at Rio Tinto of the propensity for a male-dominated board to replace a male chairman with another male.

The Rio board has appointed its two senior non-executive directors – Sam Laidlaw in London and Simon McKeon in Melbourne – to search for a new chairman to replace Simon Thompson, who has said he will stand down at the company’s next annual meeting in May next year.

It is likely Thompson will leave earlier than flagged if a replacement is found well before the annual meeting.

If Laidlaw and McKeon follow the default position that the new chairman must be a former CEO, then they could struggle.

The only former female mining CEO of note is Cynthia Carroll, who ran Anglo-American from 2007 until 2012. But she is on the board of Glencore, which would seem to rule her out of the race.

Another wildcard is that Rio has been under pressure from the federal government to appoint an Australian as its next chairman.

One of the less well understood reasons for appointing more women to the boards of Australian public companies is that it changes the tone of the discussion and leads to better outcomes.

That is the message Chanticleer has received from male chairmen who have chosen to lift the number of women above the accepted benchmark of 30 per cent of non-executive directors.

Having only one woman on a board is not dissimilar to the challenges which faced the first female politicians who made it into cabinet. The pressure to shape conversations to be in line with the blokes is enormous.

Having two women on a board gives the women greater confidence to be themselves and provide authentic advice without fear of the classic “rolling eyes” response, which has been so common on male-dominated boards.

The evidence from chairmen is that having three or four women on a board can materially change the dynamics of the meeting and enhance the collaborative nature of meetings.

The appointment of more female chairmen is regarded by many leading female directors as the last frontier of the fight for greater diversity on boards. It should lead to improved governance and higher shareholder returns.

 

This HR expert offers some tips for HR professionals to help coach their managers and leaders to adopt a people-first mindset and develop critical HR skills.

For HR 2020 will be looked back on as a significant turning point for the profession, with that ‘seat at the table’ that we’ve well and truly earned getting a serious workout. 

Many organisations turned to their HR teams for leadership and direction to navigate the people-related issues associated with the global pandemic. And so, with this in mind, I’d like to explore why I think every manager should possess certain HR skills in order to continue responding to the pandemic, and all that comes along with it, effectively.

Below, I’ll provide some practical tips for managers who want to improve their own HR skills and capabilities, as well as highlight what I believe to be the essential skills for a modern-day people management role. 

A motivating force

The future prosperity of all our organisations will heavily depend on having managers at all levels who can motivate, inspire and lead people to solve increasingly complex challenges. HR have been at the forefront of this work for decades now, regularly devising solutions within their organisations to effectively respond to uncertainty, ambiguity and challenge. 

The artwork above so elegantly captures the collective mood of people during the early days of COVID-19 (and perhaps those in NSW who are currently back in lockdown). This mood was one that many people around the world were synchronously experiencing, and it fell on HR’s shoulders to help leaders to try and lessen the impact, by encouraging them to take a people-first approach in response to the pandemic. All the while feeling ‘Ughhhhh’ themselves.

Almost overnight, many organisations faced the prospect of not being able to have people physically working due to lockdowns and restrictions, and there was a need for businesses to deploy quick and innovative strategies in order to enable businesses to continue to deliver products and services.

In this new environment, a lot of organisations survived, but many thrived. Those that thrived were companies that went beyond the rhetoric of people being their ‘most important asset’. They took steps to provide support, infrastructure and care to their employees, not just thinking of them as ‘important assets’, but key partners and stakeholders.

Effective leaders and HR professionals know that it takes collaboration at all levels of business, and diversity of thought, to emerge from a crisis stronger than before.

HR rode the pandemic’s momentum by creating more projects and initiatives that value people at a deeper level, by providing expertise and encouragement around flexible work and mental health awareness, and prioritising the general health and safety of employees. 

Three HR competencies for leaders to emulate

With these lessons in mind, what HR skills should we be instilling in our leaders?

In the HR profession, we are fortunate to have some insightful academics and researchers who are focused on examining the profession, skills and attributes that make for the practice of good HR. 

One of these experts is David Ulrich, who has undertaken extensive research into the competencies of HR practitioners, shown in the graphic below.

Of Ulrich’s list of HR competencies, there are three core drivers that stand out to me:

1. Strategic positioner. This is about understanding the organisational context and operating in conjunction with that context to achieve successful HR outcomes. This competency requires the HR professional to be able to understand the key drivers of the operating environment they are working in and how they can apply their HR skills and expertise to generate further value.

2. Paradox navigator. This is key to the work of any successful HR professional, in that they must be able to deal with difficult issues by holding the tension to a range of viewpoints that anything could be true. In navigating paradox, it is the role of HR to take a curious and inquiring mind to the issue in order to see a wider range of possibilities that exist, as opposed to addressing the issue in a black and white manner.

HR professionals who navigate paradox well can comfortably take truth to power, surfacing difficult issues and encouraging debate and conversation to solve problems in a way that considers various options and/or potential resolutions to issues.

3. Credible activist. HR should build presence within the organisation by delivering results, developing relationships based on trust and respect, and communicating clearly and precisely on key issues.

However, they must extend beyond just being credible by taking action within their organisations on issues of significance and, where appropriate, challenging the status quo. This means that the HR professional will, at times, find themselves instigating change in areas that may be controversial or politically sensitive to an organisation (i.e. such as cultural reform issues).

These three core drivers are not unique to HR or HR managers, but apply equally to all managers who must step beyond their immediate area of functional responsibility and take a whole-of-organisation approach to the way they lead people. 

How can managers build their critical HR skills?

A great way to help your leaders build their HR skills and knowledge is to consider some of the following practical steps:

• Pair managers up with someone from the HR team, for some coaching/shadowing opportunities. There may be an opportunity for you to establish a mutually beneficial mentoring arrangement, in which the HR team member can upskill the manager in some areas of HR and the manager could, for example, bolster HR’s knowledge of the business, such as how the finance or marketing function operates.

   

• Encourage them to sign up to receive daily HR newsletters so they can get the latest management resources and workplace news, and keep their finger on the pulse of all things HR. 

   

• Listen to podcasts that are based on key topics or current focus areas for HR. Some great HR podcasts to start with are ‘Digital HR Leaders with David Green’ and ‘Work Life’, hosted by Adam Grant. 

   

Those who fall victim to perfectionism at work often don’t realise how far-reaching the impacts of their behaviour can be. Here’s how HR can help.

We often conflate perfectionists with those striving to do their best, but they’re not the same.

High achievers are intrinsically motivated by their need to always do a top-notch job – a welcome quality in most employers’ eyes.

Perfectionists, however, tend to be extrinsically motivated by the fear of getting something wrong and/or being negatively judged. For this reason, their conduct often bleeds into destructive behaviour, such as overworking, being highly-critical of others and not knowing when to let go. In their view, the concept of ‘near enough is good enough’ doesn’t exist.

“There are positives and negatives to perfectionists,” says clinical psychologist Dr Barbara Rysenbry. “People who are perfectionistic are very driven. They’re very conscientious, dependable and quite risk averse.”

In an article for the Harvard Business Review, Thomas J. DeLong, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School notes that a perfectionist might inadvertently lift the standards of others in the team.

Because of their fastidious nature, DeLong says they will likely pick up errors, refine concepts and present the final product in a stronger light. After all, as he says, “You can’t be a perfectionist without having your head, heart and soul in the game”.

Their difficult qualities, however, are more well known. Perfectionists are often inflexible in their thinking, Rysenbry says. It’s also not uncommon for them to micromanage, nitpick and prevent others in their team from growing.

“They’re [not always] good at delegating either, or trusting others,” she says. “They will often role model unhealthy behaviours, such as sending late night emails, working long hours, not taking breaks and having no sense of appreciation, because they don’t appreciate themselves.

“People who are perfectionistic may not understand that other people don’t hold the same views about the world.”

Different things determine if someone will be a perfectionist. It might be the result of work pressures or a toxic culture, says Rysenbry. Sometimes it’s just hard-wired into their personality.

“There are heritable aspects of perfectionism, but we can also learn it. That might have come through our childhood, what we’ve been rewarded for, or fear of disappointing others. It feels good to do well and to get that validation, but that means we [sometimes] lose the ability to self validate.” 

With this in mind, we should avoid trying to stop or prevent perfectionism from occurring, as for many people, this is their normal. Instead HR should develop tools to help manage and support the person displaying perfectionistic tendencies.

The workplace impacts

Perfectionists aren’t always aware of how their behaviour impacts others.

“Sometimes people can’t see it because they’re too busy worrying about how they’re being judged or that they’re going to make a mistake.”

To address the behaviour, a good place to start could be to explore the potential risks of the perfectionist behaviour. When doing this, it’s important not to be accusatory but to come from a place of compassion. You’re shining a light on their behaviour, not shining a spotlight on them.

Perfectionists often avoid taking on new challenges or bigger opportunities and instead prefer to dwell (and obsess) in the comfort of the familiar. From an organisational perspective, this can mean they’re less likely to contribute innovative ideas. It might also mean they hold themselves back from progressing in the organisation.

A perfectionist is also likely to be highly critical of their work and overwork as a result. As HRM has discussed at length, the impacts of overworking on our physical and mental wellbeing are profound. Being a perfectionist also significantly increases someone’s chances of developing serious mental health conditions. 

“People who are perfectionistic may not understand that other people don’t hold the same views about the world.” – Dr Barbara Rysenbry, clinical psychologist

So how do you know if someone is a perfectionist? It’s best to defer to the advice of an expert before you make assumptions. However, if an employee has expressed an interest in learning more about their own behaviours, you might suggest they take a perfectionism test, or ask them questions such as:

• Do you struggle to internalise or celebrate your own success?
• Are you quick to find flaws in your work, or the work of others?
• Are mistakes treated as learning opportunities or are they a reflection of your skills/worth?
• Are you constantly afraid of being judged by others?
• Do you often masquerade as having it all together when the reality is much different?
• Do you think your likeability is linked to your ability to be perfect?
• Do you become easily stressed when your environment changes?

How to manage it

For those who identify as a perfectionist, there are some simple support plans that you can bake into a person’s work routine to help them keep the negative elements of perfectionism at bay. They include:

Help them manage their time by setting boundaries

Perfectionists might have a hard time switching off because there aren’t clear barriers that tell them to, especially when working remotely. 

“You might put in a process where breaks are mandatory or outline that no one can eat lunch at their desk,” Rysenbry says. “Introduce self-care activities into your culture.”

You could also take a company-wide approach to help curb perfectionist behaviours by implementing something like the 4,5,6 rule – no meetings after 4pm, no sign offs after 5pm and no one working after 6pm.

Think strategically about where they belong in your business.

Perfectionism and micromanagement tend to go hand in hand, says Rysenbry. For this reason, a perfectionist might not make for an effective leader.

“Perfectionists can be very outcome focussed, which is not something that’s always in our control. But difficult managers feel they need to be in control, so they might start blaming or undermining others because they’re fearful of being blamed.”

However, they may make for highly effective subject matter experts, for example. It’s worth doing some personality profiling (with consent) before deciding where to place them in your business.

This isn’t to say all perfectionists shouldn’t be managers. It’s just good to have all the information up front so you’re able to have a conversation about how to best support them and their team from the get-go.

Recognise and validate their unique skills

Try to acknowledge the positives without encouraging perfectionist behaviours – i.e. “It’s great that you worked so hard to pull this report together. We really value your dedication. However, I can see you submitted this at 10pm. It’s important that you don’t do that again.”

Always be compassionate, Rysenbry says, because “under a perfectionist is possibly quite a vulnerable human”.

“Work is where we get our sense of reward,” she says. “It’s where we want to thrive, and get those hits of dopamine. So it can quite easily become unbalanced.”

Considering a lot of people are simply seeking validation, giving this to them might help to ease unhealthy work habits.

Rysenbry also says to encourage “excellence within boundaries”. Show them how they contribute to the bigger picture with their unique skill set, but caveat that with boundaries.

For example, you might say, “You’ve got a great eye for detail, so we’re really going to value your input on this project as we need to make sure there are no errors before we present it to the client. However, we have a hard deadline on this and I need to be fair and factor in time for others’ input, so I’ll need you to finish this by X time.”

Provide helpful tools and 1 on 1 support

Rysenbry suggests sitting with perfectionists to help prioritise their work, as sometimes it can be difficult for them to separate important work from not-so-important work, and they might default to panic working. 

You can also help by clarifying which tasks they should put the most effort into, so they’re not expelling unnecessary energy on insignificant work.

To alleviate any stress the perfectionist’s team might be feeling, Rysenbry suggests coaching the perfectionist to develop a problem-solving mindset rather than a blame mindset if someone comes to them with a mistake or issue.

Rysenbry also suggests using what she calls a ‘worry notepad’. Here, anxious perfectionists can write down the things they’re worried about as they crop up and, at a later point in time, reexamine it to see whether these are issues they can do something about or if they are just engaging in futile speculation. This helps people gain more perspective about what is really going on. 

“Humans get very caught up on what might go wrong, so we need to help people to change that and instead think about it like this: ‘If something does go wrong, we will fix it at the time.’

 “A lot of perfectionism is about trying to neutralise that discomfort. They keep working, working and working, trying to stop themselves from feeling anxious or worried about things that might go wrong in the future.” 

This is where mindfulness techniques can come in handy.

Help them to develop a new narrative

Coaching a perfectionist to think about their behaviour in a new way can be a simple yet powerful way to rewire their thinking. 

In another article, HRM interviewed Dr Valerie Young, the leading expert on Impostor Syndrome. Perfectionism, she said, is a common side effect of impostor syndrome.

Young’s advice was to help these people delineate between having high standards and being a perfectionist by giving them a mantra to follow, such as: ‘Perfectionism inhibits success. Your perfectionism impacts others. Not everything deserves 100 per cent’. 

You could encourage people to develop their own mantra and perhaps keep it somewhere in plain sight, so they’re reminded of it each day.

Slowing the hamster wheel

Helping someone to address their perfectionism is not an easy task; it’s likely something they (and you) will need to learn to live with. 

However, by providing simple support mechanisms, employers and HR professionals can help to pump the breaks and give perfectionists and their colleagues a sense of reprieve from time to time.

With any luck, with consistent and committed support, you can start helping perfectionist employees to realise that near enough really is good enough.

In the spring of 2020, millions of people were losing their jobs as the pandemic shuttered entire industries and sectors. Individuals who remained employed craved job security, so they hunkered down in gratitude, hoping that they wouldn't be one of the unlucky ones to become unemployed. Fast-forward to June 2021, and everything is different. The dire situation from last year has rebounded so rapidly that it's hard to comprehend the incredible resurgence in available jobs.

During the third week of June, a new kind of headline started appearing on news websites. In what Texas A&M University professor Anthony Klotz predicted as "the great resignation," American workers are resigning from their jobs in numbers not seen in the last 20 years. According to a Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from the U.S. Department of Labor, job openings soared to 9.3 million, shattering previous records.

Why are so many people quitting their jobs?

The consensus of everyone researching this phenomenon is that people have learned that life is fragile. And short. All over the world, individuals are re-examining their lives. In particular, the pandemic created an existential movement for Americans. People who were formerly happy to have a stable job have started to question what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Above all, Americans have a renewed sense of the importance of family and work-life balance. Overwhelmingly, employees want flexibility, which goes a long way towards creating a healthier work-life balance.

As an employer, you can make sure that your valuable employees have a work-life balance to make them want to stay put.

Rethink American work culture

American culture rewards hours worked over productivity and perceives those who desire a better work-life balance as weak. Some employees may be hesitant to open up about what work-life balance means to them. So, you must take a critical look at what work-life balance currently looks like within your business and determine what changes need to be made. If you have created a culture in which employees fear taking time away from work, prepare for a massive departure if you don’t make changes soon.

As you consider ways to help your employees achieve a healthier work-life balance, you should talk to them and find out what they need. To do this, you can ask them to fill out a survey about different areas of your company's balance-related factors. Topics should include flexible scheduling, hours worked, support for employees who are parents, and more.  Keep in mind that different employees will define work-life balance differently. So it’s all about finding a win-win for you and them. 

Focus on employees’ productivity, not hours spent in a chair

Employee perks that offer value to employees can be a huge factor in determining whether or not they stay with your company. A service that has a minimal cost to you may be considered valuable to your employees. For example, having a massage therapist come to the office a couple of times per month won't cost much, but your employees will appreciate it. 

As a leader, your main goal is for employees to complete their work. You're probably not invested in the details of how a task gets done as long as deadlines are met. Focusing on productivity and task completion instead of how many hours someone sits in a chair will result in expediency.  Encourage your managers to reward a job well done, regardless of whether or not it took ten minutes or ten hours. Work expands in the time allotted. If employees fear finishing their work sooner than others, they may very well slack off instead of work.

Offer flexible and remote scheduling options

For years, many companies assumed that people would not be as productive when working from home. The pandemic shattered that myth, and businesses were delighted to find that some people are even more effective when working out of a home office. While this type of flexible scheduling doesn't work for every business, finding ways to give your employees the flexibility they need will help you retain them. 

However, it's not just about working from home. Flexible scheduling is something you can do even if you need your team in the office. For example, if a parenting employee has a sick child, you can consider offering them the opportunity to work alternative days or hours to make up their time. Human beings aren't machines. Besides the requisite bathroom breaks, employees can benefit from more breaks throughout the day. The human body was designed for movement, not sitting and staring at a computer screen for eight hours. 

There was a time in the American business world when employees had to prove their dedication to the company by foregoing time off and vacations. The standard for many companies continues to be two weeks of vacation or PTO per year, but is that enough? If your company can afford to give your employees more time, it would behoove you to do so. One way to ensure that employees take their vacations is to have a "use it or lose it" policy. This means that it essentially expires if they don't use their vacation by the end of the year.

Lead by example and review workloads regularly

Your employees will emulate you. Because of this, you have to be a good role model when it comes to a healthy balance. If you respond to emails on the weekends and while you're on vacation, they will get the message that they are also expected to do this. Speak with your team members regularly to stay on top of who has the capacity and who is busy or stressed. Encourage your staff to check in with their managers when they are feeling overworked and need some help. 

One of the most stressful situations is to be a parent who has to choose between their family and their work. It's not unusual for a company to lose valuable team members because their staff cannot take care of their families as needed.If you can offer on-site childcare, that's great, but it's about more than just childcare. Providing equal benefits for maternity leave, paternity leave, or shared parental leave goes a long way towards building employee loyalty.

Don’t forget about those who aren’t parents, though. Avoid resentment by hiring a temporary staff member to pick up the slack while your new parents are out. And have backup plans for unexpected absences. Expecting non-parents to increase their workload during such leaves will have unintended consequences. You impede on their work-life balance and create hard feelings in the process.

Acknowledge differences

Above all, it's important to remember that every person's needs are different. Moreover, their paths to a healthy work-life balance will be different as well.For example, some employees will appreciate coming in later in the morning, but they won't mind working later. Another employee may be happy to work more hours as long as they're not bothered on the weekend.  Companies that keep the best people on their team know that every employee's healthy work-life balance looks different.

Working virtually shouldn’t mean your process for onboarding a remote employee is compromised. Here’s how to make virtual onboarding a success. 

We can probably all remember our first week in a new workplace. There’s often an immense amount of new information to process, it’s next to impossible to remember the names of every employee, and there’s a host of unfamiliar processes to wrap your head around.

Throw all of that into a virtual setting, and a new employee’s first few weeks on the job is likely to be an overwhelming experience.

It’s harder for a new hires to simply turn to their deskmate to ask for help, or to observe how someone else performs their job.

Conducting a remote onboarding process is familiar territory for Ilona Charles, who co-founded HR consultancy Shilo People in March last year.

She has since onboarded 60 consultants remotely, and while she says you can’t entirely replicate the face-to-face elements of onboarding, there are many things you can do to welcome new employees and bring them up to speed. It just takes a little more preparation. 

HRM asks Charles and Rebecca Houghton, CEO of BoldHR, for their best tips on how employers can make the remote onboarding experience a smooth and effective one.

1. Plan ahead

In a physical working environment, introductions to employees tend to happen in a natural way by simply walking around the workspace, whereas in a digital environment, Houghton says employers need to “make a plan and map out those stakeholders a lot more thoughtfully”. 

“Think about who is connected to whom, and walk the new employee through those connections,” she says. “Make introductions via email because you can’t wait for them to happen organically”.

Introductions for new employees can start getting underway before their first day on the job.

Charles suggests sending out an organisational chart with photos of each person, so that the newstarter can identify each employee and know how they fit into the company’s structure, before they hop onto their first video call.

“You can’t replicate face-to-face onboarding 100 per cent, but it’s about being much more conscious and getting the right face time for the new people as soon as possible,” says Charles.

At the same time, however, organisations can slip into ‘video call overload’, and in an attempt to ensure their new employees feel connected and included, schedule video meetings from 9-5 for their entire first week.

“That’s going to be a shocker,” says Charles. “You need to also give your new employees some breathing space.”

One midpoint between formal video meetings and offline working could be to establish regular group co-working time.

This means there’s no formal meeting agenda, or stated purpose for meeting, it’s simply time when everyone can choose to be together while working on their own tasks.

“It’s like having a buddy there to have a chat with. That’s when you know you can ask questions or seek clarification,” says Houghton. “People are often hesitant to speak up for fear that they’re bothering someone else, but this could be a good way for them to feel comfortable doing so, if everyone is on the call anyway.”

2. Connect with culture

Becoming familiar with an organisation isn’t just about learning the ropes of a new role. There’s a vast array of other information that a new employee needs to absorb – such as the company’s strategic goals and underlying values, and how different teams intersect and work together – all of which coalesce to build a detailed picture of their new workplace.

The various pieces that make up the bigger picture are often observed in a physical workspace – there might be flowcharts on the wall, a list of company values, or the new employee might pick up information from simply observing how people interact.

It’s an employer’s responsibility to make sure they are still building that rich and colourful picture for their new recruits in a remote setting.

“Be really planned in how you’re introducing them to the company’s culture,” says Houghton. “Some team exercises should still be happening, even in complete lockdown, to keep people together.”

To build a sense of comfort before an employee attends more formal meetings in their initial weeks, organisations such as Inno Games, a browser and mobile games developer which has successfully onboarded more than 60 new employees over the last year, invited new employees to join quiz nights, brainstorming sessions or team updates, as reported in Games Industry Biz.

Houghton also proposes building a session into your onboarding that involves sitting down and talking through the culture and strategy piece with new employees.

It’s important to bring out the non-work related interests of your team members, Houghton adds, so a new employee feels part of the team culture.

“Have we got parents, gamers, sporty types? This information helps the new employee get to know people on different levels as quickly as possible. As their onboarding leader, think about what your new employee needs to know that they can’t read or pick up via email.”

3. Empower the employee

Creating a smooth transition into the workplace isn’t solely the employer’s responsibility.

Employees also need to take control of their onboarding experience, says Houghton, and employers shouldn’t hold back in asking new recruits to be more proactive than they otherwise might be in a face-to-face setting.

“New employees often wait for meetings to be laid out, to receive logins, or to find out what they need to read. It can be a very passive affair. When we are at home, employees might find they are twiddling their thumbs a lot of the time if they take that approach,” says Houghton.

“Employees should arrive with a list of things they want to know and who they want to meet.”

To facilitate this, employers can ask their new employees to create a 90-day plan that will be adjustable outlining some of their goals, questions and milestones.

“If the boss and employee are both proactive and planned, then the employee will have a great onboarding experience. Otherwise the employee will be lost and waste time… It can arrest the employee’s development and reputation.”

4. Onboarding revisited

When everyone returns to the workplace, it can be easy to assume that an employee who was onboarded remotely already understands the ins and outs of the organisation.

But that’s unlikely to be the case.

Chances are, the new employee probably doesn’t know the answers to simple questions, such as where the stationary cupboard is, or how to use the printer, so it’s important that employers dedicate time towards onboarding them into the physical workspace too.

“Most organisations are focused on rebuilding social connections, but just knowing the tools, tricks and nuances of an organisation is so important too,” says Charles.

“If an employee doesn’t know how to do those things, it can take up large chunks of time and make them very unproductive. There is a huge piece in enabling productivity when people come back into the office.”

• Job ads that included the choice to work from home tripled in the first five months of this year, according to newly released data from LinkedIn.
• The spike is a signal the remote and flexible work forced on companies by the pandemic are likely to persist, Matt Tindale, managing director for LinkedIn Australia and New Zealand told Business Insider Australia.
• Tindale said allowances for flexible work were now extending to even graduate and entry level jobs.

Another round of extended lockdowns is likely to further embed flexible working trends, according to the managing director of LinkedIn Australia.

 

Even before Sydney and Melbourne were plunged back into lockdown, there had been a pronounced uptick in the number of jobs that allowed for remote work, according to professional networking and jobs site LinkedIn.

 

Newly released data suggests the number of jobs offering remote work; rising since the start of the pandemic, showed no sign of slowing down. 

 

Since January 2020, Australian job listings on the platform that offered flexible work options jumped by 14% compared to figures from the previous year.

 

And despite many businesses returning to the office in the early months of 2021, job ads that included the choice to work from home tripled in the first five months of this year compared to those in 2020. 

 

Matt Tindale, managing director for LinkedIn Australia and New Zealand, told Business Insider Australia earlier this month that the company had seen an uptick in postings for remote work since the start of the year, with a significant number in the tech industry.

 

“In a macro sense this is driven by the ease at which technology continues to enable remote work,” he said, as well as “people’s real desire to be able to have flexibility and work remotely as well.”

 

These trends are now trickling down to entry level and graduate postings, Tindale said, as a trend driven by necessity during the pandemic lockdowns solidifies into an acceptable practice by companies and an expectation from prospective employees. 

 

Tindale said he thinks the move toward flexible and remote work as “the norm” will only continue. 

 

“Globally, the [demand] for remote working and flexible working conditions is progressing markedly,” he said.

 

Even “continuing on post COVID, and as we’re sort of returning back to the office,” demand for remote and flexible working conditions has continued to rise, he said. 

 

Remote work driving regional price hikes 

The uptick in remote job listings comes as the trend toward employees relocating to regional areas continues. 

 

In late June, a report from the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) found the number of people that moved away from cities in the March 2021 quarter was 7% higher than the same period in 2020. 

 

It showed the number of people moving to regional Australia was at its highest level since 2018, driving the net regional migration index in the last quarter to be 66% higher than in 2020.

 

And over the past 18 months, demand for property in regional Australia has skyrocketed, a factor that has caused prices to rise by 17.7% in the past year according to figures from property researcher CoreLogic.

 

This demand has outpaced capital cities by significant magins, which were up 12.4% over the past 12 months.

 

Tindale said that as moves away from capital cities impacted hiring, companies were also embracing hybrid and flexible work in order to access a wider talent pool across the country.

 

“Clearly we’ve gone through the greatest workplace upheaval anyone can remember,” he said. 

 

“Workplace norms are just completely changing and we really think this is here to stay.”

As the CEO and president of Asset Living, the fifth-largest apartment manager in the United States, I often think about what my role actually means. Employing over 4,500 employees nationwide, I recognize that I’m quite literally in the business of people. Traditionally, we are taught that our direct reports and subordinates all work to ostensibly serve us, but this line of thinking is fundamentally flawed. 

My employees aren’t working for me; conversely, as a senior leader, I am actually working for them. Frankly, if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have a job. Robert K. Greenleaf first coined servant leadership back in the 1970s — since then, the concept has steadily gained traction among modern day corporations.

At the center of servant leadership is the core belief that focusing on your staff's growth and wellbeing is not only beneficial for company morale, but also ultimately good for business. Happy employees tend to be more productive, motivated and growth-oriented — all elements that propel a business towards long-term success.    

So, what are some distinct aspects of servant leadership? 

• Servant leaders focus primarily on the overall communities' wellbeing and long-term growth. 

• Servant leaders put the needs of others ahead of their own. 

• Servant leaders aren’t all knowing and don’t claim to be; instead, they regularly rely on their teams for guidance and subject-matter expertise.  

• Servant leaders hire people smarter, better and different than them. 

• Servant leaders recognize that in most cases, humaneness comes first and business second because without the people, there would be no business. 

 

While a CEO or founder plays a pivotal role in establishing servant leadership at an institutional level, it’s absolutely critical that leaders across the company embody this style too. In fact, Greenleaf argues that servant leadership is more of a “lifestyle” as opposed to an organizational technique that can be implemented in one swift go. Keeping this in mind, here are some actionable steps you can take to cultivate a culture of servant leadership at your company.  

Be an active listener 

An effective leader listens first and talks last. This tactic is particularly helpful in meetings or brainstorms because seldom will a team member contradict your initial proposal if you happen to share your thoughts first. As an entrepreneur, you want to cultivate original thinking instead of perpetuating groupthink; the latter will ultimately render lackluster results for your business. Often times, the most important question a leader can ask is “What’s your recommendation?” When it comes to problem solving or strategic planning, the people you employ will likely have more intimate knowledge or subject-matter expertise to come up with a solution or original idea. 

Do coach; don’t manage 

A servant leader is unlike a boss. They don’t just tell someone what to do or delegate: They coach and empower. Instead of simply offering advice, they consistently share personal experiences (of successes or failures). Servant leaders are transparent and tell you what they did when they were in your shoes. They are gracious enough to let you know what they would have done differently if given the chance to do it over again. Ultimately, when it comes to coaching, I’ve seen better results when I share my mistakes rather than my successes. In the end, vulnerability displays transparency and makes trust a cornerstone of your organization.  

As your company grows, and with it your list of responsibilities, it’s easy to lose sight of your own development. No matter how senior you are, the pursuit of personal growth should continue. Just as you provide feedback for your direct reports and colleagues, they should do the same for you. As CEO, I regularly undergo executive reviews, which help identify areas I can continue to hone. In fact, I’m currently undergoing media training (a growth area of mine) so that I can better communicate aspects of my business to reporters, interviewers and the general public. 

Lead by example 

The last tip reinforces the notion that servant leadership is more of a lifestyle choice for your business. Whether you’re in or out of the office — in a board meeting or at a client dinner — how you carry yourself matters. Are you democratic in your approach to decision making? Are you kind, compassionate and attentive or are you autocratic, controlling and egotistical? As a leader, your every move is carefully observed. Demonstrate the kind of attitude and behavior you want others to have when faced with a problem or crisis. Lead with gratitude, empathy and calmness. Prioritize the collective before the individual in speech and action. By consistently focusing on the “we” rather than the “me,” you will not only forge success for your company, but also promote better quality of life for all staff.  

Keep your business out of hot water by avoiding these illegal interview questions. A legal expert shares her tips.

Seeking as much information as possible is a natural part of the interview process, but asking the wrong interview questions can have serious consequences for your business. When considering your approach to an interview, it is important to be aware and prepared for what classifies as an illegal interview question.

As an HR or recruitment professional, you’re often tasked with the delicate requirement of preparing the right questions to obtain as much information as you can about a candidate’s character, behaviour and skill sets to make the right hiring decisions. Knowing how to ask the right questions to get that information can be challenging, but it’s vital to understand the fine line between what’s considered invasive, unprofessional and unlawful.

The legal backdrop

Several aspects of Australian employment law make it illegal to ask particular questions.

Section 351 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) prohibits employers from discriminating against both employees and prospective employees on the basis of  the following factors: race, skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, national extraction or social origin.

It’s also against the law for an employer to treat a worker or candidate unfairly or harass them because of any of these protective characteristics (as outlined above) of a relative, friend or colleague of theirs, whether an individual is an applicant or an employee.

Some States and Territories also have anti-discrimination legislation in place which protects applicants against discrimination based on trade union activity, political opinion and criminal records. Employers must be aware of and adhere to these Federal and State laws.

What are illegal interview questions?

With all this in mind, here are some examples of interview questions that you should avoid asking:

• Do you have a disability?

• Are you currently pregnant?/Are you planning on starting a family anytime soon?

• Are you religious? Do you go to church?

• How old are you?

• Is English your first language?

• Do you have any medical conditions?

• Were you born in Australia?

• Have you ever been arrested?

• Who do you vote for?

• Are you married?/Are you seeing anyone?

• Do you drink or smoke?

• What is your sexual orientation?

• Are you a member of a union?

Approaching questions correctly

When in doubt, keep this simple rule in mind: it’s not lawful to request detailed information from candidates about their personal life or attributes.

However, there are instances where a level of personal information is relevant and appropriate to a position. For example, you might need to know about a candidate’s residency status to assess their capacity to work full-time hours.

Or, as outlined in this article from Seek, if a job required heavy lifting, for example, you could enquire about someone’s physical ability to perform a role. Questions such as this do not contravene the law if this information is relevant to assessing the applicant’s ability to perform the tasks associated with the position.

Other relevant questions, even if they are seemingly personal, can also be worded in a specific way to approach a consideration or concern appropriately. Examples can include:

• Are you an Australian citizen? If not, do you have the appropriate rights to work for this position?

• Do you have a current drivers’ licence and a method of transport?

• Do you have any commitments that would prevent you from being able to travel for work?

• How would you rate your communication skills?

• Are you proficient in more than one language?

• What are some of your personal and professional goals over the next 5 years?

• What are your personal interests and what do you like to do in your spare time?

• Based on your experience and interest, what appeals to you about this position?

Despite current legislative boundaries, illegal questions still arise in the interview process in Australian workplaces on occasion. Candidates have a right to refuse to answer these questions and, if pressed, may pursue legal action through regulators as the Fair Work Commission, Fair Work Ombudsman or the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Likewise, claims of discrimination are possible for indirect lines of questioning and focus on personal attributes. These claims can still require deliberation and assessment of the approach of employers.

Other than making some people feel miserable, the winter blues can seriously impact work performance. Here’s how you can help employees combat it.

Welcome to winter – the time of year when all we really want to do is eat, sleep and repeat, just like a hibernating bear. It’s not uncommon for people to experience a dip in their mental health during the colder months. For people who already live with mental illnesses, winter can exacerbate some of the usual symptoms. However, for some usually mentally healthy people, winter can create feelings of melancholy, despondency and dampened motivation. 

What makes these feelings extra difficult to manage is that life and work must go on even though those sluggish feelings won’t budge. 

 You’ve probably heard of the term ‘seasonal affective disorder’ (SAD) before. It’s a form of clinical depression described in the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as ‘Major Depressive Disorder with Seasonal Pattern’. While this is likely more prominent countries that face gruelling, icy winters, roughly one in 300 Australians experience it.

While SAD might not be overwhelmingly prominent in Australia, Dr Nick Titov, psychology professor at Macquarie University and executive director of Mindspot, says many people still experience what he calls the ‘winter blues’.

“Wintertime means we can’t do things which we would normally do, and, as a consequence, we often find that our habits and routines change,” says Titov. “So the things which bring us joy and keep us stimulated and engaged, we may not be doing too much. Because of this, we often feel that we’re in a rut or that we’re running on a treadmill.”

SAD vs the winter blues

While the winter blues might not be an official diagnosed mental health condition, we shouldn’t discount the impact that something like this can have on a cohort of employees.

According to a 2015 survey by McCrindle, 35 per cent of employees experience reduced motivation at work during winter and 27 per cent said their productivity/effectiveness was reduced. 

Unsurprisingly, the tendency to oversleep, overeat and socialise less also peak during winter.

Combine this natural seasonal decline in motivation with our 2021 reality and you have a potential cocktail of misery. 

 “Routines and habits are important for many people,” says Titov. “When people are living in a place where there’s a lot more uncertainty, combined with restrictions to our ability to go out and exercise or have friends around, that is certainly going to compound our poor moods.”

Considering the winter blues affect us every year, do employers have a responsibility to address it? Or should they accept it as a natural cycle that some employees need to move through?

 “I’m not sure if they have a professional responsibility [to address it],” says Titov. “But as leaders, we have ethical responsibilities.

 “We want the people we employ to be as well adjusted, productive and happy as possible. This is going to lead to better workforce retention and engagement. I think there’s enormous benefits for us, as employers, to engage the team and support them to look after themselves.”

There are a few ways employers can go about doing this, as HRM outlines below.

Trimming to-do lists

When employees feel sluggish and unmotivated it’s not surprising that they might start falling behind on their to-do list or missing deadlines. 

“You can really notice if an employee is experiencing winter blues when their work starts to suffer,” says Therese Ravell, director at Impact HR. “Often you can look at their KPIs or performance from last year and see exactly the same problem.”

“That’s when you know there’s a pattern that you need to address.”

 This is when you should reevaluate their workload. Or as Ravell says, “check what’s in their suitcase”.

“I like to use the suitcase analogy because if you overload your suitcase at the airport, you’re going to have to pull something out in front of everyone in the check-in line, which can be really embarrassing, or your suitcase is going to bust.”

What she means by this is that when you’re not operating at your 100 per cent, and you overload yourself, you’re more likely to drop the ball in front of others or push yourself to breaking point.

 “We don’t want either of these things.”

Instead, pack your day like you would a suitcase. Put the big things in first – such as the tasks you have to get done – then fill in the gaps with the smaller things that require less time, such as administrative work. 

Also don’t be afraid to take a critical look at what you’re packing. 

“You don’t need a ski jacket for a beach holiday. Reevaluate what you need and what can be put aside,” says Ravell.

Assisting an employee to trim their to-do list can help them feel more in control of their time. It will also reduce the likelihood of feeling overwhelmed with the tasks they need to complete. 

Salute to the sun

Our bodies produce a hormone called melatonin that makes us feel drowsy and helps us sleep. 

In winter, with the shorter days, our melatonin production is often out of whack with our routine. Sometimes this means our bodies are still producing melatonin in the morning when we’re trying to get ready for the day, leading us to feel sluggish and unmotivated.

The natural remedy to this is light.

In the workplace, make sure blinds are open so plenty of sunlight can pour in. If it tends to be dark in your workplace, lamps and overhead lights are a fine alternative. 

There are plenty of light therapy lamps that claim to treat SAD, but these should only be used with the guidance of a medical professional.

In a remote environment, keeping an eye on light levels can be more difficult. In this case, Ravell suggests braving the cold and having outdoor virtual meetings.

“If I’m on a video call with an employee and I can see it’s very dark where they are [i.e. they might be sitting in a dark room], I’ll often ask if they have a balcony or deck where they can sit and soak up the sun while we talk,” she says.

We should also fight the urge to make every meeting a video call, Ravell suggests, as a traditional phone call gives the person the option to leave their workspace, go for a walk and find some sunlight. 

Make sure leaders are setting the example, says Ravell, adding that she took the call for this interview from her deck to soak in the rays.

“So the things which bring us joy and keep us stimulated and engaged, we may not be doing too much. Because of this we often feel that we’re in a rut or that we’re running on a treadmill.”  – Dr Nick Titov, Macquarie University.

Stay healthy

Mental health is very closely related to physical health, so it’s important to remind staff to stay active.

“I encourage staff to move away from their desks and go for walks, [especially] in lockdown, says Ravell.

She also encourages employees to create daily step goals that they share via their internal message platform. 

“We encourage employees to go for a 30-minute walk and when they come back they can share on Slack if they met their goal or not. This means they’re getting time outside away from the computer and doing some physical activity.”

Of course, getting moving is just one aspect of staying healthy. Good sleep health is also important. 

With our oversupply of melatonin production, our sleep can become disrupted. People experiencing SAD often also suffer sleep problems. This can include insomnia, restless sleep and nightmares. 

Employers can help by encouraging employees to disconnect, suggests Titov. Make sure employees log off on time and shut off from work altogether at the end of the day – that means no late night email checking.

Have a break

At this time of year, many people would usually take off for warmer climates, but with state and national borders closed, that’s nearly impossible for most employees. 

However, this doesn’t mean employees shouldn’t consider taking a break. If done properly, time off can be helpful for an employee’s mental health and motivation levels. 

“If work becomes tiring and employees are losing momentum then that’s a signal that they need to take a break and recover,” says Titov.

A staycation can still provide benefits, he adds. One of his team members, who usually travels this time of year, instead took time off to do renovations around their house.

“[That person got] a lot of joy and satisfaction from doing that. It may not be the same as a holiday, but it’s still going to give them quite a lot of benefits.”

Employers can help by actively encouraging employees to take time off where appropriate. Also, ensure employees are aware of your organisation’s leave policies and how they can apply for it. 

It’s important to remind employees to be kind to themselves if they are experiencing SAD or the winter blues. Poor mental health can make your brain feel fuzzy and slow. Until the issue is resolved, they’re unlikely to be at their peak performance level, so managers and colleagues needs to be prepared to support them through that.

On the bright side, before you know it , spring will roll around and encourage a warmer, sunnier disposition. 

While company policy should protect benefits and hold management accountable in part for employee happiness, employees also need to start advocating for their needs. No benefit is too small to matter, whether it’s working from home or taking allocated vacation time.

Here are some tools that help employees feel confident advocating for themselves and suggest ways that corporate culture can change to include accountability metrics for managers and employees.

The beauty of boundaries

One of the best methods for improving workplace culture is promoting personal boundary-setting. Setting boundaries for yourself helps line up expectations for others and can be an excellent way to reduce workplace conflicts.

Start by asking yourself: What helps you succeed? What sends you into a stress spiral? Once you understand your limits, you can have an honest conversation with your supervisor about restructuring and prioritizing your work responsibilities.

Technology can also help with boundary setting. By using software built for collaboration to track your time and progress on tasks, you can justify a flex-work schedule by providing tangible proof to a manager questioning your productivity. You can also adjust your availability to “do not disturb” before 9am or after 5pm, set yourself as away or pause notifications when you need to shut out distractions to meet a deadline.

These days, it’s far too common for employees to say yes to everything, whether it’s putting in extra hours or taking on more responsibilities in their roles. While this is also a symptom of a culture fraught with a hyperactive work ethic, it’s also what happens when appropriate boundaries aren’t set.

By setting boundaries for workload and communication, you’ll be making tangible steps toward improving your workplace. And keep this in mind: The only people who will take issue with your boundaries are those who benefited from you having none.

The accountability factor

Think back to your last quarterly meeting with your supervisor. Chances are, they led the conversation, highlighting your achievements and providing some constructive criticism. In a perfect world, your supervisor would then open up the floor for you to give the same feedback. However, this is unfortunately not the norm.

The top-down corporate value model needs to be flipped on its head. For a truly balanced workplace, supervisors and managers should be held accountable in the same way employees are judged based on work output and attendance. You can tell when this is important to a company because they have accountability measures in place that help them to ensure values are being upheld inside their management teams, and employee’s rights are protected.

On an individual level, employees getting a written list of expectations and benefits before starting a position is an excellent place to start when evaluating and advocating for accountability metrics. Closely evaluate benefits like time off, workload expectations and workplace communications. Ask questions during the interview process about how these are maintained and enforced. Negotiate when something that’s important to you is missing. Make sure that benefits and cultural expectations are explicitly stated and not implied.

Using collaboration tools can help you bring tangible evidence of your achievements to the table. By having documentation of your contribution to the team every month or quarter, you have “proof points” of your ability to perform no matter where you work, and when exactly you’re logged on.

Keep your list of job expectations handy during performance evaluations, and advocate for an opportunity to revisit values and boundaries as frequently as needed with supervisors. Not only will this help establish a reasonable set of expectations for employees, but it will also keep supervisors honest and limit exploitation and unreasonable work demands.

Personal accountability

Okay, so you’ve laid out your boundaries and identified values and expectations, but what next? This can sometimes be the hardest part: holding yourself accountable for maintaining your boundaries and limits. When it comes to evaluating, how much extra time and energy do you give your work, and where do you draw the line?

Workplaces can be competitive environments, and it’s all too easy to compare yourself and your performance to that of your colleagues — even if your colleagues are workaholics. Comparison to others will make you feel pressured to take on more and work longer hours just for the sake of “keeping up” with everyone else.

Rather than getting sucked into the grind of over performing and comparing yourself to others, hold true to your values. This can mean exercising your right to leave work at a reasonable hour, not replying to work emails after a set time, saying no to extra projects or taking well-earned vacation time and truly unplugging. Uphold your boundaries. Whatever is important to you is worth fighting for.

For better or worse, standing up for what you believe in often makes you stand out. This might cause some inner conflict, but ultimately you’ll be setting an excellent example for your coworkers and employers alike. When you exercise your ability to uphold corporate values on an individual level, your colleagues will hopefully follow suit. Employers also need to do their part and take ownership of the work culture alongside employees. If everyone is onboard and does their part, workplace culture will shift for the better.