Author: Mary Lee Ptacek

We love our smart phones. They provide a constant connection to the Internet and to each other. However, they also give us the ability to be constantly connected to work. Many people are finding it more and more difficult to separate their work from their personal lives, which leads to several different problems.

Whether you work remotely full-time or you’re expected to check emails every night, you probably struggle with your work-life balance. We’ve come up with five tips for dealing with the demands of working in our modern world of constant connection.

Measure Your Workload

If you’re worried you might be working too much, you probably already feel stressed and overwhelmed. There are other signs that you are working too much, too.

One of those telltale signs is forgetting tasks. If you have too much on your plate, something’s going to slide off. Then you’ll be left cleaning up the mess that the forgotten task has created, which just causes more work for you.

Take an unbiased look at your workload. How much work have you agreed to do? How much of it is extra or not related to your job description? How much of it do you think goes beyond the scope of what you can handle?

Measure your workload. Estimate how much time it will take to complete the tasks that you’re currently expected to do. Find out if there are enough hours in the work week for you to complete them all.

When you measure your workload, you help discover just what is taking up the biggest chunks of your time. Having a clear picture of your workload will help you better understand the problems you’re experiencing.

Evaluate Your Health

Too much work can absolutely affect your physical and mental health. When you’re stressed because you don’t have enough time or the ability to complete what you need to do, then you’re more likely to make poor choices.

For many people, the first thing to go out the window is healthy eating. Overworked employees don’t have the time or energy to stick to a diet or prepare healthy meals. We eat from the vending machine or grab takeout at the end of an 11-hour day. Sometimes we resort to overconsuming alcohol or using substances to take the edge off after a stressful day or week.

Needless to say, these unhealthy choices cause serious issues. Even unhealthy eating, which seems fairly harmless, can lead to major health problems down the line. These physical issues also affect mental health.

When mental health issues are ignored, serious problems occur. If you have too much work on your plate, you could suffer from much more than simple stress. More serious anxiety and depression are possibilities, and you could eventually suffer from burnout.

Ignoring how you feel about work can make everything worse. If you have too many tasks and not enough time, you could end up resenting your coworkers, your supervisors, and even yourself.

It’s important to regularly evaluate both your physical and mental health while you’re at work and at home.

Make A Plan

Measuring your workload and evaluating your health are the first two crucial steps you have to take before you make a plan. Yes, we know we’re asking you to add another item to your to-do list. However, taking the time to follow these steps will help reduce your workload and your stress in the long run.

Figure out when you’re going to accomplish your tasks each day and each week. Write down these items on your calendar. That means literally setting aside time to finish projects before their due dates.

Take the time to schedule healthy meals and exercise sessions. You also need to prioritize “me time,” when you’ll do what you love the most, whether that’s reading a book, watching a movie, or having a game night with friends.

Once you’ve made your schedule, ask yourself how realistic it is. Make any adjustments that you think are necessary.

Talk To Your Supervisors

You know you have too many tasks on your plate. You’ve measured your workload and found out just how much is expected of you. You’ve also evaluated your situation to determine what you can actually accomplish without damaging your health. You’ve made a solid plan.

Now it’s time to talk to your supervisors. Show them the data you’ve collected and the plan you’ve created. Prove to them that you’ve been doing more work than should be expected for someone in your position. Ask them if there’s anyone else who can handle the tasks that don’t fit your job description or shouldn’t be part of your role.

Be direct and do your homework before you begin the conversation. Showing your supervisors that you know exactly what you’re talking about will go a long way.

Stay Consistent

Most reasonable supervisors will assess what you’ve brought to them and agree to make some changes. However, you are still responsible for staying on top of your own workload. As time goes on, you need to consistently check in to make sure that you’re not falling in to the same trap as when you were overworked before.

Schedule a monthly meeting with yourself to measure your workload and evaluate your health. Take stock of the days where you feel stressed and overwhelmed. Your health and happiness are more important than any job, especially a job that is continually dragging you down. Keep checking in on your workload. Be your own best advocate so you can enjoy your life!

Have you ever started the day with a to-do list a mile long and a schedule full of meetings? Do you feel like you always have a lot to do, but there’s never enough time to get it all done?

As the leader of your company, your attention is constantly being pulled in many different directions. You’re going to overlook some things, but you don’t want to drop the ball on what’s most important.

While you might miss a meeting or leave one item off your to-do list, you can’t miss the boat when it comes to your employees. Building relationships with the people who keep your business running is critically important.

It can be tough to show your employees you care, especially if they’re working remotely. These four strategies will help you keep your employees happy and ready to work.

Show You’re Available And Fair

Employees want to know that they can come to their boss if they have a problem. Whether it’s a tech problem, a coworker problem, or something else, it doesn’t matter. Employees need to know that they can count on their boss to be available to them. While they should ask their direct supervisor first, they should also know that you’re available.

You can share your calendar with your employees, or you can tell them exactly which hours are best to come and see you for help with problems. Make it clear that you don’t consider their concerns a waste of your time.

Fairness is an extremely important quality in a manager. Emphasize that you value everyone being treated with the support that they need. Ask your employees to come to you with any concerns about fairness.

If you want to show your employees that you care, limit required overtime and provide excellent benefits. Take care of the basics first, and fairly, and you’ll be on your way to establishing those important relationships.

Be Appreciative

There’s no doubt about it: without your employees, your business would not run. Your staff is crucial to your success, and you need to let them know.

Always reward employees for a job well done. While the reward will depend on you and the employee, a written thank you card is always a good idea. It’s a memento that they can keep in their desk to provide motivation on difficult days and to encourage them to keep working hard during slower times.

Verbally recognize one employee during a set time period. You could follow the traditional employee-of-the-month schedule, or you could choose to recognize one employee each quarter.

Whenever you recognize an employee, make sure you are specific. State what was most notable about their work. For example, you could say something like “Your follow-through with difficult customers has helped us keep large accounts.” That sort of compliment is much better than, “Your hard work keeps us afloat.”

You should also check in with employees who are experiencing a challenging time, either in their professional role or in their personal life. The fact that they continue to show up in the face of difficulties is important and should be recognized just as much as successes should be.

Schedule Social Events

The population continues to increase and there are more people on Earth than ever before. Because of technology, we can connect with each other more than ever before. However, online connections with strangers or acquaintances can’t take the place of real connections.

While some might view their work as “just a job,” it’s important to give all employees the opportunity to make connections at work outside of their roles. Social events help employees feel connected and motivated to work hard for their work community.

If your staff is working remotely, you can schedule a Zoom call that’s entirely social. Make sure to research games to play beforehand. Set a time limit and encourage employees to bring snacks and drinks.

If your staff is working in-person, then you should schedule a themed get-together during work hours. It’s a great idea to get a break from the office/the building and go out somewhere, if possible. Bring game ideas as a backup plan if natural socializing needs a nudge. This is also a great opportunity to recognize the employee of the month or quarter. Try to schedule these events on a regularly recurring basis.

Provide Perks That Elevate The Environment

The days of boring office environments are over. It’s time to think about how perks and amenities can motivate employees to have a positive attitude and to work hard.

Studies have proven that open offices, where no one can close the door to their office or has the privacy of a cubicle, create problems. Coworkers distract each other with conversation, and there’s too much noise for real, deep work.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t offer amenities, though. A snack bar is a great perk that shows employees you care. A coffee bar is another great amenity. Some of the giant tech companies have nap rooms, but that might not be the best solution for your business.

It’s also a great idea to give employees the opportunity to walk outside. A walking path allows employees to take a quick break, breathe some fresh air, and come back to their desk rejuvenated.

Take a good look at your office furniture, too. Is it comfortable and supportive, or outdated and flawed? If you can, look into upgrading the oldest furniture at leas.t

Wrapping It Up

To show your employees you care, make it evident that you are available, do your best to be fair, show your appreciation directly, schedule social events, and provide perks that elevate your office environment.

Embracing these four steps will show your employees that you want to help them succeed in their careers. Most importantly, your actions will show that you care about them as not just an employee, but as a person.

Women around the world enjoy pouring themselves a cup of ambition and trying to make it big in the sales world. But how fair is the sales world, really, to women? Do women get the promotions they deserve whether they’re working 9-5 or longer hours?

According to the 2018 U.S. Census, the answer is no. The U.S. sales industry has the second-highest pay gap between women and men. The highest pay gap in the country is between men and women in finance.

That spells bad news for women who want to, or who are currently trying to, make a large income in sales. Being prepared for the challenges women in sales face is the first step to closing this gap. Equal pay for equal work is essential in a modern world. Here are five problems women in sales face and potential solutions to each.

Problem #1: Systemic Flaws

Unfortunately, one of the top problems that women have in business is that they simply haven’t been allowed to, or had the opportunity to, establish their place for as long as men have. Women who don’t have relationships with clients passed on from mother to daughter, for example, are at a disadvantage. Fathers who pass on their clients to sons are giving their sons an advantage that women just don’t have.

Speaking of sons and daughters, let’s take a look at motherhood. Women have faced hiring discrimination for decades because employers do not want to hire, train, and pay someone who will be temporarily gone for maternity leave. They sometimes even attempt to fire women while they are gone on maternity leave. This is illegal now, but it has been a problem that’s prevented women from having successful sales and business careers in the past. Maternity leave is a major issue that prevents women from leading successful sales careers.

Problem #2: Lack Of Networking Opportunities

Because there have historically been fewer women than men in business, there are fewer women to go to for networking opportunities. That means fewer women mentors are available, which is especially bad news for young women who are just starting out in their careers.

Connections are extremely important in the sales world. While it’s important to have a mentor for support, simply knowing more people in the sales world who can help you change companies, for example, is useful and can lead to a more lucrative career. Networking opportunities can be hard to come by for women in sales.

Problem #3: Unconscious Bias

Women tend to be undervalued in the workplace, especially considering that they meet their sales quotas more often than men do! Someone holds an unconscious bias when they do not know that they have a set of attitudes or beliefs about a person or group of people, and these attitudes/beliefs are not based on reality.

Many men hold common, stereotypical unconscious biases about women in the workplace. Examples include, “Women can’t be trusted because of their hormones,” and “She can’t deal with that client because he’s old school. We need a man to work with him.”

Unconscious biases are dangerous because if they are not recognized and addressed, they can turn into discrimination. If, for example, a supervisor never assigns a woman representative to a certain client, they are limiting the woman’s ability to do her job. It doesn’t matter if the supervisor thought he had good intentions; by preventing women from even trying, his unconscious bias is setting up (or perpetuating) problems from the start.

Note that women can also hold unconscious biases about other women. However, it’s much more common that men hold unconscious biases about women, and these biases affect their actions, women’s opportunities, and ultimately, their performance.

Problem #4: Unfair Business Environments

When many men in a company hold unconscious biases against women, it has a major impact on interpersonal relationships and on women’s attitude about what they can accomplish at work. Unconscious biases effect women during interactions, but it extends beyond moment-to-moment interactions.

For instance, women might not feel comfortable using office equipment or going into the break room because they fear an awkward or unpleasant encounter. They might not speak up in meetings because they fear that they will not be taken seriously. Women might also feel uncertain on business trips because they do not have a support system in place.

Sometimes, companies will require a man to partner up with a woman, even if another woman could have filled that role or if the woman could have accomplished the task on her own. These are all examples of how unconscious biases work to create unfair business environments that prevent women from feeling safe and empowered at work.

Problem #5: Imposter Syndrome

While we’ve looked at major external forces that create problems for women in sales, we haven’t considered one important internal force: imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is the untrue belief that you aren’t good enough to accomplish something, even though there is evidence that suggests you are.

Imposter syndrome affects women much more than men. It creates insecurities that lead women to take fewer risks, risks which could pay off and help decrease (and ultimately, eliminate) the gender pay gap.

Women in sales need to fight imposter syndrome by taking a look at all the hard work they’ve put in and the rewards they’ve reached. Take time to be proud of how far you’ve come and what you’ve accomplished. Then, take that positive attitude and energy and put it to work.

In Conclusion

Women face many challenges in the work place, including systemic flaws, a lack of networking opportunities, unconscious bias, unfair work environments, and imposter syndrome. These five problems can be resolved if both men and women work together to fix them.

Equal pay for equal work is extremely important, and creating an environment where more women will want to work is also essential to eliminating the gender pay gap. Despite the challenges they face, women can led rewarding careers in sales.

While some companies are telling their employees to keep working from home, others are calling staff back to the office. Although it might be easier to avoid office conflict when working from home, that doesn’t mean that arguments disappear entirely.

We’ve come up with four best practices for managing employee conflicts, no matter what the setting might be. Whether there’s a disagreement happening in the office or online, one thing is certain: that conflict is decreasing productivity and making your workplace a less pleasant place to be.

Don’t let conflict take away from your company. Follow these best practices to keep conflict to a minimum and to provide a positive work environment for your employees.

Be Proactive

For this best practice, you’ll have to pick a day to start, and we suggest the first Monday of a new month. The symbolism of choosing the first day of the week to launch an initiative actually helps people get in the right mindset: new month, new practice.

And just what is this best practice? It’s simple but so important: respect. When employees don’t respect each other, miscommunications and arguments increase. Respect is essential to the functioning of any organization or society,

Unfortunately, you can never control whether or how much employees actually respect each other. But what you can do is establish a set of norms. Don’t interrupt when someone is speaking. Each person has this much time to speak. If you have an issue with a coworker’s behavior, then talk to your supervisor.

If an employee breaks these norms, then it’s time to have a discussion with them about the importance of respect and their future with the company.

Establish A Complaint Process

Sometimes a conflict gets out of control, or an employee’s behavior escalates in a way that can no longer be tolerated. When this is the case, there needs to be a process for filing a formal complaint.

No employee should have to feel like their voice won’t be heard. If a coworker is treating another employee poorly, then that employee needs to make it known.

A written complaint that goes into a personnel file will help HR track employee behavior in case the case escalates even further.

Communicate the complaint process to your employees. Make sure they know that they will not be penalized for reporting the inappropriate behavior of a coworker.

Confront The Issue

For less serious conflicts, it’s time to leave passive aggressiveness behind. When a minor event happens, employees should be encouraged to confront each other over what went wrong.

Ignoring tensions can actually make the problem worse as time goes by. When employees secretly dislike a coworker or manager, that’s a recipe for miscommunication. It’s difficult to ask for help from someone who you don’t like or don’t trust.

Encourage your employees to have honest, open conversations with each other. Explain that the first step is to politely state how they feel and what the other person might be able to do in a future similar situation to minimize the issue.

Set Communication Standards

Establishing norms for respect, a process for filing formal complaints, and a policy of addressing issues as they arise are three important steps that all have to do with communication. Communication is critically important in the workplace, and that’s why having high standards for it will help your business move up to the next level.

Decide on how much communication you expect from your employees daily, and how much communication is needed within teams. Make sure that you model clear and concise communication in your emails and meetings.

Be honest, open, and to the point. Prioritize your employees’ understanding. If you have communicated something unclearly, then that could lead to future miscommunications.

You should also ask each team to establish their own communication standards, and make sure you approve them. Ask your employees for feedback about what was communicated well and what needed more clarity.

In Conclusion

Respect, complaint processes, conflict policies, and communication standards are four areas where companies should be following best practices to keep conflict to a minimum and employees happy at work.

Arguing at the office or online can lead to more than just a miscommunication or lost time. When conflict gets out of hand, serious consequences can ensue that can lead companies into disaster.

Make sure that you take the right steps and follow best practices to create a positive work environment where employees feel heard and valued. Communication is key!

Do you remember when, on live TV, a professor was famously interrupted during a news broadcast by his toddler walking in? Then his wife ran in to take the child away, and it was all captured by his camera and viewed live by the world.

The reaction to that interruption was understanding laughter, and that same scenario has been repeated in many a Zoom call since. Sure, there have been other kinds of slip-ups and mishaps, and that’s to be expected when working from home.

We’ve all struggled with the transition to remote work in 2020. But there’s a more dangerous force operating here, too. The loneliness that remote work causes can be isolating to an unhealthy degree. Company leaders must acknowledge the isolation and the effect it can have on employee health.

Trading a bustling office settling for a home office is a difficult swap. However, company leaders have the opportunity to keep their employees’ morale high by breathing new life into the remote company culture.

And what better time to try something new than in the new year?

New Year, New Habits

Studies show that, if you want to develop a new habit, the best time to start is at the beginning. Whether that’s the beginning of the week, month, or year, is up to you. Approach the day or the task like it’s a fresh, clean, blank page.

You don’t know what 2021 will bring. No one does. All we know is that it’s a clean slate, a fresh beginning for everyone to do better given the circumstances. So it’s the perfect time for company leaders to begin new cultural practice for remote work.

Chatterboxes

No one likes a chatterbox when they’re trying to work hard. However, the change to remote work has de facto eliminated all casual conversation between coworkers.

This is one way that company culture has fizzled out in 2020, but many companies have already taken steps to bring back casual conversation into the work-from-home setting.

Slack channels dedicated just to non-work conversations are a good option, as they help make sure informal conversations live on in a remote work world.

But it’s time to do more than that. Follow the lead of tech companies like Slido, which hosts special virtual get-togethers for team socializing. From Coffee/Tea(m) Time Tuesdays to Monday Morning Meetings, Slido prioritizes keeping their employees connected.

Make Meetings Great Again

Many companies have decided that there should be meetings for specific teams, for the whole staff, and, interestingly, for small groups. Conversations between small groups of random employees who might not have any reason to talk are an important way to keep company culture alive.

While they might not meet in the elevator, employees on different teams can meet through a pre-arranged Zoom breakout room or through Slack’s Donut feature.

The frequency of these meetings is up to you, but once a week team meetings are a must. Through polling, companies have discovered that video conferencing is an extremely important way to keep employees feeling connected.

All The News That’s Fit To (Digitally) Print

Keeping employees informed about how the company is performing is essential. While it used to be easy for a manager to drop in and tell a team member how things are going, now those updates get lost, either because of a lack of opportunity for that conversation to happen or because other tasks are prioritized.

Don’t let your employees feel like while they’re putting in the hours from home, they don’t have any idea about how the company is doing and therefore they aren’t really a part of it. Employees will feel disconnected and unmotivated to perform to the same levels they used to before remote work if this is how they feel.

Instead, send out a weekly newsletter with information about the progress the company is making. Status updates on important projects, as well as summaries of events and customer feedback, will show employees how their work fits into the big picture.

In Conclusion

By starting fresh with the new year, opening up channels for informal conversation, holding multiple video meetings a week for different groups of employees, and sending out a company newsletter, you can breathe new life into your company culture.

Remote work makes life difficult, but it doesn’t have to be isolating. Your employees will appreciate you taking steps to keep your company culture alive.

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell, post! Social media marketing, and all types of marketing, are essential the whole year long. However, they’re especially important during the holiday season.

The onset of the holiday season means that it’s finally the time of year where we get to fully embrace family, love, and traditions. But exactly how do you combine them all to make sure you’re putting your best marketing forward?

We’ve come up with seven tasks you can complete to make sure your marketing efforts are top-notch this holiday season.

Host Holiday Events

Celebrating the spirit of the season is a fantastic way to involve your customers and show that you care for your community. If you have a physical location for your business, then hosting holiday events is a perfect way to step up your marketing during the season.

These events, which can be anything from special sales to charity toy or food drives, show your community that you are invested in its improvement. Attending events at your business also gives your potential customers the opportunity to check out your holiday sales.

Create A Holiday Hashtag

Brainstorm a creative holiday hashtag for your company. Then when customers attend one of your holiday events or make a purchase at your store, encourage them to take a picture, share the post, and include your holiday hashtag.

This is a fun opportunity for customers to feel more involved and a great way to connect your marketing efforts together across different users and platforms. Make sure that you encourage your customers to use the same holiday hashtag (spelled correctly!) across all their different social media platforms.

Swag Out Your Website For The Holidays

Your website should always remain true to your company’s principles, but that doesn’t mean that your site can’t also embrace the holiday spirit. Many major companies, including Google and Twitter, change their logos for the holidays so that users are greeted with a reminder that there are humans behind the screen. Show your customers your spirit by updating your logo and homepage to reflect the holidays.

When it comes to logo design, consider using bright colors, snowflakes, presents, snowmen, Santa Claus, and other traditional holiday images. However, make sure that the final version of your holiday logo doesn’t deviate too far from the spirit of your original, standard logo and your company’s principles. You want to show your customers that your business is celebrating just like they are, while remaining true to your identity.

Alter Your Newsletter For The Holidays

Once you have an updated holiday-specific logo for your website, it’s time to put it to good use everywhere else. On your email newsletter template, swap out your standard logo for the holiday version. You should also take the time to create a header and graphic that reflects your holiday theme.

Your newsletter is a great place to promote your company’s holiday events and to mention the company holiday hashtag. That way, customers will see that you’re invested in the community and in making a difference during the holiday season. Your email newsletter is a key communication tool.

Transform Your Social Media Presence

‘Tis the season to change that profile pic! Take the time to update your social media accounts with the holiday version of your logo. You should also update your Facebook Cover Photo and Twitter Header with a holiday themed graphic.

When you post to your business social media pages during the holidays, stick to one theme, which should visually tie to your holiday logo. You will have plenty of things to post about if you host holiday events that engage your community. Use all of your platforms to promote your holiday events and sales.

Highlight Holiday Testimonials

If possible, ask your customers for a quick testimonial about why they chose to shop at your business for their loved one’s gift. To make the post, pair the text of the testimonial with a holiday image that fits with your theme.

However, there’s not always time to get testimonials from a customer during the busy holidays. If this is the case for your business, you can still use previous testimonials from customers and pair them with holiday images. The ultimate goal is to make sure that your potential customers know that they can trust your business!

Create A Holiday Gift Guide

A holiday gift guide is a fun, creative way to engage your target market and show off your best products. You can photograph your favorite products surrounded by pine cones, tinsel, bows, or evergreen. You can photoshop in traditional holiday images that are connected to your new holiday logo.

How you go about creating the gift guide is up to you! Whichever direction you decide to take, don’t forget to post your guide to your company website, all your social media pages. Make sure you send out a special edition of your newsletter that highlights just the gift guide!

In Conclusion

The holiday season is an important part of the sales cycle and requires special attention. While you’re already putting in extra hours keeping your business running smoothly and your customers happy (with their loved ones’ gifts in hand!), don’t forget about your marketing. Make sure you choose a holiday theme for all your digital marketing efforts. Keep the spirit of the holidays in your business and in your heart!