Our top tips on creating a healthy working environment

By Rob Muddiman, Healthcare Manager at TPP Not for Profit

Our salary surveys indicate that many employees look at other benefits other than salary when moving roles. Everyone wants their staff to be engaged and happy and every organisation can promote a healthy working environment, regardless of financial benefits. Not only does it keep staff healthy, it can improve productivity, morale and reduce absenteeism. Here we give our top tips on creating a healthy working environment for your staff. 

It may be beneficial if you are a large organisation, to conduct a staff survey to find out personal motivations of staff before implementing a plan.


Encourage staff to move

We all know the benefits of exercise and physical activity; it can help increase attention, speed and decrease stress and anxiety.  To encourage staff to get active offer opportunities, such as a cycle scheme, encouraging them to go for walks and have lunch away from their desk. Offering flexible working hours can enable staff to exercise before and after work. It is important to have Team Managers on board when implementing, in order to encourage others to get moving and lead by example.



Support healthy eating

A well-balanced diet helps us to stay healthy and perform well at work.  We are all more likely to change our habits if we are aware of the benefits. Conduct a questionnaire on what staff want and tailor a plan around this. If you offer food or drink in the office, such as through vending machines or a canteen, ensure there are healthy options available at all times, such as water or fruit delivered to the office for people to eat as a healthy alternative.



Promote well-being

Employees want a positive working environment, which promotes their wellbeing and reduces stress. This could include their workload; ensuring they are able to manage the amount of work they have, having a clearly defined role, that they know what they are responsible for and ensuring good relationships between them and their Managers. A good working environment with natural light, appropriate temperatures and good ventilation all help create a good working environment.


Create a clean workspace

Generally people work better when less cluttered, ensure staff have the work space they need, with monitors at the correct height and a supportive comfortable chair. Employees should be able to adjust their own chairs, monitor (brightness/font size). This should be checked when you carry out workstation assessments. Encourage hot desking, can promote de-cluttering of workspaces and bring people together that may not normally work with one another. This can encourage new ideas; ways of working and help people feel more positive.


Quit smoking

For many, smoking is part of routine and habit, such as a smoking break mid-morning. Find out who smokes and who wants to stop through a questionnaire. Holding an event in the office can get people on board and the support from one another can help people to quit. More information can be found on the British Heart Foundation website to help implement a successful campaign.


You could consider a wellbeing day for your organisation, inviting a company in to undertake lifestyle questionnaires with your staff and give advice on nutrition, physical exercise and general wellbeing advice.

Further information and advice for managers on creating a healthy work environment can be found on the following websites:

British Heart Foundation
ACAS
National Institute for Health & Care Excellence 
Chartered Management Institute 

Creating a talent pipeline for your organisation

By Kate Maunder, TPP Consultant

TPP have just produced an infographic on employment in the voluntary sector (click here to see the full infographic). One of the most interesting areas we looked at was at skills shortages in the third sector, particularly in fundraising, marketing and communications, IT, finance and HR.

Charityworks, the UK’s non-profit graduate programme, has also recently released research showing a concerning lack of talent development within the sector. While one in three of the charity leaders surveyed thought talent was the most important ingredient for success, over 80% said their organisation didn’t prioritise it highly enough. Two thirds expected their recruitment budgets to remain static or decrease in 2014.

As we’ve mentioned before, these talent shortages are likely to get worse in the future as competition for the best employees increases. So how can not for profit organisations ensure that new blood is coming in to the sector and ensure there are clear career paths for existing employees to stop people moving out of the sector? Below are some ideas to consider for your organisation.


Employ young people

The budget squeeze of recent years has made non-profits reluctant to hire for entry-level roles, which could potentially be done by volunteers. In fact, only 51% of voluntary sector employers recruited a young person aged under 25 in 2012, compared to 65% of private sector employers. However, this has helped contribute to the talent shortage as it decreases the pool of people to promote and means new blood is not coming in to the sector.

As well as helping create a pool of future charity leaders, there are other key benefits to employing young people. They can bring enthusiasm to an organisation and contribute new and fresh ideas. Entry level employees can also be more easily moulded into the ideas and working practices of their employer, making them valuable advocates and potential future leaders.

To find out more about bringing new people into your organisation, visit Charityworks or Apprenticeships.org.uk.


Identify potential leaders

Promoting from within your organisation is one of the best sources of new managers, as it gives you a new employee already familiar with your working practices and committed to your cause, with a proven track record, but also keeps your best employees interested and motivate with the potential for promotion.

However, creating career paths for employees is not something the third sector does particularly well, and recent cuts in spending on training and development has only made this worse. Four out of five charity Chief Executives come from the private or public sector, showing an obvious lack of leadership potential from within non-profits.

To increase the potential for career advancement for your employees is a three-step process. You need to identify those people within your organisation who have the potential to become future leaders, look at the potential career paths for those individuals and then give them the opportunity to develop the skills required for leadership. Typical leadership capabilities include agility, judgement, cognitive diversity, anticipation and courage.


Embrace flexible working

More than two-thirds (68%) of the voluntary sector workforce are women but there are fewer women in senior management and there is still a substantial gender pay gap. It’s very important that charities do their best to stop these valuable and experienced employees leaving the sector, eg post maternity leave, and help them achieve the work-life balance they require.

One of the most attractive retention incentives to all employees is the ability to work flexibly, and this just becomes more attractive but also harder to achieve higher up the career ladder. 40% of charity employees already work part-time, and the third sector does already offer excellent flexible working opportunities compared to private sector, but there is always room for improvement – our 2012 flexible working survey found 15% of organisations still don’t offer any flexible working options at all.


Look outside the sector

The biggest skill shortages in not for profits occur in those roles, such as fundraising, that do not have a direct equivalent outside the sector. However open they are to commercial candidates, charities are still reluctant to invest in employees who do not have a proven track record, which really narrows the pool of potential new staff in this area.

However, it is easy to concentrate too much on hard skills and experience, that can be learned on the job, at the expense of softer skills and personality traits, that are much harder to acquire. For example, Fundraisers do not necessarily have to have direct experience in fundraising, grant writing, etc, if they are skilled in relationship building, identifying prospects, producing collateral, giving presentations, or "making an ask”.

Commitment to the third sector and the organisation’s particular cause is also something that commercial candidates may find harder to demonstrate. Volunteer or trustee experience, or even a strong network of contacts in the sector, can be used as concrete evidence of commitment. Candidates from outside the sector also often bring in new skills and ideas and increase the diversity of your workforce. However, there are still challenges to overcome when attracting commercial candidates, eg around salaries.

Find out more about what tempts employees to transfer to the third sector.


Work more closely with your recruiter

Recent research has shown that jobseekers believe recruitment companies are the most effective way of finding out about job opportunities, so it’s important to work closely with your recruiter to make sure you don’t miss out on the perfect candidate.

Reputable recruitment consultants like TPP will be able to give you advice on benchmarking salaries and packages, identifying future talent and creating career paths, as well as supplying you with high quality staff to bring in the new skills you require. We work in long-term partnership with our clients and we like to make sure we have a thorough understanding of their working culture and practices. This helps us find candidates who will be able to grow and contribute to the organisation both immediately and in the long term.

As the demand for the best candidates continues to increase, they have more opportunity to pick and choose and longwinded or complicated recruitment processes can really put them off an organisation. At TPP we try to visit all of our clients so that we can assess their working environment in person and really get a feel for the organisation’s culture – this allows us to make really good matches that work on more levels than just the job description or person specification. We also like to keep in regular contact with our clients, so that we can offer candidates feedback on CVs or interviews and ensure they have a positive impression of your organisation.

5 simple ways to reduce your stress in the workplace

By Jayne Morris, Chief Executive at TPP Not for Profit

Work stress can be brought on by a number of reasons, such as increased work demands, deadlines, changes to staff or bullying. This can have a negative impact on your health, and create problems such as not sleeping, lack of concentration or cause unhealthy behaviours, such as drinking in excess. It can also make it difficult to prioritise, juggle demands and can lead to long term absences from work. It is important to therefore tackle and manage your stress as soon as possible for your overall health. 

In this month’s blog we give our top 5 ways to managing your stress in the workplace. 


1.   Speak out

Speak to your Manager when you feel you have too many demands or deadlines approaching. Together work out a plan of tackling your workload before it becomes too much.  By speaking to your peers or colleagues, they may have ideas you had not thought of or may be able to help complete some tasks for you.

Your Manager may be able to make reasonable adjustments to assist you in performing well or suggest ways to organise your workload to help. It is essential to tell your employer if it is putting you or others health at risk, as they have a duty under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 to ensure your welfare at work.

If you are stressed over staff/company changes or being bullied, talk to your Manager or an employee you can trust. They can help you understand why changes are happening or deal with a problem, such as bullying, through your HR department.


2.   Build relationships with colleagues and peers

If you are in a senior role within an organisation, it can feel isolating at times; use your network or social media to connect with other peers. People in a similar position can help you obtain ideas and cope more effectively. Be positive and have positive people around you and avoid people that can be draining. Have regular meetings with your colleagues, discussing tasks on your radar. This can help ensure tasks get dealt with promptly before it becomes too late and prevent your workload from becoming too much.


3.    Have breaks

Take breaks at work, away from your desk. A brisk walk can really help clear your head and although may not feel like it, physical exercise can sharpen your focus and lift your mood, making tackling a stressful situation seem less daunting.  Take time to eat throughout the day. Low blood sugar levels can make you feel anxious and irritable. By eating healthy and throughout the day you can keep your energy levels up and stay focussed, to help you tackle your work.

It may feel like you’re wasting time that could be spent working, but you’ll be much more productive, as well as less stressed, when you return to your desk.

Access to work from home, such as through a mobile phone/ laptop, can actually make it more difficult to switch off from work or a problem such as bullying. It can be more tempting to check your emails late at night or at the weekend, giving you no time to clear your mind. Switch your phone off after a certain time and at weekends.

Many organisations offer advice and guidance on a healthy work life balance through employee assistance programmes. Speak to your HR department for advice on this.


4.   Get Organised

It is very easy to say ‘yes’ when asked to do something by your Manager or a colleague, but if you are taking on too much you will end up doing nothing well. Think about your current workload and use a “to do” or task list, prioritising your tasks and how long they will take you to complete. Use this information when assessing whether you have time to take on additional work.

If you have a large task to complete, break it down into smaller tasks. This can make it easier to handle and give a greater sense of achievement as you complete parts of it. If you are find you are getting distracted from a task being in a noisy office, with phones ringing and emails flooding in, put your out of office on and turn your phone on to do not disturb. Switching off from distractions and getting a task completed can really help your workload and reduce stress as a result.  If your workload is still too much after prioritising your to do list then delegate responsibility.

If staff changes are affecting your workload, have a meeting with your team, to work out how to share increased demands and who is best placed to handle tasks. For issues such as bullying, ensure you record when the problem happens and report each instance of it. Having everything in order, will help when speaking to HR.


5.    Think Positively

Stress can feel a lot worse by thinking negatively; you won’t feel motivated or have the energy to tackle the problem. Give yourself a well done for completing tasks, however small and using your network, build relationships with positive people.

If changes in the work place are causing your stress, think about the positive impact this may have on your organisation. People generally don’t like change but certain things are out of your control, such as redundancy by your employer and worrying or stressing about them won’t stop it happening. Instead have plans for ‘what if’ scenarios and try to think about the positive it could have on your work life.


Links for HR/Line Managers

If you are a HR Manager or line Manager, you may find the following links useful in tackling the issue of stress in the workplace. Employers have a legal responsibility to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
 

CIPD – Line management behaviour and stress at work
Health & Safety Executive – Management Standards for work related stress
Employee Assistance Professionals Association


Useful Links on managing your stress

Managing Stress at the top
Help guide – Stress at work
Health & Safety Executive – tackling work related stress

 

 

 

 

An employee onboarding checklist

By Rob Hayter, Director at TPP Not for Profit

Onboarding is the process on inducting a new employee into your organisation and getting them up to speed.  Rather than just leaving them to get on with things, it’s important to make sure that a new member of staff understands your brand and values, the working culture of your organisation and their personal targets and expectations.


A good onboarding process means that a new employee can become productive much more rapidly, helping you to recoup the time and costs involved in recruitment more quickly.

This month’s blog takes the form of a checklist that will help make sure you don’t forget any steps in this important process.  And don’t forget that temps, Trustees and volunteers will need onboarding too!


Before they start

Hold a planning meeting before the new employee starts with key stakeholders, so you can ensure nothing is forgotten and everyone knows which areas of the onboarding process they are responsible for.

Work with your IT team to make sure they have a workstation, email, telecoms, network drives etc set up.

Order business cards.

Make sure key events and meetings are in their diary before they start.

Update your org chart, telephone directories, staff list, seating plans & circulate to all staff.

Make sure the new employee knows when and where to report and who to ask for at reception.

It’s a really good idea to create an induction manual to ensure everything is covered and that the process is consistent for all new members of staff.  This should include your organisation’s background, mission and structure plus staff policies, health & safety information, etc.


On the first day

Book time slots in your diaries for induction, and make sure you go to a meeting room so that you are not interrupted.

Make sure you give your starter a written plan of their objectives and responsibilities.  This is crucial to making sure they know what is expected of them and where to direct their energies.

If there is a probationary period, make sure it is clear what is needed to pass probation.

Have all HR paperwork ready to be completed on day one (or in advance if possible).

Introduce the starter to all their colleagues (or all employees in smaller organisations).

Assign a mentor or buddy at the same level as the new employee to help with day to day issues.

Take them out to lunch with a group of colleagues on their first day.

Run through your organisation’s formal policies, as well as informal conventions like dress code, sickness procedure etc.


In week one


Arrange induction meetings with all teams and back office functions for the new employee, so they have a good understanding of what different areas of the organisation do.

If possible, it’s a really good idea to arrange a welcome meeting with a director or the CEO, so they can personally make the starter feel welcome and explain their vision for the organisation.

Arrange training if needed.

Make sure they have some actual work to do, not just learning.  It’s virtually impossible to take in everything if it’s presented in one unbroken block of information.


Ongoing

Set regular (weekly if possible) meetings to check the progress of the new employee and that all areas of the induction have been covered.

Arrange a formal progress meeting (often a probation review) after three months.  This should have been enough time for an employee to settle in and start producing work of value.

In the unfortunate situation where things are not working out, act promptly.  It’s in everyone’s interest to be told about the situation as soon as possible.  Set a plan for improvement and if that fails, cut ties as soon as possible.


Useful Links

Induction advice from CIPD

Induction & probation forms and templates from HR Bird

Recruitment & induction booklet from Acas

Downloadable probation documents from CIPD