Tag Archives: Corporate Business Solution

Is Income Protection Worth having if you are Self-Employed?

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For the self-employed in the US, you are the business. Every day you feel unwell and can’t go to work is a day when no income is generated.

Of course, that isn’t true for every self-employed individual. You may have staff who can continue working and generating income without you, so a day or two absences won’t matter too much.

But what if your illness or injury is more significant, and the period you will be unable to work could be several weeks or even months!

It won’t happen to me

Maybe you’ve always maintained good health so a scenario like that will never happen to you?

Maybe.

And maybe not. Up to a third of US, workers have a period during their working life when they are unable to work for three months or more.

How would three months of no income affect you and your family?

This takes us back to the question of whether Income Protection is worth having if you are self-employed.

What is Income Protection Insurance?

If you suffer from any illness or injury that stops you from working, you will receive a monthly payment until you are able to return to work.

There will be a stand-down period before you can claim, e.g., 4 weeks. A waiting period of 13 weeks may halve the cost of the insurance, but if you are off work for 12 weeks only, you would receive nothing.

On the other hand, most policies will keep paying right through to age 65. Although you can choose shorter payment periods, as little as two years. Again, that could almost halve the cost). Some policies may even pay for longer periods, beyond 65, recognizing that many intend to work longer these days.

Another key benefit of Income Protection insurance is around when payments stop.

If you are considered well enough to return to work, payments will cease.

However, most policies have an ‘own occupation’ definition.

Let’s assume you are a builder and spend 80% of your time doing physical building work, and 20% of your time doing paperwork or marketing duties.

If you suffer a back injury that permanently prevents you from ever doing physical work again, then even though you could return to work and do 100% just paperwork, the insurance company can’t make you. You can continue to receive your monthly payments until age 65 or whatever your payment period is.

You can choose to return to work part-time or even full-time and just do administration work, but that is your choice. If you earn the same amount as your monthly benefit or more, your payments will stop. But if you earned less, perhaps because you aren’t working full hours, the insurance may still pay you a pro-rata payment to top up your earnings.

How much will I get paid?

The amount you are paid may also be increased each year to keep pace with inflation.

The amount you can typically cover varies between a maximum of 50% to 75% of your income.

If self-employed, you may need to be able to show your three most recent years of income and ensure a percentage of the average income across those years.

If you take advantage of various tax deductions to reduce your taxable income, this does not help you with Income Protection, as you can only insure your taxable income.

Like all insurance, Income Protection is worth it if you become eligible to claim. You need to understand your policy and find the right balance between cost, what you would get paid at claim time, and for how long.

If you can ensure a suitable income, and you do suffer some illness or injury that has you off work long-term, then Income Protection guarantees ongoing income that could keep your business going until you can return to work. Alternatively, it enables you to close down the business, but still, receive a suitable ongoing income to pay your everyday ongoing family living expenses.

Corporate Business Solutions provides business analytical, consulting services and strategic tax planning to the owners of small and medium-size business throughout the United States.

Choosing References for your Resume

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If an employer is contacting your references, then they are already convinced you can do the job but want to hear from someone who has personal experience of seeing you at work.

They want to hear only positive things from your references, so selecting the right people is crucial to a successful job application.

Where do you Start?

Your references should be someone you have worked with in your current or a recent job (or during an internship), preferably in a more senior position than yourself (e.g., your Manager/Supervisor), or a tutor from a University level course you recently completed.

The longer and more recently they have known you, the better.

Do not use personal friends or family as references, unless there is nobody else.

You should always ask these people if they would be a reference for you before you put their details on any job application.

What will your Reference Say About You?

The first and most important aspect of choosing a reference is to choose someone who is only going to say good things about you.

If it is a boss, you did not get on well with, then that is not the person to put on your CV. Even if you feel the response from that person was unfair.

If there is somebody you know who has a strong reputation in your industry, their name alone can be extremely influential.

Having someone as your reference that the employer or recruiter immediately recognizes makes them think, that if this person is prepared to give you a good reference, then this candidate must be well suited to the job.

A quality reference can make a big difference to any Job Application

Don’t be afraid to coach your references when you ask them to be your reference

How do you Coach your references?

You phone them or speak face to face if you can, or maybe email them, and ask them if they will be your reference

If you are about to apply for a specific job, tell them a little about the position and the skills that are required. You might then suggest to the references that these are among your strongest skills!

Let them know that they may be contacted soon. This ensures they keep you in their thoughts and are not surprised when they do get contacted.

When the reference gets contacted by the employer, they are now more likely to speak positively about you concerning those skills.

If you had some areas of weakness in the past and you have now made improvements, then you can also let the reference know what you have been doing recently to improve your skills in those areas.

Again, the references might mention when they are contacted that you have upskilled recently in areas that had not previously been your strongest.

You might have a great resume and crush the interview, but a conversation with a reference that raises questions rather than confirms your abilities can be the end of the road. Choose your references wisely and make sure they are aware of being contacted. Then you will have satisfied businesses like those at http://www.cbs-cbs.com/.

Employee Incentives: Gym Memberships

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Running a profitable business is usually dependent on a stable workforce. If you have high staff turnover or lose key staff from time to time, you need to consider what you can do to retain these staff.

Disengagement stems from over-exhaustion, ineffective management, or misalignment throughout an organization. Low morale leads to high turnover rates, low productivity, and ultimately, disengagement. Unhappy workers cost the U.S. up to $550 billion per year.

When this happens, you need to find a solution, fast!

The most obvious incentive is to pay more to your employees. But as soon as competitors match your pay rates, or offer to pay more, the value of your incentive vanishes.

Employee Incentive Programs

These programs can be introduced to attract, engage, and retain talent. The rewards and benefits included can be used to motivate positive behaviors in your workforce.

Perhaps the most important thing they can do to keep employees engaged is to effectively incentivize them. Incentives give employees something to strive for and provide tangible acknowledgment of their splendid work. When an incentive is offered, 85% of workers feel more motivated to do their best.

Gym Memberships Work as an Employee Incentive

In April 2021, the health and well-being app Engage recorded a 32% rise in demand for gym membership discounts.

The app found that employers were prioritizing health as a result of the impact of the covid pandemic. They reported that regular exercise reduced the risk of dying from infectious diseases like covid by more than a third and that a majority of adults want to be fitter and healthier.

Gym Memberships are now the most demanded benefit as part of an employee incentive scheme.

Workers are now looking beyond purely financial rewards in the workplace. They are actively seeking a better work/life balance and are increasingly expecting their employer to support this.

This is making health and well-being benefits something workers feel their job must-have, not something that would be nice to offer.

The increase in demand specifically for gym memberships does seem surprising as these are places people were unable to access during lockdowns.

With the negative impact on mental health caused by the pandemic, it may have been expected that more leisurely health and well-being options might have been more popular. Counselling, mindfulness, yoga, and gym equipment for the home would have seemed to be more relevant.

Employers are increasingly being seen as having a duty of care to ensure their workers are healthy. They are expecting employers to facilitate opportunities for employees to exercise and seek any physical and mental health support they may need.

Working from home during and following lockdown has increased rates of presenteeism and working longer hours. The World Health Organization has stated that working more than 55 hours a week leads to a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, than working 30 – 40 hours a week.

Despite this increasing popularity of gym memberships, it makes good sense for any employee incentive scheme to be flexible enough to consider similar spending for alternative health and well-being options, rather than only offering a gym membership.

Corporate Business Solutions Inc. can help guide you towards making the best decisions for your business around gym memberships and employee incentive schemes.

 

Employee Incentives: Life Insurance

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Running a profitable business is usually dependent on a stable workforce. If you have high staff turnover or lose key staff from time to time, you need to consider what you can do to retain these staff.

Disengagement stems from over-exhaustion, ineffective management, or misalignment throughout an organization. Low morale leads to high turnover rates, low productivity, and ultimately, disengagement. Unhappy workers cost the U.S. up to $550 billion per year.

When this happens, you need to find a solution, fast!

Business leaders and their HR departments play a significant role in sustaining employee engagement and motivation. They need to provide all team members with the resources they need to stay motivated.

If you offer your employees an incentive, 85% of workers feel more motivated to do their best.

The most obvious incentive is to pay more to your employees. But as soon as competitors match your pay rates, or offer to pay more, the value of your incentive vanishes.

Employee Incentive Programs

These programs can be introduced to attract, engage, and retain talent. The rewards and benefits included can be used to motivate positive behaviors in your workforce.

The cornerstone of many incentive programs is group Life Insurance.

What is Group Life Insurance?

This Life Insurance is of great value for employees because it is usually offered to them free as part of an employee incentive program.

Because all employees are covered, the insurer can average out the insurable risk and the cost to the employer is much less than the combined normal retail rates for all the employees.

The amount of cover can be as low as $25,000 or typically as high as two- or three times the annual salary, sometimes higher.

There are no medical questions to answer, making this particularly attractive to staff with existing health conditions.

The plan can be made even more attractive by adding living benefits like disability, critical illness, and long-term care. These are benefits where the life insured does not have to die for a payment to be made.

Being diagnosed with a condition that fits the definition of a successful claim for living benefits is far more likely than death during your working life. This could include cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc.

Typically, these benefits might pay $50,000 or $100,000 for each employee. Again, these additional benefits usually require no medical questions, so everyone is covered, regardless of the state of their health.

Coverage is tied to your job, so employees will prefer a plan that allows them to continue the cover if they leave the employer. This is generally available, with the ex-employee taking over the cost of course. The plan limits the type of insurance offered and the maximum sums insurable. If their personal insurance needs are greater, they will still need to seek that cover elsewhere at their own expense and based on their current state of health.

Often the plan will allow employees to voluntarily choose to increase their Life and/or Living benefits at their own expense. The costs will be much less expensive than normal retail rates for the same cover, especially for older workers, but approval for the increased amounts may be subject to any existing health issues.

Getting the base cover offered is easy for each employee, often completed as part of their initial hiring documents, it is free, and they are fully covered despite any existing health conditions.

To understand how to structure an Employee Incentive Plan with a Group Life Insurance that suits your organization, you should seek professional advice. Corporate Business Solutions Reviews is one place to start or contact them for assistance.

 

Employee Incentives: Health Insurance

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The current and continuing increases in medical costs can be a major issue for many Americans, especially when they require medical treatment.

Group health insurance plans are offered by an employer of a member organization. Members of the plan usually receive coverage at a lower cost because the risk to the insurer is spread across multiple members.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), businesses with 50 or more full-time employees must provide health insurance to full-time employees and dependents under the age of 26 or pay a fee.

Employers with fewer employees might also choose to have a plan as part of an Employee Incentive Scheme.

Approximately 50% of Americans with health insurance coverage gained this through group plans provided by their employer. However, many of them have little idea how their plan works.

Group health insurance provides many benefits, but when your insurance plan is tied directly to your employment, you will usually lose this cover if you change jobs. In 2017, 22% of uninsured Americans reported losing their health insurance due to job loss or change in employment status.

The 2002 movie John Q, starring Denzel Washington, is an example of one of the traps of employer-provided health insurance. In the movie, due to a downturn in business, his employer changed health providers to save money, and when John’s hours were reduced temporarily, he became classified as a part-time employee.

This resulted in him and his family no longer having full cover. When his son suffered a significant medical event requiring ongoing treatment. The plan in place when he began employment would have covered everything, but the new cheaper plan and his temporary part-time employment status meant only some of the initial medical costs were covered, and none of the major costs would follow.

Benefits of Group Health Insurance

Many employers provide supplemental health plans, which include dental coverage, vision, and pharmacy coverage, either separately or as a bundle.

The main benefit is lower premiums. A 2018 study found the average premium cost per individual in a group health insurance plan was $41/month cheaper than an individual plan. The same study discovered small group health plans had an average deductible of more than $1,300 less than individual plans.

Family members and dependents can be added to group plans at an additional cost to members. These assists families with sole providers, or where other family members don’t have group health insurance with their employer.

Group health insurance plans provide numerous tax benefits to both the employer and employee. Employers’ costs are tax-deductible, and employees’ premiums are made before tax, reducing their total taxable income.

Smaller businesses may also qualify for the small business health care tax credit.

Who can get Group Health Insurance?

To be eligible for an employer’s group health insurance, an employee must be on payroll and the employer must pay payroll taxes. Independent contractors, retirees, and seasonal or temporary employees are not eligible. If you take unpaid leave, you may be ineligible for group coverage until you return to work.

Make sure you know what cover you are entitled to if you work less than full-time hours, even if only for a temporary period.

Coverage must also be offered to an employee’s spouse and dependent children until age 26, though some employers may increase the age, provided children are still dependents. Unmarried partners of the same or opposite sex, may also be eligible for the same cover as their spouses.

Without a doubt, job seekers favor employers with a group health insurance plan, but it is important to fully understand what the plan covers and any changes.

Check out http://www.cbs-cbs.com as a starting point for advice on how a group health insurance plan could be a great fit for your business as part of an employee incentive scheme.

Is Your Business Maximizing the Power of Mobile Devices?

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A 2020 study found that on average, workers waste 8 hours/week on non-work activities, mostly on their mobile devices.

Now calculate the average hourly pay of your business, multiply that by eight, then multiply that answer by fifty-two and you get the money your business is paying each staff member each year to do nothing on company time.

Now multiply that number by the number of employees – and don’t forget to include yourself – and you get the dollar figure your business is wasting each year on unproductive time. Most of it is wasted checking personal emails and social media on mobile phones.

So, what should you do? Ban phones in the workplace, and fire people caught receiving personal calls?

You might have to fire yourself!

And does that calculation tell the whole story about mobile phone use in the workplace?

Of course, there are workplaces where a “no mobile phone” policy makes complete sense. For example, factories and worksites where workers may be around dangerous equipment or need to all be working at a fast pace all the time. Or medical operating theatres where the environment must be distraction-free as well as spotlessly clean.

But for some businesses, banning mobile devices may be causing fewer problems and lost productivity than you think. Making mobile devices MORE available in the workplace could improve productivity.

Make sure you are sitting down because the facts you are about to read may just blow your mind!

  • There are over 27.1 billion devices connected to the Internet – more than three devices for each person on the planet. [Cisco, 2021]
  • 22 billion people (66.6% of the global population) use a mobile device. [Datareportal, 2021]
  • 97% of Americans own a cellphone, with 85% owning smartphones and 53% own tablets. [Pew Center for Research, 2021]
  • More people use mobile to access the internet than a desktop. [Comscore, 2018]
  • 15% of American adults are “smartphone-only” internet users – they do not have home broadband. [Pew Center for Research, 2021]

What do those facts tell you? Mobile devices are here to stay, and their use is only increasing.

What about mobile devices at work?

Today’s employees rely heavily on mobile devices at work. Here is how employees are currently using their mobile devices in the workplace.

  • The average mobile worker works 240 hours a year longer than the general population. [iPass, 2017]
  • 84% of mobile workers have checked their smartphone in bed, while 72% admit to having checked their smartphone on the toilet. [iPass, 2017]
  • More than half of mobile workers say that a lack of Wi-Fi when working remotely would negatively impact their ability to do their job. [iPass, 2017]

Mobile productivity statistics

How are mobile devices affecting productivity in the workplace? This is what happens when employers give their workers mobile phones.

  • 75% of workers say their smartphones make them more productive. [Google, 2017]
  • 97% of the users say productivity apps are the most dominant kind of apps on their smartphones. [GoodFirms, 2019]
  • 82% of IT executives said smartphones are incredibly important to employee productivity. [Samsung/Oxford Economics, 2018]
  • 64% of leaders say technology investments have led to gains in productivity. [Celerity, 2020]
  • 53% of executives said apps improve business processes and increase productivity. [Apperian, 2016]

BYOD & mobile app statistics

Given the potential of mobile devices to increase productivity, businesses are asking employees to use their own devices at work and providing them with business apps.

  • Only 26% of U.S. companies provide employees with mobile phones — the lowest number for any country. [Steelcase, 2016]
  • 87% of companies expect their employees to use their devices for work purposes. [Syntonic, 2016]
  • 72% of companies have a bring your device (BYOD) policy. [Tenable, 2016]
  • 80% of IT executives said employees cannot do their jobs effectively without a mobile phone, and 75% said mobile devices are essential to workflows. [Samsung/Oxford Economics, 2018]
  • Businesses with BYOD policies pay employees a stipend of $30 to $50/month to use their mobile phones. [Samsung/Oxford Economics, 2018]

Mobile security statistics

With more employees accessing business data from personal mobile devices, security is becoming a major concern.

Without appropriate security software installed, personal mobile devices could easily expose businesses to threats from hackers and noncompliance with security mandates.

  • 67% of respondents reported that remote workers’ use of personal mobile devices negatively impacted their organization’s security. [Ponemon Institute/Keeper Security, 2020]
  • 55% of respondents say smartphones are their biggest security headache. [Ponemon Institute/Keeper Security, 2020]
  • Fifty-seven percent of technology executives worry about the security of non-managed devices. [Apperian, 2017]

If you need help maximizing productivity through the use of mobile devices suitable for your business, check out Corporate Business Solutions at http://www.cbs-cbs.com.

What are Your Employees Posting on Their Social Media?

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Have you ever looked at the social media accounts of your employees or those who are applying for a job role with you?

NO doubt you have heard stories from time to time of people posting stories and images on their social media accounts that have affected their jobs.

A couple of stories that quickly come to mind for me include a young lady who worked in an extremely strict religious school and posted photos of herself slightly worse for wear at a party on a cruise ship holiday. On her return to work after the cruise, she was fired.

Another example was a graduate student applying for a job with an adventure tourism company. They checked out his Facebook page and saw a photo of him canoeing down an overflowing city stream during a heavy rainfall without a life jacket or helmet. Personal safety of clients is a No. 1 priority in any adventure tourism business. He did not get the job.

Have a Social Media Policy

Now imagine one of your employees has publicly posted something that would harm your business in some way if enough people realized that person worked for you.

How do you react? How would you learn about it in the first place?

To limit the possibility of anything like this happening, it would be extremely wise to have a social media policy. This can make your staff aware of what they should not be expressed on social media where most of the world can potentially see what was posted.

Here are some topics that you need to make your employees aware of to reduce the risk of this information becoming widespread across the internet to negatively affect your business.

Violating Company Policy

Sharing warnings or personal company information – do not post about staffing decisions, new products, or any private or proprietary information if your company has not shared the information online.

Supplying references/endorsements on LinkedIn – if your policy does not supply references for leaving staff, will you allow your staff to make references on social media for former colleagues?

Negative comments about the job or clients – even with privacy settings in place, anybody can repost these sorts of comments on their account or take a photo or screenshot and repost.

Deceptive posts – taking a sick day from work and posting photos of you at the beach or a sporting event, etc.

Off-color, racist, sexist, or inappropriate comments – this is especially bad if they refer to a co-worker or client, but even if the target is unrelated to the workplace an employer does not want to be associated with someone making these kinds of comments publicly.

Have a Policy on Computer Use

Job Searching or Doing Other Work while at Work – scanning job search sites, preparing your resume and cover letter, or doing work on your side gig on the employer’s time is non-productive from your employer’s perspective and unethical behavior.

Misuse of email – use of the work email for personal communications is rarely appropriate. I know of a young married Director of a stockbroking firm who used his business email address for accessing dating sites and arranging meetings for “coffee” during the workday. He even emailed one of his personal “contacts” several times a day and in their online conversations, he would regularly criticize the other company Directors.

This was a prominent business in a small city, so it would not be difficult for many of his “contacts” to work out who he and his company were and post something embarrassing and damaging to the business. He was the son of one of the business founders and when his emails were discovered, his promising and privileged career ended abruptly.

Any employer is well within their rights to limit or restrict access to various corners of the internet, including social media sites, dating sites, pornography, and personal communications.

Provide Guidelines for Smart Social Media Use

Rather than restricting your social media policy to telling your staff what they can’t do, also provide guidelines so they can see how to use social media without accidentally doing something wrong.

Post smart – before posting, take a moment to think if your content could affect your employer in any way

Keep it confidential – don’t disclose any news about your employer – good or bad – unless you have asked first. Sometimes your employer will want their staff to spread the good news, but not always.

Be intelligent – if you are job searching, use your account and details for all communications

Think Before You Post

This is the best and simplest advice you can give your employees.

Once something is posted online it’s hard, if not impossible, to take it back. Even a deleted Twitter or Facebook post can be preserved through screenshots.

If there is any doubt about what you can, or can’t say, keep it to yourself. Ask yourself whether you need to say that and what you’ll gain from it. The answer is probably not enough to take a chance of losing your job.

Corporate Business Solutions can provide you with advice around preparing appropriate documentation to cover these situations and have many satisfied clients.

College Graduates Must Find the Business and Role that is their Best Match

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Every year a new group of graduates enters the job search market armed with resumes of varying quality and a brand-new shiny certificate saying they have an appropriate qualification to work in your business. Filled with excitement and anticipation of their first ‘real’ job, graduates are tempted to take any job in their career field with any company.

But have they thought about the work environment that best suits their working style? To get the best value out of any new graduate employee, you need to make sure they are aware of how your business and the role being offered are a good match for them. A graduate might see your advertised job as their dream job, based solely on the job title. But if you are a small business, a start-up, or a long-established company with hundreds of staff, their experience will potentially be vastly different.

You need to understand what aspect of their career field they want to specialize in, and what are their long-term career goals. A start-up company might be exciting and mostly employ people in their age group. That could have some advantages for their social life. But will that environment provide the experience to help them grow within their career field and gain greater experience to enable them to get where they want to get in their career?

Can the new graduate be assured the business will still be thriving a year from now? Starting a business during the current pandemic, or any time when the economy is struggling is always going to be challenging.

In a business with many staff, what sort of professional development and mentoring is provided? Will the new graduate feel just like a number, left with little support to grow? Perhaps most staff are much older, and they might struggle to develop workplace relationships. Other factors a graduate need to consider when seeking their first job after graduation include:

  • Where do they want to live?

A business in a bigger city might mean higher living costs. It might mean moving away from family, friends, and partners.

  • What type of industry do they want to work in?

They might want to work in sales, but do they want to sell items like alcohol, tobacco, firearms, etc.? Or does the business have a bad reputation for some reason? Do they want to work for a company that has structured training programs, or would they prefer to learn on the job from more experienced colleagues?

  • Work-life balance.

Are they happy working long hours and weekends, or do they value being able to get to that evening exercise class? Are they working in one location all the time, or do you often have to travel around the country spending many nights away from home? Or will they work from home? How would that affect their personal life?

Are they after the highest pay rate possible to live a luxurious lifestyle or pay off that student debt as quickly as possible? Or are you comfortable making less money knowing they will be doing meaningful work?

If you can uncover the answers to these questions, you will increase the likelihood of finding a new graduate who will stay with your business for the long term.

Viewing the Corporate Business Solutions Reviews you will find help with recruiting new graduates.

Managing Conflict in the Workplace

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Leadership and conflict go together. If you cannot or will not address conflict in a healthy, productive fashion, you should not be in a leadership role. You shouldn’t fear conflict; embrace it – it’s your job.

You can try to avoid conflict (a bad idea), but you cannot escape it. Conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. It will find you whether you look for it (good idea – more later) or not. Being able to recognize conflict, understand its nature, and be able to swiftly resolve the conflict are prime leadership qualities, failure to do this will lead to your downfall.

Good conflict resolution skills will lead to good employee retention. But if you don’t deal effectively with conflict your best talent will leave for a better workplace environment. Failure to deal with conflict can result in loss of productivity, the stifling of creativity, and the creation of barriers to cooperation and collaboration. But good conflict resolution skill sets will build a sustainable business model.

Typically, the two main causes of conflict in the workplace related to poor communication or letting emotions drive decision-making.

The following tips will lead to more effective handling of conflicts in the workplace:

Define Acceptable Behavior – having clearly defined job descriptions for all staff to know what’s expected of them. Make it known what behavior will and won’t be tolerated. Having a published delegation of authority statement, encouraging sound business practices in collaboration, team building, leadership development, and talent management will all help avoid conflicts.

Approach Conflict Head-on – You can’t always prevent conflicts at work, but if you seek out areas of potential conflict and intervene proactively and decisively, you can prevent many conflicts from getting started.

Understanding the WIIFM Factor – understanding the other person’s “What’s In It For Me” position. If you understand their motivation, you can avoid conflicts by helping them achieve their objectives.

The Importance Factor – pick your battles and avoid conflict where possible. If the issue is important enough to create a conflict, then it must be important enough to resolve. Do whatever is necessary to open lines of communication and close any positional and/or philosophical gaps.

View Conflict as Opportunity – the outcome of many conflicts creates great teaching and learning opportunities. View a conflict as an opportunity for growth and development. Differing positions when addressed properly can stimulate innovation and learning whereas two people who are on “the same page”  are less likely to come up with different positions. Smart leaders look for the upside in all differing opinions.

Resolutions can usually be found in conflicts where both parties are seriously seeking a positive outcome. Being prepared to compromise, forgive, show compassion and empathy, find common ground, be an active listener, and place the goals of the business ahead of your pride and reputation will always allow you to be successful in building rapport if the underlying desire is strong enough.

But, if all else fails and positional gaps cannot be closed, resolve the issue not by playing favorites, but by doing the right thing.

Let Corporate Business Solutions be your guide when you are facing conflicts in your workplace.

Identifying and Handling Difficult Employees

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While hiring procedures and employee standards of conduct should be of utmost importance in starting your business, no process is perfect. Employees who know the right words to say but act against company values can still slip through the cracks.

This doesn’t mean that they are hopeless, but you as the business owner need to know how to identify problems in the workplace before they become disastrous and figure out how to best discuss this with otherwise productive employees. This guide will help you to identify and solve problems with employees that might be dragging your production down.

Over-Confidence

Confident, independent employees that are also good team players are an invaluable addition to your firm. The problem arises when the confidence comes without humility where even high-performing members believe that they can do no wrong.

These crew members can be especially difficult when they can keep other employees quiet due to their high performance, but that makes it especially important to address the issue. As the business owner, you need to remain calm while discussing the problem.

These individuals can turn into great leaders if they have the intelligence and maturity to realize how they are affecting your firm and what they can do to improve.

Refusal of Responsibility

If a team member constantly has a non-personal reason for every point you mention in a performance review, that is an issue. Responsible team members will admit to their mistakes but be aware and confident enough to admit when something is out of their control.

While these employees can be irritating it is important to hear their side of the story, conveying patience and diligence. Sometimes those who are constantly complaining might feel unseen or unheard. Certain employees might have complaints that are unfounded or unreasonable, but that doesn’t mean that all are to be dismissed.

Workers who cannot provide a reason for their gripes might not be mature enough for your workforce, but others might have insight into how things could do be run better or how your team could get more operational support. Don’t just write them off as a complainer, but their attitudes should be tempered if it’s detrimental to morale.

Lack of Communication

Some businesses require constant socialization, especially in a high-volume or high-stress environment. Workers that are not suited to this kind of work should be identified and ruled out in the hiring process, but it is not always so simple.

Employees who suddenly go dark or stop offering reports despite a good history should be met with. An individual’s work-life balance could be disrupted and that needs to be discussed. Some employees are hesitant to speak about family or financial difficulties to separate the office from home.

While this is an admirable attitude, it can be damaging to both the worker and the company. Sudden changes in work ethic are often the result of emotional difficulties, and employers should always check in with their workers.

Giving an overworked or overstressed employee time off or a lighter workload can improve team cohesion and employee retention as they know you care for their overall well-being. Letting your workers know that you see them as more than a non-feeling resource is never a bad decision.

Personal difficulties with workers often stem from temporary hardships or inner issues that they’ve never had to address. As the business owner, you can be the one who can turn those perceived flaws into advantages for both parties. Always discuss potential issues with your employees before you move to immediate criticism.

No matter how you want to improve your workforce, Corporate Business Solutions can help arrange the best scenario for both your business and your employees.