employee experience Archives - Greatness Magnified

Remote Work: Why We Can’t Rule it Out to Retain the Best

August 27, 2021 By Sarah McVanel Leave a Comment

If your organization CAN avail employees the option of working remotely (at least part of the time), and you don’t work to find innovative ways to make this happen, you can expect turnover. Remote work is one of a number of substantiated trends from #COVID that isn’t going away.

(And my two cents: it’s about time we lead first with “what do you need to be successful in life and your career?” For people to do their best work, to work with greatness, we need to support them to have the conditions to be successful.)

Retaining Great People

Many people in our current #knowledgeworkforce, in this fourth #industrialrevolution (coined by some as #technologyrevolution), not only CAN work remotely, they may do their best work without the distractions, hellish commute and stress of a typical 5-day workweek.

Here’s one last reason to take remote working options very seriously. You’re not just competing with other more remote-friendly employers. You’re also competing with the growing #gigeconomy where people can work for themselves. The rise of entrepreneurship means you may be competing with the employee themselves to convince them to stay with you!

Great people have options. Let’s give them a reason to choose you.

Considering it costs 2.5x someone’s annual salary to replace them, if you are hearing a lot of questions from prospective employees about “do you offer flexible work options?” and questions from existing staff, “can we continue to work from home?” and managers remarking, “I get so much more done when I have a work at home day”, then you know remote needs to be considered as a key ingredient to attract and retain those great folks.

They’re asking for a reason. You have their trust for them to express it to you. NOW is our opportunity to capitalize on it before they take flight.

What About Mental Health?

When I first shared some of these thoughts in a LinkedIn post, I received some great feedback about the importance of attending to loneliness and isolation can have a negative impact on professionals working remotely. Couldn’t agree more. AND we can’t assume that it could lead to more mental health issues working remotely than all on-site or a hybrid model.

The opportunity RIGHT NOW is to ensure that those work relationships, remote and on-site, are healthy and truly connective. All too often, we think physical proximity = community. Unaddressed workplace incivility, the stress of constant distractions, and other factors can lead to mental health strain and stress at work on-site. Yet, because it’s so accepted, we hardly register it in a workplace context. Every organization needs to decide the model that works for them, and I implore you to take an unbiased view (wipe the slate clean of “how we’ve always done it) of what the healthiest workplace looks like, and what unaddressed issues and new unintended consequences might need to be examined further and solutions sought.

The beauty of this time is it’s opened up a whole conversation about what mental health, wellness, connection, a sense of team, and doing meaningful work REALLY means, remotely and on-site.

Now THAT is a conversation worth having and so very needed, COVID or not!

And Don’t Forget About Recognition

While we’re at it, let’s find ways to ensure everyone is recognized for their contributions. That they feel valued, heard and appreciated.

Work contexts devoid of regular, sincere, meaningful recognition, remote and on-site, have lower trust, innovation, engagement, meaningful relationships, and satisfaction with colleagues and leaders. I have the data to substantiate this – download the infographic HERE

As part of “how we do things around here”, recognition and appreciation MUST be a part of any on-site and remote workplace. This can be done remotely and on-site, and if we’re working flawlessly when we were bricks and mortar, then we would have an argument that it’s tough to switch. However, the data shows us we didn’t rock at it across the board before. So again, this is an opportunity to bring intention and perhaps even reinvention to the table.

As always, if you’re not sure how that recognition reinvention needs to look in today’s workplace, reach out. Let’s talk.

Here are more recognition resources for you:

PS – Did you see there is a new book Remote Work? By business mentor, Kim Shepherd and her coauthor Chris has created a juicy, resourceful and fabulous deep dive into this workforce structure that’s here to stay in many organizations

ROCK Your Team to Get STAR Results

June 11, 2021 By Sarah McVanel Leave a Comment

Anyone who has read my ROCKSTAR book will know ROCK stands for Recognize, Organize, Communicate and Kindness which, when you practice as a leader and nurture this in your teams, gives you STAR results – Satisfaction, Teamwork, Achievement and Retention.

I hear “okay I agree, but there is way too much to do for this to be possible!” I totally get it. Been there, have the ill-fitting t-shirt. It’s not about adding, it’s giving your work a good haircut.

A great place to start this reflection is with the Eisenhower Matrix (below). What can you cut or delay that is less important than being the ROCK to your team? Know what needs a haircut.

And yes, the pushback may not make you popular, however, trust me it’s worth it. I have lived to tell the tale (ask me about it sometime).

Make the time to be a great leader!

You don’t remember that meeting you went to that never went anywhere or the emails you answered or the extra page of that report you added, however, you do remember that staff member telling you how they’re grateful for the time you spend listening to them, the improvement project you implemented, the team turnaround you lead.

What do you want your leadership legacy to be?

What is your best advice about making time for what is MOST important as a leader, particularly in these challenging and constantly changing times?

By the way, if you’d like to tune into a juicy “fireside chat” I had for the Women in Healthcare Toronto Chapter, you’re welcome to tune in. My convo with the group starts at the 26 minutes mark.

Let’s talk about ROCKing as a leader to get STAR results even in these zany times.

I invite you to download my gift to you Rockstar! You can read it in the evening. Enjoy!

For more ROCKSTAR ideas and resources, check out the links below:

Why Everyone Should Care about Nurse Burnout: Recognition at the Frontline

April 15, 2021 By Sarah McVanel Leave a Comment

A joint post by Stephanie Staples & Sarah McVanel

If you aren’t a nurse, have never been treated by a nurse or know for a fact that a nurse will never touch you or your family’s lives, you can stop reading now.

Are you still here? I sure hope so because according to our very rough calculations based on a 20-year career in healthcare, working 228 days a year, impacting only three patients a day, three of the patient’s family members and three people in their personal circles – we conservatively estimate that one nurse makes an impression on over 40,000 people during their career. We can almost guarantee you that the topic of the ‘well nurse’ will become important to you, or someone you love, in the not-so-distant future – if it hasn’t already.

Why Nurse Burnout Matters to Everyone

Would you like to have a nurse care for you that is on the verge of burnout?

Would you like to have a nurse who has compassion fatigue to care for your loved one? (And by the way, compassion fatigue can hit us all so for resources we’ve got you covered here & there!)

Would you like a nurse who is overwhelmed to be tending to critical needs?

We know we wouldn’t. In fact, Steph has been that burnt-out nurse who felt guilty and anxious and frustrated and worried and questioned her every ability the more burnt out she became; nurses wouldn’t want their loved ones to be cared for by someone in burnout because they know the toll it takes in care. So…

We all need to ask the question, not just our healthcare system or hospitals or families with loved sick loved ones, what are we doing for our nurses? We all need a nurse – now, in the near future, in our lifetime – so we all have a vested interest starting today.

Oh, the Irony

2020 was the ‘International Year of the Nurses’ but was it really? We think most nurses would say, ‘no’. Call it a matter of bad timing – who could have predicted a global pandemic in 2020 – nurses deserve a redo! And it’s unlikely to happen in 2021 (as Sarah writes this in wave three lockdown in Ontario and Steph is in B.C. with COVID numbers going the wrong way!)

It may not be a year for the nurse, however, it can still be a year that we celebrate and build up our nurses. In fact, it needs to be the year we celebrate and support them.

Did you know that every year, right around May 12^th – the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, we celebrate nurses with nurses’ week? This is often an opportunity when healthcare organizations celebrate their nurses. We’d like to suggest, given how important nurses are in all of our lives, that we need to all take this opportunity to formally acknowledge the life-enhancing, life-saving, life-giving work that nurses do. Yes, we may have shouted and banged pots, yes, their employers may have brought in donuts but nurses are about done with the whole ‘hero’ thing – they just want support!

And healthcare organizations, if in past years you’ve put donuts in the cafeteria, that’s not going to be good enough this year. If you brought ice-cream bars around to the units, Infection Control rightly will be shooing you away from the communication station. And communal spaces for the sake of physical distancing isn’t possible. So what to do? Here are some ideas:

How You Can Celebrate Nurses Week?

Post stories of the “real” nurse stories; newspapers, healthcare organizations, family members, share what it’s been like for nurses and create a call to action to call, text, or write the nurse you know to say thanks (tag a nurse if on social).
Family members of those impacted by COVID, write a specific, personalized note of thanks and send it to the unit, public health unit, home care team that provided or are providing care; even better if someone is currently receiving care, write a note every day of about the great care you’re hearing is being provided and when your loved one is discharged send those notes to the unit(s).
Be part of events that bring nurses together safe and virtually across the organization or even across the country, better yet North America, to be a community of nurses. Our event the Nurses Week Resiliency ReBoot is intended to do just that.
Forward this post to a nurse you know and say “I so appreciate you and I get it’s tough…what is something I can do to support you?”

We all have an opportunity to celebrate our nurses and healthcare teams.

What have you done lately to show your appreciation? And how will this inspire you to elevate your appreciation game the next time you or a loved one receives care?

PS. – No time to plan an impactful nurses week celebrate with nurses week hot on our heels? This year we wanted to make things easier for everyone so we designed a live virtual learning experience designed to teach resiliency-building strategies that combat burnout in both the short and long term. Our goals: make it easy to access, cover all shifts, inclusive of nurses and everyone they work with, and all of the materials built for busy healthcare organizations to just invite nurses and that’s it. Want to celebrate with us? Reach out to us here.

Some Shocking Stats

Not fully convinced? According to the 2020 study by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU), nurses report experiencing the following at some point in their career:

81.7% – Critical Incident Stress
63.2% – Symptoms of Burnout
36.4% – Major Depression
33% – Suicidal Ideation
26.1% – Generalized Anxiety
23% – Post Traumatic Stress

Don’t make them wait any longer. Who do you know that would benefit from a resiliency reboot? Please thank a healthcare provider and share the Nurses Week Resiliency ReBoot with a nurse or healthcare organization that is important to you. 🩺 ☀️ 🥾

Employee Engagement Surveys – Employee Experience is the Pulse

October 29, 2020 By Sarah McVanel Leave a Comment

Last week we talked about the good, bad and the ugly about how we’re using (or not sufficiently using) the huge investment we make in employee engagement surveying. Many of you shared great reasons for conducting pulse surveys including using the results as input to elevate culture, reduce barriers in people doing their best work, retain great people, ensure people feel valued, and to gauge individuals’ wellbeing (particularly right now.) All great intentions for taking a measured pulse and following it up with intentional resources based on what was uncovered.

I still want us to take the conversation one step deeper. Whether you’re describing it this way or not, these intentions really are about elevating the employee employee experience and go beyond measuring the employee experience.

And there is no better time than now.

One of the opportunities in this zany world of work we’re in right now is that we can do things differently. We can shake things up. We can push the pause button on “how we do things” and evaluate if it’s working. It is also a great time to refocus on only what matters most to the busy folks (still left or busier than ever). If there is anything that may not be working about your pulse surveying, now is the time to raise the red flag and right the ship.

I invite you to learn more in my previous vlog about Engagement Surveys.

Why the Employee Experience Matters

Although different organizations may define the employee experience in different ways, the employee experience, in essence, is everything that happens from hire to retire that impacts the lives of employees and leaders both inside and outside of work. It also is inclusive of all the factors impacting the physical, emotional, social and fiscal well-being of the individual.

While this may seem like semantics, there are some key work constructs that the employee experience helps to untangle such as deconstructing the misnomer that there is a work and home self and challenging the notion that work happens “at work.” It also challenges us to do better with respecting and valuing people by backing up the time when people “earn” our appreciation; in the world of the employee experience, our working relationship starts the second someone considers working for us. (For more on this, check out this article that talks about the seven phases of the employee experience.)

How to Ensure Your Engagement Survey Still Fits

If engagement surveys are the check-in about “how” people experience work in a consistent standardized way across teams, divisions and even countries, it’s essential to ensure the questions and the method it’s delivered fits with the employee experience you’re espousing to have.

The “why” is to create an employee and leader experience where everyone feels they belong, contribute meaningfully, want to stay, would recommend to others, and can do their best work. Your survey is not engagement – it is one way to evaluate it – and to validate the findings other key measures are required (frankly they were required all along but it was just far easier to just do a survey every two years to say we get what everyone is feeling).

Ultimately, we’re trying to create an army of recruiters. A network of raving fans. A congregation who agrees with the big “why” of your company. It’s pretty tough to do that if your employee experience stinks. And it’s pretty hard to validate you have a great employee experience if you never quantify it (what we measure matters after all).

This post, and the two that have preceded it, is a call for us to get real about how much time and effort we’re spending on surveying versus actually impacting a culture that people can’t wait to tell their friends, neighbours, customers and even social media followers about.

During these uncertain times, we have an opportunity to completely shake up the way we do things, what we invest our time and financial resources in, and what we are measuring to ensure that it matters. If you have had any doubts as to the effectiveness of your engagement surveying, now is the time to fill the holes. Even if you have a procurement contract with a survey company, this doesn’t preclude you from raising the bar; partner with the company versus delegate such important work to them. Together you will get better as a result.

If you were serious about reinventing employee experience and you’re just not sure where to start, why don’t we grab a virtual coffee? I’m happy for you to pick my brain As a fellow Traveler in the quest to ensure that people deserve to feel fulfilled and do meaningful work in the place where they spent the most waking hours of their life.

Here are some links to previous blogs about Employee Engagement Surveys: