Are You Doing Enough for Your Employees Mental Health

Are You Doing Enough for Your Employees’ Mental Health Poor mental health can have a devastating impact on businesses and of course the employees themselves.  Mental health disorders are becoming more common and given that we spend upwards of eight hours a day in the workplace, it’s time employers start to take accountability. Office furniture suppliers, DBI Furniture asked over 2,000 people if they felt like their employer could do more to support their mental health and wellbeing. The results showed us that: Just under half (48%) of respondents said that they would like more mental health support from their employer on some level 53% of 18-34 need more mental health support from their employer That’s not all the results show. When we dig down further into the data, we can see discrepancies depending on the age and gender of the respondents. The greatest difference was between the ages of participants. Millennials those responding who were aged between 18 and 34   were shown to want more support from their employer on some level, with a total of 53% saying yes. On the other hand, those considered to be in Generation X and older-aged between 45 and 64+ were less likely to ask for support, with just 46% saying yes. How to give more mental health support Learn what you need to recognize There is still a great amount of stigma surrounding mental health and talking about it openly, which creates a vicious cycle where people bottle up their feelings and end up worse.  So it’s important that those in management within your business are trained in what to look out for, as not everyone will feel comfortable with approaching their manager and opening up the conversation. Sending anyone who wants to learn on a Mental Health First Aid course will ensure there are plenty of people who know what to look out for, and how to approach those they are worried about. Focus on the work-life balance It’s not just a buzzword. Although work-life balance has become more prominent recently, it has always played an essential part in reducing stress and helping to prevent burnout. Flexibility regarding working hours is a huge part of this. Flex-time where people are allowed to adjust their start and end times can give employees greater control over their commute, can allow for more family time, and the chance to attend appointments without losing pay. And while you may not be able to stop people from taking their work home or checking their emails at the weekend, make sure you do everything you can to deter them. Make sure the focus is on them and their families once they’re off the clock. Build an engaged workplace And then monitor it closely. Employee engagement is considered to be the antidote to burnout, and it’s something that is becoming more of a focus for companies. When people feel engaged in their work and the business they work for, they have more positivity and enthusiasm. While on the other hand, those who feel disengaged are at a higher risk of stress, burnout and alienation which all contribute to poor mental health. Employers need to be focusing on how their employees feel when they’re at work and how they feel because of their work. As mental health is pushed into the spotlight, there will be even more pressure for businesses to take accountability and start making positive changes, so get ahead while you can. Companies who invest in mental wellbeing by breaking stigmas and bringing down barriers will benefit from creating a positive workplace. About the author:  Nick Pollitt, is the Managing Director at DBI Furniture Solutions.

Resume Personal Branding Best Practices Part 4 - Concise - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Resume Personal Branding Best Practices Part 4 - Concise - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Your resume communicates a personal brand in a snap. Thats the entire purpose of your resumes personal brand to communicate a gut-feel first impression that youre qualified and that youre a superior candidate. When your resume gets to a human being, it has to pass two quick snap-judgment tests: The 6 Second Test: Are you qualified? The 15 Second Test: Should I interview you (or recommend you for interview)? Heres what most candidates use to try and pass these tests: An Objective Statement: Describing for the reader, Heres what I want A Summary Section: 1-3 paragraphs that tell the reader everything about what youre proud of in your career, that you think should interest the average hiring manager for the average job. Selected Accomplishments: More about what youre proud of, written for the average hiring manager for the average job. Key Skills: A listing of skills that you guess the average hiring manager is searching for. There are numerous problems with these approaches, that lead to a confusing, conflicting and commodity personal brand. But lets focus on just one of the problems brevity. Resume personal branding boils down to 2 basic problems: You dont know what that individual employer really wants: If you dont know what that hiring manager wants, youre left with one of two choices, both equally bad: Throw everything against the wall, hoping that something sticks or guess. You try to do too much: When you dont know what a specific employer needs, you try to include every reason you might be qualified for any employer. Your readers dont have time to pick through all of these in 6 seconds, so you cant manage the first impression you make. When you try to list all the reasons that youre a great candidate, employers cant easily see whats really important to them. Plus, when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. It doesnt have to be this way. You have the ability to craft a resume that speaks to individual hiring managers. branding yourself as the solution to their individual priority issues. You wont get there by guessing or hurling masses of statements. Youll get there by talking to people inside the employer, to gain an real understanding of what the hiring managers real problems and priorities are. As a candidate, youve got just 6 seconds to give your reader the first impression that youre qualified and just 15 seconds to give your reader the impression that they need to meet with you. In 6 seconds, theres no way your reader can make a determination of your qualifications any other way than gut feel. In 15 seconds, the most they can do is a quick scan. So youve got to be concise. How will you be able to manage your readers 6-second first impression by dumping paragraphs of information on them? by expressing your personal brand in a single line. To create a first impression in 6 seconds, take a laser focus so your reader can gain a first impression in an instant that youre qualified. Your personal branding statement is best expressed in a single line, as the title of your resume. Personal branding in a single line allows your readers to immediately internalize your brand in their gut. Once you gain an understanding of whats important to that specific hiring manager, creating a concise, focused personal brand is much easier, because you no longer have to guess. Since you know what the hiring manager needs, give it to him/her clearly and easily seen in a single line. You wont hide whats important to your hiring manager within all the other guesses of what they might need because youve first found out what the hiring manager actually needs. Because after youve learned the hiring managers true needs and priorities, you can show youre a superior candidate that has already solved problems similar to the hiring managers needs in a single, crystal clear, consistent, and concise line, reaching the gut of your reader. Which way do you think your resume will pass the 6 second and 15 second test? By guessing? By throwing anything you think might interest your reader? or by laser focusing your personal brand on your specific readers needs? Author: Phil Rosenberg is President of http://www.reCareered.com, a leading job search information website and gives complimentary job search webinars at http://ResumeWebinar.com. Phil also runs the Career Central group, one of Linkedin’s largest groups for job seekers and has built one of the 20 largest personal networks on Linkedin globally.

Interview Politics You Did Not Know About - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Interview Politics You Did Not Know About - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The politics of the interview may not be something new, but it’s certainly an aspect most job candidates are unaware of. Every organization exhibits some level of politics. Office politics has to do with the way some people manipulate relationships for self-benefit or other causes. But is it possible that such situations exist even before a person joins an organizationâ€"namely, during the interview process? The interview process Office politics is already part of the mix the moment a job opening in an organization occurs. I’m reminded of an occasion when I was in the process of interviewing people to fill an opening in my organization. A very prominent and powerful senior vice president asked me to interview his neighbor’s daughter. Was that pressure? Was he trying to influence my decision? It has become common nowadays that instead of just one interviewer, an entire team performs candidate interviews. Is it possible that some of the team members might have their own agendas based on their personal internal relationships and mutual influences? Could it be that some politics is going on between the hiring manager and the rest of the interviewing team? And by the way, who’s deciding on the people selected for the interviewing team if not the hiring manager or the boss? The job interview The job interview is loaded with political overtones. It’s similar to the process of a nation’s interviewing of candidates for the presidency because there’s a hidden agenda in both. You may have noticed lately that topics at the top of the minds of citizens are ones that get discussed at the dinner table, at cocktail parties, and around coffeepots in the officeâ€"and that topics that really matter are avoided and evaded by political candidates. The candidates for presidency have their own agendas, and instead of telling audiences what they can do for them once elected, they don’t even talk about self, but they point fingers and blame others. Examples of job interview questions with a hidden agenda It’s obvious that companies want to hire people whom they feel are trustworthy and honest. But how can an interviewer ask such a question outright? Very simply: by asking a common and, admittedly, dreaded question: Can you tell me about your weaknesses? The question is clearly focusing on weaknesses, yet the answer is interpreted to find reasons to trust or distrust the individual. Another commonly misunderstood interview question is, How much money are you looking for? The vast majority of candidates don’t understand the question. They interpret it as a negotiation point, and as a result, their answer is unsatisfactory. A typical answer is, I expect to be paid fairly. Of course, that’s obvious and the interviewer wants to be perceived as fair in that regard, but what the interviewer is really asking is whether the candidate is affordable or is expecting to be paid more than the hiring manager’s budgeted amount. Another question often misunderstood by candidates in job interviews is, What is your management style? Invariably, the typical answer is a series of self-praises. For example, I have an open-door policy, and people can come to my office anytime. I’m a good communicator and always support my team . . . and the list goes on and on. So why is that question about management style always misunderstood? The answer is that the candidate cannot assume that this is the type of management style the hiring manager is looking for. A better answer would contain examples of past performance in a diverse set of situations that required a variety of management styles. My advice to people going for interviews is to listen very carefully to the question and evaluate several options before answering. Remember that practice makes perfect.