How HR Can Facilitate Uncomfortable Conversations in the Workforce

Can we all agree that 2020 was one for the books? Not only did organizations have to pivot systems at a moment’s notice, but we had to address issues from the COVID-19 pandemic to racial reckoning. As companies were being called out left and right for their lack of inauthenticity in their responses, we realized that companies are now being held to a standard of practicing what they preach publicly and privately. It is a known fact that customers, employees, and shareholders crave AUTHENTICITY.  At Jumpstart:HR, we understand how difficult addressing uncomfortable topics can be. We have experts that are known to help facilitate uncomfortable conversations in the workplace. We want to see your workplace culture thrive and be an open space. Hear more about how HR and organizational leaders can have uncomfortable conversations in a healthily from our CEO, Joey Price on the Employee Cycle Podcast. 

Here are there keys to difficult conversations at work:

• Do not just relegate difficult conversations to a social media post, make sure that your systems and company culture reflect what you say you stand for.
• Make sure you evaluate, understand, and empathize the issue. If you are unable to do any of those, bring in a consulting or advising expert to lead the discussions. 
• Build trust in your organization to ensure that conversations happen and employees are comfortable participating in the uncomfortable conversations. 

What else would you add to this critical conversation? Drop a note in the comment section below.

Jumpstart:HR is a Human Resources outsourcing and consulting company for small businesses and start-ups. We lead in people management and project leadership. We believe that the best companies strive to improve work culture and invest in team members. Schedule your consultation today at https://jumpstart-hr.com/contact/.

How HR Help Employees Prevent and Plan for Coronavirus

A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

It was  first encountered in Wuhan in 2019 and affected more than 80,000 people across the globe causing over 2,700 deaths.

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

HR leaders should safeguard against the spread of the illness, without causing panic.

To avoid the spread of misinformation, HR should endeavor to ensure that employees aren’t sharing false information or gossiping about others. HR should ensure that employees rely on facts, not hearsay.

HR departments should emphasize preventative steps for guarding the workplace against all viruses.

1. HR should have a plan ready to deploy. That plan should be created in partnership with other departments, including risk management, finance and IT.
2. Beside provisioning free masks and sanitizers, the cleaning schedule of the office can be increased.
3. Senior management has to walk the talk to ensure they mask up wherever appropriate to.
4. Temperature taking could be incorporated so that everyone in the office would have a peace of mind and not be paranoid that their co-workers may be infected. Such information should be openly available so that employees have complete trust in the information provided.
5. Lunch could be catered so as to minimize employee’s exposure to crowded areas like the food center.
6. Evaluate unnecessary domestic travel.
7. Review basic health and safety protocols.
8. Update your human resources policy.
9. Keep employees updated.

In general, human resources departments should strive to contain the spread of communicable diseases such as the coronavirus by emphasizing employee hygiene, monitoring the spread of infection, and considering more serious emergency protocols if necessary.

What is Risk Management

Risk Management

Risk management is a process that allows individual risk events and overall risk to be understood and managed proactively, optimizing success by minimizing threats and maximizing opportunities.

Every business and organization faces the risk of unexpected, harmful events that can cost the company money or cause it to permanently close. Risk management allows organizations to attempt to prepare for the unexpected by minimizing risks and extra costs before they happen.

The importance of risk management are as follows :

• a risk management plan for an organization can save money and protect their future.
• This ability to understand and control risk will allow organizations to feel more confident about their business decisions.
• Creates a safe and secure work environment for all staff and customers.
• Increases the stability of business operations while also decreasing legal liability.
• Provides protection from events that are detrimental to both the company and the environment.
• Protects all involved people and assets from potential harm.
• Helps establish the organization’s insurance needs in order to save on unnecessary premiums.

Below are 5 risk management steps for effective risk management process :

Step 1: Identify the Risk. You and your team uncover, recognize and describe risks that might affect your project or its outcomes. There are a number of techniques you can use to find project risks. During this step you start to prepare your Project Risk Register.

Step 2: Analyze the risk. Once risks are identified you determine the likelihood and consequence of each risk. You develop an understanding of the nature of the risk and its potential to affect project goals and objectives. This information is also input to your Project Risk Register.

Step 3: Evaluate or Rank the Risk. You evaluate or rank the risk by determining the risk magnitude, which is the combination of likelihood and consequence. You make decisions about whether the risk is acceptable or whether it is serious enough to warrant treatment. These risk rankings are also added to your Project Risk Register.

Step 4: Treat the Risk. This is also referred to as Risk Response Planning. During this step you assess your highest ranked risks and set out a plan to treat or modify these risks to achieve acceptable risk levels. How can you minimize the probability of the negative risks as well as enhancing the opportunities? You create risk mitigation strategies, preventive plans and contingency plans in this step. And you add the risk treatment measures for the highest ranking or most serious risks to your Project Risk Register.

Step 5: Monitor and Review the risk. This is the step where you take your Project Risk Register and use it to monitor, track and review risks.

Risk is about uncertainty. If you put a framework around that uncertainty, then you effectively de-risk your project. And that means you can move much more confidently to achieve your project goals.

Note : Jumpstart : HR is one of the experts in  HR industry that handles risk management effectively and efficiently.