For startups, when to hire your first HR person can be tricky question. Many startups have a tight budget, so it’s easy to delay recruiting a HR hire and instead focus scarce resources on sales, marketing, or other personnel. However, having an employee dedicated to HR tasks is important. HR is not only for compliance, payroll, or recruiting/ outboard purposes, but they also help build and maintain a corporate culture, layout employee expectations within a company, and help d

For early-stage companies, hiring the right people and then managing them can be difficult. This can be due to the fast-paced and generally ambiguous nature of the start-up environment. However, there are certain initiatives that can help you manage your direct reports in this environment. 1) Set micro-goals We all have heard about the importance of goal alignment for employee engagement and productivity. However, cascading goals down to the individual level can seem like a

“Ninety minutes of your time can enhance the quality of your subordinate's work for two weeks, or for some eighty-plus hours.” - Andy Groves One-on-one meetings matter. However, they often get wasted or they just don’t occur. This is not because managers don't care - they often are just unaware about how to conduct an effective one-on-one. Below we list some key tips on how to conduct effective one-on-one meetings as well as list out some questions that managers should be as

Whether organizations should change how they approach their performance reviews has been a question on the minds of many HR professionals and executives as the end of 2020 draws near. With the switch to remote work and the economy shutdown, looking back at the goals you set 6 months ago or last December is most likely comical right now given the recent events of 2020. Should I skip the performance review all together? Our recommendation: No, do not skip the performance review

Who can executives turn to when they have need to brainstorm solutions to issues? Who can give them support when difficult decisions need to be made? How can executives learn from other executives? In this blog, we answer the most common questions about peer advisory groups. What are peer advisory groups and what are the benefits? Peer advisory groups solve the inaccessibility of expertise for executives. They are composed of executives of similar status (e.g, CEO, owner), bu

Culture fit is defined as having shared and aligned values and mission in the workplace. From an employee perspective, it’s when the employee’s attitude, behaviors and personality are consistent with the company’s mission. Cultural fit is exhibited in many ways including: (i) language and communication, (ii) work ethic, (iii) integration of your work with your lifestyle, and (iv) understanding how decisions are made and how roles, responsibility, and accountability are distri

New Report From The Starr Conspiracy Lists Pavestep in the Top 10 Startups to Watch SAN FRANCISCO — (Sept 18, 2020) — — The Starr Conspiracy, a B2B marketing agency for workplace innovators, today announced that Pavestep appears as a Top Startup to Watch in its recently published Brandscape™ 2021 report, Talent and Learning: All Together Now. The Starr Conspiracy is the premier agency focused on companies creating the future of work. Work Technology is bigger than just HR T

"To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace." – Doug Conant, former CEO of Campbell’s Soup Building a high performing, people centric workplace is key for business success. Part of building this workplace is ensuring there is people diversity. Diversity is good for business - for example, one study found that gender-diverse business units in a retail company have 14% higher average comparable revenue than less-diverse business units. Men and women have diff

Resilience in the workforce has become a hot topic over the last 8 months. While resilience and adaptation are often used interchangeably, it is important to note that resilience extends beyond adaptability which is the ability to change direction as circumstances change. Resilience is the ability to adapt to these changes over and over again. “Resiliency isn’t just about sitting and enduring so many of these changes and uncertainties - it's about finding ways to recover and

As 2020 continues, remote work (or at least some form of flexible work) has been implemented in most organizations. While many companies have created clear work-from-home policies and established clear expectations for their remote employees, the remote recruiting process is still novel to many newly remote organizations. While there can be many similarities in the remote recruiting process vs. the "normal" recruiting process, there are also unique challenges. Below we outlin

Workplace flexibility allows employers and employees to make working arrangements that suit them. This may be done through remote working or through implementing flexible working hours. There are many benefits to workplace flexibility including promoting a good work/life balance, increasing employee productivity and improving employee happiness. Due to the most recent events in 2020, businesses have been forced into more flexible working conditions (particularly remote workin

Creating a good company culture and building team morale can be challenging on a remote team. To better support your remote employees, you need to ask the right questions. Here are some questions designed to facilitate more meaningful conversations and help you build a strong connection with your remote employees and teams. Remote Work Lifestyle • What’s your favorite part about working remote? • What’s does your daily working routine look like? • What’s most challenging for

Mid-level managers have a great impact on company performance. In fact, HR rates middle managers as the most critical level of management , and 48% of HR executives rank mid-level managers as the role that needs to be the most up to speed. However, a recent study found that 58% of managers didn’t receive any management training. Moreover, only 10% of middle managers feel well-prepared for the challenges their business is facing. It is critical to develop manager's skills. In

All companies go through change. Whether a small nuance or a drastic overhaul, one of the biggest challenges in any type of transformation is managing people through the change. Common mistakes during change initiatives 1) Misalignment Don’t expect a successful transformation if some of the leadership is skeptical. It is important that all executives and leaders understand what the change is, why the change is occurring, and be supportive of this change. If you want to be suc

There isn't a one-size-fit-all approach when it comes to developing your talent. Developing and motivating the wide range of talent in your organization can be tricky - particularly those underperforming. In this article, we suggest how to approach and manage your underperformers. When should managers approach underperforming employees? While we naturally fear giving feedback, feedback is paramount, and it is in your employees’ best interest to say something sooner rather tha

Most (if not all) organizations understand the value of employee experience, and many are developing an integrated focus on employee experience. Investing in employee experience has many benefits: Happy employees are 20% more productive at work and more engaged with their work. In fact, it costs US employers $450 billion to $550 billion annually in lost revenues from disengaged employees. Organizations with the best employee experience achieve twice the customer satisfaction

Often times people forget about alumni relations and management when discussing employee engagement. In fact, one study estimated that only 8% of the companies in the Fortune 1,000 have some form of alumni program. Just because an employee leaves the company does not mean that relationship should come to a grinding halt. There are many benefits for the companies and the ex-employees to continuously nurture their relationship in active alumni engagement platforms. "There is a

“Culture” has been a buzzword in the corporate world for multiple years. In fact, culture and employee engagement are now the top talent challenges facing business executives - approximately 87% of organizations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges. And there’s good reason for this. Company culture and engagement are highly interconnected. "Your personal core values define who you are, and a company’s core values ultimately define the company’s character

Employee turnover is costly. If you consider the lost productivity, time spent on exiting and recruiting, and backfilling resources, it's estimated that turnover can be anywhere between 20-150% of an employee's salary. Employee retention is a key objective in HR departments. And yet, a study found that in 2018, 41.4 million American employees left their jobs voluntarily. This converts to roughly 27 out of 100 employees that quit! How can organizations increase employee retent

No one likes to have difficult conversations in the workplace - regardless of which side of the desk (or screen) you are sitting on. To many of us, it seems easier to avoid an uncomfortable situation, rather than to address it. Tough talks can leave us feeling anxious, stressed and desperate for a way out (find out why we fear these conversations here). However, these conversations are often the most important ones we can have. Whether you are addressing an employee's or team