Time Management

 Time is the most important factor in our lives, it never stops and we cannot freeze any moment all the way or it can never get back. Once the time is gone it will be subtracted from our life. Time passes quickly and we feel that we have wasted our most precious asset just doing nothing. We must train ourselves to utilize it most effectively and in constructive manner to achieve our goals in such a short span of life.

How can we manage to do things well in time? We plan daily and still we manage to do only urgent jobs yet ignoring the most important things to work upon. Our biggest problem remains adjusting our routine jobs and dream jobs. Sometimes we work whole night and still we can’t resolve our matters of work fully. We feel frustrated and again try to list up the important things to be done accordingly.

We are not super human beings; all we have is limited to some extent only we can manage to utilize our time with best schedule. The most important thing is to concentrate upon our goals and targets and not allowing the things going out of control. We should give priority to our dreams and don’t let mishaps to work against that what we deserve in life. Scheduling of daily work routine jobs in the start of the day will help to manage regular schedules of whole day. The good idea is to picture your urgent jobs and dream jobs on daily basis and try to maintain it with seriousness. The enjoyment is also a vital part of our daily routine life and never ignores it at any cost. While busy in daily routine jobs you will be able to bear hard work with a pleasant feeling of enjoyment just after finishing it.

Manpower planning

The penalties for not being correctly staffed are costly.

• Understaffing loses the business economies of scale and specialization, orders, customers and profits.
• Overstaffing is wasteful and expensive, if sustained, and it is costly to eliminate because of modern legislation in respect of redundancy payments, consultation, minimum periods of notice, etc. Very importantly, overstaffing reduces the competitive efficiency of the business.

Planning staff levels requires that an assessment of present and future needs of the organization be compared with present resources and future predicted resources. Appropriate steps then be planned to bring demand and supply into balance.

Thus the first step is to take a 'satellite picture' of the existing workforce profile (numbers, skills, ages, flexibility, gender, experience, forecast capabilities, character, potential, etc. of existing employees) and then to adjust this for 1, 3 and 10 years ahead by amendments for normal turnover, planned staff movements, retirements, etc, in line with the business plan for the corresponding time frames.

The result should be a series of crude supply situations as would be the outcome of present planning if left unmodified. (This, clearly, requires a great deal of information accretion, classification and statistical analysis as a subsidiary aspect of personnel management.)

What future demands will be is only influenced in part by the forecast of the personnel manager, whose main task may well be to scrutinize and modify the crude predictions of other managers. Future staffing needs will derive from:

• Sales and production forecasts
• The effects of technological change on task needs
• Variations in the efficiency, productivity, flexibility of labor as a result of training, work study, organizational change, new motivations, etc.
• Changes in employment practices (e.g. use of subcontractors or agency staffs, hiving-off tasks, buying in, substitution, etc.)
• Variations, which respond to new legislation, e.g. payroll taxes or their abolition, new health and safety requirements
• Changes in Government policies (investment incentives, regional or trade grants, etc.)

What should emerge from this 'blue sky gazing' is a 'thought out' and logical staffing demand schedule for varying dates in the future which can then be compared with the crude supply schedules. The comparisons will then indicate what steps must be taken to achieve a balance.

That, in turn, will involve the further planning of such recruitment, training, retraining, labor reductions (early retirement/redundancy) or changes in workforce utilization as will bring supply and demand into equilibrium, not just as a one–off but as a continuing workforce planning exercise the inputs to which will need constant varying to reflect 'actual' as against predicted experience on the supply side and changes in production actually achieved as against forecast on the demand side.

Aligning Training with Organizational Goals and Objectives

It seems that many organizations embrace the strategy of reinventing and modernizing training processes and programs. Technology opens the door to many new opportunities and capabilities for enhancing employee learning and development. Learning, though a vital part of company culture and continuous employee development, must still demonstrate a clear impact and justify the ROI of new programs. But how often are these initiatives actually effective, and how should an organization measure the value on their learning and training implementations?

In order to answer these questions, we must look at exactly what are the needs and requirements from multiple perspectives:  the organization’s perspective; the people who are delivering the training; and the people who are attending the program.

Technology should be viewed as the tool that enables the organization to ensure that the consistency on content of training is high. Cost over the long-term is managed.  With the usage of the right technology, companies can develop customized training based on organizational needs.

Creating alignment with organizational goals and objectives

The first critical point here is to ask and define: “What is our organizational strategy?” It should have clear linkage with the vision of organization, and approximately 3- 5 years of future thinking.

To design and understand organizational strategy, we should look at multiple data points that involve reviewing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), as well as internal and external trends and people capabilities. This information helps to update or renew the vision and strategic position of the company.

Alignment is achieved by linking strategy with individual and team goals, and defining short-term milestones for these strategic points. This goal-setting process should be planned for the year and should involve the participation of as many team members as possible. Monthly team meetings help to stay updateand to make adjustments early enough to ensure progress.

Brief weekly individual progress meetings are held to ensure that progress is on track. Strategy maps and other linked (inter-connected) maps are useful to communicate to a larger audience and present a snapshot of strategy. I am a very big fan of Dr. Robert Kaplan of the Harvard Business School, co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard measure. I think his research work is the most valuable possession of 21st century. Many of the previous insights are supported by Kaplan’s research on communicating and managing strategy within the organization.

Continual measurement of progress and improvement plans

Dashboards should be designed to include customer metrics and process metrics. The ideal balance is about fifty percent of each component. As the process is redesigned and modernized, more emphasis should be on customer metrics. Internal process metrics should have all the three types of process metrics: input process, in-process and output process metrics.

Dashboard should be designed at three levels: organizational level, process level and (if possible) entity level. Financial metrics should be at the organizational level; training effectiveness metrics should be at the process level and environment, feedback on material metrics, etc should be at the entity level.

Calculation of training ROI should include direct factors such as efficiency improvement, defect reduction and a faster learning curve. Indirect factors that impacts ROI can be evaluated by employee opinion survey and informal feedback mechanism. Examples of indirect and long-term factors are culture building, attitude improvement and higher levels of engagement.

Bottom line: A clear strategy can only be of value when it is translated into a few crisp, critical goals, and when organization's resources are continually aligned toward their execution. Learning and development has the potential to create alignment with organizational goals and objectives, but must be continually examined and measured. When learning and development initiatives are viewed as part of the company’s holistic strategy, they have the potential to increase workforce productivity and have measurable impact on ROI. 

The 3 Things Employees Need to Be Happy

Even the most “fun” companies on the planet may be lacking in employee morale. So you have a pingpong table in your break room; you hand out yo-yos as random gifts; you have an endless supply of coffee and even group outings to theme parks. How in the world can anyone on the payroll not love their life? Well, if you have employees that are over 15 years old, it may take a little more than table tennis and roller coasters to provide a truly fulfilling career.

So you throw some money at them. Sure, that’ll solve the problem. All anyone wants is a bonus or a raise right? Well, for a lot of people a good salary is enough to keep them quiet and still, at least until something better comes along. But if you want to cultivate an environment that will inspire employee loyalty, it takes more than arbitrary gestures and rewards. It takes a genuine commitment to creating employee morale and deep, lasting fulfillment. There’s no magic formula for that either, but it starts with a little common decency and grows from there.

Respect

Respect is a funny thing. It’s one of those ambiguous concepts that mean different things to everyone. We know when we have respect for someone else, and we know when we don’t. We know when we feel respected and we know when we are made to feel like dirt. Yet sometimes it can be difficult to put a finger on exactly why. When it comes to employee relations and keeping up employee morale, showing respect takes more than just a regular paycheck.

It’s easy to treat employees like a collection of mindless drones. It’s easy to play "Big Brother," to micromanage and offer copious criticism. It takes more effort to treat every employee as an individual and utilize their specific strengths. It’s difficult to trust people and to offer positive feedback in addition to constructive criticism. But sometimes, respect isn’t about doing what’s easy. Sometimes it’s about faith.  

Ok, so we’re talking about business, right? There’s no room for touchy-feely words like “faith”. I get it: there’s a bottom line to think about. But respect isn’t a warm and fuzzy word. It is can be the make or break factor between an employee doing their best work and one who does just enough to get by, because they secretly hate management. As adults, we tend to think of ourselves as capable, responsible people. We like to be treated that way in our jobs. If you can’t trust and respect the people you hire, then the problem is probably in your hiring process. When you hire the right people, and train them well, give them the tools to succeed and the space to do so, that is the epitome of respect.

Every child prays that he or she will grow up and find a rewarding occupation. But as adults, many of us settle for something that “pays the bills” but doesn’t give us any real happiness. Deep down, we all still have the desire to truly enjoy the 40+ hours a week we spend earning our living. When employees feel trusted and respected, they are more likely to be passionate and invest themselves in the work they do. And that’s the kind of job performance that pays off in a big way for everyone.

Growth

Even when you treat employees well, thank them for their efforts and give them the freedom to absorb themselves into their work, they are going to need something more eventually. In our lives, we want to feel as though we are moving forward. If we don’t feel ourselves progressing, we may feel as though we are stagnating. But unfortunately in our careers, we often spend years just treading water and wondering when our ship will come in. The problem with many good— even great— jobs is that they are often dead ends.

Everyone wants to know what the next step will be in a relationship or in their career. We want to feel as though we are working toward something and not as though we are hamsters trapped in a wheel. If there is no way to move up or over, many of your best employees will eventually move on. It may be because they leave for better positions, or it may be because their frustration with a lack of mobility diminishes their job performance.

If an employee is constantly forced to watch some people gain more and more authority while his or her own time, skill and dedication is completely dismissed, that commitment will inevitably wane. Obviously, there are a limited number of higher-up positions in any company, so not everyone can get promoted every time they deserve it. But it’s within the boss’s power to add a skylight to even the most limiting of glass ceilings. I’m not just talking pay raises either. Cash incentives are absolutely a great way to show appreciation and growth. But if that’s not in the budget, there are other ways.

Letting qualified employees take on more responsibility, or have more influence in decision-making is always a great way to provide growth without having to create a new position. Sometimes, it really is as simple as letting someone take on a new project or making them feel like their experience and insight is valued in determining the direction of the business. If a person doesn’t ever feel like they are going someplace with your company, they will probably be going to someone else’s pretty soon.

Recourse

Money, respect and growth potential are really important to employee satisfaction, but even if your company grants all of those things, some problems will still persist. If you don’t have a process for dealing with internal issues, no cash bonus, good will or promotion is going to be enough to keep your best talent. On top of the basics, workers need a way to vent their concerns constructively, offer suggestions and file grievances. It’s not enough to say “just tell the office manger” if the office manager is a busy body that nobody trusts.

Every office needs a way for employees to seek solutions to their problems in a real way. If legitimate issues are consistently not handled, employee frustration will eventually give way to deep dissatisfaction.  A “suggestion box” is great if it actually gets used and if good suggestions are taken seriously. But if it’s an anonymous suggestion box, it needs to be in a place where people can drop ideas in it inconspicuously—which means the boss’s office is not the place for it.

The human resources department is meant to be a place where employees can go to lodge complaints. When it works well, it works really well. But when there is a breakdown, red-tape or complicated procedures, complaining about a problem can become more of a hassle than the problem itself. That is a major issue. When an employee has a problem that they can’t resolve, it will fester and grow. Eventually something will have to give and the situation is likely to blow up. This may result in you losing a great worker over something trivial that could have been resolved if there was a method for proper recourse from the beginning. In order for employees to stay happy, they need the opportunity to see their issues addressed consistently, privately and completely. Without that process, someone is going to wind up very unhappy— and someone may even wind up unemployed!

No one is completely blissful at work all the time. We all have good days and bad days. What it comes down to is how we feel at the end of the day: Do we count down the seconds until we can bolt for the door, or do we head out with a smile and satisfaction from another day’s work? As workers, when we are offered respect, a chance to grow and recourse for dealing with issues, we are much more likely to be truly content with our jobs. You can’t make everyone happy all of the time. The right combination of empathy and opportunity may keep the majority of your workforce happy— at least most of the time. Truly happy employees will be the ones that are most loyal, trustworthy, and productive. Happy employees are the ones that you are sad to see go, when they retire after 20 years of dedicated service.