5 min read

Defining the hybrid WFH/office model + 3 ways to make it work

Offices might be starting to open up again, but that doesn’t mean people are running to get back to their desks. Some people enjoy working from home or aren’t ready to get back to the office after COVID-19, and some local ordinances prohibit offices from opening up at 100% capacity. No matter what the reason is, organizations are learning to take it slow during their reopening process. For some organizations, the fast transition to working from home has turned into a long-term projected WFH model, with companies like Square, Facebook,…

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4 min read

5 tips for dealing with stress while working from home

I’ve been working from home for years, no problem. But working remotely during a pandemic? Oooooh boy. That’s a tough one. Government-enforced solation, health-related concerns, a constant stream of negative news, plus the stress inherent to working from home, have combined to form a big mushroom cloud of anxiety. Due to those immediate modifications including isolating workers due to social distancing, existing stress have been magnified alongside the new ones that have popped up. Many of the stress-busters we know from regular office life don’t apply to WFH, especially for…

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give a warm welcome
4 min read

The two most important emails you’ll send during onboarding

Onboarding is a make-or-break period for your new hires, and it seems like a lot of us aren’t doing it right. Only 12% of employees say their companies are doing a great job of onboarding new employees. Yikes. If we want to maximize retention and engagement from day one (or even before), we need to start paying attention to onboarding processes. Each step should be planned out to help employees quickly make friends and feel connected to your organization. Part of creating this connection is managing regular communication. With multiple…

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4 min read

How to keep your extroverts happy while working from home

Whether working from home is your dream finally come true or your worst nightmare, it seems like we’ll be working from home for a while. With the light at the end of the tunnel slowly dimming, how can we keep our passion, our interest, our thirst to succeed alive while sitting on the couch in a tiny apartment? It’s not always easy, to say the least, but it’s possible. Here are some useful tips for keeping your extroverts happy while working from home. Keep your face-to-face game on When no…

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5 min read

What is onboarding + 9 unbelievable onboarding statistics

It’s the key to job satisfaction. It’s the foundation of professional success. It’s critical to retention and loyalty. It’s onboarding.  Onboarding is the period at the beginning of a new role when you get to meet your team, understand your role, and get embedded into your company’s culture. The onboarding process’s proven impact on retention makes this period critical for any HR team or people manager concerned with retaining great talent. Let’s answer a few questions and help you get your new hires on the road to success. What does…

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are you ready?
7 min read

Plan your back-to-the-office strategy using this survey template

To plan our return to the office, we need the support of our people. The post-COVID return is an emotional issue, touching on family, health, and mental wellness. To understand how your people feel and what they need while maintaining confidentiality, we recommend using surveys: private, anonymous, and honest.  Using surveys, you can keep your finger on the pulse without putting people on the spot. Your back-to-work survey can include open-ended questions to encourage more open and nuanced communication, in addition to Likert scale and multiple-choice questions. To help you…

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4 min read

Is WFH the next must-have skill for tech workers?

The unexpected change in working environment arrived came into effect almost overnight, but it’s a common consensus that it won’t be going away anywhere nearly as quickly—if at all. According to job-finding platform Indeed, the most valued skills in a resumé today include time management, communication, and interpersonal skills. As businesses globally both allow and prepare for future remote working scenarios, the importance of mastering the work-from-home skillset is becoming one of the most sought-after of them all. Let’s discuss: What the WFH skillset entailsWhat great work-from-home skills look likeHow…

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4 min read

How remote recruiting helps build diverse teams

While 67% of American employees say diversity and inclusion are important to them in their job search, only 45% say their organization prioritizes diversity. The value of diversity in the workplace, however, cannot be overstated. In our newly-remote world of work, we’ve been handed an unexpected advantage: a diverse hiring pool. Diversity in the workplace has a striking impact on workplace effectiveness: Companies with above-average diversity scores saw 45% higher innovation-related revenueA 10% increase in Blau’s gender diversity index led to a 7% increase in market valueDiverse management teams generate…

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remote performance reviews template
5 min read

Remote performance review checklist

2020: the year of remote work. This is the year that most of us were sent home. It was an unplanned experiment, but so far it seems to have gone pretty well. People are happy working from home—so we’re going to have to be happy managing remotely. Like it or lump it, managing remotely means conducting remote performance reviews. What used to be a private meeting, may over coffee and a snack, is now happening over a video call. While the new video call medium might not be problematic for…

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5 min read

How can parents adjust to the “new normal?”

As the world begins easing shelter in place restrictions and businesses start trying to figure out how to bring people back to work, one thing is clear: things have changed and likely will never fully go back to how they were before. But this doesn’t need to be a bad thing.  The shift to remote work was already a trend before the current crisis and as we start transitioning back to work, business leaders have the opportunity to adopt a more flexible and agile model. Bucking this trend risks damaging…

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6 min read

Which roles should come back to the office first?

As the economy begins to open up, the American workplace is forging a balance between returning to operations and risk mitigation. A rush of people coming back to work may contribute to the spread of COVID-19, so it’s vital for businesses to be methodical and measured when determining who is coming back and when. With much of the nation’s workforce sheltering at home for the last couple of months, teams have gotten more accustomed to working remotely but keeping everyone at home indefinitely is likely not an option for most…

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who wants to go back to the office
3 min read

Who wants to go back to the office after COVID-19?

The world is hurtling into our being-designed-as-we-speak new normal. Businesses are reopening, public transportation is back on schedule, and we’re expected to swap sweatpants for pants that button and get back to the office, ready (emotionally) or not. But...why? These months of forced work from home have shown even the most remote-averse that not only is it possible, but it helps some workers be more productive and produce better work. That’s why now that it’s time to start going back, not everyone wants to.We surveyed more than 2000 United States-based…

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3 min read

How HR can prepare the office for the post-COVID return

Were you thrilled to start working from home? As the economy begins reopening after COVID-19 mandatory shutdowns, HR leaders, managers, and employees face uncertainty on how to safely return to the workplace. In this new normal, the top priority must remain the health of all team members. Coming back to work can be stressful but, with proper planning and dialogue, HR and managers can help teams navigate the transition while enhancing connectivity and collaboration. What can HR do? HR has a big part to play in planning the return to…

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3 min read

What we learned about flexibility while working from home

Were you thrilled to start working from home? I wasn’t. I missed my team, I missed my desk, I missed sitting on the deck outside with a coffee and a coworker. Even though I’d worked from home full-time for years before joining Hibob, I still preferred grabbing teammates for a quick chat or whiteboard sessions. But COVID didn’t ask me before it whipped through the world, so for your safety and mine I moved back into my home office. After a few weeks of finding my footing, I remembered what…

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2 min read

Remote onboarding checklist: Doing it right and getting employees to stay

The first 90 days of a new job are critical to long-term success, both for you and your employees. A well-planned-out remote onboarding process can be the make-or-break for new hire retention; in fact, 64% of new hires report leaving a job because of unsatisfactory onboarding. In Michael D. Watkins’ bible to onboarding for employees titled The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter he writes, “Good initial decisions founded on the right kind of learning...bolster your personal credibility. As people come to trust…

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