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Business.com

Why Relieving Employee Stress Is a Good Business Decision

Posted: 21 Apr 2019 10:00 AM PDT

It's no secret that the U.S. has a "workaholic" job culture. Ironically, this emphasis on work does companies more harm than good. Stress isn't just bad for our bodies, it's also bad for our businesses, as it negatively impacts employee performance, turnover and long-term productivity.

With more than a third of people reporting chronic workplace stress and up to 90 percent of all primary care visits related to stress, with symptoms like heart disease and hypertension, we know our current "workaholic" culture isn't sustainable.

For long-term success and continued innovation, it's important that businesses take stock of how their workplace culture affects employee burnout and overall well-being. Since April is Stress Awareness Month, let's investigate the top ways that employee stress hurts business.

How work stress impacts employees and businesses

Though a low amount of stress may give a momentary productivity boost – what some experts refer to as a stress sweet spot – chronic stress has been shown to decrease employees' productivity long-term. It also stifles creativity, perception and cognitive function, which is the opposite of what companies want from their employees.

One factor is that Americans are terrible at taking time off – in many cases because they feel they will be penalized for doing so. In November 2018, CNBC reported that a quarter of Americans had nine or more days of paid time off (PTO) left in the year. Studies show that presenteeism – the act of showing up for work when you're ill – is another issue costing businesses money. Lost productivity costs about $150 billion a year; a far greater expense than absenteeism.

Employees that don't take their vacation time are sure to burn out much faster in stressful office environments, leading to higher turnover rates. According to one study, 40 percent of employees have thought of leaving their job because of burnout.

How employers can reduce their employees' stress

To avoid these pitfalls, businesses should focus on realistic expectations and employee health. Below are just a few of our suggestions.

  • Encourage employees to eat lunch away from their desks. While there is no federal law that enforces lunch breaks, one hour allows a person to leave the office for lunch, go on a short walk or possibly hit the gym, and even encourages healthier eating habits. Even a few short breaks – five to 15 minutes – throughout the day can spur productivity.
  • Beyond lunch, employers should normalize disconnecting from work as it benefits mental health. Technology has us connected 24/7, which pushes us to feel that we should always be connected, but this constant contact should be discouraged. Employees who check emails and do other work-related tasks beyond normal hours actually work 36 extra days annually.
  • Encouraging staff to take time off, especially when they are sick and can infect others, saves money and creates happier, higher-performing workers. Even when not sick, it's important to use PTO to recalibrate. HR teams can send quarterly reminders and even incentivize to staff to do so. Department heads and team leaders should communicate to their teams about when vacations fit well in their schedules, such as after completing a particularly big project.

Stress is built into our job culture, so it won't disappear with just a few quick fixes. The first step is accepting that much of people's work-related stress derives from trying to meet their employers' expectations. By embracing – and clearly communicating – that the well-being of employees is of utmost concern and providing actionable solutions to decrease workplace stresses, companies can tackle the problem of a burnt-out workforce.

5 Things I Learned About Time Management as a Business Leader

Posted: 21 Apr 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Owning or leading a business can be tough. It's a role that requires around-the-clock dedication as you put out fires and make strategic plans. Even though there's no clock-out time and you're always working, it's an immensely rewarding experience. You get to watch your plans come to fruition and see the business you built grow, evolve and flourish. But success doesn't come from hard work alone, purposeful work is much more important.

I became a business owner when I was a 20-year-old college student and I quickly realized that the one thing that I didn't have enough of was time. Luckily, I developed time management skills that helped me focus on purposeful work, rather than spinning my tires on tasks that didn't get my business closer to its goals. Here are the five things that I learned about time management as a business leader that still serve me to this day.

1. Learn to ask for help

One of the biggest things people have trouble with is asking others for help. Business leaders often feel like they need to know it all or be able to do everything on their own. That's not only far from the truth, it's also counterproductive.

The first thing you have to learn about time management is that there are only so many hours in the day and each task – no matter how small, quick or easy – demands your time and attention. Anything a team member, partner or friend can do to help increases the time you have to dedicate to critical responsibilities, which is especially important when your company is in its startup phase. Asking for help with work-related tasks and personal tasks is always okay; most everyone in your life will understand how hard you're working and will help you if you ask them. Just be sure to show them how much you appreciate their assistance.

2. Delegate tasks often

Delegating tasks is like asking for help, but at the next level. Build the teams you need around you to get things done. These teams should largely be able to operate independently and have the potential to become departments that can handle all the tasks the organization requires. The best business leaders create environments where employees can work proactively.

When you first launch a business, you wear every hat. Unless you have a great deal of investment money, you're likely not opening your doors with pre-built teams. As time goes on, you need to bring people in to take over these tasks and slowly step away. If the bulk of your work doesn't deal with building the organization and strategic planning – in other words if you're focusing all your time on operations or team management – that's a sign that you don't have the team in place that you need, or you're not giving them the tools they need.

3. Trust your team members

Once you've got the right teams in place, you've got to trust your team members! After, all, you selected them for a reason. All too often I see business leaders trying to micromanage their teams for fear of something going wrong. You know the adage, "if you want something done right, do it yourself?" Throw it out the window. If you've built your teams the right way, then you've got all the talent and creativity that you need at your disposal.

When you delegate a task, you've got to trust your team members to complete it on time and in their own way. Even if their methods are different than yours, try to remember that it's the results that count. As time goes on and teams start to succeed, your trust in them should grow. If that's not the case, it might be time to reassess whether your teams are built properly or if you haven't selected the right people.

4. Make lists and stick to them (but not too rigidly)

To-do lists are great, and there are a million articles and books on how to organize your priorities properly. The truth is, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you have a method and stick to it until it becomes a habit. Some people write down their top five priorities for the day, some make a scratch list for the week and others have systems all their own. It really doesn't matter what kind of lists you start making, or even if those lists evolve over time. You just must start making lists and sticking to the tasks you've decided on.

But, don't stick to them too tightly. Like everything else in business and in life, you've got to keep your to-do list adaptable. To-do lists, at their core, are really about priority setting. Develop the ability to realize whether a new priority supersedes another item on your to-do list. If you've got the time to tackle them both, that's great! But if you don't, you must determine which is more important to your success in the immediate-term.

5. Be flexible

Finally, you must remain flexible and, of course, be willing to work long hours. Time management can help reduce the amount of time you waste on unproductive tasks or tasks that could have been delegated, but there is no substitute for the 10, 12 or 14-hour work day. Be careful not to burn yourself out, but there will be times when nurturing your business and growing it into a successful company require your constant attention. As a business leader, you must be the first one in and the last to leave, it sets an example for your employees and provides you with a larger window of opportunity to complete important work.

TikTok for Business: How You Can Use This New Social Network

Posted: 21 Apr 2019 05:00 AM PDT

If you've heard of TikTok, chances are you've got a teenager somewhere in your life.  The app, launched by Chinese company ByteDance in 2016, has been described as a mashup of Vine, Twitter, and Instagram, allowing its 500 million monthly users to create short-form, music-focused videos and edit them with lenses, filters, and AR features.

Originally known as Musical.ly, TikTok stepped neatly into the void left by Vine after its untimely departure in 2017 and has been steadily gaining the attention of young users and business owners alike ever since with its short, highly engaging content. Over 40% of the app's users are between the ages of 10 and 19, making it a prime target for any brands seeking the elusive attention of Gen Z.

TikTok is also attractive because it is still, for the most part, uncharted territory when it comes to marketing. The app has only just begun exploring paid advertising and offers an open arena for influencers to fight for top positions.

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With the ever-growing popularity of engagement marketing, TikTok is a ripe opportunity for businesses to advertise in a way that doesn't feel contrived or ingenuine.

Start by understanding how it works

As with any social media site, you'll be instantly blacklisted if you come across as not knowing what you're doing or not following the unwritten rules that come along with social platforms. Spend time on the app – make yourself a profile, follow popular users, and create practice content until you feel like you have a handle on what real users like to engage with and what the platform's culture is.

 "For a business to be successful on TikTok, they need to first be active on TikTok," said Mike Prasad, CEO of Tinysponsor. "[Give] users a reason to follow you."

Keep in mind that authenticity is the key here – don't try to create memes if that isn't your business's vibe. Create content that fits your brand and contributes to your specific goals. [Interested in social media management software? Check out our reviews and best picks.]

Types of advertisements

TikTok will support four types of advertisements on the app in 2019: infeed native content, brand takeovers, hashtag challenges and branded lenses. Each one contributes to a different purpose and will have a different outcome based on the type of campaign you're running.

Infeed native content acts similarly to Snapchat or Instagram story ads. They play in full screen, are skippable, and must be 9 to 15 seconds in length, like any other TikTok video. You can measure the campaign's success through tracking clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), video views and engagements.

Brand takeovers allow for one brand to take over the app for a day and allow you to create images, GIFs, and videos. You can also embed links to landing pages or to hashtag challenges within the app. To measure your success for a brand takeover, look at impressions and the CTR.

Thirdly, and most popularly, businesses can do hashtag takeovers, where you create a hashtag and an end goal or prize for participants. For example, Dreamwork Pictures hosted a successful hashtag challenge to promote its new Netflix show where the studio invited TikTok users to create a video of themselves dancing to the show's theme song and posting it under the hashtag #SpiritRidingFree. The campaign reached over 34.4 million users with over 2.6 million engagements.

This is a great example of a company recognizing the value of running a campaign on TikTok versus another social platform, because Spirit Riding Free is a children's show, and TikTok's user base skews young; they had a great demographic base for their campaign, as well as a campaign style that fits the platform.

Lastly, you can create branded lenses á la Snapchat or Instagram filters that users can apply in their videos.

Create approachable, fun content

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Content is king, and it can be argued that nowhere is that more important than on TikTok.

Unlike Instagram, polished, high-quality content is largely rejected on TikTok. As such, it has earned a reputation as a casual platform where users feel comfortable expressing themselves.

"The beauty of TikTok is that it's an accessible creative space," said Prasad. "That means it thrives on a touch of quirkiness and avoids heavily commercial-style productions."

Let engagement be your guide and delve into what is fun about your business. Make sure you clearly understand your brand culture, values, and identity so that what you create is genuine and true to your brand, and avoids typical corporate guidelines.

"TikTok is a hub of creative, fun and sometimes crazy ideas, so try to soften the brand tone and join the playful community," said Madelyn Fitzpatrick, head of global communications at Hylink Group. "Avoid being overly formal and stiff."

Why you should join now

TikTok is relatively new, especially to the business world, and as such, is not nearly as saturated as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It's also much cheaper to advertise on, because there isn't a strong influencer community yet; there are far fewer users competing for sponsorship and ad placements.

It also allows you to explore different aspects of your business, such as what makes you fun and interesting, and TikTok provides a platform where those fun aspects will be welcomed (and can even make you money).

Furthermore, it helps you take the crucial first step into marketing to Gen Z, the notoriously difficult-to-market-to generational group, which is becoming more important as they gain a stronger foothold in the economy.

Marketing to this new generation doesn't have to be impossible – just meet them where they are, play by their rules and have a little fun doing it.
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