Worcester Business Journal

18 Worcester Business Journal | July 26, 2021 | wbjournal.com By David Oliva David Oliva is the general manager of Organomation, a manufacturer of laboratory evaporators, based in Berlin. You may reach him at davido@ organomation.com. 10) Documentation. Outside of the standard job description, maintain updated guides for recurring job activities and define locations of critical digital assets to help orientation go smoothly. 9) Handshake.com. This is a great tool for employers wanting to reach out to the robust pool of talented, local students. Employers can create a free account, post a job opportunity, and advertise to several student bodies at one time. 8) Ask for help. Personnel at most educational institutions are tasked with aiding career development. Maintaining relationships with these administrators will pay dividends over time. 7) Introductions. Positive working relationships between the new hires and their team members are crucial. However, the new hire must know who to follow up with in functional areas outside of their own and those connections can blossom, with an introduction being a valuable first step. 6) Define the path forward. In an ideal world, the student intern will be an excellent fit and stay with the company after graduation. If this is a possibility, lean into this desired outcome publicly. 5) Provide flexibility. Especially during the semester, students have priorities to juggle, and bluntly, your business likely does not receive top billing. A willingness to accept attendance and schedule variability is a must. The goodwill you establish by providing time off for your employee to study for final exams is a worthy trade off. 4) Set clear expectations. Addressing problem areas such as excessive cell phone usage as early as possible can help stop undesired activities before they become established bad habits. 3) Involvement. Although the employee's tenure with the organization could be of a limited term, they will benefit from understanding the company's purpose and being tasked with meaningful work, which directly contributes to the firm's mission. 2) Mentorship. Pairing the student with someone who has expertise in the same field as the student's area of study can provide immense benefits. 1) Feedback. Whether it be praise or constructive criticism, practically everyone can benefit from hearing how they are doing. Junior employees could be less confident than their more experienced coworkers and stand to benefit from knowing what is working well and what could be improved. K N O W H O W A commitment to safety in 2021 A sure contender for the most dramatic story of employee burnout is the tale of Arian- na Huffington. Two years aer she launched the Huffington Post – ex- hausted – she collapsed, hit her head on her desk and broke a cheekbone. Since then, she's been an advocate for preventing burnout. Here are things companies should consider regarding employee burnout, classified as a mental health condition by the World Health Organization in 2019. Streamline channels. Excessive collaboration, prompted by an organi- zation with too many decision-makers and leading to endless meetings and conference calls, results in fragmented work hours and burnout. Harvard Busi- ness Review found senior executives get 200 or more emails a day. "e overload problem is compounded for companies, because the best people are the ones whose knowledge is most in demand and who are oen the biggest victims of collaboration overload," writes Eric Garton, the author of a book on over- coming organizational drag. Offer employees stress-reducing amenities. Workplace Culture Consul- tant Heidi Lynne Kurter tells Forbes many companies are offering grocery deliveries at work, for example – reduc- ing the need for that supermarket stop on the way home. Pet sitting is another convenience some workplaces have introduced. "Likewise, no-meeting days are becoming increasingly popular," she said, "having the ability to have a meet- ing-free aernoon during the week is crucial for a deep work session without interruptions." Managers, reflect. Workable.com's Nikoletta Bika has a few questions managers should ask themselves to see if they promote burnout: "Do you send emails to your team members late at night or call them on weekends about work? Do you rarely push back when other departments or teams try to force their projects on your own? Are you rewarding hard work and long hours instead of focusing on results delivered? Do you treat some team members unfairly or struggle with your own work so much that you don't have time to talk with or help your team? 1 0 T H I NG S I know about... ...Hiring and retaining college students BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal 101: E M P L O Y E E B U R N O U T BYMATT PILLSBURY Special to the Worcester Business Journal L ast year was full of safe- ty concerns for just about every industry, and 2021 is no different. As the threat of COVID-19 transmission decreases thanks to vaccination, it's important to remember workplace safety shouldn't take a back seat. In fact, you now have a great opportunity to continue the focus on health and take a wellness approach toward your employees' safety instead of just doing what is required to check a box. A powerful tool you can use to prevent injury and improve employee health and safety is a working safety committee. Per- haps you already have a working safety committee, but is it actually effective, or just meeting to fulfill a requirement? A poll by Safety & Health Magazine found only 32.6% of its readers said their safety committees were effective. An effective working safety commit- tee is made up of a mix of salaried and hourly employees, as well as stakehold- ers from different departments. When assembling your committee, make sure it is a representation of your company. is helps gather a variety of viewpoints and helps your employees feel represented. Once you assemble your working safety committee, you need its members to commit to meeting a regular schedule so safety doesn't get ignored. We recom- mend holding your committee meetings monthly on a regular basis, for example, the first Monday of every month at 1 Matt Pillsbury is a workers' compensation specialist with Knight-Dik Insurance in Worcester. He can be reached at mpillsbury@ knightdik.com. W p.m. Your committee must create an agenda ahead of time, to stay on track. You can get some great ideas for meeting topics from your insurance agent/broker or your insurance carrier. ey have access to a huge library of information, material, and statistics. You can ask your insurer if someone from their company can attend your meeting to present on topics. We recommend asking your agent or carrier for statistics on the top five causes of injury in your specific industry. With this, you'll be able to effectively address 70%-85% of your industry's injuries. It's all good and well to discuss safety at your working safety committee meet- ings, but you should take it a step further and analyze what is working and what isn't in your company. 1. Review all past injuries, especially those in the last month, and ask, how could they have been prevented? 2. Is everyone aware of all the safety measures for every job they perform? 3. Are employees held accountable when they don't wear safety equipment or apply the relevant safety rules? 4. Do you have good working safety equipment for everyone, or do you need to order anything new? 5. Do you continually replace old damaged equipment? 6. Do you upgrade your equipment with the latest and greatest equipment on a continual basis? ere is an incredible amount of value in your existing injury data and in stopping to take the pulse of your safety procedures. Each injury presents an opportunity to learn and prevent future injuries, but you can only do that if you regularly review. Decreasing the incidence of injury in your company relies on effective communication. e working safety committee plays a vital role in that communication and ensures you're addressing the most important issues. Remember, it's important for your working safety committee and for all of your employees to understand you truly value and prioritize safety. When your employees trust the company has their best interests at heart, they'll be more likely to raise concerns, which is exactly the kind of participation creating a safer work environment. W W

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