At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers took swift action to create a mentally healthy workplace – often while simultaneously navigating the challenges of an entirely remote workforce for the first time. Now, as workplaces adopt a hybrid model, in which they combine remote and onsite working, employers again need to face the challenge of how to care for the mental health and...

Upskilling is not a new concept. Before COVID-19, employers were investing in upskilling to boost employee attraction, retention and engagement and to gain a competitive advantage when faced with constant technological change.  Today, as some organisations return to growth and others chart their way back to recovery, upskilling is gaining focus once more to ensure teams are prepared for what is...

Interrupted education. Internships withdrawn. Cancelled graduation ceremonies. First job offers retracted. First jobs furloughed. First jobs completely lost. The COVID-19 crisis has robbed many of the younger generation - those just on the cusp of starting their professional lives - of experiencing so many of life’s important milestones. It has disrupted the very rhythm of their lives, and,...

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed today’s world of work. Along with remote and hybrid working, perhaps the greatest impact has been on hiring intentions and the skills now sought by employers. The IT sector in Australia and New Zealand has been strong for several years. Driven by business transformations and the adoption of new technology, there have been candidate shortages...

Shaking hands enthusiastically before a face-to-face meeting, sharing pens to scribble down ideas during a brainstorming session, bonding with our colleagues whilst taking part in a team building session. These are all innately human social interactions that we wouldn’t have thought twice about doing before the pandemic hit. In our pre-COVID working world, it was interactions like these that...

In light of recent events, it’s easy to forget that performance review season is fast approaching. Most managers have spent the last few months grappling firstly with the logistics of moving their entire team to a remote working model, followed quickly by determining how best they could manage this remote workforce. Before we knew it, the pendulum began to swing back, and the focus shifted to...

There are certain times when employee motivation is easier to achieve than others. If your organisation has recently been forced to reduce headcount, it’s understandable that remaining staff may feel anxious and worried about their future. Knowing how to motivate employees during such times is crucial to bringing them together and keeping them focused. This will help to maintain peak...

If there’s one thing social distancing measures have shown us, it’s that a large percentage of the workforce can work productively and successfully from home. The traditional perspective that people must be physically present in one set workplace during standard business hours has been turned on its head. Scepticism has been replaced with a new-found awareness that output, performance and...

Our lives will never be the same again. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration, it’s a fact. COVID-19 has already, in a matter of just a few weeks, completely changed our world. If you take a step back and really think about the magnitude and speed of what’s happening around us, it’s remarkable - we probably won’t experience anything like it again in our lifetimes. It feels like a line has been...

It’s been a few weeks, and in some countries, months, since huge swaths of managers and leaders have seen their team members in person. For the vast majority, this complete lack of face-to-face interaction was simply unheard-of pre-crisis, but now, communicating with our teams solely through digital technology, seeing their faces on a screen every day, is starting to feel a little more normal...

“Culture” as a term is hard to define, as it means something slightly different for every organisation. From trust and mutual respect to a clear vision and regular communication, people describe culture in many ways. The one thing most people agree on is that culture can ultimately be distilled down to the unique and collective way in which a team behaves and works together as a cohesive...

In just a few short weeks, the world of work has undergone significant change. Teams that worked closely together in one physical location now operate remotely and are learning how to adapt to the changing needs of their customers while doing so. Clearly, we are in a moment of unprecedented and rapid transformation, which calls for teams that can pivot quickly. Today, major change can...

Successfully managing a remote team requires a different approach to managing people who are in the same physical workplace as you. Here are a few tips to manage a remote team, drive outcomes and maintain engagement, collaboration and employee satisfaction. 1. Trust your staff The first step is to trust your people. This is the foundation of any successful working from home experience, but...

Be honest with yourself, how good are you at talking about the future with your team? When I say, “talking about the future”, what I really mean is: how good are you at talking to your employees about their future career goals and aspirations? In my experience, some managers are good at it, but most are not. While some skilfully weave these types of forward-looking career conversations into...