Categories
employee retention

4 effective strategies for reducing employee turnover

In order to enhance employee retention and keep top performers within your organization, it is crucial to not only calculate your company’s turnover rate but also analyze the underlying causes behind employee departures. From there, it’ll be easier to implement ongoing measures to maintain a low turnover rate. Here are 4 effective strategies for reducing employee turnover:

  1. Regularly monitor turnover rate:

If your turnover rate is high, it signifies an underlying issue that needs to be addressed promptly. By tracking your organization’s departure rate regularly (such as on a monthly or quarterly basis), you can identify problems early on. Merely examining turnover metrics once a year may lead to a delayed awareness of issues that have already driven many employees away. To be proactive in resolving concerns, it is advisable to measure turnover more frequently, as suggested by Goldberg.

  1. Engage with your employees:

To prevent employee attrition, one of the most effective actions is to directly ask them what measures are needed to retain them and then take appropriate action. This can involve conducting exit interviews with departing employees, as well as engaging with your current workforce. To proactively address potential turnover, Goldberg recommends conducting “stay interviews” with high-performing and high-potential talent. Understand their priorities and concerns, and make an effort to address those issues whenever possible. It’s highly recommended to put in place employee recognition and celebration initiatives. Celebrating employee birthdays is a good start for instance.

  1. Foster a foundation for success:

Reducing turnover begins from the moment you onboard a new team member. To mitigate employee departures, it is crucial to ensure that they are set up for success right from day one. Jaffee suggests creating a comprehensive onboarding process that provides new hires with optimal opportunities to thrive in their roles. This way, you can improve their initial experience, increasing the likelihood of long-term engagement and retention.

  1. Encourage professional growth:

When employees feel stagnant and perceive limited opportunities for advancement within an organization, they tend to seek new prospects elsewhere. To maintain a low turnover rate, it is important to provide your employees with avenues for growth and professional development. Jaffee recommends offering clear pathways for career advancement and fostering a company culture that emphasizes employee growth. By doing so, you can enhance employee engagement, retention, and overall job performance.

Your company’s employee turnover rate serves as a vital metric for assessing the overall health of your organization. Now that you understand how to calculate employee departure rate and leverage that information to reduce turnover and improve retention, you can promptly implement these strategies to foster a healthier work environment. By employing these measures, you can ensure the longevity of your top employees’ tenure within your organization.

Categories
Human Resources Remote work

Celebrating Employee Birthdays and Work Anniversaries in Microsoft Teams

Recognizing and celebrating employee milestones, such as birthdays and work anniversaries, is crucial for fostering a positive work culture and boosting team morale. With remote work becoming increasingly prevalent, it’s important to adapt to virtual environments and find innovative ways to celebrate these special occasions. In this article, we will explore creative ways to be celebrating employee birthdays and work anniversaries using Microsoft Teams in 2023.

  1. Create a dedicated channel
    Establish a specific channel in your Microsoft Teams workspace solely dedicated to celebrating employee milestones. This allows for easy organization and ensures everyone has access to relevant information.
  2. Collect employee information: Gather essential details such as birth dates and work anniversaries for all team members. Maintain an updated record to ensure accurate recognition.
  3. Virtual Birthday Celebrations:
    • Send personalized messages: Encourage team members to send personalized birthday messages via direct messages or within the designated celebration channel. This creates a sense of personal connection and shows that colleagues care.
    • Virtual parties and games: Organize virtual parties where team members can join a video call to celebrate the birthday. Incorporate fun activities like virtual charades to engage everyone and make the celebration memorable.
    • Digital gifts and e-cards: Encourage team members to send digital gifts or e-cards using Microsoft Teams’ integrated features or third-party apps. These small gestures can make employees feel valued and appreciated.
  4. Commemorating Work Anniversaries: Use the designated celebration channel or a dedicated Teams post to publicly recognize employees reaching work anniversaries. Highlight their contributions, accomplishments, and years of service. If you want ideas for good messages, check out our article about the best work anniversary messages.

Want to simplify this process ? Install Billy, the birthday bot for Microsoft teams

In the virtual work landscape of 2023, celebrating employee birthdays and work anniversaries in Microsoft Teams offers an excellent opportunity to strengthen team bonds and promote a positive work culture. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can ensure that your team members feel valued, appreciated, and connected, regardless of physical distance.

Categories
Human Resources

7 Best Slack communities to join if you’re an HR or People Ops professionals in 2023

In this article we’ll go through a list of must-have communities when you are working in HR or people-related roles. These communities were vetted by us to make sure they are relevant. Please be aware that some of them are created by companies also to promote their own software. Before listing the groups you’ll find a quick list of advantages of joining such communities, then you’ll find the 7 Best Slack communities to join if you’re an HR or People Ops professionals in 2023.

Advantages of joining Slack communities

  • Enlarge your network, build relationships
    Joining Slack communities is a great way to grow your network. It allows you to reach out to people have a common interest.
  • Find experts in your niche
    Slack groups bring together all people related to certain subjects. Joining a group around a specific niche gives you access to the very best person in this subject. Usually these are also pro-active people wanting to share their knowledge. You can also find mentors.
  • Contribute by sharing your knowledge to the community
    Joining a community is also about contributing to it and helping other members.

List of best Slack communities

  1. #People
    On top of the Slack community they also offer a newsletter and a podcast worth checking out.
    Over 6000 people ops, human resources and talent management professionals are involved in a 24/7*365 conversation about anything to do with people.
    Join #People community
  2. People Geeks (by CultureAmp)
    The People Geek Slack community brings together diverse individuals and skilled thought leaders from around the globe.
    Join People Geeks community
  3. People People
    Join other recruiting experts, HR game-changers and talent people to talk about humans-at-work issues and share smart ideas about our changing talent landscape.
    Join People People community
  4. Hacking HR
    With learning, community and collaboration. We are a community of business and HR leaders, HR practitioners, technologists, entrepreneurs, consultants.Join The Hacking HR Community Now!
    Join Hacking HR community
  5. Secret HR Society
    You’ll need to connect with a current member to join this Germany-based community.
    The Secret HR Society is a member referral-only society to evolve Human Resources and connect thought leaders globally.
    Join Secret HR society
  6. Resources for Humans (by Lattice)
    19k+ HR leaders are in the community. This one is a very wide and dynamic community.
    This community is designed to help HR professionals connect, share advice, and ask questions.
    Join Resources for Humans community
  7. The Shape of Work community (by Springworks)
    A networking avenue for People Managers, HR Leaders and People Ops professionals to shape the Future of Work by discovering the best practices, resources, tools and accessing exclusive experiences.
    Join The Shape os work community

Let us know your thoughts on any of these communities, we’d love to have more insights from the inside to see which of them are more relevant after a while. Also if you have a community to recommend, leave a comment under this article 🙏 Thanks for reading us.

Categories
Employee engagement

Top 5 Benefits of Using Billy (The Birthday Bot) for Slack

Are you tired of missing your colleague’s birthdays at work? Well, Billy (The Birthday Bot) for Slack has got you covered. Billy is an intelligent bot that can remind you of upcoming birthdays and even help you plan a surprise birthday party for your colleague. In this article, we will discuss the top 5 benefits of using Billy for Slack.

Benefit #1: Never Forget a Birthday Again

With Billy, you can say goodbye to the days of forgetting your colleague’s birthday. Billy will remind you of upcoming birthdays, so you can plan ahead and surprise your colleague with a thoughtful gift or gesture. This will not only make your colleague feel appreciated but will also strengthen your working relationship.

Benefit #2: Increase Employee Engagement

Celebrating birthdays at work is a great way to boost employee engagement. By using Billy, you can encourage your colleagues to celebrate their birthdays and make them feel valued. This will create a positive work environment and foster a sense of community within your team.

Benefit #3: Build a Positive Company Culture

Celebrating birthdays is just one way to build a positive company culture. By using Billy, you can show your colleagues that you care about them and appreciate their contributions to the team. This will help to build a sense of loyalty and commitment to the company.

Benefit #4: Save Time and Effort

Planning birthday celebrations can be time-consuming and stressful. However, with Billy, you can save time and effort by automating the process. Billy will remind you of upcoming birthdays, help you plan the celebration, and even order the necessary supplies for the party.

Conclusion

In conclusion, using Billy (The Birthday Bot) for Slack has many benefits, including never forgetting a birthday again, planning surprise birthday parties with ease, increasing employee engagement, building a positive company culture, and saving time and effort. By using Billy, you can make your colleagues feel appreciated and valued, and create a positive work environment.

FAQs

Is Billy (The Birthday Bot) for Slack easy to set up?

Yes, Billy is very easy to set up. All you need to do is install the bot in Slack, and you’re good to go.

Can I customize the messages sent by Billy?

Yes, you can customize the messages sent by Billy to suit your company culture and style.

Does Billy work with other chat platforms besides Slack?

No, currently, Billy only works with Slack. That being said, Microsoft Teams integration is under development. Reach out to the team for early access.

Is Billy free to use?

Yes, Billy is free to use for workspaces having 30 users or less. For larger workspaces, Billy is a paid service, but the cost is minimal compared to the benefits it provides.

Categories
Remote work

How to use Giphy in Slack

Utilising Slack, Teams or any other messaging software is now common for everyone. It’s not just reserved to startups or technology companies. Today we’ll take Slack as our main example. In order to master communication via Slack, you need to master the use of certain apps or extensions. The one I use everyday is Giphy, a GIF extension for Slack that makes it easy to search and publish GIF in channels. Why ? Because it’s either really funny, or illustrates perfectly what I want to say (better than a small emoji) or even because an image is sometimes worth a thousand words. That’s why we’ll see how to use Giphy in Slack.

1. Setting Up Giphy in Slack

First let’s see how to set up Giphy in your Slack workspace if you don’t have it yet. It’s a quick process, you need to visit Giphy page on Slack app directory (link here). Then click “Add to Slack”. 2 clicks later, you’re good to go! Giphy is now installed successfully.

Talking about Slack app, if you want to celebrate birthdays in Slack we have something for you and we just wrote an article about it: How to use birthday bot?

2. Using Giphy in Slack

Now that you’ve set up the extension, we’ll see how to use Giphy in Slack.

Note that you can send GIFs in any conversation using Giphy, either in public channels, private channels but also in direct messages.

Now how to search for a GIF ? Enter in the text prompt:
/giphy my search message
Then press enter, don’t worry the message won’t be posted like this. You can notice the “Only visible to you” mention.

ou’ll see a proposal of GIF and you’ll be offered 3 options: Send, Shuffle (to find another one), Cancel.

It’s time to play with the shuffle button until you see a GIF that you like.
Click send when you’re ready and that’s it. Your GIF is now posted for everyone to see it.

3. Best Practices for Using Giphy in Slack in a professional environment

Even though Giphy is mostly safe for work, I’d recommend a few best practises to make sure you’re acting in an appropriate manner in a professional environment.

First avoir offensive GIFs or images that can shock other people. Avoid of course the ones that are crude or sexually suggestive.

Make sure you don’t post too many GIFs or it can get overwhelming.

Those rules can seem basic but we’d better read them once in a while to make sure we’re not missing one.

Conclusion

We’ve seen how to use Giphy in Slack, from installation to usage, you’re now a pro!

Mastering the use of GIFs in Slack is important to make a point and to ease everyday communications. Also, it’s just fun, right ?! If this article was helpful, please drop a comment I’d be glad to read your mention.

Categories
Employee engagement

12 best work anniversary messages

Here we go again! Today is another work anniversary for one of your colleagues, and you’re out of inspiration for sending them a message. Since we are currently in the hype of ChatGPT, I won’t copy/paste what it could have said; instead, I’ll give you relevant prompts to use in order to create the best work anniversary messages!

Drafting the perfect prompt

Counter-intuitively, it is not an easy task. Every time you write a ChatGPT prompt, you need to be very specific to ensure that the results fit exactly what you expect for the employee work anniversary messages.

What is important for our matter (work anniversary celebration message) is to mention:

  • the hierarchy level between you and the person
  • how close you are to this person
  • the tone of the message (humorous, sarcastic, friendly, etc.)
  • whether or not the message will be seen by others (public channel vs. direct message)
  • (bonus point) ask ChatGPT for a fun fact about the work anniversary date

Additionally, it is best to ask ChatGPT for multiple results so that you can choose the one that best reflects the intention you’d like to convey, or pick parts from different results of happy work anniversary messages.

Let’s see that in practice!

Examples

Here are some examples of prompt and some examples of messages ChatGPT generated:

Example #1 – The basic one

Prompt

Write 7 short work anniversary celebration messages for me to send to Beth, a colleague who is 3+ hierarchy levels above me and in another department, with whom I’m not close at all. I have never met her in person. These messages will be sent directly to her through Slack. By the way, it’s her 3rd work anniversary.

Sample messages

  1. Congratulations on your 3rd work anniversary, Beth! 🎉 Your hard work and dedication continue to inspire us all. Wishing you many more successful years at [company name]!
  2. Happy 3rd work anniversary, Beth! 🌟 Your leadership and expertise have made a significant impact on our company. Here’s to many more years of growth and success!
  3. Wishing you a fantastic 3rd work anniversary, Beth! 🎊 Your commitment to excellence is truly admirable. May you continue to lead and inspire us in the years to come.
  4. Happy 3rd work anniversary, Beth! 🏆 Your guidance and dedication have been invaluable to our organization. Thank you for your hard work, and may you continue to achieve great things!
  5. Beth, congratulations on your 3rd work anniversary! 🎈 Your passion and drive for success have contributed greatly to [company name]. Here’s to many more years of accomplishments!
  6. Cheers to your 3rd work anniversary, Beth! 🥂 Your unwavering commitment and leadership have played a vital role in our company’s progress. Wishing you continued success in your career!
  7. Happy 3rd work anniversary, Beth! 🎉 Your dedication and expertise have been a guiding light for our team. We’re grateful for your leadership and look forward to your continued achievements!

Example #2 – Max power

Prompt

Write me 5 work anniversary celebration messages I could send to Alex, a colleague who is at the same hierarchy level and with whom I’m really close, that will be posted in a public channel. Please use an humorous tone and include a fun fact related to the 18th of March.

Sample messages

  1. Hey Alex! Happy work anniversary! 🎉 Can’t believe it’s been another year of sharing office gossip and coffee runs together! Did you know that on this day in 1314, Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake? Well, at least our job isn’t that intense, right? 😂 Here’s to another year of surviving the daily grind together! Cheers! 🥂
  2. Happy workiversary, Alex! 🥳 On this day in 1965, the first-ever spacewalk took place, which is almost as groundbreaking as the day you joined our team! Thanks for all the laughs and friendship – looking forward to more interstellar adventures together in the office! To infinity and beyond! 🚀
  3. A massive shout-out to Alex on their work anniversary! 🎊 Did you know that on March 18, 1990, a major art heist happened at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston? Well, you definitely stole our hearts right from the start! 😜 Let’s keep creating our own work of art together – cheers to another year of teamwork and camaraderie! 🎨
  4. Happy work anniversary, Alex! 🍾 Fun fact: On this day in 1850, American Express was founded. Just like their slogan, “Don’t leave home without it,” we wouldn’t want to work here without you! Thanks for being an invaluable partner in crime and for all the fun memories we’ve shared. Here’s to another year of growing, learning, and laughing together! 💳
  5. Hey Alex! It’s your work anniversary, and you know what that means – time for a little history lesson! On March 18, 1644, the third great plague pandemic began in China. But don’t worry, unlike that pandemic, your presence here has had only positive effects on our team! 😅 Thanks for being a fantastic colleague and friend. Let’s keep spreading good vibes and conquering the office world together. Cheers! 🍻

Conclusion

As you can see, the hardest part is fine-tuning the prompt you’re going to send to ChatGPT. The more precise you can be, the better the results will be. Keep in mind you can always ask for more variations and it can be used for remote office birthday as well. I hope this helps you avoid the blank page syndrome!

If you want to go further you can even set up a birthdaybot for slack, see this article for more details.

Cheers ✌️

Categories
Employee engagement

How to use birthday bot?

Introduction

Since COVID hit, companies all over the world have tried to find many ways to connect their employees and create camaraderie in this new remote environment. The most basic way of doing this is by celebrating employees’ birthdays and work anniversaries. Nothing is more appreciated by a co-worker than seeing their colleagues celebrate their birthday. But do you know how much of a pain it can be? You have to name someone in charge of it in the company who will connect daily to your HRIS tool to check whose birthday/work anniversary it is, write a lovely message, and post it in a given Slack channel. This process sounds like a waste of time, right? That’s where a birthday bot comes in!

So, what is a birthday bot?

A birthday bot (or bday bot) is a type of chatbot designed to help users celebrate birthdays. It is a program that can be integrated with messaging platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and Facebook Messenger, and can be used to keep track of birthdays, send reminders, and even send automated birthday messages.

Installing a birthday bot

For the sake of the example, we’re going to pick Slack. Let’s visit the marketplace and search for a “birthday bot”:

Let’s install the first one on the list. They all have similar features. What’s cool about Billy (the market leader) is that it’s both the cheapest and most feature-rich option for Slack.

Let’s follow this installation process. Click Install from the marketplace:

Then, click Allow:

If you see this, congratulations! You have just installed your first birthday bot 🎉

Now, let’s get it configured!

Configuring the bot

From the previous screenshot, we can see the various settings available during the onboarding flow. Please keep in mind that all services work similarly, so what’s true for Billy is probably true for others.

So, you have:

  1. The channel in which you’d like the bot to send celebration messages.
  2. An option to opt-in for work anniversaries.
  3. The scope of the celebrations: all workspace members vs. channel members only.
  4. The birthdate collection method: automatic vs. manual.

Once you submit, it will redirect you to the bot’s full settings page:

We can discover three new settings:

  • Celebration time
  • Celebration language
  • Weekend management (D-day, Mondays, or Fridays)

We can also see that we can add Billy to multiple channels (in case we would like to use it in multiple sub-teams).

Note: When you add Billy to a channel, he will:

  1. Kindly introduce himself.
  2. (Only if you enabled the auto-collection of dates) Send a message to the relevant members depending on the scope you chose (all workspace members vs. channel members only).

Using the Birthday Bot

Now that the bday bot has been added to your first channel, let’s take a look at how to use it on a daily basis.

Filling out birthdates and work anniversary dates

If you look at your active channels in Billy’s settings, you will notice two buttons if some birthdays are missing:

If you click on the first button Ask 12 members, Billy will reach out to each member individually to remind them to fill out their birth date, telling them that you asked for it.

If you click on Import dates, It will provide you with an Excel file that you’ll have to fill out and send back to Billy’s through the chat.

Note: If you have enabled auto-collection, Billy will automatically reach out on an optimized schedule to collect dates by himself.

Personal settings

Previously, we only discussed the admin settings. Please note that only the person who installed Billy and the Slack workspace admins have access to those admin settings.

Now, let’s take a look at the personal settings:

We can see two different sections.

The first one is to fill out our birthdate and our work anniversary date. We can note two things:

  • The year is optional (each person can hide how old he/she is).
  • There is an opt-out option in case someone doesn’t want their birthday or work anniversary to be celebrated (indeed, some people are not comfortable with it).

The second one is the list of upcoming events. This is useful if someone wants to check someone else’s birthday/work anniversary or if you are an admin looking to check whether or not you inputted the right date!

Tips and Tricks

To ensure the best user experience for your Slack members, here is our recommendation on how to use a bday bot:

  1. Install it and import the birthdates and work anniversary dates of everyone.
  2. Turn on auto-collect so that whenever someone new joins the Slack workspace, Billy will automatically collect their information.

Conclusion

In this article, we saw how to install and configure a birthday bot, and how to use it on a daily basis. We really encourage you to test one of the available birthday bots on the market and observe the reactions of your teammates. Trust us, you won’t be disappointed!

Last but not least: If you are using Slack and want to give Billy a try, here is a link to do so.

Let us know what your teams think of it in the comments!

Categories
Employee experience Remote work

How to Celebrate Your Birthday on Slack

Introduction

Slack has become one of the most popular communication platforms for teams, with its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other apps. One of the best features of Slack is its ability to bring people together, even when they are working remotely. Celebrating birthdays is an important part of any workplace culture, and Slack has made it easier than ever to do so. In this blog post, we will explore some of the ways you can celebrate your birthday on Slack.

Creating a Birthday Channel

One of the easiest ways to celebrate your birthday on Slack is to create a dedicated channel for the special events. This can be done by simply creating a new channel and naming it something like #celebrations. Once the channel is created, you can invite your colleagues to join in and share their wishes. You can also use this channel to post pictures of your celebration or any other birthday-related content.

Using a Slack Birthday Bot

Celebrating birthdays is not a built-in feature of Slack (see our other article about “does Slack notify birthdays“). You can use an app on Slack to celebrate your birthday. You can use Billy (The Birthday bot) for instance, simply install it in your workspace and you can set it up to post in the channel of your choice (the #celebrations one for instance). This way it will post the wishes reminder for you.

Virtual Celebrations

If you are working remotely, celebrating your birthday on Slack may be the best option. You can set up a virtual celebration by scheduling a video call with your colleagues and using a conferencing app like Zoom or Google Meet. You can also use Slack’s built-in video calling feature to connect with your colleagues and celebrate together. You can use this time to play games, share stories, or just catch up with each other.

Conclusion

Overall, there are many ways to celebrate your birthday on Slack, whether you are working in the office or remotely. Creating a dedicated channel, using Billy Birthday, and scheduling a virtual celebration are just a few of the ways you can bring your colleagues together to celebrate your special day. Celebrating your birthday on Slack is a great way to build team morale and strengthen workplace relationships.

Categories
Employee engagement

Does Slack notify birthdays?

Slack is one of the most popular communication platforms in the world. It is used by teams and organizations globally to collaborate and communicate efficiently. One of the most frequently asked questions about Slack is whether it notifies users about birthdays. In this blog post, we will answer this question and explore other related topics.

Does Slack notify birthdays?

The short answer is no. Slack does not notify users about birthdays. It is not one of the default features of the platform. However, there are ways to receive notifications about birthdays on Slack. Third-party applications such as Billy can be used to set up birthday reminders. By integrating these applications with Slack, you can receive notifications about birthdays in your Slack channel.

How to celebrate birthdays on Slack?

To set up birthday reminders on Slack, you need to follow these steps:

  • Install Billy (The birthday bot)
  • Select a Slack channel where celebration messages should be posted
  • Choose the time for the birthday reminders
  • Select a method to collect the dates (either manual import or automatic)

Once you have set up Billy you will see birthday celebrations in your Slack channel.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Slack does not notify users about birthdays by default. However, there are ways to receive reminders about birthdays on Slack. By using third-party applications such as Billy, you can set up birthday reminders and receive notifications in your Slack channel. Birthday reminders can be a great way to show your colleagues that you care and appreciate them on their special day.

Categories
Employee engagement

How to automate birthdays in slack in 2023

There are few things more frustrating than forgetting a birthday. Whether it’s a coworker, family member, or close friend, forgetting someone’s special day can leave you feeling guilty and thoughtless.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to avoid this issue altogether: by automating birthday reminders in Slack! Here’s how to automate birthdays in slack in 2023.

Why it’s important to send birthday wishes to employees and colleagues

Wishing birthdays in Slack is something everybody does. It’s the most simple and natural thing to do, not mentioning that it is totally cross-cultural and done all across the globe. You can learn more on why it’s important to celebrate employee’s birthdays in this article.

When your team scales, you’ll want to find a way to simplify and automate the process of birthday notifications and celebrations. But when it comes to putting it in practise you’ll soon find out that there are very few solutions out there to automate birthday messages for your team.

How to automate birthday wishes in slack

With Billy Birthday, there’s no excuse for forgetting a birthday ever again! By following these simple steps, you can set up automated messages and reminders that will help you keep track of all the special days. So go ahead and give it a try! Here’s how to do it:

  1. Install Billy Birthday by clicking “Add to Slack” on this page.
  2. Authorizing the app to access your Slack account.
  3. You’ll be taken to a page where you can customize your settings.
    Choose a slack channel for the messages, select if you want to celebrate work anniversaries, update posting times, and select which birth date collection method you’d like (either automatic, the bot will ask the users their birthday or manual with a spreadsheet where you can enter birthdays in bulk)
  4. That’s it! Billy Birthday will automatically post birthday celebration messages to your team in the channel you’ve selected.

By following these simple steps, you can easily automate the process of tracking employee birthdays and anniversaries using Slack. This will free up your time so that you can focus on other important tasks and make sure that no one’s special day goes unnoticed.