Agile HR Newsletter December 2022

At Agile we are very proud to announce that we celebrate our 12th birthday in December.  We very much take pride in what we do and it is an absolute privilege to work with many inspiring wonderful people.

As 2022 draws to a close we wanted to take a moment to reflect – it has been a very eventful year of ups and downs, socially, culturally, politically and economically.  A year that has thrown lots of challenges and curve balls for business as well as individuals. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients, supporters and contacts for your support, guidance and sometimes the opportunity to just smile.  Wishing you all a lovely and well deserved festive break.  Excited to see what opportunities and challenges 2023 will offer us.

With festive wishes from Your Agile HR Team Jenny, Hils, Chelsey, David and Emily.

How to Show Appreciation at Work!

As employers, it is important that we show our appreciation to our employees who help our business run smoothly every day. Showing appreciation and gratitude to employees is about recognising their hard work and dedication throughout the year and treating them with kindness, leaving them feeling valued and that their work has purpose. Showing your appreciation can create supportive environments and encourages your team to work together and help each other. It is also a great way of aligning your business with your values.

Showing appreciation can build better working relationships, build self confidence and can help your employees reach their goals through support and motivation.   

How can you show appreciation?

There are many ways of showing appreciation to your employees such as bonus/ reward schemes and end of year parties… but sometimes it’s the little things that really show your appreciation. Here are some helpful tips:

• Saying ‘Thank you’ – this one is super simple, and slightly obvious, but remembering to say thank you when a colleague has helped you out or completed a piece of work, will go a long way by lifting their spirits.
• Public Praise – sending an email or using an internal channel to highlight and compliment someone’s hard work. Shout outs within team meetings are also a good idea (as long as the employee is comfortable with this).
• Being Friendly – you can show appreciation just by being friendly such as asking about their day, interests and what their plans are for the evening/ weekend.
• Recognise the small things – it doesn’t always have to be the end of a big project or at the end of the year to recognise someone’s achievements.
• Be Genuine – remember to be thoughtful, personal and specific. In the moment appreciation can also show you are being genuine.
• Recognise personal achievements – remember to congratulate or reward employees for achievements such as another year of service or completed training/ a certificate.
• Appreciate daily – take the time to show appreciation in the workplace daily!

If you would like more information on how to show appreciation at work, please contact [email protected]

The 360 Appraisal Process

What is a 360 appraisal?

The purpose of a 360 appraisal is to give an employee meaningful and constructive feedback. The process involves gathering the anonymous views and opinions of managers, colleagues and direct reports.

Traditional appraisals are usually conducted by the employees’ line manager. The focus is usually on performance and will be measured against objectives set at previous appraisals. This process is almost always one to one between the line manager and the employee. Although this is a useful exercise, conventional appraisals alone can be limited as feedback is only coming from one source (the line manager) and can run the risk of being influenced by unconscious bias (whether positive or negative). For an appraisal to be as effective as possible, the more data points that can be utilized the better, to achieve a well-rounded feedback process. Whilst Agile HR strongly advise that line managers carry out regular one to one appraisals, we also would like to stress the benefits of the 360 appraisal.

Whilst the one to one appraisal focuses on the job specific targets, objectives and job requirements, a 360 appraisal collects insights from a range of sources, providing a broader view of an employee’s capabilities. The added benefit, when using 360 alongside conventional appraisals is that they give the employee constructive feedback on how they perform on a daily basis, from those managing them, working alongside them, and those reporting to them.

The process works like this –

• Colleagues, reports and managers complete a feedback form comprising of questions and rating scales.
• The person receiving the review will complete a self-assessment form.
• The results are combines to create an anonymous report of the employee’s strengths and weaknesses.
• The feedback is used to help the employee create a well-informed development plan.

360 appraisals are a great way to address a variety of competencies with a broad range of feedback. Key benefits include:

• They give colleagues new potential areas for development.
• They allow colleagues to see things from a different perspective.
• They measure difficult to quantify factors like team work, communication skills and leadership.
• They increase self-awareness and encourage better behavior.
• Anonymity means people can be honest with their feedback.

For further information on the above, please contact [email protected]

Celebrating Success

Taking time to celebrate success at work is incredibly important, it’s a motivation boost but it also builds confidence leading to better business results through passion to exceed.  Equally not celebrating success or recognizing achievement can lead to morale dipping and ultimately lower business results.

Here are a few suggestions from our Agile Team on ways to say well done.

Eight Ways to Celebrate Achievement

Feel free to tailor to your Team:

1. Just say it. A straightforward, face-to-face “well done” is a simple but effective way to celebrate achievement. A personal email can mean a lot and can add a valuable personal touch.

• Gathering the team together to acknowledge success can be powerful statement, applause can be uplifting and team-building but be careful to not embarrass.

• Share success stories across your Team and onto wider Social Media. Share success stories as Testimonials. This will also raise your successful team member’s profile in the wider space.

• Pay it forward. When you’re celebrating an achievement of your own, show your thanks by acknowledging the people who helped to make it happen. Look out for opportunities to help other people to succeed, so that they have a reason to celebrate, too.

• Give a gift but try to avoid setting a precedent; you don’t want recognition to become just an impersonal cash transaction.  Gifts such as food or flowers are a relatively inexpensive yet powerful way of recognizing achievement.

• Get together socially. Celebrating being together can be a powerful message for team bonding. Do be mindful of work deadlines though.

• Volunteer for charity together but do remember that people will have different priorities and always pool opinion before organising.

• Use your HR Database Platform to share Kudos credits (i.e. BreatheHR offer this method.)

For further information on the above, please contact [email protected]