Employee Appreciation Day commenced on March 1, 2024, and in celebration, Greenshades hosted a webinar titled “Celebrating Employee Appreciation Week: Payroll & HR for Growth and Wellness,” featuring expert speakers Jerika Holton and Michael Halford. The session aimed to equip HR and payroll professionals with strategies to support employee growth and enhance workplace wellness.
Watch the full webinar here:
The Strategic Role of Payroll and HR in Employee Growth and Mental Wellness
The webinar began by examining current workplace trends, revealing that a significant portion of employees prioritize higher pay and benefits, opportunities for growth, and are experiencing burnout and stress.
- 64% Of employees stated an increase in pay and benefits is "very important" when considering a job.
- 86% Of employees say they’d switch jobs for one with more chances to grow.
- 57% Of employees are experiencing burnout and stress in the workplace.
We highlighted the role of payroll and HR technology in leveraging data to meet employee needs effectively.
Optimize Employee Development
We covered the traditional methods to foster employee development, including training programs, mentors, networking opportunities, continuous feedback, and educational budget and tuition reimbursement before taking attendees through innovative approaches to discover opportunities for growth.
We broke down how using payroll data can be a creative way to uncover opportunities for growth or development.
- Overtime: Recognizing employees who consistently put in extra effort and show dedication.
- Project accounting: Evaluating which team members are taking on multiple projects and managing their tasks effectively.
- Piecework: Assessing who completes tasks swiftly versus those needing additional support.
- Tips: Noting employees who excel in roles that generate significant tips, acknowledging their high performance.
The conversation then shifted to using payroll data for strategic insights, such as salary analysis for employee retention, identifying seasonal business trends to manage workload, forecasting labor costs for budgeting, and analyzing productivity for potential advancements.
Increase Workplace Satisfaction
To increase workplace satisfaction, we emphasized the importance of adopting flexible workplace policies, including remote work options, flexible vacation days, creative pay options, and flexible working hours and locations.
The importance of maintaining communication through employee self-service technology was also emphasized.
- Share crucial updates and news, like corporate gatherings.
- Customize your platform with your company's unique branding, incorporating logos and color schemes.
- Ensure a mobile-friendly interface for easier document access and interaction, such as contributions for company events through fillable forms.
- Provide employees with easy access to essential payroll, HR policies, and tax details.
Support Employee Well-Being
Supporting employee well-being was another critical topic, with a discussion on the discrepancy between employers’ perception of their benefits offerings and employee satisfaction.
Why it is time to do something different.
- Many employees do not understand their benefits
- Employees are not aware of all the benefits available to them
- You are not offering the benefits your employees want/need
It is time to get innovative with benefits, we suggested reevaluating benefits to include mental health resources, student loan assistance, wellness programs, pet benefits, or other options to better meet employee needs.
Attendees were also directed to a free resource, TheAdamProject.org, for mental health support.
Wrap Up
The session concluded with three key takeaways for promoting employee growth and well-being: understanding employees' specific needs, finding creative engagement and support methods, and choosing a payroll and HR provider capable of adapting to unique needs.
For more information on how you can utilize Greenshades payroll and HR data to support your workforce, contact us today!
