Meet Sylvia – Our Major Accounts Manager!

Meet Sylvia, our Major Accounts Manager! Before Sylvia came to Hire Up, she worked for other staffing agencies in Visalia. Sylvia started out as a receptionist and moved her way up to a Recruitment Specialist. Her excellent people skills and ability to connect with people helped to promote her through the company. Sylvia’s professional goal is to help as many people find jobs they will be happy going to day in and day out and a place where they can continue to learn and grow.

A work-related accomplishment that she is proud of is moving up in positions and always playing an important role in any company. Sylvia’s positive attitude and willingness to help have taken her far in her professional career. Now, Sylvia is excited to be part of Hire Up’s environment that has been created. Everyone is always willing to help each other succeed and she is excited to be a part of it! Outside of the office, you can find Sylvia reading, taking kickboxing and spin classes, camping, shopping, and spending time with her kids.

Meet Grace – Our Recruiting Manager in Austin!

Meet Grace, your Recruiting Manager in the Austin branch! Before coming to Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services, Grace was a Recruiter and a Human Resources Assistant. A work-related accomplishment that Grace is proud of is creating training and employee manuals for the role she recently had at her previous company. Now, being at Hire Up, Grace aims to be comfortable enough in her setting to take on new and harder tasks.

Grace is very excited to work at Hire Up and be a part of a growing, family-oriented company that cares about the candidates they are placing as well as the clients they serve. A piece of advice that has stuck with her is to view every person you meet as a door that may lead you to a new opportunity, which is precisely what Grace plans to do. When not in the office, you can find her watching movies, spending time outside walking and swimming, spending time with her boyfriend and friends, and eating good food.

Avoid Burnout: How to Motivate Fatigued and Stressed Employees

Chris Rogers

Regional Vice President – Mid-West

Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services

August 23, 2021

The World Health Organization defines burnout as “a syndrome resulting from chronic work-related stress, with symptoms characterized by ‘feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy,” (World Health Organization). If you have frequented a grocery store or medical office recently, you likely have witnessed this from some employees firsthand. Employees who were considered essential workers and opted to report to work during the depths of the pandemic, likely experienced an increased workload, fewer resources to assist them, an increased number of work hours, and a decrease in regular and/or routine days off. While these workers likely had noble reasons for sticking with the job during this time, this type of work environment comes with a rather hefty set of negative consequences. One of which is burnout.

Perhaps you are in an industry that was unable to work during the lockdown in your area. You, too, are likely witnessing another type of burnout. Have you struggled to find willing and able candidates to employ? Many people are tired, weary, frustrated. How can we work to overcome this overwhelming feeling of “is this all over yet?”

These tips listed below are important all the time, however, especially during trying times. Review this list and complete an honest and fair assessment for yourself. What areas can you improve upon to help make the lives of those you manage a little easier, a little more fulfilling, and a little more encouraging?

Do Not Micromanage. Your employees are your greatest assets, your greatest resources. You hired them for a reason. Trust that reason. Allow them room to do their job and learn from their own experiences. In an article written for Forbes, February 2021, contributor Heidi Lynn Kurter, writes, “micromanagers are detrimental to the success of a business and the mental health of everyone involved.” Do not add to their stress by showing you do not trust their abilities.
Show Flexibility. Whether it be work schedules, time off, changes in work structure or process, listen to ideas and suggestions from your team. Show you value their thoughts and needs. When your employees feel heard, they often feel valued, which offers additional benefits back to the company.
Focus on Others. Your own little world can be a stressful place—don’t get stuck there. And don’t let your employees get stuck in their own little worlds either. Force them to step outside of that world and think about something else for a moment. You can do that by leading as an example. Great managers fight for their people. Show your team that you notice their stress and that you care about their wellbeing.
Provide Proper Resources and Tools. Give your team what they need. Be sure your employees have all the necessary supplies and resources to do their jobs. When they ask for new equipment or tools, seriously consider their requests. If your budget will not allow it this year, think about other creative alternatives until it can be added into the budget next year.
Line of Sight/Big Picture. Stress can be inevitable at work. When employees don’t see or understand why they’re putting up with the stress, it simply makes things worse. When you share the big picture, your team can understand things from a new perspective. They might also have thoughts from their initial perspective that can help enlighten yours.
Sincere Compliments and Recognition. A kind word can be a very simple stress reliever. It doesn’t take much to notice the work of another. When you see something, make it a habit of saying something. Noticing something small can make the biggest difference in someone’s day.
Meaningful Meetings. There is perhaps nothing more stressful than wasted time. Any meeting with an agenda that can be addressed in an email should be canceled. At all costs, avoid meeting with your employees “just to meet.” Show you value their time and yours.
Clear Communication. Your employees should be able to solely focus on the job you have hired them to do. They should not have to allocate any time or effort to deciphering the messages they receive from management. If something is important, share it in person and allow for questions. If something is a reminder, or a quick and easy information share, send an email.
Positive Messaging. The words you choose in the workplace play a huge role in the overall corporate culture. Happier words lead to a happier culture and happier employees. Your words are currency. You are either depositing or withdrawing. Think about the words you choose and recognize their power.
Be Available for Support. Make sure to be available for questions your employees might have, be honest and avoid making promises that you can’t keep. If you don’t know the answer to a question, tell them you need some time to get the answer and then follow up with them by the end of the day.
Remove Obstacles. Start by identifying any obstacles that could be hindering productivity and/or creating unneeded stress for your team and or customers. Find solutions to remove those obstacles and then celebrate the successes that come with this change.
Provide an Outlet to Give and Receive Feedback. Feedback is a great way to gather important information from your team. However, if you ask for it, be prepared to do something about the information received. If you do not show actionable steps to making things right, your team will lose trust in this process and eventually stop sharing.
Provide Breaks. Any good management team understands the necessity of working breaks and special events added onto a work calendar. If you are not taking advantage of some fun during the downtime, consider starting it. This is an excellent opportunity to initiate some relaxation into an otherwise stressful workday. Do something to get your team to stop what they are doing and play, relax, or laugh.

As a leader your example means everything. How you choose to respond to stress, uncertainty, good news, bad news, it’s all being observed by your team. Your very reputation in the workplace is formed based upon how you handle yourself and the decisions you make that impact those around you.

In reviewing these 13 tips above, can you identify a few that you could work to improve? Write them down. Create a goal around each one and start TODAY. Start small but make the efforts meaningful.

Need help with this? Call us. Our team of expert professionals are ready and willing to coach you through it. Employee burnout is real. However, if you, as a leader are feeling burnout, too, we can help. Allow us to help you create a plan to get you and your team performing better than ever.

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There is no doubt that 2021 will bring forth opportunities with which to leverage new and emerging employment trends. Follow the Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services Blog to stay connected with a variety of topics aimed to help support you! Whether you are an active job seeker looking for tips and tricks to land your perfect job or an employer looking to fill a challenging position, we are here to help you HIRE UP!

References:

Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases (who.int)

4 Signs Your Boss Is a Micromanager and How to Challenge Them (forbes.com)

Chris Rogers, Regional Vice President – Mid-West | August 23, 2021

As the Regional Vice President of the Mid-West operations, Chris focuses on the mentorship and development of his Hire Up staff to ensure they are equipped to provide the best service to both our candidates and clients. Chris’ extensive knowledge of the staffing industry lays the groundwork for his teams to always deliver top-caliber talent to great organizations. His expertise includes experience in all disciplines from commercial and professional staffing to executive placement. Chris and his teams strive to improve the lives of their candidates and improve the businesses of their clients. Chris’ over 15 years in the staffing and recruitment industry includes the successful management of high-performing sales and recruiting teams throughout the Southwest. Chris would love to speak with you so he can help your business reach new heights.

Meet Cerena – Our Recruiting Manager in East Bay!

As a Recruiting Manager for the East Bay branch, Cerena’s professional goal is to expand her network and start connecting with new people where she will be able to help her clients and candidates. She believes this would be a great way of sharing new knowledge. Before coming to Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services, Cerena worked as a Recruiter at a psychiatric hospital that focused on sourcing and recruiting for clinical and non-clinical roles.

One job accomplishment that she is proud of is being able to switch job fields and quickly learning the job duties. Cerena is excited to work at Hire Up because she believes she can add value to the company while learning new technical skills from her fellow teammates. When Cerena is out of the office, you can find her spending time at the gym, and trying out new restaurants and breweries.

Meet Joyce – Our Graphic Designer in the Corporate office!

Meet Joyce, our Graphic Designer in the Corporate Office! Before coming to Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services, Joyce was a Graphic Designer at her college University in one of their marketing departments. She was also an Editorial Designer doing magazine publications and a Barista at Starbucks. Now, with such a friendly and welcoming community and team, Joyce is excited to apply her skillsets to bring wonderful visuals and graphics for Hire Up!

A workplace accomplishment that Joyce is proud of is completing all of her deadlines and check-offs. It makes her feel like she can tackle the world afterward! A piece of advice that Joyce always thinks about is, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift! That is why it is called the present,” which is a quote from one of her favorite movies, Kung Fu Panda.

One of her favorite hobbies is trying out new eateries around the area. She has been to almost all of the tea and Boba spots around Fresno! Another fun fact about Joyce is that she is obsessed with cats. If anyone sends her any memes, videos, or photos of cats it will automatically make her day even better!

Training: The Importance of Prioritizing People

Elisa Weathers

Training Director

Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services

August 9, 2021

Businesses that value training likely have leaders who see it as an investment in their people, and ultimately their company’s future. Yet, for other businesses, training is a budgetary line that is tough to see the value in, because they aren’t educated in everything a training program can do for their business.

Why do some businesses see the value in training where others see it as an expendable line item?

What do organizations gain when prioritizing training? We have the answers!

Here are several benefits that top the list:

Grow Future Leaders. Companies with a strong internal training find themselves better prepared to identify potential leaders and train them up through their proprietary training programs.
Team Longevity. According to the 2019 LinkedIn Workforce Learning Report, “94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it simply invested in helping them learn.” LinkedIn research found learning to be the #1 factor of happiness at work in both Gen Z and Millennials.
Stronger Teams. With strong bench strength on your side, your company is already at an advantage. Add in the positive morale that comes from investing in your team and you will find a group of people who want to work together and make a difference.
Word of Mouth. Happy employees love to talk about where they work! When you invest in your team and aim to offer the resources they value, you build meaningful connections. Your happy teams become brand ambassadors, which is invaluable grass roots marketing. They will likely share about their experience and refer friends and family to buy from and/or potentially work for your business.
Stronger Recruiting Muscle. Just as employees share about their experiences, potential candidates will too, once they learn about your training programs through interviews, job postings, your website, etc. Celebrate the resources you offer your team and watch how the word spreads to other like-minded people who will seek out your company above others.

A strong training program makes your company more attractive to prospective candidates, which is critical in this tight recruiting market. As Learning & Development becomes more common in the workplace, candidates know that they do not have to go with a company that will not train them, because they are very capable of finding a company who will provide training.

There are many downsides of not having an air-tight training program.

Here are just a few…

A company without a training program means that everyone is trained differently. That leaves room for more gaps, more room for error, more holes in their processes.
- A company with holes in their processes has a higher risk in compliance and safety violations and therefore, often, higher legal costs.
- Employees are frustrated when there are inconsistencies, which result in less productivity, lower morale, and higher turnover.
The price associated with keeping up on the turnover can become quite costly, especially if a company is hiring new employees only to be placed back into an environment with inconsistent training practices. It is like a never-ending cycle of wasted time, money, and effort.
All the above pitfalls lead to poor reputation in both the world of employees and customers alike. Word of mouth can be a good thing when things are done well, however, we all know what can happen with word of mouth when things fall short.

Not sure where to start with ensuring your company is set up for success with training? Need some assistance with creating a plan? We can help.

Whether it is utilizing our HR Consulting services to assist you with developing your organizational plan or allowing us to find you well-qualified training manager candidates, we are here for YOU! Give our team a call and let’s talk about your specific needs and how we can best serve you.

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References:

94% of employees would stay at a company for this one reason (cnbc.com)

Elisa Weathers, Training Director | August 9, 2021

Meet Hedi – Business Development Manager in the Fort Worth Office!

As a Business Development Manager in the Fort Worth branch, Heidi’s professional goal is to surpass budgeted sales goals, be promoted into leadership and/or a training position, and help those she comes into contact with. Before working at Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services,
Heidi worked as a marketing and sales professional in the assisted living memory care industry for over 15 years.

Now, working at Hire Up, Heidi is excited to make a difference in the lives that she touches. One accomplishment that she is proud of is superseding goals during a time of bankruptcy while keeping the team energized and focused. She can’t wait to make new work accomplishments at Hire Up.

A piece of advice that has stuck with Heidi throughout the years is to work hard and to stay humble. When Heidi is out of the office, she likes to watch football, specifically the New Orleans Saints or the Cowboys. She also likes to spend time writing poetry, going camping, and also gardening.

Meet Kellie – Our Recruiting Manager in Bakersfield

As a Recruiting Manager for the Bakersfield branch, Kellie’s professional goal is to utilize her leadership skills with a growing company. Before working at Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services, Kellie worked at Ulta Beauty as an Assistant Manager, where she used her customer service skills to help clients with their skincare and beauty needs and build professional relationships.

One accomplishment that Kellie is proud of is accomplishing any self-goals and team goals. Now, Kellie’s new goal is to learn as much as she can for herself, clients and candidates and grow with Hire Up. When Kellie isn’t in the office, she can be found painting, singing, doing gymnastics, and playing with her two children.

The Recipe for Building and Maintaining a High Performing Team

Lauren Milam

Regional Vice President – West Coast

Hire Up Staffing & Healthcare Services

July 26th, 2021

If you are anything like me, you may occasionally enjoy watching a cooking show. I am often inspired by a technique or special ingredient the host is using and work to find ways to incorporate those things into my own dishes. Learning from professional chefs who are in the kitchen all day can be helpful for a nighttime and weekend cook, like me.

The idea of recipes came to mind when looking to write this blog. When it comes to building and maintaining a high-performing team, there are certain ingredients that are necessary for creating a foundational flavor, and then some spices you can toss in for additional flair. If you are interested in the ingredients that I use for building my very own high-performing team, continue reading and I will share with you some of the tricks and tips I have learned along the way.

A Recipe for Building and Maintaining a High Performing Team

Ingredient List:

The Right Hire: Choosing quality ingredients is extremely important when cooking, as well as when building a team. Identifying a candidate with the necessary skills is just a fraction of what goes into selecting the right person for your organization. Ensuring that candidate is also driven and passionate about the industry and your company is a much larger portion of the equation.

Once you have selected the right candidate, share the vision as you have with the other members of your team. Be sure they understand the company goals and that they can see what they do each day impacts the overall vision. The parallels should be clear within their daily duties of the job, their annual goals, and other measurements like KPIs.

Secret Ingredient to Kick it Up a Notch: Find a way to use their fresh perspective and work to include them on projects and meetings that could use a new set of eyes. Not only does this help to acclimate your new team member to the business, but it allows them a sense of ownership by being able to contribute early on. This secret sauce builds rapport, shows appreciation, as well as demonstrates your ability to support new ideas.

Identify what Motivates Your Team within the Workplace: Knowing more about the ingredients in your recipe and learning how to best prepare and include each one is crucial to building optimal flavor. This same idea can be used when building and maintaining your high performing team. Everyone on your team offers a unique perspective, skillset, and reason for coming to work every day. Taking time to get to know what motivates each one of them can help to build trust and gain additional buy-in from your team.

Do the members of your team value meaningful and challenging work? Do they have more basic needs like safety or job security? Do they value recognition? Or are they motivated by dollar signs, benefits, time off? Are they fueled by a sense of belonging and tied to the culture within the organization? Knowing which workplace motivators appeal to each of the members of your team can help you to connect the needs of the business with what fires them up and gets them interested, active, and involved.

Secret Ingredient to Improve Results: Learn how the respective members of your team prefer to be managed. Do they thrive in an environment that allows them to work individually? Do they prefer check-in times to be scheduled and routine? Do they need a bit more reassurance that they are on the right track than others on your team? Identify this early and work to coordinate your management style to fit their preferences. So long as the work is getting done, it is important for managers to recognize that the one size fits all approach to managing a team is no longer effective in today’s multi-generational workplace.

Understand their Goals and Provide them a Growth Track: For some cooks, seeing a photo of the finished product within a recipe can be helpful for them to attempt to gauge the level of difficulty required before even attempting it. Additionally, a photo of the recipe can serve as a way for the cook to compare their actual results to the established expectation set forth. This same concept can be used when building and maintaining high performing teams. Build this track together based upon information from your career planning discussions with the individual members of your team.

Stay curious with your team. Work with them to identify what their professional goals look like and then together, create a growth track with which they can follow and see how their growth ties into the company’s vision and future goals of the organization. It is important to show what future trajectory could look like for them and it is much more meaningful to have that plan be something based upon an individual’s specific goals. Much like the photo within a recipe book, a growth track serves similar purposes.

Set the growth tracker to have important milestones and dates, when possible. Are their goals 3, 5, or 10-year? Sketch it out. Get something down to memorialize the conversation and to use as a guidepost for future performance goals and career discussions. This technique shows your level of commitment to their future. However, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you stick to the plan and your promises for supporting them through it with additional training, coaching, mentoring, etc.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: One cannot simply build and maintain a high performing team in a crockpot. This is NOT a set it and forget it activity. Once your team is up and running and thriving, it is ok to let things simmer and let all the flavors naturally develop. That is one of the many benefits of having a high performing team.

However, you must not forget the importance of regularly communicating with the members of your team in both formal and informal ways. Checking in and keeping an open door are both crucial elements to building effective communication patterns within your organization. Creating a sense of psychological safety allows your team to feel comfortable coming to you when they are unsure how to best move forward, or if they are placed in some type of potentially negative or ambiguous circumstance professionally.

There is little worse than an organization that fears its leader. If you use your position as a battling ram, your team will not likely be intrinsically motivated, but instead moving through the motions based upon fear. Communication is the MOST important element to building and maintaining a high-performing team, yet, HOW you choose to communicate matters.

Have FUN!: Getting to know your team, what motivates them, how to be their best leader, what, when and HOW to communicate with them can feel overwhelming at times. Being a leader is not always easy and leading a team of high performers can be even more of a challenge for many. One important ingredient to the success of your high performing team comes down to FUN.

Fun can take many forms, be it a random Donut Tuesday, a Wacky Tee-Shirt Friday or an impromptu trashcan hoop throwing contest, the ability to have fun within a workplace environment often relies upon what is modeled by leadership. If you want to get the most from your team, be sure to intentionally work to incorporate fun. If you are not sure where to start, ASK your team.

Building and maintaining a high performing team offers endless benefits, including:

Improved employee satisfaction because the team feels heard, valued, autonomous.
Enhanced customer satisfaction, most often reflective of happier employees.
Less turnover when your team is happy, thus saving you money, as well as the potential pitfalls from the fall-out of the team left to pick up the pieces when others leave.

Are you ready to get something cooking and not sure where to start? Feel like you could use some help with following this type of recipe? Contact our team. We are helping to resource ingredients like the above listed every day and would be honored to assist your organization with building and maintaining your best team yet.

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Lauren Milam, Regional Vice President – West Coast | July 26th, 2021

As the Regional Vice President of the West Coast operations, Lauren focuses on the development of each Hire Up team member and office to ensure they have the tools and ability to meet the needs of all the clients and candidates. Lauren’s vast experience in the staffing industry and her passion for people, results, and success is what drives her daily. This experience includes leadership, management, employee development, sales, marketing, recruitment, client retention, and candidate retention. Her goal is to ensure every client and candidate receives excellent service through every aspect of the process. Lauren would love to speak with you so she can help your business reach new heights.

Meet Blake – Recruiting Coordinator in the Dallas Branch!

Meet Blake Burn, the Recruiting Coordinator overseeing both the Dallas and Fort Worth branch! Before Blake came to Hire Up, he attended The University of Texas at Dallas and worked at sushi restaurants. Now working at Hire Up, Blake is excited to finally have a professional job where he can transfer the skills he is learning in college.

One work-related accomplishment that Blake is proud of is being conversationally fluent in Chinese, where he hopes to someday be able to use his skill. A professional goal that Blake has is to get his J.D. and go into International Law. Some of his favorite things to do outside of the office are reading classic books, writing, as well as working out, playing volleyball, and going out with friends.