To kick off our “Spotlight On” series, Jennifer London, our Content Marketing Manager, recently sat down with Lynn Prust, Senior Workplace Investigator and Investigation Manager, to chat about Lynn’s unique background.
I knew I wanted to do an employee spotlight on Lynn Prust from the day I met her. Like many of our staff members, Lynn’s background includes an impressive breadth of experience and list of accomplishments. Lynn has over three decades of experience in HR and employee relations across industries such as healthcare, retail management, and medical device manufacturing. Prior to joining the HRSAW team, Lynn was the Director of Employee Relations for Boston Scientific Corporation, where she managed a global employee relations team for almost ten years. The moment you talk to her, you realize that her professional accomplishments are the result of her innate ability to make connections with people; simply put, she is one of the kindest, most patient, and deeply caring people you may ever have the pleasure of working with.
Is she amazing at her job? A leader in her field? Widely respected? Yes, yes, and yes. But a lot of people can answer yes to all of those questions and not stand out from the crowd.
Lynn can.
Lynn’s passion for making an impact led to her starting her career as HR Generalist and growing professionally to HR Manager, Employee Relations Manager, and Director of Employee Relations – and all the while, it was never about the role she held or the goal of being a high-powered executive; it was about the connections she made along the way.
As an example, Lynn told me about a time she visited a job site as part of a workplace investigation. Here she was, showing up to investigate a serious allegation, which might normally make employees clam up around her — but instead of wary looks and half-hearted nods, she was greeted with smiles and exclamations of how glad the employees were to see her. That’s not to say that Lynn is a softie; she’s a keen judge of character and has an incredible ability to look objectively at a situation to suss out what’s relevant to the case she’s investigating. Rather, she has developed a reputation for being fair, for not merely listening to what people have to say but for actually making people feel heard as well.
People ask me, why do you enjoy working in employee relations? The reason I enjoy it is because usually someone has a concern about something, and you’re helping sort through that issue. You’re investigating, but you’re also helping to put something in place to help both parties through the situation. And so it [is] just very rewarding. I’ve had cases where people would say to me, “Thank you for listening. No one has listened to me.” And that’s where, you know, it wasn’t just investigating something. It was taking it another step after that.
As the eldest of four children, a tried-and-true Midwesterner who is the epitome of “Minnesota nice,” Lynn’s desire to help people was ingrained in her practically since birth. Lynn’s cousin Cindy, who worked in HR, inspired a young Lynn to find a career where she could make a difference in people’s lives. Maybe it’s as simple as being captain of varsity soccer in high school, seeing firsthand how a good leader can unify their team, play to each person’s strengths, and motivate their teammates to perform at their best. Whatever her guiding motivation, this passion for making an impact has guided the course of Lynn’s career.
In addition to conducting workplace investigations, throughout her career Lynn has helped employers develop accommodations for employees with disabilities. Lynn became sensitive to the challenges faced by people with disabilities in the workplace after watching her parents and other family members suffer from health issues from a young age, and she continues to advocate for people with disabilities and educate other HR professionals regarding disability accommodations. In her role at Boston Scientific, Lynn partnered with two organizations, Disability:In and the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), researching and then sharing best practices for accommodating employees with disabilities. As part of this work, she presented at conferences, led training sessions for HR business partners and leadership teams on disability inclusion and equality, and paved the way for new processes companies could use to handle accommodations and accommodation requests.
Lynn is softspoken, considers her words carefully before she speaks, and rarely interrupts when someone else is speaking. And yet, when Lynn speaks, everyone in the room stops to listen to her insights. She is a leader without even meaning to be; in fact, she insists that her career path is the result of having been fortunate to have wonderful teammates working together toward the same goal. Everything she does, she does with compassion, always taking the time to consider all perspectives, give the benefit of the doubt, and — above all — to keep her eyes on the prize.
What is that prize? Making a difference. Leaving the world a better place than she found it.
I don’t feel like I have to be out in the spotlight. [It’s about] wanting to make an impact versus having to be out there in front — it doesn’t matter what role I’m doing as long as I’m making a difference.
I wrapped up our interview with a question: What does Lynn think is the most important skill for a workplace investigator to have?
By now, her answer shouldn’t surprise you:
Being able to listen. No, wait: taking the time to listen. There is nothing more important.
Because every situation presents unique facts, the information provided in this article is for general information and is not intended to be legal advice regarding any specific situation. This information may be considered advertising in some states. Any links to third-party sites are for your convenience. HR Solutions At Work does not endorse specific sites or guarantee the accuracy of the information on those sites. Please contact us if you have any questions about this information or our services.
This month marks the fifth anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic. HR Solutions At Work Founder, Judy Kalisker, shares her memories of the week Massachusetts “shut down,” as well as how the pandemic changed the workplace, both generally and at HRSAW.
Five years ago today, everyone in Massachusetts who was not providing essential services was told to stay home and “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 cases. For me, the week leading up to the promised shutdown was hectic as I scurried to finish interviews for three investigations in the far corners of Massachusetts and also led investigation-skills training for 35 people in a small conference room where we all wondered what risks we were taking being in such a confined space. Each day I was in Western Mass, Cambridge, the North Shore, or the South Coast; sometimes I even visited two locations per day.
From a work perspective, the promised “two weeks” of shutdown were eerily quiet. Clients and colleagues stayed in touch, mostly to speculate on whether the shutdown would really be two weeks, or more like two months, six months, or more. Knowing I would have to get back to work in some way, I started to research virtual meeting capabilities. Then, around two months post-shutdown, clients started asking if we could do investigation interviews “virtually” rather than waiting for permission to work in person again.
My immediate answer was, “Of course we can!” Over the next few weeks, we adapted to doing everything remotely so we could get back to work, which meant moving my investigation interviews, client meetings, trainings, etc., to video conferences. Nowadays, I can’t imagine driving all over the state to do investigation interviews when I can have meetings in every time zone all in the same day!
There’s no question that the pandemic took a horrific toll on the entire world. In addition to more than seven million confirmed COVID-related deaths worldwide, hundreds of millions more people were extremely ill, and it is estimated that more than 400 million people suffer from long COVID. In the United States, there is a labor shortage resulting from many pandemic-related reasons, such as lingering illness from long COVID, preference for at-home work, and fear of virus exposure in customer-contact jobs. I see the effects of this labor shortage every day, from delayed deliveries to months-long waiting lists for medical procedures.
In the midst of such upheaval, I find it helpful to focus on some of the work-life improvements that emerged from this global pandemic experience — not to minimize or forget the tragic aspects of the pandemic, but to be grateful for what we learned and how we adapted.
For me personally, remote work eliminated driving time to clients’ offices and led to more family time at home; I was able to leverage technology (Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc.) not only for work but also for personal get-togethers with friends I had not spoken with in years; I attended a wedding across the country without flying, jet lag, or hotels; and I discovered a renewed commitment to wellness, with a daily workout over Zoom becoming an essential part of both my physical health and my stress relief.
The improvements to the workplace are not only technological. One of the most positive changes I have noticed is the increased patience that work colleagues have for each other’s non-work commitments. The doorbell rings while you’re in a Zoom meeting? No worries, let’s go on mute for a few minutes while you take care of it. You tested positive for the flu or COVID and have to take a week off? Not a problem, go take care of yourself, the work will wait. You forgot to blur the background and your spouse just photo-bombed your Teams meeting? Hang on, let’s meet your spouse! Things that might have occurred on the other side of the “work wall” started happening, in real time, in the virtual office, and we learned to toggle from personal to work in our home space.
One thing we are missing, however, is the natural camaraderie that results when people share space in a physical office. Employees who started work during the pandemic often feel like they don’t know their coworkers as well as the coworkers who know each other from pre-pandemic times. When attending in-person meetings, some people arrive early and have a natural opportunity to chat before the meeting starts, allowing people to develop relationships and friendships with colleagues. This, of course, is much harder to do when working and meeting remotely.
HR Solutions At Work has been a 100% remote company since we started in 2013, and I believe that flexibility helps attract and retain top talent. But I also believe in the importance of a strong company culture, which you can’t have if your employees feel disconnected from one another.
To that end, we have established some practices at HRSAW to emulate the in-person office experience for our team members. If you also have employees who are remote some days or every day, I hope that sharing these initiatives will spur your own ideas to maintain employee engagement in a remote workplace.
Our practices include:
We would love to hear how your organization engages remote and hybrid employees! Please shoot us an email or message us on LinkedIn to share your ideas and comments.
If you’d like to reminisce with me, I’d also love to hear your own post-COVID reflections. Thank you for reading and for being part of our ongoing pre- and post-pandemic journey.
Because every situation presents unique facts, the information provided in this article is for general information and is not intended to be legal advice regarding any specific situation. This information may be considered advertising in some states. Any links to third-party sites are for your convenience. HR Solutions At Work does not endorse specific sites or guarantee the accuracy of the information on those sites. Please contact us if you have any questions about this information or our services.
As much as we may wish we didn’t need external validation, for most of us, this simply isn’t the case. For the month of January, we polled people in our Wondering Wednesday series on LinkedIn to learn more about how employees prefer to receive positive feedback and what kind of feedback feels genuine. Employers of all sizes need to think about how to create a culture of recognition in the workplace. Employees who feel valued and appreciated are more likely to feel confident and motivated, are less likely to “quiet quit” or feel burned out, and are motivated to be more productive ― so it behooves managers and employers to take the time to demonstrate not just recognition but meaningful recognition for their employees’ hard work.
Last month, when we focused on delivering difficult feedback to employees, we mentioned the importance of giving regular, real-time feedback so employees don’t feel caught off-guard by learning about problem areas in their annual reviews. The same is doubly true for positive feedback. Partly this is because the longer it takes for managers to recognize employees, the less likely employees are to see the affirmations as authentic, and partly this is because of negativity bias, which can make it harder for people to accept constructive feedback. The bottom line is that you never want feedback to come as a shock to the employee, and we were thrilled to see that 75% of our survey respondents reported receiving positive feedback in real-time. (Last month’s survey found that 68% of our respondents received difficult feedback in real-time as well.)
Why, then, do so many employees come away from their mid-year or annual reviews feeling un- or under-appreciated? When receiving feedback, many people tend to hyperfocus on the negative feedback and not fully absorb the positive feedback. This means that managers need to work twice as hard to ensure those positive messages stick in their employees’ minds, particularly during mid-year and annual reviews, which take a bigger-picture view than the day-to-day and may thus overshadow those smaller wins.
To help positive messages get through the negativity bias, we suggest managers be specific with feedback: identify the situation, its impact, and your gratitude to your employee, all in one package. An example could be something like, “The training session you did in March about overcoming negativity bias was fantastic; we’ve all been working on identifying and challenging our negative thoughts when that bias creeps in, and I appreciate how much work you put into the presentation.”
Recognition for a job well done can take many forms, both tangible and intangible. Gift cards, company swag, and bonuses (tangible forms of recognition) are all good ways to show appreciation, but it’s the intangible rewards that employees find most meaningful ― the ones that feel genuine and really make them feel appreciated. These underappreciated options can include frequent kudos in team meetings, private feedback from a direct manager, an Employee of the Month recognition, spotlighting an employee on social media, and so on. For companies with tight budgets, this is great news: it’s not about material things, it’s about words of affirmation and appreciation.
Our survey results found that a whopping 76% of employees find private feedback from their manager to feel the most meaningful to them. This makes sense when you think about it: your manager is the person who ultimately rates your performance and has the most impact on your career development at the company.
But we can’t forget the other 24% ― the ones who didn’t find private feedback to be the most meaningful form of recognition. It’s important for leaders to recognize that each of their employees may have a unique answer to how they like to receive recognition for a job well done. Some may appreciate a public shoutout in front of their teammates; it might make them feel special and motivated. But others may be embarrassed by all the attention being focused on them; it may make them underperform to avoid such a scene in the future. In other words, what works for one employee may not work for another.
As always, our advice to managers is to simply ask your employee what their preference is. It might sound obvious, but 75% of our survey respondents reported that their manager had never asked them how they would prefer to be recognized for a job well done. Just like you tailor your management style to each employee, you also want to tailor the way you recognize them: public versus private, written versus verbal, gifts versus words of affirmation. Don’t assume you know what they want; asking directly will demonstrate how much you value them as an individual on your team.
When it comes to peer recognition, our survey respondents were evenly split between preferring private kudos from a peer and preferring public kudos in a team meeting. This 50/50 split of total opposites reinforces the importance of directly asking. Some people are more comfortable in a one-on-one setting even with peers, whereas others might specifically want peer recognition to occur in a team setting to ensure their higher-ups hear the praise.
One thing is clear, though: none of our survey respondents (0%) wanted to receive peer recognition via their manager. The reason positive manager feedback is ranked so highly in importance is because it is feedback that comes from the manager ― it just doesn’t have the same impact when they’re telling you about someone else’s feedback.
Want to participate in the conversation or see the results for yourself? Head on over to the HR Solutions At Work LinkedIn page, where we post a new poll every Wednesday!
Because every situation presents unique facts, the information provided in this article is for general information and is not intended to be legal advice regarding any specific situation. This information may be considered advertising in some states. Any links to third-party sites are for your convenience. HR Solutions At Work does not endorse specific sites or guarantee the accuracy of the information on those sites. Please contact us if you have any questions about this information or our services.
Happy New Year! Many companies perform annual employee reviews at the beginning of the year, so for the month of December, we polled people in our Wondering Wednesday series on LinkedIn to learn more about how and when employees receive feedback from their managers. Be sure to check out our tips below before you sit down in the next few weeks with your direct reports to provide feedback.
Overwhelmingly, respondents reported that they receive feedback from their managers regularly. This is great news; it tells us that companies and managers are doing a better job of giving real-time feedback than they did in the past, when feedback was typically only delivered in annual reviews. Times have changed, and workers are much happier with this cadence of feedback than in the past.
However, the majority of the feedback managers give on a regular basis is positive — and difficult conversations need to occur regularly, too.
Nearly half of our survey respondents reported feeling caught off-guard at their annual review by unanticipated feedback they wished they’d heard earlier in the year. This seems counterintuitive: employees are receiving more real-time feedback than ever before, and yet they’re still finding themselves caught off-guard during annual reviews.
Three factors may be at play here:
Given all of that, what time of day is best to give feedback, especially if there are areas of improvement to discuss?
Receiving difficult feedback at the beginning of the day might ruin the employee’s day and distract them from their work; on the other hand, they might feel sharpest in the morning and be better able to tap into their capacity to absorb and act on the information. This could give them the best opportunity to correct their mistakes, contributing to their general satisfaction with their own job performance.
Receiving difficult feedback at the end of the day may give the employee the chance to go home and process their feelings without being distracted by work or having to act like nothing is wrong if they are upset; on the other hand, they might be too tired by the end of the day to self-regulate their feelings and to fully process what they’ve heard, lessening the impact of the feedback. The timing of the feedback may also create an unintended consequence of disrupting the employee’s work/life balance if they are still processing what they heard after they’ve clocked out for the day (i.e., they are unable to “leave work at work”).
So how is a manager to know when to give feedback? In agreement with a 2016 study from researchers at the University of Toronto, respondents to our survey overwhelmingly said they prefer to receive feedback, especially difficult feedback, at the beginning of the day rather than the end of the day. Note that these answers may be hugely dependent on the individual’s personality, on their manager, and/or on the industry, so managers should remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Our advice? Ask your employees what they would prefer. We guarantee they’ll be grateful that you considered their preferences.
Want to participate in the conversation or see the results for yourself? Head on over to the HR Solutions At Work LinkedIn page, where we post a new poll every Wednesday!
Because every situation presents unique facts, the information provided in this article is for general information and is not intended to be legal advice regarding any specific situation. This information may be considered advertising in some states. Any links to third-party sites are for your convenience. HR Solutions At Work does not endorse specific sites or guarantee the accuracy of the information on those sites. Please contact us if you have any questions about this information or our services.
Radio stations have been playing holiday songs for months, but now that we’re nearing the end of the year, the holiday season is officially upon us. For the month of November, we polled people in our Wondering Wednesday series on LinkedIn to learn more about how employees want their organizations to handle the holidays. Annual party? Department lunch? Group outing? Make sure your company is ready for the holiday season this year – we think some of the results might surprise you.
Your company may have already planned this year’s holiday party, but you might want to consider foregoing the party in future years. From our polling results, only 9% of respondents wanted a holiday party; put another way, 91% of respondents want their company to celebrate the holidays with something that is not a holiday party. If you do still hold an annual holiday party, the consensus is clear that this should be held during business hours – workers want to spend their evenings and weekends with their friends and family rather than attending an extra (if not required, often “strongly encouraged”) work event.
So what do employees want? In a word: connection. The number one thing workers reported valuing in the workplace is their colleagues – so employers should consider options that foster these relationships.
Rather than a large gathering, which can often feel impersonal (particularly for companies with hundreds of employees), workers are increasingly preferring a company-sponsored lunch, whether it’s a company potluck or smaller department lunch. A potluck lunch feels more personal, not only within a team but also company-wide, because it allows people to try their coworkers’ favorite home-cooked or store-bought foods, strike up a conversation about why the dish may be special to them, maybe even exchange recipes (unless, of course, it’s a secret family recipe – but even that is a great conversation starter!). It’s more of a give-and-take opportunity than a more formal, corporate event with catered food and small talk, and a potluck builds on the feeling of sharing and collaboration to increase employee engagement and job satisfaction. The company can provide funds for ingredients or even provide prizes for the most popular dishes.
Department lunches have a similar element of connection. Rather than being company-wide, which could include people you hardly interact with, a department lunch involves only the core group of people you interact with the most – the people you most want and need to build relationships with. These lunches can be a nice way to celebrate the team’s achievements over the past year and to celebrate the coming year with the people you work most closely with. A good rule of thumb is to limit any work talk to opening remarks about the team’s successes and to otherwise encourage workers to get to know each other outside of work roles and responsibilities. Prepared icebreakers can help prevent lulls in the conversation.
Vying for the top spot in our poll results, another option for an end-of-the-year event is a group activity everyone can do together. This can still feel like a more organized “event,” if that’s what your organization prefers, but without the formality of, say, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Some popular ideas include things like bowling or renting out a suite at a professional sports game arena. Some off-the-beaten-path ideas can include ice skating and hot chocolate, a private cooking/baking class, or doing an escape room together. Be sure to focus on things everyone can do, regardless of ability.
Finally, when we asked participants what they would like to see companies do more of around the holiday season, the clear winner was staff appreciation gifts. Companies don’t need to do something lavish to show their appreciation to their employees (although reallocating funds otherwise spent on a holiday party is one idea). End-of-year appreciation gifts can be given by individual managers, by departments, or by the company leadership, and they should be higher-quality items that make it clear this is not just a “check the box” gesture (which is the opposite of what you’re aiming for!).
Some suggestions of gifts employees love are fleece jackets, gift cards to local restaurants, and even portable speakers, while mouse pads, stress balls, and t-shirts are passé.
Want to participate in the conversation or see the results for yourself? Head on over to the HR Solutions At Work LinkedIn page, where we post a new poll every Wednesday!
Because every situation presents unique facts, the information provided in this article is for general information and is not intended to be legal advice regarding any specific situation. This information may be considered advertising in some states. Any links to third-party sites are for your convenience. HR Solutions At Work does not endorse specific sites or guarantee the accuracy of the information on those sites. Please contact us if you have any questions about this information or our services.
It’s the time of year when employers are putting together new benefit packages and employees are electing benefits for the coming year. For the month of October, we polled people in our Wondering Wednesday series on LinkedIn to learn more about the benefits employees prioritize when considering potential employers. Employers, take note: some of these results may surprise you.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to employers that mental health benefits are an important consideration. The 2023 American Psychological Association Work in America survey found that 92% of workers said it’s important to them to work for an organization that provides support for employee mental health, but 57% are unsatisfied with the mental health and well-being support offered by their employer. In other words: employers can do better.
There are many ways employers can support employee mental health, but our results show that workers prefer an allowance they can use as they choose rather than a limited selection of specific services (e.g., mindfulness apps, Employee Assistance Programs, online therapy). Wellness allowances or stipends allow employees to choose how to allocate monthly mental health funds provided by their employer; they may choose to use these funds for things such as the aforementioned mindfulness apps or online therapy, but their mental health may also benefit from gym memberships, wellness retreats, nutritionist visits, acupuncture, chiropractic care, and more.
As we found in last month’s Wondering Wednesday roundup, employees overwhelmingly prioritize flexibility over high-caliber benefit packages — and this month’s results again leave no room for doubt that having options makes employers attractive to workers.
In recent years, we’ve seen more businesses embracing the potential for a four-day workweek, whether it’s year-round or only over the summer. We’ve written before about the importance of flexible schedules in helping to mitigate employee burnout, which can have serious consequences such as clinical depression and heart disease. Shortened workweeks may not be feasible for all companies or positions, but they are definitely worth exploring for employers looking to increase employee retention and satisfaction. You may be surprised by the types of companies that have successfully integrated four-day workweeks for eligible positions, including well-known businesses like Microsoft and Lamborghini.
Another option growing in popularity is sabbatical leave, an extended break from work that allows employees to focus on personal growth, study, or travel. Sabbatical leaves can be paid or unpaid and typically last from one month to one year, depending on the business or industry. Whether paid or unpaid, the guaranteed reinstatement at the end of the leave of absence makes sabbaticals an attractive benefit. Although once reserved for professors at universities, sabbaticals have become more common in a variety of industries from medicine to finance.
Many employers are focused on unique fringe benefits such as pet insurance or legal services, but overwhelmingly, our survey found that what employees really want is assistance with managing their everyday responsibilities. If you’re looking for a perk that will set your company’s benefit package apart from others, consider offering your employees house-cleaning services.
One option for offering cleaning services is for employers to contract with a chosen cleaning agency to provide services at a flat rate and to give employees “cleaning credits” they can use with allocated funds for weekly to monthly cleaning services. Perks like this can increase employee satisfaction and engagement, in addition to being a powerful recruiting tool.
Finally, as most companies have found, when it comes to pre-tax benefits, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are the clear winner. Do employees still want Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)? Absolutely. But more than twice as many people prefer to put their pre-tax dollars toward a savings account not only aimed toward offsetting healthcare costs but also with funds that will roll over into the next year. The uncertainty of knowing how much to set aside for an FSA (which is typically a “use it or lose it” account) makes an HSA that much more appealing, and with workers now being advised to save close to $170,000 for medical expenses in retirement, an HSA starts to feel more like a necessity than a perk. Keep in mind, though, that employers need to offer, and employees need to elect, a high-deductible plan in order to be able to use an HSA.
Want to participate in the conversation or see the results for yourself? Head on over to the HR Solutions At Work LinkedIn page, where we post a new poll every Wednesday!
Because every situation presents unique facts, the information provided in this article is for general information and is not intended to be legal advice regarding any specific situation. This information may be considered advertising in some states. Any links to third-party sites are for your convenience. HR Solutions At Work does not endorse specific sites or guarantee the accuracy of the information on those sites. Please contact us if you have any questions about this information or our services.
Because every situation presents unique facts, the information on this website and its blog is provided for general information and is not intended to be legal advice regarding any specific situation. This information may be considered advertising in some states.
Any links to third-party sites are for your convenience. HR Solutions At Work does not endorse specific sites or guarantee the accuracy of the information on those sites.
Please contact us if you have any questions about this site or our services.