Easy Source HR Solutions

If you are looking for global expansion for your business, then you must hire a global or international PEO. Yes, a global PEO is the one-stop answer for all your overseas dreams and needs. Small, medium or even large companies intending to expand globally can easily accomplish their mission through a global PEO.

Large companies might find it difficult to handle a global workforce and this is where the global PEO pitches in! Moreover, your business might have decided to expand in countries wherein your employees tend to face barrier of language. Here again, a global PEO through its in-house local expertise can help to solve the communication problem and ease your business. So, if your business is desirous of expanding in more than one country, a global PEO is the right choice. A global PEO helps to handle payroll, HR, employee compensation and benefits, recruitment, medical insurance and compliance related matters.

Why Should You Hire A Global Or International PEO?

It is vital to understand that by hiring a global PEO, you can begin operating your business in foreign lands within days instead of waiting for months. When your business expands in numerous foreign countries, you tend to face multiple problems such as adherence to local laws, language barrier, global recruitment, legal and financial issues, tax compliance and data security to name a few.

However, by selecting the right global PEO, your business expansion goals can easily succeed in a short span of time.

Operating Technique of a Global PEO

Once you hire a global PEO, this is how it begins working on your behalf.

• A global PEO begins operating on the foreign land within days without establishing any foreign entity; thus, saving time and money.
  
  
• A global PEO easily manages to hire local employees within 48 hours as per the local laws of the country.
  
  
• A global PEO through its local team of professionals is able to handle the HR and payroll related matters, employee insurance, compensation and benefits as well as termination.
  
  
• While all this is being handled by a global PEO, you can easily manage daily communication and control the working of your employees.
  
  

Hence, it can be easily understood that a global PEO becomes a kind of ‘co-employer’.

Primary Functions of a Global PEO

After selecting a global PEO for your business expansion needs, it is vital to understand the primary functions of the global PEO.

1. The employment contract is prepared by the global PEO. This contract is thoroughly examined by the client and then via mutual agreement both the parties sign it. This contract mentions the terms and conditions as per which the employees will work in the foreign country for the client.

2. The offer letter is prepared and sent to the employees and the client. The employees need to sign it and send it across to the client.

3. Next, the global PEO ensures that all administrative tasks related to the employees are conducted in a manner which is conducive to the local working environment.

4. The global PEO calculates and disburses the salary through proper payslips. All this includes tax computation, paid leaves, travel allowance and medical insurance—completely in compliance with the local set-up of the respective countries.

5. The global PEO provides complete administrative support to the client in terms of handling all employee related matters ranging from benefits, compensation, disputes, disagreements, and even termination.

Conclusion

To make global expansion of your business simple and successful, hire a global PEO. A global PEO will provide customized solutions to your needs in different countries, coming up with cost-effective and compliant ways of entering foreign markets. A global PEO will function as one dedicated partner to handle your global workforce with ease.

You tend to bless your stars if you are working under a great and considerate boss. But, what happens if your boss is a terrible manager! Yes, if you happen to work under an awful boss, it might be time for your make the change. How do you decide that your boss is good or bad? 

Let us go through some of the significant signs which help you analyse that you are working under an awful boss:

1. Your ideas are constantly rejected by your boss: Your boss might a person who is not interested in making any changes to the manner of working of your team. So it could be possible that your ideas, views or opinions are rejected at the workplace by your boss. This will make you feel dejected and less motivated to work.

2. Your hard work never gets appreciated or acknowledged by your boss: An awful boss will never appreciate or let alone appreciate your work or extraordinary task accomplished by you. This will hinder your growth prospects in the company.

3. You are expected to be a perfectionist in your work by your boss: An awful boss never considers you a human prone to making mistakes. In fact, he wants you to deliver numbers without any delay or mistakes. This kind of behaviour is prone to make you feel disheartened and demotivated towards your work profile.

4. You are spoken to in a disrespectful and rude manner by your boss: It could be possible that your boss speaks in a rude manner to you and that too in front of the entire team. An awful boss is also at times disrespectful to you. All this makes you feel that you are no longer a valuable asset of your company.

5. No constructive feedback is provided by your boss: Your desire to evolve as a person professionally requires constructive feedback about your work from your boss. What if your boss fails to provide that? Yes, it is extremely discouraging if your boss speaks nothing about the manner in which you completed your project or the time taken to accomplish the task.

6. No freedom to work on your own in your work profile: It is quite possible that your boss constantly monitors your work and maintains constant supervision. An awful boss will limit your way of functioning and will coerce you to follow the mandated way of completing your project instead of applying your mind to your task.This happens to diminish your creativity and makes you dull-headed and dumb at your workplace.

7. You are constantly left out of significant projects by your boss: An awful boss will hinder your growth prospects in the company. Your boss might assign an important project to his favourite team member instead of assigning the task according to the calibre and potential of every team member. This will have a detrimental impact on your productivity in the company.

Conclusion

Therefore, to conclude, you should always look for signs which hamper your productivity and growth in the company. And, an awful boss is certainly a great impediment in your growth trajectory. However, you can either look for ways for modifying the habits and behaviour of your boss or simply change your company and work under a new, visionary boss.  

The work from home concept has now become a reality in the backdrop of the outbreak of Covid-19. The year 2020 has proved that the concept of work from home has become successful and is here to stay. Earlier, employees used to travel to their offices and work from their office. But now, the traditional concept of working from office space for specific hours has been replaced by the work from home concept. The sudden outbreak of the Corona Virus globally has made work from home environment a reality to reckon with.

It is to be noted that the advancements in the field of technology have enabled businesses and corporate houses to operate their business as usual by adapting their policies to the changed working environment. The new norm is work from home and it is here to stay for a while till a permanent cure comes up for the dreaded Corona Virus.

The changed working scenario has come up with its own set of challenges to be faced by both employees and employers. Employees, on their part, are concerned about job security and their family. The employers, on their part, are not just concerned about running their business but also how to keep their employees engaged and motivated in the remote work from home environment.

So, let us go through some of the innovative ideas adopted by employers to keep their employees engaged and motivated while working from home.

Building a community-like feeling among employees: This sudden transition from the office space to working from home has created a feeling of aloofness among the employees. While working from home, an employee has to create his virtual office like environment at home which might make him demotivated and less engaging in office work. The onus here lies on the employer to keep encouraging the employees (workforce) while working from home. This can be done by conducting a videoconference with all the team members together. Here, online discussion can be done not just about office work but also about each other’s routine at home, or pursuance of any hobby and so forth.

Basically, the idea is to develop and retain a connect among the team members via the online medias. This will help in overcoming feelings of anxiety, restlessness and isolation among the members of the team while they continue to work from home.

Building vigorous communication: As discussed above, the need of the hour is to take the assistance of advanced communication tools and ensure connectivity among the employees of the organization. Thankfully, today the companies taking advantage of robust communication tools such as Skype, WhatsApp, Microsoft Team and so forth can connect with their employees spread across the globe. This is how MNCs have been able to establish and retain their network among the employees of their organization spread across geographical boundaries.

Hence, companies and HR personnel should ensure to communicate with the employees at least on a weekly basis to ensure the mental and physical well-being of their employees via online communication tools.

Recognition and encouragement of employees: Appreciation and acknowledgement for good work goes a long way in boosting the morale of the employees of the organization. When you recognize the employee for his/her outstanding work or for delivering as per the deadline, the employee feels elated for his contribution to the organization. This not just acts as a morale booster but also provides motivation to continue working for the organization with renewed vigour and zeal. And this is actually what the employer is looking for and that too in the work from home environment.

Provide infrastructure and necessary equipment: Since the work from home concept is here to stay for a while, companies are coming up with novel ideas to enhance the productivity and the quality of work. The quality of work delivered by employees is directly associated with the kind of tools and equipment provided by the organization. These days, several companies as an add-on to the work from home policy, are offering table and chair to their employees for comfortably working from home. In addition, labtops with fast speed Wifi are also being provided by the organization for smooth functioning from home.

Moreover, the organizations can also offer perks and discounts, or conduct online classes for acquiring new skill—all these steps will certainly benefit both the employer and the employee while trying to balance work and home together.

Therefore, to conclude, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought several challenges for the business community. Still several novel ways and means have come up to keep the employees motivated and engaged while working from home.  

Are you thinking of outsourcing the payroll function of your company? Payroll management is an integral part of the functioning of your company. Outsourcing this major function can be beneficial to you as it helps in saving cost and time, improves productivity and efficiency of your employees. You need to find the right service provider which suits your budget. So, before you decide to outsource your payroll function, you need to be careful of certain essential aspects. Let us go through the vital points to be considered when outsourcing your payroll function.

1. Providing accurate and reliable information: Payroll is one such business function which needs to be completely accurate and provide reliable information. The payroll service provider should provide accurate and reliable information in terms of tax filing, salary computation, leave balance management, regulating attendance and other aspects.

2. Data security: In this age of cybercrime, it has become all the more essential to secure the data especially of your employees. You must ensure that your payroll service provider has proper data security system in place. You should enquire about handling issues such as data breach of the employees, the auditing process of the data centre and others.

3. Compliance: Another essential parameter to be considered while outsourcing the payroll function is to ensure that your payroll service provider adheres to the central and state rules and regulations. Compliance with the financial rules and regulations is extremely vital to avoid penalties and fines. So, you must select a payroll service provider who adheres to the laws of the country.

4. Cost: One of the significant points to be considered while outsourcing your payroll function is the cost being paid to the provider. It is generally believed that outsourcing your payroll function will cost more. However, this is not true. It is quite possible that you are tired and exhausted of doing the payroll in-house and want to switch to outsourcing the payroll function. Else, it could be possible that you are finding the payroll function to be extremely complicate and so want to outsource it.

Whatever, be the reason, evaluate the various options available in the market and then select the appropriate payroll service provider to suit your business needs.

5. Workforce Variation: Outsourcing your payroll function can be extremely beneficial if your employees are spread across the globe. Or perhaps, you are thinking of expanding your business to other countries of the world. This is where payroll outsourcing is highly rewarding. You can easily save time involved in payroll complexities and focus more on the expansion of your business.

Moreover, if you have different types of employees working in your company such as full-time, part-time, freelancers or contractual, it becomes easy to handle all with ease by outsourcing your payroll function.

Therefore, to conclude, do not go by the brand name of the payroll service provider in the market. Do a thorough analysis and check for customer reviews and then select your payroll service provider. Outsourcing the payroll function is not mandatory but when done diligently and within your budget, it can prove to be a great asset for your company or business.  

You must have certainly come across an instance wherein a former colleague of yours joined your company after having worked elsewhere. Does this surprise you! Why is it that the employee who left the company for a better pay package is willing to join his former company? Mostly, employees quit for a better organization due to personal reasons such as pay hike, career growth, flexible working hours and other reasons. It is to be noted that if you share a good rapport with your former manager or HR personnel then chances are there that you can be welcomed back in your former company.

Benefits of Rehire

In the present uncertain scenario, the HR is increasingly adopting innovative ways of recruiting skilled manpower who deliver best results for the organization. One such method is that of rehiring former employees. Indeed, it sounds unbelievable! But, rehire has its own benefits. Primarily, the employee is familiar with the work culture of the company and will thus easily get attuned with the company environment. Moreover, the employee returns with enhanced experience, knowledge and adds value to the company. The HR personnel needs to keep in mind few points to ensure that the process of rehiring candidates turns out to be a win-win situation for both the company and the former employee.

• Maintaining an Efficient Database of Employees: It is vital for the HR of your company to maintain an efficient database of employees. This should include all categories of employees such as on payroll, contractual, freelancer or even a consultant. You should have their updated contact details in your record so that you can keep them posted about the latest developments and any vacancies coming up in your company.
• Formulate a Rehire Policy: The HR of your company needs to formulate a rehire policy in order to ascertain clearly the criteria for rehiring former employees. For instance, an employee who left the company due to violation of company policies, poor performance or due to allegation of misconduct will not be rehired again.In simple words, a list of guidelines has to be prepared to ease the process of rehiring former employees for your company.
• Schedule an Interview before completing the Rehiring Process: The HR of your company should ensure that the former employee gets interviewed just like any other new hire candidate. In the interview, you can cross-check the reasons given by the former employee for making his exit from the company. In addition, you will get to know about the experience and knowledge that he has acquired during this time which would be useful to your company.
• Reboarding: The reboarding process is the way of reintroducing the former employees to the ways in which the company has been functioning all these years since the employee left the company. Moreover, since the outbreak of Covid-19, several companies have reformulated their policies and procedures.The HR personnel would need to introduce the former employee to the following features of the company:
  • The latest technologies and softwares being used in-house
  • Office working hours along with work from home policy
  • Collaboration with team members
  All this can be done easily by incorporating the former employee in the existing onboarding process involving the new recruits.
• Open Deliberation about Compensation and Benefits: Once the HR of your company has been satisfied with the interview process of the former employee, it is time to hold discussion about compensation and benefits. Moreover, it is advisable to be candid with the former employee as the latter might be expecting a senior position in the company. Else, the employee could be on the lookout for a far better package than that in hand.

In simple words, the HR has to absolutely clear with the former employee in terms of compensation and additional benefits which the company would offer him in case of a rejoin. Therefore, to conclude, the idea of rehiring former employees is indeed catching up in India. For instance, companies like Tata have a track record of hiring former employees back into its organization. Moreover, the Covid-19 scenario has prompted the employers to bring back former employees (especially who left with a good rapport) in their organization.

PEO outsourcing refers to a third-party company with whom a client enters into an agreement with the objective of handing over the HR related and employee related liabilities to it. A PEO enters into an agreement known as the Client Servicing Agreement (CSA) wherein, the two parties clearly decide upon the terms and conditions to be adhered to for a financial year. The contract gets renewed or terminated after a year depending upon the satisfaction level of both the parties.

So, everything you need to know about PEO outsourcing is going to be clearly stated in this article.  When you avail the services of a PEO, it provides you with the requisite professionals, infrastructure and resources through which you can focus primarily on expanding your business.

How does a PEO operate?

It is vital to understand that the two parties enter into a co-employment’ kind of relationship. In this kind of business relationship, the client enters into an agreement with a PEO, according to which employee responsibilities and liabilities are shared by a PEO. The fee of this (CSA) agreement is calculated either on per employee basis or as a percentage of the payroll.

What are the benefits of using a PEO?

A PEO is the one-stop outsourcing solution for all your HR related and employed related responsibilities. By using the services of a PEO, your company happens to

• Saves time and money;
  
  
• Minimize exposure to risk;
  
  
• Avail proficient manpower in foreign lands
  
  

What are the services provided by a PEO?

Every kind of organization—big, small and medium—all set to gain from the plethora of services provided by a PEO.

1. 1. Primarily, small enterprises hire the services of a PEO to be able to provide medical, life insurance, retirement plan and other benefits to its employees. This will help them to attract talent and retain them as well.
      
      
   2. Secondly, a PEO helps to provide coverage to you from any kind of exposure to risk. For instance, any kind of employee claims on termination, or unemployment are tackled by a PEO. Also, tax deduction and submission as per the laws of the respective country are done by a PEO.
      
      
   3. Thirdly, a PEO supports your HR team as well by working on payroll management, recruitment, training and development, preparing and sharing employee handbooks, performance management and so forth.
      
      

Misconceptions about PEO

Everything you need to know about PEO outsourcing includes the wrong notions or misconceptions held about this entity. Several believe that once you enter into an agreement with a PEO, you tend to lose control over your employees, in short, your business. Here, it is necessary to comprehend that while a PEO handles all employee-related tasks and risks, you maintain control over your business and its operations.

Many also believe that the hiring of a PEO implies the removal of HR staff. Well, it is vital to understand that a PEO provides the necessary support and assistance to your company HR staff in running the business operations seamlessly. A PEO comes very handy to the HR in cases related to employee compensation, resolving conflicts and designing training programmes.

Lastly, a PEO does not hamper or intrude in the normal way of functioning of your organization. All the more, it aids, facilitates and improves the employee-employer relationship with entire focus on the growth and expansion of your organization.

Conclusion

Everything you need to know about PEO outsourcing is essential before you to set to avail the said benefits of a PEO. Also, remember, PEO outsourcing is of immense help if you wish to expand your business across new horizons without getting stuck in legal complications and without losing focus on your business goals.  

A strong company culture is a vital element for every organization small, big, large or mid-sized. The culture of the organization provides the backbone for the successful running of the organization. The organizational culture takes into account the beliefs, values of the organization, the functioning of the management body, the behaviour of the employees and the manner in which the customers are dealt with. All these aspects when together taken into consideration come to define a strong company culture. The organizational culture is defined and created by the senior management personnel and put into practice by the HR department through the means of the Employee Handbook which encompasses the code of ethics. Companies such as Google, LinkedIn, HubSpot, Microsoft, Facebook and others are credited to creating a strong and vibrant company culture.

Now, you must be wondering about the significance of a strong company culture. Have you ever wondered why you enjoy going to office every day? It is a proven fact that employees enjoy working at the office which offers a good working environment.

An amicable company culture is often liked by employees who enjoy working in such an environment. In return, the organization tends to gain employees who tend to stay longer; thus, avoiding attrition. This aspect also helps in building strong working relationship among the co-workers as well.

Another significant advantage of having a strong company culture is that your organization comes to acquire a good name in the market. Your customers tend to acknowledge the reputation of your organization associated with the products/services that you offer. Moreover, the presence of a strong company culture promotes healthy relationship between its customers and the company.

You must have now comprehended the paramount importance of a strong company culture. Yet most mid-sized organizations are still not capable of creating a good company culture. They face several difficulties in this process. So, let us understand how a mid-sized organization can create a strong and vibrant company culture.

1. Clarity about the Company’s Goals: It is essential for a mid-sized organization to be clear about its goals and vision. For instance, if you are the owner of the organization producing footwear then you need to have clarity about the sources of procurement of raw materials, the line of products to be manufactured and the process of marketing and selling. Likewise, your employees should also reflect the goals and vision of the company. The employees should be committed to pursue the company’s goals in the long-term. This can simply be achieved by establishing a strong company culture revolving around the achievement of the company’s goals.

2. Recognition and Reward: The second significant factor which helps in creating a strong company culture is by recognizing and rewarding the employees of your company. The employees of your company make things happen at the workplace and so they indeed play a vital role in the functioning of the company. The company should ensure to recognize the extra efforts taken by an employee in fulfilling his duties and responsibilities towards the company. Moreover, the company can also go ahead and reward the employee for his efforts. This will not only boost the morale of the employee but also will help in employee motivation and employee retention for the company. Hence, by creating such a positive company culture—the company as well as the employees tend to develop a mutually beneficial relationship which is bound to go ahead in the future as well.

3. Provide flexibility: One of the significant aspects which goes into the creation of a strong company culture is the feature of looking after the requirements of the employees. In these uncertain and unprecedented times, it is vital for organizations to relinquish mundane functioning practices and embrace the new ones. This includes the provision of flexible work timings and work from home option. The MNCs and other big companies are today offering both these options to their employees.In other words, the creation of a flexible work environment is bound to keep the employees happy and thus, motivated. Motivated employees facilitate in improving the productivity of the company.

4. Establishing collaboration among team members: A vibrant company culture can be created by ensuring that the members of a team collaborate with each other while working on the projects. This kind of healthy work relationship helps in quick completion of tasks/ targets and also enhances the revenue of the company. In addition, the manager should also engage in team building activities among the members of the team.

Therefore, to conclude, the creation of a strong and vibrant company culture has helped large companies in boosting their employee productivity and in enhancing revenue. So, the mid-sized companies should not lag behind and leverage this feature to expand and enhance their business.    

The outbreak of Covid-19 in the year 2020 has brought about several unanticipated changes in the global business scenario. Even payroll management has been affected by this pandemic.

Payroll management has undergone tremendous change in the past few years especially with the advancement in technology and the changing business environment. The emergence of new technologies has made it easier to handle the tasks associated with payroll management. In other words, the function of payroll has been able to keep pace with the changes taking place in the global economy. Not only this, technology has brought ease and convenience in the functioning of the Human Resource Department.

Let us go through some of the latest trends that have emerged in the year 2020 in the field of payroll management for employers to adopt.

Automation of payroll management: This is the foremost trend which has emerged in 2020 and is increasingly being adopted by big and small business houses. With the advancement in technology – cloud computing and so forth, automation of payroll function has become quick and cost-effective. Moreover, the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19 has made it imperative on the part of the businesses to adopt the process of automation for their payroll function.

Automation is cost-effective, reduces paperwork and the chances of errors. Thus, accuracy and speed are the essential benefits of automating the payroll function.

Emphasis on data security: The year 2020 has highlighted the need to focus on protecting the data of the employees since automation has become the new norm for payroll management. Cybercrimes are increasing and hence, it has become imperative for the third party service provider to absolutely focus on protecting the data of the employees.

It is to be noted that automation ensures that data is password protected and so cannot be easily accessed. Moreover, there is no paperwork that can go missing and create further hassles for both the employer and the employee.

Flexible payroll: You might have heard about this term for the first time! One of the most talked about changes that is happening in 2020 is that of flexible payroll. You must have heard about monthly payment of salary; however, companies are devising new ways of providing flexible pay-outs to the employees based on the project work and business scenario.

When the company decides to fulfill the needs of the employee in a flexible manner, it nurtures a fruitful relationship between the two in the long run.

Pay transparency: This trend is something which is the topic of heated discussion in 2020. In the wake of the pandemic, freelance and contractual jobs are on the rise. Companies are publicly sharing information about the pay package of its employees whether on payroll, contract or freelance. In the light of this scenario, payroll management has to be handled in an efficient manner.

Therefore, to conclude, you must have realized by now that the arena of payroll management has undergone drastic change in recent years. As a result, several new trends have emerged in 2020 facilitated by automation and advanced technology.     

Payroll is defined as the disbursal of salary by the employer to the employees for work completed by them. Every employer or business organization needs to have an effective payroll management system established. The payroll management system refers to the use of a software programme to perform the various tasks related to payment to employees and filing of taxes.

What are the payroll functions performed by the HR?

The HR under payroll management performs the following functions:

• It formulates and implements the organization’s pay policy which includes leave encashment, bonus, incentives and other financial aspects.
• It defines the significant components of the salary such as Leave Travel Allowance (LTA), House Rent Allowance (HRA), and the basic and flexible components of the salary.
• It calculates the gross salary of the employees of the organization to arrive at the net pay.
• It is responsible for depositing the deductions done under TDS, EPF to the appropriate authorities within the stipulated period to avoid levy of penalties and fines.
• Finally, release of salary to the employees of the organization.

Why is Digitization of payroll management required?

It is to be noted that when the HR performs its payroll functions manually, it is bound to consume time. Indeed, you can say that this manual method is cost-effective; but the HR personnel need to keep themselves updated with the constantly changing labour laws and tax related rules and regulations.

Flaws and errors can be minimized if the company decides to digitize its payroll management process. Digitization implies that the company decides to use a payroll software. The use of this payroll software will ensure a number of benefits to the organization. Primarily, it will become easy for the HR personnel to collect data coming from various sources in a seamless manner. It will provide complete automation of the payroll system by directly providing payslips to the employees. In addition, the software will also facilitate easy management of the attendance (leaves and balances) of the employees of the organization. Most significantly, the software will reduce the time consumed and the chances of making errors in the calculation and disbursal of the salaries of the employees of the organization.

As a result, the Human Resource Management System (HRMS), or Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is increasingly being adopted by both large businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Let us now assess the contribution made by digitization in the field of payroll management.

Ensures easy observance of the laws of the land: It is vital to comprehend that manually doing entry of the deductions, gross pay, bonus, incentives and other financial details of the employees can be time consuming and erroneous. Moreover, as per the Union Budget, which comes out every year in India, the tax deduction rules are susceptible to change. All these hassles can be easily handled by utilizing the services of a payroll software. Such softwares are also capable of sending reminders to employees to enter the details as per the given deadlines and generate reports.

Ensures adaptability: Another significant contribution of digitization of the payroll management is that it adapts itself well at the time of expansion of the organization. The payroll software should be capable of handling vast employee data in terms of leave balance, attendance, income tax computation and other vital financial information.

Gives the option of self-service to employees: The payroll software should provide the option to employee to enter their essential details in the payroll management software itself. This will ensure accurate data entry. It will also reduce the hassle of contacting the HR personnel in the case of making a correction which can now otherwise be done automatically.

Ensures timely pay-out to the employees: Digitization of the payroll management system ensures timely disbursal of salary to the employees. This helps in boosting the morale of the employees and gives them assurance of job security.

Provides automatic alerts with reference to discrepancies: Digitization of payroll management will help in sending alerts at the time of incorrect data entry or tax deduction. In this manner, errors can be easily spotted and rectified.

Therefore, to conclude, the transition from manual to digital payroll system helps to save a lot of time. It also facilitates quick processing of salary, helps to maintain records effortlessly, eliminates errors, and reduces stress on the part of the employers.

Nobody likes to work in an environment where the team members and your manager are just not interested in listening to your concerns. Yes, I am talking about the ability to share, feel and understand the feeling of others at the workplace. In other words, the ability to empathise at the workplace is extremely essential both for the employee and the company.

Suppose, you appear to be disinterested in working on your project due to some personal problem. But, your manager is just not concerned about the reason for this disinterestedness. Moreover, you are unable to share your problem with your colleagues as well. Now, this kind of working environment is certainly not wanted by an employee.

It is vital to develop an empathetic atmosphere at the workplace because it simply increases the productivity of the employees. In addition, this is an essential trait that every manager should possess if he wants his team to excel above others. It gives a feeling to the employees that there is someone to listen to their woes. Hence, developing the quality to empathise is beneficial at the workplace.

Let us understand few simple ways in which you can develop the quality to empathise at your workplace.

1. Develop the Ability to Listen: While working in your office, it is essential to develop the ability to listen to your team members working around you. Now, listening is just not hearing but understanding the meaning behind the words. It is to be noted that even by watching the body language of your co-workers; you can understand their mood and state of mental being.

However, in the post-Covid-19 scenario, you might wonder how to develop this feeling of understanding and sharing the feeling of your co-workers. These days, remote working has become the order of the day for most companies. It is also to be noted that the concept of remote working has brought about feeling of demotivation and low morale among the employees. So, it has become all the more important to develop this feeling of empathy in you in order to survive in this uncertain and unpredictable work environment.

Here, you can take the help of video conferencing to understand the feelings of your team members. Video conferencing once a week helps to cultivate the team building spirit and you can easily listen and comprehend the views and ideas expressed by your team members. It is to be noted that even teleconferencing is helpful wherein you can understand the true feeling of the other via the tone or pitch used by the individual.

2. Ask Questions: Simply listening to your co-workers is just not enough. It is vital for you to ask questions either at the workplace or while working from a remote location. When you ask questions, your team member gets the feeling that you are concerned about him. This in turn will lead to a conversation between you and your colleague disclosing a lot of things both at the personal and professional level. Thus, when you begin to converse you get to know several things about your co-worker which gradually helps you to empathise with your team member.

3. Remember that people have feelings: It is to be noted that while working overtime to achieve deadlines, human beings have become more or less like a robot. You need to remember that every one of us has feelings and emotions which when subdued can be extremely harmful for the growth of the individual employee and his organization. So, the next time, do not ignore a smile or a sign of acceptance from your co-worker, instead go ahead and talk to him. Only when you talk and comprehend the feelings of your co-workers, then can you truly empathise with them.

4. Only gradually, can you learn to empathise: Cultivating the quality to empathise at the workplace is necessary but unfortunately, it cannot be developed overnight. It is a human emotion and hence, unless you feel for the person next to you; you can never learn or acquire it. The ability to understand and share the emotions and feelings of your team members has to come from within and it can certainly take time to develop. You need to have patience to listen to others and understand their concerns both personal and related to work. All this cannot happen at the click of a mouse or at one go; it will take time and you need to constantly endeavour towards talking and starting a cordial conversation with your co-workers in order to understand their feelings and emotions.

Therefore, do not undervalue the importance of empathy at the workplace. Employees who feel that their voices and concerns are being listened to, tend to contribute actively towards the productivity of their company. Employees look forward towards working in a workplace which is compassionate and empathetic towards them.