In the current working climate in New Zealand, there are two common issues which people see as separate. However, smart employers can use one to solve the other.
What are some of those issues?
A shortage of labour and concerns about worker well-being.
Let’s dive deeper into these.
Labour Shortage
This is a big problem for many sectors. This has largely come about as a result low volumes of training over many years and of course, the constraint on immigrating skilled workers from overseas.
For the trades, there is not short-term solution to fast-track training apprentices. The answer is to attract labour from other New Zealand companies.
Traditionally that has implied paying higher wages which some employers cannot afford to do so they need to be more creative and make their company a more attractive place for employees to join.
Well-being and Welfare
This is no longer a wishy-washy, feel-good issue for airy-fairy businesses. Staff (all people) well-being is a significant issue. We only have to look at NZ’s terrible record for health, suicide and poverty compared to all the other advanced economies. We fall way behind.
The pandemic has made many of these issues worse. At the same time, the shortage of labour has had poor impacts on stress at work and working conditions in general. We also see that we have higher working hours than those other countries. In May, Stuff published,
“The Productivity Commission’s Productivity by the numbers report released on Thursday shows New Zealanders worked 34.2 hours per week, higher than the 31.9 hours per week worked in other OECD countries, and produced $68 of output per hour, less than the $85 per hour in other OECD countries. The figures cover the year to March 2020.”
What Is Well-being?
There are many descriptions but the one I like uses five areas:-
Mental health has also been in the news recently and is a very complex issue, one that for decades has been brushed under the carpet. We are now seeing the human and economic cost of that stance of ignorance. On the positive side, we are also seeing that people, government organisations and employers are recognizing that they can have a positive effect by taking the issues seriously.
Spiritual well-being is a personal view, but one that is more widespread than people initially imagine. It is not only a belief in any religion but is much wider.
“Spiritual well-being means the ability to experience and integrate meaning and purpose in life through a person's connectedness with self, others art, music, literature, nature, or a power greater than oneself.
Spiritual well-being is about our inner life and its relationship with the wider world. It includes our relationship with the environment, our relationships with others and with ourselves.”
Physical well-being has been encouraged for many years. For many people, more or better exercise is the key issue here. While those with physical work like the trades might say they are getting exercise, they may be getting strength building but what about cardio or flexibility? These are key aspects especially as people age.
Health is the result of many different issues. Exercise is a big impact but so are the inputs, food, drink and other elements. We have an obesity epidemic in NZ and have the third most-overweight population in the OECD. Poor food is a big factor with many people choosing unhealthy foods like white bread, fried food, or too much fat and sugar.
Emotional well-being is a result of many inputs. Psychology Today says emotional well-being is “the ability to practice stress-management techniques, be resilient, and generate the emotions that lead to good feelings.” As we saw above, labour shortages are an increasing impact on stress levels for already overloaded workers.
How Can You Use Well-Being For Your Business?
In any situation, a responsible employer ought to look at those five aspects of well-being and implement tactics to support their staff. In the current market of labour shortages, having a well-planned well-being programme can make your business a more attractive employer.
A well-being programme does not have to be expensive nor onerous. There are many things you can do including having a well-being designed for your workplace. But there are simple things you can do:-
At any stage, feel free to reach out, click here to book a 15-minute meeting on my calendar.
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During Covid, we were encouraged to look at how we can “pivot” our business to online work and opportunities. The coaching industry was no different.
Many coaches switched to delivering group sessions online. But as we all know, each business has different needs so you may ask, how to a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all group coaching help YOUR business?
In my view, it doesn’t. Sure, there are some things that are common to all businesses like making sure your books balance and that you are receiving payment for your invoices on time. But that is what a bookkeeper does. It’s not what a business coach does.
One-on-one Coaching
Anyone who has worked with me over the years, will know how I talk and analyze each of my clients as their own specific entity. Together we look at your goals, ambitions, your current practices, sales and profits.
We assess what you can do in the short-term for some quick wins and plan how you and your team can help you achieve your own particular aims.
Personalized Follow-up
Again, my existing clients know that after each meeting, I send you a short email summarizes our progress and the next action steps. This is based only on your own needs and aims. It is not an out-of-the-box response for everyone in the group.
Why Do I Do 1-2-1Coaching?
The answer is easy.
In all conscience, I cannot suggest the same aims, plans or actions, for all of my clients. Some may want to sell their business in five years, others might want to double sales, while yet more are looking to increase their team so they can step back a bit from the day-to-day work. Each is different, so my suggestions and your actions must be different.
Does The 1-on-1 Approach Work?
Rather than me tell you how good it is, I will leave it to a client to give his experience of working 1-on-1 with me.
“I am a straight shooter – so, it is important to have a business advisor on my team that understands and can support the speed I work through things. When you have a clear focus on who your clients are and invest in the right tools (equipment – software), coupled up with the ability to effect task delegation, remarkable outcomes can result. Partnering with Jerome has allowed us to completely review and structure our business for growth and with solid controls in place to go to the next level of management, while driving the budgeting function for profit to maintain and grow shareholder equity, since we all know that growth takes cash.
I would recommend owner managers that are wanting to shift gears and want become business owners in the true sense, to get in touch and you will not look back.”
Sean Gibbons, Frontline Group
If you are concerned about how to achieve stability through having great controls in place or focusing on more growth, higher profits, improve your team, increase the sale value of your business or any other issue you have with your company, I’d love to have a no obligation 1-on-1 chat so we can work together to identify what you need and how we can deliver that.
You can simply book online, click here to book a 15-minute meeting on my Calendar.
Let us make it easy for you
Since, there's no one shoe that fits all and that's why we customize each of our programs to align with your goals and outcomes.
Or, feel free to call Jerome and give him a call now on 0800 747 323.
Imagine if you are taking the family on driving holiday to a part of the country you’ve never been to before. You all get in the car, set off and after an hour’s driving, your partners asks if you know where you are going. That can be a difficult question but if you say, trust me, we’ll get there, that might keep them quiet.
An hour later, the children are getting restless, your spouse is asking again, you are getting frazzled because you don’t really know. Hmm, the stress starts to build.
Come lunchtime, the family is starting to get annoyed, arguments start and tensions build. Your family is becoming unsure about your capabilities and losing faith in you.
Your business is just the same.
If you don’t have a clear plan or direction to take your business and your staff, just like the family above, will lose confidence in you. There will be in-fighting and the business will suffer.
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STEP #1 - Money makes the world go round, Let’s make sure you have enough cash to carry you through the next six months ahead. As we all know that cash in the bank takes the pressure off, gives you money to pay your bills, and room to deal with anything else unexpected. Read More...
From leading in a crisis to business development, considering all that happens daily, weekly, monthly and yearly in your business, business owners always need to be clear on the direction they are going in (a planned road trip is important to the people on the bus, no matter what the circumstances), especially as the leader behind the wheel.
Taking ownership, by consistently managing/minimizing the fuel leakage in the way profits by knowing exactly what your dash board/gauges are feeding back to you eg. wastage/productivity etc.
This can be improved by having standard operating procedures with accurate data that allows for informed decision making, given confidence and adding real business value. However, this is short lived if you are not relentless in choosing your crew, those on board to support the direction the owner driver has chosen. Time and distance means that you have the best people to go the distance knowing that they have both abilities/capabilities make it happen.
As a business driver, having your hands on the steering wheel,
Just some questions of importance to a better journey, planning for progress is a way forward and I am here to help review/structure a plan together as we move into the new financial year..
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