admin, Author at Cura HR

Ingenuity is the name of the game at Outrider–the pioneer in autonomous freight yard operations for logistics hubs. The only software and development company exclusively focused on automating all aspects of yard operations, Outrider eliminates manual tasks that are hazardous and repetitive while driving efficiency, safety and sustainability.

At Outrider ingenuity doesn’t stop at the yard. The company is committed to on-going progress and growth throughout all facets of the business. This commitment starts with its people. That’s why Outrider teamed up with Cura as its HR consulting partner—not out of necessity, but a proactive desire to continually cultivate a thriving workforce and vibrant work culture.

Projects accomplished

Outrider Vitals

Embracing a Culture of Continuous Feedback

One of Outrider’s primary goals in partnering with Cura was to upgrade its internal performance management approach. Outrider leadership saw this as an opportunity to lay the tracks for future company advancement and success. Outrider engaged Cura for its People Operations and performance management expertise to assist in developing the right strategy for their business.

Feedback for Thought

After a thorough internal assessment, Cura identified continuous feedback as a key opportunity area for Outrider to create a performance management process that would deliver high value to its employees and business. Cura’s role was to equip Outrider with the tools needed to build a culture open to proactively giving and seeking feedback.

A recent Gallup survey found that only 26% of employees strongly agree that the feedback they get actually improves their work.

Giving and Receiving Feedback Well

To support the Outrider team in learning how to give and receive feedback, Cura trained their people managers on this concept using a 4-part formula for giving continuous feedback and best practices for effective management.

Continuous Feedback: 4-Part Formula

Best Practices for People Managers

Cura shared the 4-Part Continuous Feedback Model to enable Outrider’s people managers to be as effective as possible when sharing feedback with their teams.

Key Practices

The Impact

“Cura HR is fantastic. As soon as we engaged with them, they worked with us to establish a process first to review our existing HR functions, policies and procedures and establish new services to help our growing organization.”

See how Cura can advance your organizational growth.

Hiring new employees who are not only talented but interested in staying with the company for a period of time is important for any successful company. However, despite the importance of hiring talented employees, recruitment is often where some companies struggle to succeed.

Interviewing processes can feel like a chore to potential candidates and employers alike. Not only that, but recruitment can be an expensive process due to time spent on interviewing, onboarding, and training costs. In 2020 and 2021, companies spent more than 92 billion dollars on training alone. This emphasizes the importance of hiring successfully as each new hire who ends up being a poor fit and leaves the organization costs you a great deal of money.

Are you struggling to interview the right candidates? No need to worry! We compiled a few tips and tricks in this post to help you create a more productive hiring process.

Know What You’re Looking For in Ideal Candidates

Before hiring a new candidate, there’s one question you should ask: What would the ideal candidate for that role look like? Ask this question for each job opening, because every position will have different qualifications, and what you need in a new hire may vary as your business grows.

Consider Your Company Culture

Skills and experience are important, but so are your company’s values. If you value things like teamwork and collaboration, you’re going to want to find a candidate who is a cooperative team player rather than a lone wolf. Make sure that a candidate’s values align with your own before hiring them. An interview focused specifically on culture is a great way to determine if an individual’s values align with what is important to your organization.

Here are several interview questions to gain insight into a candidate’s values:

Describe your ideal company culture.
What role do you typically take in a team setting? Provide an example.
How do you manage conflict with others?
Tell us about your favorite supervisor, and why/how did you work successfully together?
Which of our company values do you find yourself most/least aligned with? Why?

Promote Inclusivity in Your Branding

Speaking of values, inclusivity is very important to consider as a company value. Be sure to promote diversity and inclusion within your workplace and on your website. You can do this by adding a statement about diversity and inclusion and posting pictures of diverse teams collaborating and spending time with one another.

It’s also important to evaluate your job postings. Are you using inclusive language? Here are important things to consider when writing inclusive job postings:

Are you using gender-neutral language?
Is the job posting accessible for people with disabilities? For example, consider adding image descriptions to pictures, using clear language, using dyslexia-friendly fonts, and adding an audio transcript.
Is your company website’s UX design clean and easy to navigate?
Do you encourage candidates to apply even if they don’t meet 100% of the qualifications listed?
Do you include an inclusivity and non-discrimination statement about your company?

Marketing the Role

Now that you’ve determined what your ideal candidate looks like, you can advertise the role. You’ll want the job description, qualifications, and responsibilities to be very clear. When interviewing candidates, give them a sense of what an average “day in the life” of their role looks like. The clearer you are about what the position is, the more likely you’ll be able to find a good, long-term fit.

On websites like LinkedIn or Indeed, you can browse potential candidate profiles. When reaching out to candidates, be sure to introduce yourself and the company you work for. Let them know how you found their profile, and what stood out about it as well as the position that you’d like them to apply.

Find Your Ideal Candidate Using Cura HR

Developing an interview process that helps hire successfully takes time and effort. If you need help establishing or improving your talent acquisition strategy, Cura HR has the skills and experience you’re looking for.

We help companies build and nurture their greatest asset- their employees. Your people are your value center. Healthy, diverse, and productive work environments are conducive to attracting new talent and retaining existing team members. We’d love to learn about your business and how we can leverage best-in-class HR practices to help you attract and retain top talent.

Mental health is becoming a common topic among employees, especially after COVID-19. According to a study by Oxford Academic, by the end of 2020, rates of anxiety and depression in the U.S. were nearly six times what they were in 2019. Several factors have led to this rise in mental health problems, such as loneliness, fear of illness, financial stressors, and burnout.

As mental health issues continue to be at the forefront of our minds, we need to be more aware of ways to support employees and let them know their mental health matters. Here are a few ways to provide that support.

Include Mental Health Benefits

Mental health benefits go a long way when it comes to employee satisfaction. Offering coverage for mental health services at a reasonable cost can support employee acquisition and retention.

In addition to benefits, there are other options to support employees’ mental health and wellbeing. For example, a free or discounted gym membership can give employees an incentive to exercise. Exercise has been scientifically proven time and time again to promote good mental health and reduce the severity of anxiety and depression.

Finally, providing an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) is a great way to support employees’ mental health. EAPs generally offer free counseling sessions, and other support services. If you go this route, be sure to effectively promote the EAP and its benefits so employees are aware.

Promote a Positive and Supportive Work Environment

While providing benefits is a good start, it’s important to ensure you have a healthy work environment. Promoting a positive, supportive environment can lead to more fulfilled employees.

Consider being more flexible with your employees’ schedules to help ease some of their stress. Allowing more paid time off or the ability to work from home as needed are both great ways to promote flexibility. These are both highly desirable benefits, so including them will improve both employee retention and satisfaction—a win-win situation.

Promote and support breaks and time off work. Don’t make people feel bad for taking time off work for a vacation, or time to recharge. A few companies that have incentivized taking time off work increased their employee retention. The most famous (and Colorado-based) example being FullContact, which offers employees up to a $7,000 bonus for using all of their vacation days.

Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

A report by the American Psychological Association found that nearly seven out of every ten adults in the United States reported being discriminated against by others. This statistic includes workplace discrimination.

Diversity and inclusion is an essential part of creating a positive and supportive workplace. Discrimination in the workplace for any reason can lead to worsening mental health status. Because workplace discrimination is common, it’s important to be proactive and address it before it occurs. Additionally, consider implementing policies that promote diversity and inclusion in your workplace. Diverse organizations are shown to outperform companies that are not.

There are several different ways to promote diversity and inclusion in your workplace.

Here are a few examples:

Clear and enforceable policies that prevent discrimination and harassment
Implicit bias training (race, age, gender, etc)
Demonstrate open support for LFBTQ+ individuals, women and people of all races
Cultural diversity initiatives such as celebrating holidays of different cultures and forming a DEI committee for staff to join
Ensuring an accessible workplace for people with disabilities

Offer Support for Your Employees

Consider different ways for managers and leadership to provide support. Making sure your employees feel heard is important for keeping your team happy. Solicit feedback on a regular basis about what they like and what could be improved. Also, if you ask employees for feedback, make a commitment to action some of their requests. Otherwise, this gesture could be viewed as inauthentic and may erode trust and leave your team unhappy.

As a manager, it’s important to be aware of your team’s struggles. Implementing training to help your team become more effective people managers could also promote a more positive work environment.

Some training topic examples include:

Performance management
How to give effective feedback
HR essentials for leaders

Use Cura HR to Help You Promote Mental Health at Your Workplace

Are your employees struggling with their mental health? Cura HR creates custom solutions for every project and client by combining our years of experience with fresh ideas and forward-thinking.

Whether you need help creating a plan for leadership development, or wellness programs and strategies, Cura HR has you covered! We’d love to learn about your business and how we can help improve your team’s mental health and wellbeing.

The 2022 labor market is experiencing changes that make it more challenging for employers to retain employees. Why? There is no doubt that the global pandemic created a work environment of fear and uncertainty. As a result, some people are leaving due to unhappiness with how they were treated by their employer during the pandemic, undesirable pay, or unsatisfactory benefits. Other reasons include a lack of work-life balance, a desire for a change…and some are simply burned out.

With more and more people leaving the workforce, it’s never been more important or pressing for businesses to offer a competitive total rewards package. In this blog, we will discuss ways employers can add value to their employee’s experience and retain their top talent.

Offer competitive salary and benefits

Compensation is a factor that will continue to play a significant role in the employee’s experience and retention. Employees often leave when they don’t feel appropriately compensated. Therefore, it’s important to understand competitive compensation ranges for your positions and ensure you are paying appropriately.

Benefits are also an essential part of a comprehensive total rewards package. Employees value health and wellfare benefits, 401(k) and retirement benefits, technology stipends, and perks such as gym memberships and access to mental health services. Employees are also desiring competitive paid time off programs and professional development opportunities.

Upskill your team

Speaking of professional development, let’s highlight the fact that employees are regularly looking to gain new skills and opportunities. It’s important to provide employees with opportunities to learn and take on stretch opportunities.

These opportunities will also serve as a way for employees to grow within your organization by providing them with new job responsibilities or leadership roles. In addition, offering the opportunity for ongoing professional development will help the employee imagine a future with your company.

Include flexible work options

Flexible work options are another way to stay competitive in this market—and it is becoming increasingly important to employees. In fact, according to a recent study, 89% of U.S. workers say the ability to have a flexible schedule would improve their job satisfaction.

Understand what makes employees leave/stay

Understanding the reason why employees leave is an integral part of avoiding turnover. Exit interviews can help you understand the driving factors behind an employee’s decision to leave. Encourage open communication and track common reasons for leaving.

It can also be helpful to consider why your current employees are staying by conducting “stay interviews.” Similar to an exit interview, a stay interview asks employees about what they enjoy the most, and what could be improved about the company. This can help you understand the company’s strengths and challenges and solutions to maintain retention.

Put your best foot forward with Cura HR

Are you struggling to keep your best employees? High turnover rates can affect your company and its ability to reach its goals. Developing an effective retention strategy can help you improve employee satisfaction. However, we understand if you’re unsure where to start. That’s where Cura HR comes in!

We provide benchmarking, guidance, and expert advice to ensure your ability to successfully recruit, hire, and retain the best talent aligned with your organizations’ mission and values. We’d love to learn about your business and how we can leverage HR best practices to take your vision to the next level.

At this point, most of us have either heard of or experienced the effects of the Great Resignation. A record number, 4.5 million people, voluntarily left their positions in November 2021 alone. This amount of resignations was an all-time high, and unemployment rates continue to soar.

People are leaving for various reasons such as undesirable pay or benefits, lack of work-life balance, etc. Therefore, as people re-enter the workforce, they are asking more from their employers than ever before. Employees want the opportunity to learn and grow; they want to work for a company that cares about their well-being and they want flexibility in their working arrangements.

In this blog, we break down ways employers can keep up with the evolving work environment to ensure their teams are happy and satisfied with their work.

Promoting Development at Your Company

A recent Gallup poll stated that 87% of millennials and 69% of non-millennials rate career growth and development opportunities as highly important to them in a job. It’s essential for employers to consider how they’ll promote career growth as a part of their company culture. Promotions are typically one significant way to highlight development, but it’s not always a viable option. There are other ways to reward hard work and encourage growth, for example:

Click here to watch the webinar.

Human Resources is most effective when dynamic and ever-evolving. Cura consultants start with proven tools and processes and build from there. We create custom solutions for each client by combining our collective years of experience with a forward-thinking approach. We continually test, benchmark and optimize our efforts to ensure we’re providing the greatest value and relevance to our clients.

Kodiak Vitals

Compensation Strategies to Drive Business Growth

Kodiak is a growth oriented company with aggressive goals to scale. Its leadership identified compensation as a key area of focus in its broader strategic operating plan. To shore up this component of the business, Kodiak engaged Cura HR for their Total Rewards expertise. Cura was tasked with:

The Outcome

Over the course of 12 months, Cura conducted a comprehensive compensation assessment and analysis for Kodiak Cakes and turned the findings into strategic recommendations and actions. Cura seamlessly put the following in place to support Kodiak’s growth objectives.

“Cura HR was extremely responsive and helpful in getting an intense amount of compensation planning work done in a very short amount of time. We had tight deadlines that we were able to meet due to Cura’s support. We really appreciate their partnership!”

“We elevated our compensation planning tools and communication to the organization. This enabled our leaders to have meaningful compensation conversations with their people, which is invaluable.”

Discover how Cura can help you scale your business with smart compensation strategies.

About Kodiak Cakes

With a delicious portfolio of 100% whole-grain, protein-powered pancake and waffle mixes, frozen waffles and pancakes, oatmeal, baking mixes, and a variety of snacking products, Kodiak provides its loyal consumers with “Nourishment for Today’s Frontier.” Headquartered in Park City, Utah, Kodiak was built on a mission to enable healthier eating and active living. The brand began when eight year-old Joel Clark began selling his family’s hand-milled flapjack mix door-to-door from a little red wagon, and Kodiak is now proudly sold in 26,000 doors nationwide.

About Cura HR

Cura is your modern HR partner for strategic HR services. We provide virtual, high-value Human Resources leadership and support for businesses large and small across a wide range of dynamic industries.

How to Put People First in HR

As we get into the full swing of 2023, now is the ideal time for companies to re-evaluate the relationship they have with their employees, and to consider taking a people-first approach.

The people-first approach in business encourages organizations to prioritize their employees above profits and company goals.

In return, companies often see an increase in employee retention, improved productivity, and a healthier company culture overall.

With that in mind, here are a few ways HR can play a role in adopting or strengthening a company’s people-first approach.

Improve the Employee Experience with Clear Company Values

One of the biggest impacts HR can make is to emphasize the company’s values at every stage of the employee experience, particularly during hiring, onboarding and induction.

According to one study, 72% of employees who felt aligned with a company’s values reported a higher sense of accomplishment from their work.

Having a clear vision of what the company stands for and why fosters a sense of connection and meaning between employees and their workplace. This, in turn, helps employees feel more valued as active contributors to the company, rather than as another “cog in the machine”.

Clearly stated company values are also the foundation of the company’s identity and culture, and can improve:

Advocate for Greater Employee Autonomy

One of the conversations going on in the remote and hybrid business world right now is whether or not these work models should come with more or less employee autonomy.

Many companies choose to implement the use of productivity monitoring tools, which can help employees stay on track rather than getting distracted. However, these tools can also make an employee feel as if their privacy has been violated and their character called into question.

On the other hand, employees who are given more control over their work lives are more likely to feel motivated and engaged in their job, according to the Harvard Business Review.

HR can advocate for greater employee autonomy by playing a role in strengthening the sense of trust between employer and employee by prioritizing items such as cascading communications, professional development and training opportunities.

Communicate the Reasons Behind Company-Wide Changes

Closely related to advocating for greater employee autonomy is placing a priority on open communication from the top-down within an organization.

Respecting employees enough to inform them of major changes goes a long way towards building and maintaining trust.

Communicating major policy changes is a good start, but explaining why the changes are being made and what the company hopes to gain from them will help your employees feel included.

If you want to take it a step further, ask for employee feedback before, during, and after implementing a major change so you can gauge the impact on your workforce. A minor increase to your bottom line may not be worth it if it makes the lives of your employees more difficult.

Give Back

Finally, HR can lead by example and encourage a greater involvement in the community.

According to one statistic, 71% of employees put great value on a company culture that supports and encourages charity and volunteering.

There are numerous ways that a business can increase community engagement, including:

Companies can even offer paid time off for employees to volunteer with a charity or special interest of their choosing.

Learn More About the People-First Approach With CuraHR

At Cura HR, we wholeheartedly believe in putting people first. Taking steps to let your employees know that they are valued and cared for can have massive company-wide impacts, and can noticeably improve everything from customer service and revenue generation to talent acquisition and employee retention.

Get in touch with us today and let us know how we can help you put your people first.

The History of Pay Equity

After the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) was introduced, employers were required from then on to not discriminate against employees by paying them less than equally qualified counterparts based on their sex. Title VII, ADEA, and the ADA also prohibit pay and workplace discrimination based on an individual’s “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability,” per the official website.

These regulations only apply to businesses with 15 or more employees, however. Some smaller businesses are exempt from Title VII, ADA, and GNA. Similarly, ADEA only applies to businesses with 20 or more employees.

What is Pay Equity?

Pay equity refers to compensating employees of similar roles with similarly equivalent pay regardless of:

Pay equity considers other aspects, such as experience, education, and job performance rather than an employee’s identity to determine how much they should be compensated. Because of the multifaceted nature of pay equity, it is crucial to understand what it is, and how to properly implement it throughout your company to avoid legal trouble or employee dissatisfaction.

Why is Pay Equity Important?

Ensuring compliance with pay equity and anti-discrimination laws is crucial because your company can be sued and/or fined for not following the law.

A study performed by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) found that despite the Equal Pay Act, women still make 83 cents to every dollar earned by men, with women of color earning even less. Fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace is important for every business, and paying women less than men is illegal and hurts your bottom line. Employees will find work elsewhere if they are not compensated fairly, so knowing exactly why your employees are provided their current salary and benefits package is important for keeping your business running.

Perform a Pay Audit

Each year, more employee protection laws are passed to ensure compliance with pay equity. Annually performing a pay audit of all of your employees is a good way to ensure employees in equivalent roles don’t have a significant gap for no discernible reason. Additionally, consider why gaps between different employees’ pay exist. If it’s for legitimate reasons such as differences in experience or educational levels, then a pay gap is most likely valid. If there are no discernible factors for a pay gap, it may be discriminatory and should be adjusted accordingly.

Once your HR specialist has collected salary data for all employees, compare the salaries of those in similar roles, such as everyone with the title “Customer Service Representative” and “Customer Care Representative.” While comparing, be aware of any patterns in pay gaps: Are women in the same position as men paid less for no apparent reason? Ask this same question for an employee’s race, sexuality, age, etc. Document the reason each person’s salary is where it is— time with your company, skill level, education, job performance, and more. Take your time with this process, as the timeline for completion may vary by company.

Implementing Changes

If you’ve noticed a discriminatory pattern during your audit, it’s time to take steps to correct it through direct action and implementing a company policy.

Correct the wage gaps that have been identified as unjust as needed. Do this by increasing the wages of those who are underpaid instead of lowering other wages to bridge any gaps. Continue to document and perform wage audits quarterly to ensure that everyone working for your company is paid fairly. Most importantly, be consistent and aware of any patterns that may come up. It’s a human resources expert’s job to be vigilant about issues like these through the implementation of HR analytics.

Cura HR Can Help You Navigate Pay Equity

Pay equity can be a complicated topic to navigate, and understandably so. That’s why Team Cura is happy to help businesses by providing benchmarking and sharing our knowledge about employment laws to keep your work environment safe and equal.

Compliance is ready-baked into everything we do. We consider it a given rather than a benefit of working with Cura HR. We’ll even take your business far beyond compliance and into new and creative ways of leveraging HR to make your business soar. We’d love to hear about your business and how we can ensure your company stays competitive and ethical by complying with equal pay laws.

Most of us are aware of the debate going on in the business world between those who favor a return to full-time office work, and those who argue for the benefits and flexibility of full-time remote work.

While there are companies that will need to choose one over the other, most will find that there’s a lot of middle ground to work with.

The relative novelty of the hybrid workplace model means that there are no hard-and-fast rules for how it should be structured.

While that may seem intimidating at first, it also offers the opportunity to customize a work model with flexibility in mind to ensure that both your company and your employees are getting what they need.

Where to Start

The hybrid workplace model is defined as one that combines in-person office work and remote work with an emphasis on flexibility.

There have been several attempts to pin down the different “forms” of a hybrid model, but it mostly comes down to two things:

Your employees might be most productive with a fully flexible schedule and one required in-office day per week.

Or, collaboration and other factors might make it necessary to offer only one or two days of remote work every week.

By the same token, you might be able to give your employees assignments and turn them loose to execute, or a strict deadline and multi-step project might require regular check-ins and updates.

Either way, the best place to start is by identifying the needs of your company and the desires of your employees. Then, find a way to strike a balance between scheduling and autonomy that will work for most everyone.

Flexible Office Layout

An unexpected factor to consider in a hybrid workplace is the physical layout of the office itself, including office size, lighting, and furnishings.

In a hybrid workplace, you might have meetings where some team members are able to attend in person while others will need to attend virtually. For this reason, it’s beneficial to have modular furniture that is easy to rearrange as needed.

In addition, removing the more formal aspects of office design in favor of one that blends the feel of a traditional workplace with a home office may help employees adjust better when it comes to switching back and forth.

It’s also worth considering whether your business even requires a full-time office, or whether renting a flex space or experimenting with desk hoteling might make more sense for your needs.

Automation and Centralization

When selecting the software and systems that you’ll use to support your hybrid work team, here are a few criteria to keep in mind:

As much as possible, try to keep everything on a single platform with centralized information and employee access.

This not only increases efficiency and productivity, but it prevents your employees from becoming frustrated (or worse, burnt out) due to “platform hopping” in order to find the information they need.

It’s also helpful to automate whatever processes you can, such as onboarding, communications, and project updates and reminders to keep things running smoothly and to free up your employees for more important tasks.

Maintain a Strong Company Culture

At the core of most business owners’ concerns when it comes to hybrid or remote work is the integrity of the company culture.

This merits an entire blog post of its own, but in general, you want to make sure that you’re giving equal attention to your in-office and remote employees.

Encourage communication and engagement through virtual social hours and team-building exercises.

It’s also vital to be aware of your decisions when it comes to workplace recognition and promotions. Favoring one group over another in these areas is a sure way to undermine both the company culture and the relationships your employees have with one another.

Finally, don’t neglect wellness and inclusion and diversity. Supply your team members with the resources they need to take care of their jobs and their mental health.

Seek Out Actionable Feedback

Our final piece of advice for implementing a hybrid work model is to consistently seek out feedback and make adjustments based on your findings. Obtaining feedback from both employees and managers as well as reviewing KPIs, efficiency and time management metrics and other productivity-related data is helpful in guiding decision-making.

and also by holding town halls and fostering a workplace environment that encourages regular communication across all levels of your organization.

Use Cura HR to Help You Explore the Possibilities of a Hybrid Workplace

Like any business model, the success of a hybrid workplace will depend on your ability to identify areas for improvement and to adapt quickly.

Cura HR can help with everything from HR project support to troubleshooting your workflows and processes and more. We’d love to help you take your business to the next level.