In our latest blog post we hammered home (we hope) the importance of regular, standing one-on-one meetings with your direct reports. To read more about why these meetings are so important, check out the last article here.

Hey, want another meeting on your calendar? I’m sure your first reaction is a hard no. Well, what if we told you that a standing one-on-one meeting between a leader and each of their direct reports results in employees that are three times more engaged than employees whose leaders do not check in with them regularly? 

As a small business owner, I understand how ramping up can be extremely rewarding and simultaneously challenging. This experience is a fast track to learning about business and yourself. How do you discover new skill sets you didn’t know you needed? What parts of the business do you want to be involved in? What are the things you’d rather outsource to an expert in that space? 

One leading indicator of a recession is back-to-back quarters of a decline in GDP. Government data last week confirmed a decrease in the second quarter after we already saw a decline in Q1 of 2022. As shared in a recent New York Times article, Harvard economist Jeffrey Frankel said, “A month ago, I was writing that it was very unlikely that we are in a recession. If I had to write that now, I would take out the ‘very.’”   

As much as 70% of a company’s operating budget can be allocated to labor costs alone. The sheer size of this line item, paired with the rapid pace at which salaries are increasing for hard-to-fill roles, is enough to leave any employer second-guessing decisions on pay – and is all the more reason to have a well-thought-out compensation strategy in place to guide you.  

A certification in Human Resources isn’t required to launch a business, and yet every employer who leads a team of two or more will face HR challenges throughout the lifespan of their organization. It’s not only a given but a major cause of stress for many owners. According to a recent study by Xero, managing staff is the number one stressor for small business owners (42%) – ahead of admin tasks (35%) and even feeling personally responsible for the success of the company (31%). 

New Hanover County shared a new report on April 18, produced by a locally-based firm Greenfield, about the current status, challenges, and potential of economic development in our region. It contains plenty of information local employers should be aware of, but the length of the report – around 100 pages – will likely present a barrier for the typical busy business owner. 

If you’re a business owner, you’ve had at least one healthcare broker reach out to sell you all types of insurance. I’ve learned over the years that a great healthcare broker is invaluable to your business. The second thing I’ve learned is finding the right broker for your business is like dating. There are many fish in the sea, and they all want to be your business’s significant other. 

  We already know that employee wellness programs increase job satisfaction, employee retention, well-being, and likelihood to recommend employment. However, the wellness program needs to be successful and engaging to accomplish those things. Once you have a successful wellness program, then you can really start to see the benefits to employees and the cost-savings.

  According to a 2022 Gallup poll, one in five Gen Z adults, and more than 7 percent of Americans altogether, identify as LGBT. This segment of the workforce population grows year over year, and your company could miss out on recruiting and retaining top talent from this community if you fail to offer an authentically welcoming and accepting environment.

We love personality tests. In fact, it’s one of our founder’s favorite pastimes – she’s gained quite a reputation among her friends as the go-to for discussing and comparing results to countless varieties of tests… just for fun. So if a personality test of sorts existed that specifically catered to professionals and was intended to be used by leaders as a tool to improve the way their team works together, wouldn’t Montani HAVE to facilitate such a test? Absolutely.

Based on results from a Workhuman® iQ survey of 2,268 full-time workers across the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Ireland, their in-depth report explores the state of human connection at work. But they share more than just findings – the report offers actionable tips for business leaders to create more “human-centered work cultures.”