Blog - Liz Sheffield Copywriting

WRITING ABOUT THE PEOPLE SIDE OF BUSINESS

Human Resources, Portfolio, SPARK by ADP, Training & Development

LGBTQ Inclusion and Diversity Training

As the workforce continues to diversify, it’s increasingly important for employers to do all they can to create supportive, respectful and inclusive work environments — including having an LGBTQ diversity and inclusion policy that is reinforced through diversity training.

By expanding diversity and inclusion policies to support the needs of LGBTQ talent more extensively, organizations can reap a host of benefits.

“With an engaged, diverse, and inclusive workforce, you are fostering an environment where employees are productive, feel valued and feel free to express ideas that may be the next big ‘change’ to move your company forward,” says Mollie Mantia, Director of Compliance for Talent Products at ADP. “Additionally, employees who feel valued are more than likely to send referrals your way.”

Click here to read the article.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on August 1, 2018

Benefits, Human Resources, Portfolio, The Benefits Guide

CPR: Should Your Employees Be Certified?

No one wants to imagine a medical emergency in the workplace, but unfortunately they do happen. Being prepared means more than having an office first-aid kit on hand — it means having designated employees who are trained to respond to a variety of emergency situations.

Training employees on what to do in an emergency can mean all the difference if the worst happens. Even short of such crises, emergency-response training comes with other advantages, from increased employee engagement to compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) requirements.

Click here to read the full article published at The Benefits Guide.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on July 24, 2018

HR Matters, Social Media

One Way to Engage Your Social Audience

Last week I was scrolling through my Facebook feed at around 6 am.

I noticed a headline from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) page I follow. (I’ve included a screen shot for reference.) The first line reads: Throw Back Thursday and Scrunchies are back.

Having worn a few scrunchies in my day, I had to click on the link.

The post was an article from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) about scrunchies and dress codes. The WSJ article contained a quote from a SHRM member about her thoughts related to scrunchies: “Do I think it’s professional? Would I wear a scrunchie? Absolutely not,” she says. “But if it’s not a customer-facing situation, then it becomes a matter of taste.”

That SHRM decided to post the article struck me as odd—are scrunchies a worthy topic to post about on a professional organization’s Facebook page? The tie-in for throw-back Thursday was clever, but it also made me question the judgment of the person behind the Facebook account.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in wondering about the value of the post. By the end of the day, there were 200 comments, more than 40 shares, and a lot of angry emojis. Most of the responses rebuked SHRM. Here’s a sample:

“Wow!! Really? Some pretentious snob decided these were fashion disasters at some point and now SHRM social media thinks that’s a worthy topic for HR professionals?”

“Good lord, with ACTUAL problems in the world and the workplace and THIS is what SHRM wants to tackle … how a woman accessorizes?! Go do an article on #MeToo or #TimesUp or pay equality or FMLA.”

The SHRM social media team was busy that day. From what I could tell they responded to many, if not all, of the comments. Their basic approach was to:

thank readers for their feedback,
reassure them that SHRM brought the topic up to encourage discussion, and
remind readers about other (more serious) topics about which they regularly post.

If we’re communicating with an audience and readers via social media, we can learn a lot from this experience.Your followers are watching what you do. They are smart. And, they have a voice. When you’re engaging with your community, be judicious about what you share on social media. And be ready for each and every possible reaction.

In the case of what I now refer to as the “SHRM Scrunchie Debacle,” I came away impressed by their social media team. Did they really intend to “start a discussion”? Maybe…or, maybe not.

But once the discussion began, they didn’t run and hide. They didn’t delete the post. Instead, they responded and reacted in a sincere and meaningful way.

Hopefully the sincerity and appreciation they expressed is what their Facebook community will remember.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on March 31, 2018

HR Matters, Rewards and Recognition

Have you said “thank you” today?

My massage therapist recently let me know she’s changing careers. She’s going to become a city bus driver. That’s quite the change for a woman in her 40s—from heated tables, quiet waterfall music, and lavender-scented oils to the driver’s seat of a city bus that weighs at least 20,000 pounds!

After talking with her regarding the decision to switch careers, it was clear that there were various issues are at the root of the career change. As someone who writes about the people side of the business, there was one that was very disappointing.

This massage therapist has been at the same spa for 10.5 years. She’s never received any recognition or appreciation from the owner.

Sigh. That’s not okay.

Why would I mention this in a LinkedIn article?

For those of us working in HR or the HR marketplace, we must be leaders in demonstrating how easy it is to show appreciation—for our employees, our colleagues, and our clients.

Appreciation breeds appreciation.

This year Employee Appreciation Day is Friday, March 2. Make sure you have a plan to appreciate and recognize your employees. Share this date with your colleagues, clients, friends and family so they can plan, too.

(Not sure how to demonstrate appreciation? Start with these five questions.)

One person at a time, my hope is that together we can make sure no one goes 10.5 years without recognition and appreciation for a job well done.

And before I sign off: thank you for reading this post. I appreciate it.

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Posted by Liz Sheffield on February 20, 2018

MeYou Health, Portfolio, Wellness

How to convince your CEO and CFO you need a wellness program

Startup Stock Photos

It’s no secret that workplace wellness programs are rapidly moving from an extra to an essential for growing businesses. As an industry, wellness is expected to continue growing exponentially in the next several years, surpassing other common benefits such as professional and career development, flexible work schedules, retirement, and family-friendly policies. As wellness programs become more common, employees are seeking employers who offer them as a benefit.

If you’re considering implementing a wellness program for your company, it’s important to gain early and consistent support from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) to ensure long-term success for your program. Executive leaders don’t just “sign the dotted line” to get a wellness program started, they’re also influential as champions of the program. You need to get their support to:

Demonstrate an investment in employee health
Empower other workplace leaders to share the vision
Encourage employees to participate

Read the full post here, at MeYou Health.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on December 22, 2017

Employees, Portfolio, SPARK by ADP

Employee Retention Starts with Understanding Their Top Concerns

There are many factors that impact employee retention. But rather than watching employees walk out the door and working to figure out what went wrong, HR professionals would be wise to proactively examine and address the factors that drive employees to leave in the first place.

According to the ADP Research Institute® (ADP RI) report, The Evolution of Work 2.0: The Me vs. We Mindset, there are three key areas that HR leaders can focus on to keep employees. These areas are as follows:

Openness and Transition
Creating Meaning, Human Connections and Advancement
Attraction, Retention and Attrition

1. Openness and Transition

According to ADP RI, 56 percent of employees say they feel there is “no such thing as job security today.” While they may enjoy their jobs, this insecurity can put employees in a constant state of transition, ready to jump on other positions that meet their needs.

Address this concern by making sure your organization’s leaders regularly share business results with employees and relate those results to job security and long-term opportunities. Also, HR must influence leaders to be open and honest during the difficult times. Rather than making employees fear what’s ahead, talking about struggles can serve to inspire greater commitment and help employees self-identify as part of the team that will help the organization overcome its obstacles.

Click here to read the full post published at SPARK by ADP.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on December 7, 2017

Portfolio

What are HR professionals thankful for this year?

In a fast-paced business climate prone to frequent changes, challenges and transformation, it’s easy to forget the importance of feeling thankful for what we’ve achieved. The end of the year provides a valuable time for HR leaders — and their teams — to reflect on what makes them thankful to do the work they do.

When comparing HR’s achievements 10 years ago to what the function has achieved this year, many HR leaders will feel thankful for valued relationships with C-suite peers, advances in technology that enable effective workflow and most of all, for the engaged employees who make their organization successful.

Collaboration With the C-Suite

Today’s HR leaders are thankful to be an integral part of the C-suite. Alongside their peers from operations, finance, marketing and information technology, HR leaders are now able to influence in ways that can improve the employee experience and deliver results.

The ability to break down silos and create a cross-functional organization from the top down is an advantage that not only enables HR leaders to be more effective, but it’s also recognition for the value the HR function brings to the organization. HR leaders are thankful for the opportunities their role within the executive team provides.

Read more from this post, published at SPARK by ADP.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on November 30, 2017

HR Buyers, HR Matters

What are you saying?

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to California with my younger son and my mother. As we sat in t

he Sacramento airport waiting to board our flight home, an airline gate agent’s voice kept interrupting my thoughts and conversations.

Within the span of about 15 minutes, she made the following update, not once or twice, but at least five times: “If you’re in possession of a boarding pass…please proceed to the gate.”

After I’d heard this phrase for the fifth time, not only was I annoyed, I realized there were a few issues:

The words the gate agent used were not simple enough for everyone to understand.
The plane which was boarding was not only a different airline, it was nowhere near our gate.

This experience brought to mind two important points:

We must choose our words with care.

When you try to make your product or service sound complex, you risk losing your audience. Which sentence would make you take action?

Option 1: “If you’re in possession of a boarding pass…please proceed to the gate.”

Option 2: “If you have a boarding pass, please come to the gate.”

Don’t use words like “possession” and “proceed” when you can communicate with much simpler language.

We must broadcast our message to those who need to hear it.

Based on your buyer personals, craft content marketing (a blog post, case study, tweet or other content) that will reach them. Regardless of the formant, make sure you’re directing your message to the right audience.

Regardless of whether your message is about boarding an airplane or purchasing HR products or services, make sure it’s clear. If it’s not, you may end up with an empty plane.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on November 22, 2017

HR Buyers

HR Marketers: Got Bandwidth?

I remember well my days working under the corporate HR umbrella—especially those frantic summer months when directors and vice presidents realized it was time to get cracking on the projects they committed to complete by the end of the year.

What does this mean for you as an HR marketer?

This is the time when your prospects may be in panic mode.

Their strategies are set. Their list of deliverables is only growing. And, their employees are…on vacation.

(The phrase I remember most from those summer days was :We don’t have the bandwidth.)

This is the time when you need to share the services, resources, and tips you have that will make their life easier.

The only problem? You may find yourself in the same situation—with team members on summer vacation. Staring at the list of projects on your plate, you have no idea how you’re going to create the articles, white papers, case studies or blog posts that will intrigue your prospects. Your team may not have the bandwidth.

Regardless of the content marketing issue you’re facing: I’m here to help.

I’m currently booking my schedule for June – August. Contact me to schedule a time to about how I can support your content marketing needs this summer.

Let’s put a plan in place for how I can help you make timely, meaningful connections with your prospects so you can meet those goals you set at the beginning of YOUR fiscal year.

Posted by Liz Sheffield on May 12, 2017

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