Every individual has different ways of coping with tough situations in life. For some, meeting friends is a way of managing their mental health while for others, being all by themselves is the best strategy.

At this time, when most people are working from home, adjusting to a work from home routine can be challenging. While people are adjusting to this new way of working, in the absence of certain factors like workspace, colleagues; it is important to minimize the amount of pressure we take on ourselves to be as productive as we used to be.

This is the time when everyone should focus on self-care and should set realistic goals and expectations.

Here are 5 tips on taking care of your mental health during COVID-19 anxiety:

5. Separate what’s in your control from what’s not:

Everything currently is not lost. We can focus on things that are under our control. We should remain calm and routinely wash our hands, take precautions. We surely can control our response to any given situation.

4. Limit the consumption of news:

An important point is to try and focus on news that spread positivity and encourages us to hope for the better. We should minimize watching-reading and listening to news that causes anxiety and make us feel hopeless. Seeking information from desired and trusted sources can help us protect oneself and our loved ones.

3. Ensure Self-Care:

There are several things one can do to ensure this step. It’s the best time to tap your creative self. One can keep oneself occupied by working from home, doing household chores, reading books, listening to music, exercising, etc.

One should focus on improving one’s own physical and mental health. Ensure that you’re eating, sleeping well and exercising. All this helps build immunity, keeps stress at bay and ensures mental peace.

2. Stay connected:

This lockdown and the current scenario is the best time to keep in touch with family and friends. One should use technology smartly and should video call or make telephonic conversations with their loved ones.

1.  Be aware and stay in the present:

Everyone should focus on what’s happening presently and should not worry much about what’s going to happen or what hasn’t happened.

If someone’s worry is compounding, notice the sights, sounds and other sensory experiences in your immediate surroundings and concentrate on them. Engage in mindful activities and stay grounded to be in the present.

To conclude, everyone is fighting this situation and is in this together. So, don’t worry and share what you are experiencing with others. Follow these 5 tips on taking care of your mental health.

It is important to acknowledge your evolving emotional needs right now and to take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Ritika Sachar

Ritika works as Talent Sourcer for HR Monks. She is very focussed about what she wants to achieve in her life. She is in a mission to help career aspirants achieve their dreams. Apart from taking care of sourcing talents, she helps in carrying out different assignments of the Monks Team.

When she is not working she loves exploring the city of Kolkata with her friends and family. She enjoys life. She loves to spend time by the pool in her leisure time.

The post COVID-19: 5 Tips on Taking Care of Your Mental Health appeared first on The HR Monks.

It can also be explained as the extent to which an employees’ job tasks, work responsibilities and degree of authority are not well defined. Negative health consequences along with both negative employee attitudes and ineffective job behaviors are associated with role ambiguity.

Role Conflict, on the other hand, is born from simultaneous occurrences of two or more role requirements, so that the performance of one makes the performance of the other more difficult. It is such a pressure on the employee, that it leads to lower productivity, tension and ultimately causes dissatisfaction.

Causes for these constructs:

Role Ambiguity can arise from the business itself or from specific managers, who fail to implement the roles and directions associated with their job. In work settings, role ambiguity can stem from the size and complexity of the organization, rapid rate of change, restrictions imposed on the employees’ authority, unfavorable work environments and also vaguely defined tasks. However, it is indicative of poor management.

Furthermore, it is due to role ambiguity that individuals experience difficulty in enacting the role (role conflict).

Consequences of these constructs:

Several studies have shown that role ambiguity is related to the manifestations of poor mental health and physical health. In addition to these, role ambiguity is associated with both negative employee attitudes and ineffective job behaviors. Few examples of attitudes associated with role ambiguity, according to meta-analysis are:

• Overall job dissatisfaction
• Dissatisfaction with co-workers, supervision and job tasks
• Absenteeism
• High turnover intention
• Low job involvement
• Low organization commitment

Role Conflict, on the other hand, has been associated with employee-related outcomes (absenteeism, elevated blood pressure) as well as organizational outcomes (unethical behavior, low performance).

Efforts on the part of the organization to reduce role ambiguity- role conflict at work can improve the morale of the employees and increase productivity. The management of any organization has to conduct orientation for the new employees and call for meetings with the existing employees to clarify the duties and responsibilities to be carried out by each of them at work.

Moreover, employees should be treated fairly and their concerns should be heard and valued. Other ways in which the effects of role ambiguity-conflict on the employees can be reduced are:

• Defined framework
• Clear and concise instructions
• Understanding the staff members
• Making definite decisions
• Making sure that employees are taking their lunch breaks and going on vacations

Ritika Sachar

Ritika works as Talent Sourcer for HR Monks. She is very focussed about what she wants to achieve in her life. She is in a mission to help career aspirants achieve their dreams. Apart from taking care of sourcing talents, she helps in carrying out different assignments of the Monks Team.

When she is not working she loves exploring the city of Kolkata with her friends and family. She enjoys life. She loves to spend time by the pool in her leisure time.

The post Role Ambiguity and Role Conflict at Work and How to Address the Issues appeared first on The HR Monks.

Hiring candidates is no easy task. Recruiters strongly prepare for the hiring process, but no matter how strongly they prepare, a few small details often go awry. These “small” details could lead to the loss of a valuable candidate.

A lot can go wrong when one is communicating with the candidates. An unprofessional or careless communication strategy not only leads to disgruntled applicants but can also damage the company’s reputation in the long term.

The key to ideal communication strategy:

Acknowledge receipt of applications:

This step helps the candidates by confirming that their applications for the mentioned (hiring) position has been received and also helps them receive a basic outline of how things will proceed thereafter i.e. the shortlisting, interview, selection.

Be ready for questions:

The recruiters should be well versed with the position they are hiring for (role), the entire hiring process and all the other relevant details related to the job opening. The job description should consist of the contact details i.e. the phone number, the address, email address, as it adds a personal touch.

Listen carefully:

This part is of the utmost importance. A recruiter should always patiently listen to the candidate’s career goals and see whether the contacted candidate is interested or not, for the job opening. A recruiter should remain cordial, professional and should never bombard a candidate with information regarding a job opportunity, right away.

Right usage of words and correct grammar:

Recruiters must know which word to use when and how. The correct choice of words while communicating with candidates influences the perception of candidates regarding the firm. A few genuine grammatical errors might be overlooked, but wrong English and repeated grammatical errors reflect poorly about the recruitment firm.

Give updates and feedbacks:

Candidates invest their time and effort in their applications, connecting their hopes and desires. A recruiter or a recruitment firm should communicate things openly and transparently. If a hiring process is delayed, the reason for such a delay should be informed to the candidates to maintain their interest in the applied opportunity. In addition to this, if a candidate has been rejected, the feedback should be professionally given to the candidate. Constructive feedback can help candidates improve themselves for the future as well as help them maintain a healthy relationship with the recruiter for new opportunities.

Recruiters expect jobseekers to have good communication skills but forget how important effective communication skills are, for themselves daily.

Communication over the phone:

Recruiter’s tone of speaking comes into play here. The recruiter’s voice must sound positive, enthusiastic and crisp, to establish a cordial relationship with the candidate right from the beginning.

The focus should always be on getting relevant answers to the important questions. Thorough knowledge and good preparation are therefore necessary.

Communication via email:

Following a formal pattern and greeting the candidates in the mail is very important. The subject should clearly state the intent of the email. All efforts should be made to check that the mail does not consist of any spelling or grammar mistakes. Each mail sent should be personalized so that it sounds unique to the reader. Rejection emails should be written encouragingly and harsh words should be avoided.

Online Communication:

While communicating through social media networks, recruiters should keep their language professional and effective. No misleading information should be given to the candidates. If any candidate is misbehaving, the recruiter should be smart enough to handle such a case intelligently.

The what, when and why of communication is very crucial for a recruiter and the candidate. All efforts should be made by a recruiter to communicate information to the candidates in a positive, effective, error-free and professional manner.

Ritika Sachar

Ritika works as Talent Sourcer for HR Monks. She is very focussed about what she wants to achieve in her life. She is in a mission to help career aspirants achieve their dreams. Apart from taking care of sourcing talents, she helps in carrying out different assignments of the Monks Team.

When she is not working she loves exploring the city of Kolkata with her friends and family. She enjoys life. She loves to spend time by the pool in her leisure time.

The post Communication with Candidates – A Key in Recruiting appeared first on The HR Monks.

The topic is in sync with John C. Maxwell’s quote which explains the importance of effective and good teamwork clearly. He said, “Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.”

A good team is made only with the help of effective teamwork, which is built on the following characteristics, to name a few:

Clear direction: Having set team goals and a defined vision is barely essential for a team to work together. It’s impossible to assemble the right group of people unless the organization has clarity about their goals and the desired outcome.

Defined roles: Another important characteristic that requires emphasis is well-defined roles for the employees. To achieve the target set by the organization, specific set of skills is required, thus the role to be played by the employees should be clearly laid out so that the right kind of team members are selected to achieve the desired outcome.

Open and free communication: Communication is very important to build a sense of camaraderie among members. A friendly and comfortable relationship will establish among team members only if they communicate freely, thus helping in sharing insights.

Accepting Individuality: Differences in opinion will arise since a team comprises of several individuals. Diverse opinions and ideas give rise to new insights. Thus, encouraging differences in opinion enhances team performance.

Mutual Accountability: Blaming one another for failures and mistakes will create hatred and bitterness, ultimately leading to decreased productivity. Everyone in the team should take ownership of the work and at the same time should also accept the failures as a team rather than playing the blame game.

Recognizing each other’s contributions and facing hurdles together leads to the success of the entire team.

Collaboration and team trust: Collaboration and trust are two important traits to effective teamwork. Without trust and close collaboration, teams cannot succeed.

After knowing the facets of teamwork, it is necessary to point out the significance of teamwork in the workplace. To start with,

1) It brings new ideas and insights

2) Fosters creativity and learning

3) It creates a supportive environment and helps build morale

4) Everyone gets to play their strength and the workload is shared

5) Risk-taking becomes easier, for the entire business

6) Promotes strong work ethics, a sense of achievement and camaraderie and enhances the team spirit.

I would like to conclude with a quote by Steve Jobs that does complete justice to the discussed topic, i.e.; “Great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people.”

Ritika Sachar

Ritika works as Talent Sourcer for HR Monks. She is very focussed about what she wants to achieve in her life. She is in a mission to help career aspirants achieve their dreams. Apart from taking care of sourcing talents, she helps in carrying out different assignments of the Monks Team.

When she is not working she loves exploring the city of Kolkata with her friends and family. She enjoys life. She loves to spend time by the pool in her leisure time.

The post Teamwork Makes the Dream Work appeared first on The HR Monks.

When a person is struggling with extra weight, all sorts of changes in body size and shape leads to emotional ups and downs.

Though lots of us who are reading this, know many overweight people who are confident and happy while thin and fit people, who are insecure.

An overweight person is usually burdened with what others think, that is, termed as social concerns.

Sometimes good intentions from family, siblings, and friends may come across as criticism. This fear of being judged or being socially rejected makes an individual feel frustrated, angry and embarrassed.

Another factor, that influences one’s emotion that is related to overweight is self-esteem. People struggling with their weight usually struggle with low self-esteem.

Negative thoughts block one’s thought processes and can affect their confidence. Thus, it is very important to work towards changing such negative emotions.

Awkward social situations? Self-Esteem Issues? Don’t Worry! Have a look at what you can do……

Start by loving yourself, loving your body. Focus on your talents and your strengths, rather than your weaknesses.

Build one or two close friendships with whom you can share your concerns. Talking to people you trust and those who support you can help you feel wanted and can remind you of your good qualities.

Never allow your emotions to take over you because losing temper will just make you weak and in control. If a situation is getting worse, speak up for yourself and with confidence, never allow a person to take advantage and say whatever they want.

Another great way to boost your self-esteem would be to accomplish goals that one has set for themselves. Setting small, realistic goals and then checking them regularly to watch the progress can help, for example, the goal of packing healthy lunch once a week.

In the end, people come in different shapes and sizes. All bodies are beautiful!

Criticizing someone for their bodyweight is simply discrimination.

To all the foodies out there :

“People who love to eat are always the best people.” – Julia Child

Ritika Sachar

Ritika works as Talent Sourcer for HR Monks. She is very focussed about what she wants to achieve in her life. She is in a mission to help career aspirants achieve their dreams. Apart from taking care of sourcing talents, she helps in carrying out different assignments of the Monks Team.

When she is not working she loves exploring the city of Kolkata with her friends and family. She enjoys life. She loves to spend time by the pool in her leisure time.

The post It’s Okay To Be Overweight appeared first on The HR Monks.

No. Job satisfaction is a complex and multifaceted concept, meaning different things to different people. It is more of an attitude, an internal state. It could, for example, be associated with a personal feeling of achievement, either quantitative or qualitative (Mullins, 2005).

Moreover, job satisfaction acts as a motivation to work. If employees are happy and satisfied, they will be more committed to their work and will have a good image of the organization (Bashir and Ramay, 2010).

Edwin Locke (1976) gave a wholesome and complete definition of job satisfaction- “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience.”

There are three important features of job satisfaction that an organization should keep in mind:-

1. Organizations should be guided by human values so that they are oriented towards treating workers fairly and with respect. In such cases, the assessment of job satisfaction may serve as a good indicator of employee effectiveness.
2. High levels of job satisfaction may be a sign of a good emotional and mental state of employees.
3. The behavior of workers depending on their level of job satisfaction will affect the functioning and activities of the organization’s business.
4. Thus, job satisfaction will result in positive behavior and vice versa.
5. Job satisfaction may serve as indicators of organizational activities and indicate the organizational units in which changes should be made to boost performance.

Job satisfaction is beneficial to each and every employee and is of utmost importance to the organization he/she works for. Thus, it should be examined from a realistic as well as from a practical managerial-organizational effectiveness perspective.

Satisfaction and Performance:

• The “satisfaction-performance controversy” has been continuing for years with assumptions regarding a positive, though a somehow weak relationship between the two variables.
• Satisfaction may not necessarily lead to individual performance improvement but does lead to departmental and organizational-level improvement. Thus, satisfaction plays a vital role in the study and the application of organizational behavior.

Satisfaction and Turnover:

• High job satisfaction helps in keeping the turnover rates low while on the other hand, if there is considerable job dissatisfaction, it leads to high turnover.
• Sometimes, turnover tends to be higher during times of low unemployment and expanding job opportunities as workers perceive the economy to be growing and hence, find it easier to consider changing their jobs with the hope of increased satisfaction towards their job.

Satisfaction and Absenteeism:

• Many variables affect absenteeism, including the degree to which people feel that their jobs are important. Employee absenteeism causes serious additional costs for the company, therefore, managers should pursue ways of reducing it to its minimum.
• The best possible way of reducing employee absenteeism would be through an increase in job satisfaction since satisfaction is potentially under the organization’s control.

By following the given guidelines, organizations can enhance the job satisfaction of its employees:

• Making jobs more fun
• Having fair pay, benefits and promotional opportunities
• Matching people with jobs that fit their interests and skills
• Designing jobs to make them exciting and satisfying
• Praising employees for good performance
• Keeping satisfactory hours of work
• Availability of leave and rest
• Giving freedom to seek help in solving problems

Research reports that highly satisfied employees tend to have better physical health, they learn new job-related tasks quickly, have fewer on-the-job accidents and have fewer grievances.

Thus, it can be concluded that job satisfaction as a variable is important not only to the employees but is important for improving the quality and quantity of production in organizations as well.

Ritika Sachar

Ritika works as Talent Sourcer for HR Monks. She is very focussed about what she wants to achieve in her life. She is in a mission to help career aspirants achieve their dreams. Apart from taking care of sourcing talents, she helps in carrying out different assignments of the Monks Team.

When she is not working she loves exploring the city of Kolkata with her friends and family. She enjoys life. She loves to spend time by the pool in her leisure time.

The post Job Satisfaction- its Importance in Every Employee’s Life and Effect on Organization’s Bottom line appeared first on The HR Monks.

It is true, that challenges can be a source of frustration and despair, but yet at the same time we need to trust our abilities to overcome such challenges with our inner strength, to drive us through the journey called life. 

1. Define the problem and gain perspective- Usually, obstacles blur one’s thought processes and create chaos in their lives. One should focus on the nature of the problem and its intensity, rather than being afraid to accept what’s happening. 

First, one should start by getting to the grass-root level of the problem, figuring out what went wrong. This clarity regarding the source of the problem helps oneself to get a better grip of the entire situation and thus, helps to act on it with ease. 

A reality check regarding the problem is of utmost importance. It is very important to realize that problems exist in nature and that it can be tackled from various aspects, by considering the suitable alternatives.

Therefore, gaining perspectives helps one to stay away from the chaos and declutters one’s life. 

2. Stay focused and committed- It is advised not to let our setbacks pile upon us, rather be motivated to attend to them, such that they inspire us to strive for the best. A winner is always, that person, whose actions are not weakened by the challenges faced and at the same time, they can drive oneself to the fullest potential to meet the unexpected. 

Focus always on the main objective, with the belief in one’s own efforts to reach that goal through small, constructive steps. 

3. Develop a positive outlook- A calm and composed mind, logic, sound judgments, and the right attitude are the primary pre-requisites to combat hurdles faced at work. A molehill can turn into a mountain if people start stressing about the outcomes rather than the source. Thus, it is advised to detach from the outcome and to meet the challenges as they crop up without worrying about the future.

For a person with the right kind of attitude, no challenge is too small or big as they have the power to meet it with poise. 

Learning is a continuous process and everyone through trial and error make their way through life. The dynamic process of life- trying, succeeding, failing and trying again, is the only way to develop lasting confidence in ourselves. 

Ritika Sachar

Ritika works as Talent Sourcer for HR Monks. She is very focussed about what she wants to achieve in her life. She is in a mission to help career aspirants achieve their dreams. Apart from taking care of sourcing talents, she helps in carrying out different assignments of the Monks Team.

When she is not working she loves exploring the city of Kolkata with her friends and family. She enjoys life. She loves to spend time by the pool in her leisure time.

The post Three Ways to Face Challenges at Work and Boost Productivity appeared first on The HR Monks.