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7 Top Tips For Creating A Thriving Workplace Environment

Workplace culture is instrumental to a successful business, so why not commit to fostering a culture of excellence at your workplace?

Last month, we began looking at what good workplace culture looks like and why it matters – if you missed that article, you can read it here.

This month, we are exploring practical strategies for how you can foster a thriving work environment at your workplace.

We like to think of workplace culture as your organisation’s signature dish—you need to add the right mix of ingredients, conduct ongoing taste tests, and add a little heat to bring out the best flavours!

So, here are our top tips for crafting a workplace environment that’s as satisfying as a perfectly seasoned meal!

7 Top Tips For Creating A Thriving Workplace Culture

1. Define Your Culture Clearly

If you don’t take the time to define your workplace culture, it will just go right ahead and define itself. Unfortunately, if that happens, it might not define itself in the way you want!

Your culture should align with your company’s mission, vision, and values. That way, it will represent your business effectively while also creating a consistent and inspiring workplace experience for your team members.

One of the easiest ways to clearly define your culture is to develop a culture statement or manifesto that outlines your company’s core values and mission. Once the statement is established (hopefully with team input!), make sure it’s communicated in everything you do. There are plenty of opportunities to do this – through team meetings, internal newsletters, reward and recognition, right through to visual reminders around the workplace.

Encourage your leaders to reinforce these values through their behaviours and decision-making, that way there is a flow-down effect from the top of your organisation to the team members below.

2. Leadership Sets the Tone

Just like a head chef in a bustling kitchen, leaders set the tone for a workplace environment. Let’s just get it out there, you don’t want to emulate a Gordon Ramsey-style, Hell’s Kitchen situation!

Rather, you want a positive environment that everyone enjoys working in. Remind your leaders that their behaviours, decisions, and communication style influence every aspect of the business. If they are able to model behaviours that align with your company values, it fosters trust in the business and creates a respectful work environment, all key elements for a strong culture.

The way to do this is to equip your leaders with the skills they need to lead with confidence. Leadership development programs are always a great investment for any organisation. They empower your key people with strategies to lead effectively.

That empowerment can filter throughout your whole workplace by having your leaders Role model ‘what good looks like’. Not only does this foster a good culture, but it also helps to reinforce a strong and trusted leadership presence. Build on that by having your leaders engage in regular one-on-one check-ins with their teams ideally quarterly or monthly to provide guidance, support, and feedback.

3. Focus On Employee Wellbeing

A supportive culture isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential! So, employee wellbeing should be a big priority for any business. Employees thrive in environments that prioritise mental health, reduce stress, and encourage work-life balance.

When your team feel valued and supported, they’re more engaged, motivated, and productive.

There are plenty of ways you can put the focus on team wellbeing. Some of the most popular methods are to offer a level of flexibility in your team’s work arrangements, utilise wellness programmes such as mindfulness sessions or fitness challenges, and create designated spaces for relaxation and fun in the office. Don’t forget to encourage regular breaks and ensure workloads are manageable.

4. The Power Of Diversity And Inclusion

A truly dynamic and resilient workplace environment embraces diversity and inclusion. Different perspectives spark innovation, enhance problem-solving, and strengthen team collaboration. When employees feel respected and valued for who they are, they bring their best selves to work.

Diversity comes in many forms – it might be generational where you can harness experience and youth, it might be gender, where you can gain different mindsets and perspectives, or it could be cultural where you benefit from multiple influences and backgrounds. Diversity can be a goldmine for your business development and innovation, but only if inclusion is celebrated.

Foster inclusivity by encouraging open communication channels, building an environment where everyone feels welcome, valued and heard, celebrating various cultural events where appropriate, and ensuring your recruitment practices encourage diverse talent.

5. Recruitment & Retention

High performers don’t just want to work for a paycheck. They want to work for a business and a workplace culture they believe in. A strong culture can help you attract top talent, reduce staff turnover, and create a true sense of belonging for your team members. People who feel connected to their workplace culture are more likely to stay and contribute meaningfully to the company’s success.

You can start displaying your culture from the very first interaction people have with your business. Highlight it during the recruitment process by providing a clear insight into your values, mission and team dynamics. But don’t just stop there – follow it up with an engaging onboarding experience that reinforces company values from day one.

6. Encourage Feedback and Collaboration

Great cultures are built on open communication. Your people need to feel heard, valued, and empowered to contribute ideas – some of the best ideas come from those on the ground! Creating a workplace where feedback flows freely is paramount. This communication should flow through all levels of the business so that even the most junior employees feel heard.

By involving each and every member of your team in open conversations, you will foster trust and encourage innovation.

Communication is a vast area of business. So, you want to make sure you cover all your bases. Some ways to do this would be to set up regular opportunities for feedback via meetings and catch-ups, anonymous employee engagement surveys, open-door policies, or even team brainstorming sessions.

You may even find it useful to draw on the power of technology and use collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, or Miro to encourage open communication and project transparency.

7. Commit To Continuous Improvement

Workplace culture isn’t a one-and-done project—it’s an ongoing journey. That’s why you need to commit to continuous tweaks and improvements. You can do this by regularly assessing, gathering feedback, and making adjustments to keep your culture strong and relevant. As your business evolves, your culture should too!

Conduct culture pulse checks by gathering insights from team members at different levels of your business to discover what’s working and what needs improvement. You can also use team meetings and discussions to ensure ongoing alignment with your company values and goals.

Invest In Your Workplace Environment

Investing in workplace culture is like perfecting a recipe—it takes time, effort, and the right ingredients. The good news? You don’t have to do it alone!

At Spice, we’re passionate about helping businesses create thriving workplace cultures with our Acentia-accredited workshops. These workshops are designed to give your workplace culture the perfect balance of personality and substance. Whether you need to refine your company’s vision, strengthen leadership skills, build high-performing teams, or enhance internal communication, we’ve got a workshop for you!

The interactive sessions provide practical strategies, real-world insights, and actionable steps to create a workplace culture that’s engaging, inclusive, and resilient. Think of them as the secret ingredient to making your business thrive!

Ready to create the ideal workplace environment? Give us a call today, and let’s start crafting the perfect blend for your business!

5 Ways To Start The Year With A Productive And Positive Mindset

That New Year feeling infects and motivates everyone…

The promise of a new beginning.

A refreshed outlook after a summer break.

And ready to smash out some goals.

If you can get your team to harness and channel all that positive energy now, they will be set up for a successful year ahead.

So, how do you help your team form a productive and positive mindset? We’ve got 5 ways right here…

1: Setting Clear And Achievable Goals

With all that New Year’s resolution energy floating around, now is the perfect time to encourage your employees to set both personal and professional goals for the year. If they can define clear and achievable objectives now, it will provide them with direction and purpose once the glow of the new year begins to fade. Setting the tone for a successful year early can help to boost team motivation during busy times.

The key to achieving a goal is not pushing yourself as much as humanly possible. The secret is actually setting a good goal in the first place. It needs to be just hard enough to challenge you, but not so hard that you can’t balance it with your existing responsibilities. We love using the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goal setting framework – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound, evaluate, and re-adjust – to ensure success!

2: Promote Professional Development

Often, goal setting and professional development go hand in hand. So, once your employees have set their S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals, it is helpful if they share them with their manager in case there are professional development opportunities that can help them achieve those goals.

Even if there is nothing goal-related for certain individuals, the new year can be a great time to learn new skills or refresh existing ones. As a proactive leader, it is important to explore any upcoming training opportunities that might benefit your team. You can look for physical workshops, encourage the use of online training, or even facilitate development sessions within your workplace.

By investing in the personal growth of each of your team members you add value to your business and encourage your employees to be the best they can be.

3: Reinforce A Positive Work Culture

The end of the year acts as a reset, as many employees will take time away on their summer holiday. That means you will need to ensure they are re-engaged when they return to the workplace in the new year.

The start of the year is the perfect time to recap your business values, mission and vision to ensure that your team members continue to work in alignment with them. It’s a great opportunity for leaders to communicate the company’s purpose and how each person’s role contributes to the bigger picture.

Fostering re-engagement of your positive workplace culture right from the first day of the year can keep your team motivated. That will help to build strong morale and a good level of productivity from the word go.

4: Encourage Healthy Work Habits

There is a reason that companies are always chasing the elusive work-life balance for their team members. When that balance is achieved, people are happier, healthier and more productive. Of course, this is great on both a personal and professional level for your employees and your operations.

The summer months are the perfect time to encourage your employees to find their balance and build healthy work habits. Promote the benefit of good practices like taking breaks, setting boundaries between work and home and prioritising wellbeing. This will help your team keep perspective and prevent things like burnout and excessive stress.

You may even want to introduce initiatives like wellness challenges or mindfulness sessions to get your team in the right frame of mind early on. This can help them to translate their refreshed and energised summer holiday feeling into the workplace.

If you would like some advice on how to set up wellbeing programs for your team, give us a call!

5: Celebrate The Wins

Positivity breeds more positivity, so celebrating wins of all sizes will boost team morale and keep everyone motivated. Making a commitment to recognise early accomplishments and incremental progress, no matter how small, will have amazing benefits for your team.

It creates a sense of achievement and reinforces a culture of continuous improvement. Celebrating wins helps maintain momentum and encourages your employees to stay engaged with their goals throughout the year. So, consider the ways you might be able to celebrate those wins. This can be privately or publicly with a weekly workplace-wide shoutout.

Incoming Positive Mindset!

By embracing these five strategies, you can set the tone for a productive, positive, and successful year ahead for your team. From clear goal setting to fostering a positive work culture and encouraging healthy habits, each step plays a vital role in helping your team stay motivated and engaged.

At Spice, we specialise in helping businesses implement these strategies effectively, tailoring our solutions to fit your unique culture. So, if you’re ready to start the year strong and ensure your team stays on track with a positive mindset, contact us now to discuss how we can support your journey to success this new year.

Before Christmas Closedown, Finish The Year The Right Way!

With another year about to come to a close, the attention of your team might be shifting away from the computer screens and towards the end of year celebration!

The promise of summer just around the corner always seems to lift the mood in the office.

So, it is the perfect time to capitalise on this feeling by celebrating together as a team.

Here are some tips for good Christmas Party etiquette and finishing the year the right way by recognising and thanking your team members.

A Successful Celebration

Christmas parties can be particularly notorious for “interesting” behaviour! Rather than considering it a blowout, your end of year celebration should be a great opportunity for everyone to relax, wind down and celebrate the achievements of the year.

Here’s how you can make it a successful celebration for everyone…

Inclusivity

A big part of making it fun for everyone is prioritising inclusivity. That starts with choosing a venue and activity program that all team members will feel comfortable with. Then, encourage respect for the diverse range of cultures, traditions and beliefs in your team. This will ensure everyone feels comfortable and welcome.

Professionalism

To create a positive, unified environment, it is important to let your employees know that they can have fun but need to maintain a level of professionalism. Remind your team to keep in mind that their behaviour reflects your reputation and brand, and that you expect them to represent the business accordingly.

Set Expectations of Conduct

Before any celebrations kick off, set clear expectations for behaviour, especially concerning alcohol consumption and interactions with other colleagues. Just like when you are highlighting the need for professionalism, it can be helpful to remind your team that the event is a social one, but is also a company-sponsored gathering, so appropriate conduct is expected.

More Than Just A Party!

Christmas parties should be so much more than just a festive gathering. They are a great opportunity to reflect on the year’s achievements and recognise and thank the team who made those achievements possible.

Beyond the decorations, party atmosphere and Christmas cheer, end of year celebrations can foster appreciation and unity – a great platform to recognise the work of your team and individual accomplishments.

By acknowledging hard work and personal milestones in a social setting, you can strengthen team relationships and morale, setting the scene for a positive vibe in the coming year. Your employees can finish this year feeling that their contributions to the company are valued and appreciated.

Here’s how you can make that happen:

Recognise Employee Achievements

When you are already in celebration mode, it is the perfect time to celebrate the team’s hard work and successes from the year that has just been. Showing appreciation can boost the overall morale and motivation of your entire team.

It doesn’t have to be a big thing either. Small gestures of appreciation like a handwritten thank you note, gift card or even an award can all be powerful ways to show thanks. Giving these tokens shows that leadership values each team member, reinforcing a positive morale that can extend far beyond the holiday season.

Focus On Gratitude

Gratitude is pretty amazing. It doesn’t have to cost anything, but the returns are immense! Something as simple as a “thank you” can have such a positive impact. Taking the time to recognise and thank your employees for their contributions is a powerful way to end the year.

You can do this publicly or privately, and even encourage your team to thank each other. This builds a supportive work environment where everyone can feel comfortable and valued. When you have this kind of environment, people will want to come to work each day and get greater satisfaction. We don’t have to tell you that this has the added bonus of reducing absenteeism and fostering loyalty in your team.

End Of Year Feels

While it is really nice to do all these things at the end of year celebration, they should not be cursory gestures reserved for one afternoon or evening. These important ideas should be infused throughout your workplace culture as a whole.

Genuine recognition and regular acknowledgment of your team’s efforts will create a culture of respect and motivation that lasts all year round. By maintaining small, consistent acts of gratitude, like a simple thank you, team shout-outs, or a structured reward program, you can have a positive impact on morale and engagement.

Weave appreciation into the fabric of your team’s everyday work life to foster stronger relationships and connections, boost productivity, and create a workplace where they feel valued and inspired all year round.

Building A Positive Culture

Surely if everyone is happy, a positive team culture will build itself, right? Not necessarily! A long-lasting culture of respect and appreciation will take some work. Partnering with a people-focused support team (like the Spice Gals!) can transform your workplace from ‘nice to work in’ to a place where gratitude, appreciation and positive vibes are embedded into everyday operations.

As experienced people partners, we specialise in creating tailored strategies that prioritise the wellbeing of your team, along with fostering engagement and development. From implementing effective strategies for recognition to encouraging open communication, we can guide you on your quest to nurture a strong and productive team.

Chat with us today, if you’d like to know more.

Wishing you all a wonderful and safe festive season – with parties that go off without a hitch and employees that behave!

Making Your Workplace A Community That Values Mental Health And Wellbeing

In the wake of last month’s Mental Health Awareness Week, it’s timely to turn your attention to the thing at the core of good mental health… wellbeing and wellness.

Are they a priority at your workplace?

If not, now is the time to change that!

Creating an environment that promotes good mental health and wellbeing not only benefits your individual team members but can also enhance the overall performance of your business.

So, let’s explore how you can create that environment now.

What Is Wellbeing?

According to the Mental Health Foundation website, ‘Wellbeing means we have the tools, support and environments we need to be who we are and to build and sustain lives worth living.’ And we couldn’t agree more!

Good wellbeing is all about creating an Aotearoa where we feel good and do well most of the time. It’s not about eliminating tough times, mental illness or distress – these will inevitably still occur. But it is about ensuring we are equipped with the tools, support and environment we need to work through any difficulties we encounter.

While a lot of that is down to the individual involved, a person’s workplace also has a huge role to play in achieving excellent wellbeing. So, let’s explore what that means in greater detail.

Supporting Good Mental Health

Before you can even begin to support mental health in your business, the people in key influencing roles need to understand what mental health actually is. There can be a perception that when we talk about mental health, we are actually talking about mental illness.

That is not what the focus should be at all.

Just like physical health, mental health is something we all have and need to look after. After all, there is no health without mental health! When our mental health is good, it translates to better physical health, greater resilience and the ability to feel happy, confident and secure.

Everyone can enjoy good mental health and wellbeing, regardless of what they have going on in their life. A big contributor to that will be a supportive and positive working environment.

Your Workplace Is A Community

A workplace is more than just a space where employees go to carry out their duties and meet deadlines. While work obviously goes on in a workplace (duh!), it should also be a space that ensures individuals feel supported, valued and connected.

It should be a community.

Communities are all about connection. That strong feeling of belonging, support and a shared purpose creates a sense of togetherness. When your team feel like they are part of a community, they experience all the elements that encourage good wellbeing. They are also more likely to experience job satisfaction and loyalty, along with greater productivity.

Building a workplace community is not just about good remuneration or creating a great office vibe. It’s also about creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels respected and heard, meaning that they are always able to contribute their best.

So, how can you build this community of wellbeing?

Build A Community Of Care

Community focused workplaces don’t happen by accident. Everyone from leadership to the most junior employee should consistently foster an environment where wellbeing is prioritised and mental health holds the same importance as physical health.

These are just some of the ways you can build a community at your workplace:

People At The Heart: When you are focused on your people, they know they are a valued asset to the business. Create regular opportunities for team interaction and connection so you are constantly building the bonds between your employees. While some scheduled team building events are helpful, you can also foster this connection through informal team catch-ups and morning teas, a walking lunch or a shared project. These moments are continual opportunities to feel connected and appreciated.
Wellbeing Initiatives: Initiatives that support wellness can be a big hit with employees and do double time on the wellbeing front by encouraging good mental health. These could be anything from wellness challenges to healthy office snacking or even mindfulness sessions and wellbeing benefits. The simple act of integrating wellbeing into a daily workplace routine reinforces the message that good health matters to your business.
Empathy and Leadership: One size certainly does not fit all when it comes to mental health. Your managers and leaders should lead with empathy, recognising that each team member will experience unique challenges. By offering support, showing understanding and maintaining regular communication, you can build trust, psychological safety and a positive work culture amongst your team.
Check Ins: You won’t know unless you ask! So, maintain regular check ins for your team, both at an individual level and as a collective. That way, you can always have a gauge of how your employees are feeling. Depending on the employee and their specific situation, check-ins can be formal one-on-one meetings or a casual chat – the objective is simply to identify any issues early and maintain a strong connection.

Valuing Wellbeing and Mental Health

A big part of building your community of care will be valuing wellbeing and mental health. Not only does it mean fostering the positive space we just discussed, but it also involves recognising everything can’t be sunshine and rainbows all the time!

Stress and anxiety are ever-present threats to your team’s mental health. That’s why it is more important than ever to take proactive steps to prioritise wellbeing.

Here are some ways you can do that:

Open Communication: When mental health is openly discussed in the workplace it helps to remove any associated stigma. Your team should feel comfortable speaking about wellbeing without fear of judgment. Management should take the lead in creating safe spaces for open conversations and getting some of your team trained in mental health first aid will also really help.
Provide External Support: Support within the workplace is essential, but sometimes people will feel more comfortable speaking with an experienced professional. Offering an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or mental health workshops will give your employees access to strong support and demonstrate that their wellbeing is a priority. Here at Spice HR we are loving a new NZ start up’s approach to holistic wellbeing support for employees. Reach out if you’d like to find out more!
Encourage Work/Life Balance: A healthy work/life balance is essential for maintaining good mental health. So, encourage your team to create a balance that works for them. It could be flexible work hours or conditions, taking designated mental health days, or fully disconnecting outside of work hours.
True Inclusivity: Inclusivity is not just a buzzword, it is vital for wellbeing. A truly inclusive workplace will embrace diversity and ensure everyone feels valued regardless of their background, culture or personal circumstances. When people feel included, they are less likely to experience feelings of stress and isolation, preserving their wellbeing.

Prevention Is The Key

Is your workplace more than just a place of employment? Are your people active members in a community that helps them to thrive?

If not, now is the time to do something about it! When it comes to mental health concerns, you don’t want to be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff! While mental health support is important, prevention of stress and burnout is the better avenue.

So, if you can work to build a great community, you’ll be taking proactive steps towards prevention and creating a great space for your team to work within.

If you are feeling stuck on how to ensure wellbeing is a big focus for your business, there are some great tools that can help make it happen. Firstly, it can be super beneficial to speak to an HR wellbeing expert. And you’re in luck, we Spice Gals are the experts you are looking for!

Backed with plenty of experience in this field, we can craft wellness solutions that make wellbeing a true priority. We can even help you implement a fantastic wellness platform that empowers your team to look after themselves in the ways that suit them best.

What are you waiting for? Make wellness a priority and contact the Spice gals now!

Introducing Safety Spice – The Ultimate Health And Safety Resource

Let’s talk Health and Safety.

Wait, stop! You don’t have to hide under the desk, we see you and it is ‘safe’ to come out!

Health and Safety doesn’t have to be a drag or an onerous task that you hide from.

You know it’s a vital component of your business and Safety Spice is here to make it easy for you!

So, let’s get started.

Health and Safety Legalities

All New Zealand businesses should have a Health and Safety system in place. And that system can be as straightforward as it sounds – it’s literally a plan that details how you intend to keep your team, your premises and any visitors safe at all times of the day and night.

While that all sounds straightforward, if you’ve been involved in Health and Safety in any respect, making sure you have the right things covered off and implemented can feel somewhat more complicated! Especially as the need to prove you have a comprehensive Health and Safety system in place is becoming more and more prevalent.

So, what can you do to make this process easier?

Enter our newest addition … Safety Spice! Specialising in all things Health and Safety, this Spice Gal is ready to help you protect your people and your business.

Your Health and Safety Plan

If you don’t have a H&S plan in place for your business, now is the time to remedy that. Many businesses put this task off as they don’t necessarily understand what should be included and how they should go about putting it together. That’s why it can be really helpful to work with a H&S expert (like Safety Spice) as they can guide you through the process.

When it comes to Health and Safety, there are 3 key areas to consider:

1: Hazards

Every workplace will have some form of hazards present, even if you just have a simple desk and chair home office setup. So, the first part of any H&S work is identifying what these potential hazards could be, investigating how you can raise awareness of what they are and what you can do to minimise the risk to your people.

Once you have established what those hazards are, you can then move onto documenting them and putting controls in place to manage the risk elements. This information then needs to be shared with your team so that they can be aware of potential dangers and the practices they need to follow to carry out their role safely in the workplace.

But you still aren’t done yet! Identifying, documenting and sharing the hazards is only the initial phase. From there, you will need to regularly review your hazards and note any changes. You’ll also need to assess if your controls are correctly minimising risk and if there is anything further you can be doing to create an even safer space.

2: Incidents

From time to time, you will experience incidents in the workplace. It is important to document them all so that you have a record to refer back to. It is hard to remember each little thing when only using the power of your memory, so documenting is vital.

Documentation also allows you to see if there are repeated incidents in the same space, role or task and what the severity is. This can help you to identify trends, particular hazards or declining safety measures.

Be thorough when documenting each incident. Indicate what happened, who was involved and where it took place. Consider the severity of the incident and note whether it was a near miss, First Aid incident (FAI), Missed Time Incident (MTI), Lost Time Incident (LTI) or Serious Harm incident (which you need to report to WorkSafe).

Use the documented incidents to conduct reviews of your safety protocols and assess whether modifications or additional measures need to be introduced. And don’t forget to communicate this information to the relevant team members for awareness and to enact change where necessary.

3: Staff Involvement

Health and Safety is incredibly valuable for your business, but only if you have good staff involvement. After all, what is the point of having documented safety measures if no one knows what they are and how to follow them? Staff involvement is key!

The very first step comes during the onboarding phase and it involves inducting new team members into your H&S system. But it isn’t just new team members who need this knowledge. Everyone on the team needs to be aware of the wider safety protocols in place and which areas impact their role specifically. They need to understand their obligations and what (if any) documentation they are required to keep.

Regular training and refreshers are essential to ensure everyone remains up to date. It can be helpful to hold a monthly meeting to raise concerns, note incidents and provide a forum for idea sharing and solutions. And it’s important to remember that the feedback you get from those ‘at the coalface’ can give invaluable insight into what’s really happening.

K.I.S.S

Keep It Simple Spiceys!

While vitally important, Health and Safety does not have to be overly complex. If you focus on the three key areas we just listed, you will build yourself a great foundation for a safe workplace.

Keep your team involved in the process with clear communication and be open to the ideas they present. Ensure that you have everything documented in a central place so that everyone knows where to access the relevant information when they need it.

Make sure your management team leads from the front by adopting good safety practices themselves as this will help it to flow down to all levels of the business. Normalise safety so that it just becomes part of what everyone does each day – it shouldn’t be a box to tick or some chore to perform.

The “What If” Test

So, how safety conscious is your workplace currently? One of the best Health & Safety indicators is to perform the “What If” test. It’s super simple to do, you simply ask yourself – what if the worst happens?

What if we had an incident, an accident, or we weren’t properly prepared – where would it leave me, my business, my workers, or my customers?

What if we have a framework already, but aren’t using it effectively, and have no records and documentation to back it up – where would it leave me, my business, my workers, or my customers if a WorkSafe audit or a serious harm incident were to happen?

If the answers to these questions start to scare you, then it’s time to chat to Safety Spice!

Health and Safety doesn’t have to be difficult when you have the right support and guidance. And that is exactly what Safety Spice (and the rest of the Spice Gals) will provide for you.

We understand how important it is to protect the safety and wellbeing of your team so we will help you meet not only your legal obligations, but also to fulfill the genuine care you have for your people. Get in touch with us today and take your first step towards sorting that Health and Safety!

Is Your Business Equipped With Change Readiness?

Change.

In the current business climate, it seems to be the only constant for organisations.

So, when you don’t know what to expect in an ever-changing world, how can you manage your people and your business successfully?

The secret is not to manage the change.

Rather, your organisation should focus on increasing its change readiness to better navigate uncertain circumstances.

We’ve assembled our best tips for how you can do that. So, let’s explore the concept of change readiness in greater detail now.

What Is Change Readiness?

Change can be a nerve-wracking thing. Whether it is planned or forced upon you, it has the capacity to unsettle even the most stoic team members. That’s why change readiness is a powerful tool. It refers to your organisation’s ability to effectively anticipate, plan for and respond to change.

Change can encompass many areas. It can be as large as global or nationwide change, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, or smaller scale change within your business, like operations, strategies, technologies or structures.

Common areas of change that can trigger the need for change readiness include leadership capabilities, team culture, staff rotation, and external forces like market trends, regulation changes or technology advancements.

Being ready to navigate change is a skill that every organisation needs to develop as change is the only constant in business!

What Does Being Change Ready Mean?

Is your business change ready? Do you possess the necessary capabilities to adapt to both internal and external change? Being change ready entails several key elements and they are:

Understanding Change

Humans can be creatures of habit which means that any kind of change can be hard. As a business, it is vital that you understand this and how any change might impact your team culture, morale, productivity and behaviour. Having this knowledge can help you to make appropriate decisions that empower leadership and team members to embrace and navigate change effectively.

Leadership

Like everything, the ability to react to change needs to come from the top. Your leadership team should demonstrate a clear vision for handling specific changes, provide effective communication to the entire business, and be committed to guiding the organisation through change. They also help to drive a culture that fosters resilience, innovation, and continuous learning.

Agility

Change can sometimes be fast paced, so it is important that your business and team can be agile in your approach. Yes, that means being adaptive, but it creates a real forum for innovation too. When you empower your team members to contribute ideas and adapt to evolving circumstances, you encourage readiness and evolution – two key components in handling change.

Flexibility

Successful change and flexibility go hand in hand. If your business is stuck in its ways, you can’t possibly react to change in a positive manner. If you can design your structures, systems and processes to be somewhat flexible, then it will be easier to be responsive to change. Key areas for flexibility include team and project management, decision-making processes, and organisational structures.

Engagement

When your team members are actively engaged with your business, values, and the results you are trying to generate then they will feel empowered to contribute positively. They will also feel more comfortable with change, knowing that they will have the support, training and resources to navigate whatever is thrown at them. Change may even become a good thing if they have the opportunity to develop new skills and competencies.

Resilience

Resilience is all about having the ability to absorb stress and thrive in unexpected situations. Preparing you for absolutely anything, resilience can help your business to anticipate, identify and mitigate possible challenges while also positioning you to capitalise on opportunities as they arise. Instead of seeing challenges when change occurs, resilience helps you to see the potential for learning and growth.

Awareness

It can be easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day aspects of business. This can be dangerous as it doesn’t prepare you for the potential of change. Having an element of awareness allows you to look beyond those daily tasks and see the bigger picture. This can help you to see potential change before it becomes an issue. It can also help you identify opportunities for growth or collaboration.

How To Create Change Readiness

Ready to be ready for change? If so, the following steps will help:

1: Assess Where You Are At

Knowing what your organisation needs and how you can navigate specific changes will depend on the current state of your business. So, the first step is understanding where your business is right now. That way you can have clarity about what you really need. Examine your culture, processes, structures, capabilities and readiness for change. This will give you a clear starting point.

2: Know Your Mission

When you are clear on your mission and company values, you can make sure you are acting in line with them when change does occur. Aligning with your mission will allow you to develop a clear vision for change and be able to communicate it effectively to your team.

3: Develop Your Leadership

As we just mentioned, your leadership teams should be leading from the front and understanding the impact change can have on the business and the individuals within it. Invest in programmes to develop your leaders so that they are equipped with the skills, knowledge and behaviours they need to positively drive any change that might arise.

4: Cement Your Team Culture

Having a great culture and team morale will help your team feel supported while they navigate change. This can be fostered through developing a culture that encourages collaboration, innovation and open communication. Create opportunities for your team to share ideas and learn from each other’s perspectives so these concepts are not foreign when change arises.

5: Promote Flexibility

Foster a mindset of flexibility and adaptability among your team by encouraging them to embrace change as an opportunity for growth and learning. Create a supportive environment where employees feel empowered to innovate and learn from any mistakes. In return, let your team know where they can access support and resources to allow them to continue succeeding in their role throughout periods of change.

6: Consult The Experts

Sometimes it can be hard to know what areas you need to focus on when developing change readiness procedures. For times like these, you can call the Spice Gals! As professional HR experts, we understand the impact change can have on a business and the individuals within it. That’s why we want to help you develop effective change readiness. Get in touch with us now to discuss how we can help you prepare for inevitable change.

Understanding The Compliance And Ethics Involved With AI

Let’s talk AI.

One of the most impactful business innovations of the last few years, you are probably already enjoying some of its power in your workplace.

But, like Uncle Ben said to Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility!

Yep, it is your responsibility to ensure your business is utilising AI without breaking any rules, laws or regulations.

It’s time to consider whether you are using AI ethically and in compliance with privacy legislation.

Let’s look into these key aspects to see if you are playing by the rules.

What Is Considered AI?

What exactly is considered to be AI? In the workplace, artificial intelligence (AI) is the use of computer systems or software that perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Because they are designed to mimic human behaviour and automate processes for efficiency, they improve accuracy and overall business performance.

These are some common examples of the kind of AI found in a standard workplace:

Chatbots or AI-powered Assistants: The components that handle routine customer or internal queries and admin tasks.
Automation: Software solutions that handle mundane or repetitive tasks like data entry, calendar management, triggered communication and more.
Machine Learning: Software that focuses on the use and analysis of data, along with algorithms to learn in the same way a human would, to improve its accuracy over time. Examples of machine learning can be as simple as product recommendations based on previous purchases, or as complex as talent acquisition and employee retention software.
Data Analysis: By using certain algorithms, AI can analyse large amounts of data quickly and accurately to identify patterns and trends that can be used for business improvement.
Predictions: The analysis of historical data can help to form predictions or forecasts for the future, allowing for insight into staff turnover, financial performance, or inventory management.

Your Responsibilities

By utilising AI in your business, it is your responsibility to ensure it is being used both ethically and legally. That means paying attention to these areas in particular:

Privacy

New Zealand has very strong privacy laws under the Privacy Act 2020. Among other things, the Act regulates how you collect, use and handle personal information. This applies to the data belonging to every individual who interacts with your business, including employees, team members, contractors, suppliers, clients, guests and inquiries.

The Privacy Act states that you need to gain consent from the people whose data you are using and only use the data for the purpose that it was collected. You also need to protect that data. So, you need to ensure that any AI tools comply with these principles.

Be mindful that simply uploading people’s private information into an AI data system may breach privacy laws. Before doing anything, check the security and privacy parameters for each individual AI tool to confirm it complies with NZ privacy standards. You might have to gain consent to use any personal data within AI technology systems.

Intellectual Property

One of the major things individuals use AI for in the workplace is content creation. Emails, marketing posts, images – all these things can be created by AI. But is it ethical to do so?

By the nature of what AI is, it draws information from many sources on the internet to form your content. That means, it harvests thoughts and ideas, even direct quotes, from content that has already been written and published. What takes seconds to pull together with AI took the original authors hours to craft. You are benefiting from their hard work before you.

Not only is this ethically questionable, it also puts you in danger of potentially breaching copyright. While New Zealand does not yet have specific laws relating to content created by AI tools, it’s important to recognise how the content is formed. Rather than copying and pasting the content that is generated by a tool like ChatGPT, it is best to use it for idea generation or a content starting point.

Business Assets

Speaking of intellectual property, it is vital that you take steps to protect your business’ own intellectual property when using AI. As many AI software solutions are new to the market, we don’t fully understand how they process the data that is input or who can access that information in the future. That’s why you and your team should be cautious about what you load into AI programs.

It’s best to avoid inputting extremely sensitive business information. Translation: don’t put your trade secrets into AI as you don’t know where they might end up! After all, we highly doubt the Colonel is going to be loading his secret ingredient blend of 11 herbs and spices into ChatGPT! That info is just too precious to risk getting into the public space.

Using AI Responsibly

How can you ensure you are using AI responsibly in your business? These are some of the ways:

Policies

Rather than blindly using AI in your business, you need to form policies around what tools you will utilise and how they will be used. Think consciously about which ones you intend to use and how they will impact the data you have an obligation to protect. Are there any risks that need mitigating or could a non-AI tool be used instead?

Then, choose tools that do not jeopardise privacy laws and be transparent about their use by documenting everything in an AI-specific policy. Once the policies are in place, the job is not done. Technology evolution always moves at a lightning fast pace, so you need to instigate human reviews regularly to ensure your AI tools are not retaining or disclosing data incorrectly.

Team Training

Your policies are only going to be effective if your people understand them! So, you will need to arrange training for your team members to ensure they are aware of their obligations when using AI tools. They need to be able to use the tools effectively and responsibly and understand their limitations.

Training should be practical, showing your people how to physically use the tool, such as inputting data and examining the results generated, along with the AI-generated decisions. But training should also delve deeper, highlighting that AI should still respect an individual’s privacy rights, their intellectual property and that it should avoid discrimination and harm.

If they feel that AI is creating any negative impact within your business, encourage your people to speak out so that it can be remedied.

Help And Support

In the greater scheme of business, AI is a relatively new technology that we are all learning to navigate. If you have concerns about the potential impact on your business, now is the time to take action. Reach out to our team if you would like assistance in forming the policies and training program surrounding AI in your workplace.

Extended DISC®: The Secret To A Better Workplace Environment

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have insight into who your team members really are?

To understand their behaviours and how you can make them gel as a harmonious team.

Well good news, Extended DISC® can provide you with this information and more.

A form of psychometric testing carried out through a simple self-survey process, you can learn everything you need to create a fantastic working environment as well as establish how new candidates might fit into that dynamic.

Nope, it’s not witchcraft. Such a tool does exist!

Read on to find out more about it.

Extended DISC®: The Secret To A Better Workplace Environment

What Is Extended DISC®?

Extended DISC® personality assessments can help you maximise the performance of your business by giving you a greater understanding of the personalities within your team and how they might work together. Sounds pretty fancy, right?

As Extended DISC® practitioners, we can help you delve into who your people are and how they approach their work. Using a short self-assessment tool, current or potential employees answer a number of questions. The answers to those questions will reveal helpful insight into their unconscious behaviours and the adjusted conscious traits they have in the workplace.

Knowing more about your team’s personalities can help you manage them better and maximise the key skills they possess. DISC profiling can also be helpful as a recruitment tool to give an indication of how someone might fit into your existing team dynamic.

What Does DISC Mean?

DISC is an acronym created by the four primary personality types that the psychometric testing reveals. It stands for:

D – Dominance

When individuals present with the Dominance characteristic, it means that they show assertiveness, competitiveness, and are direct in their communication and decision making. Many D type personalities are results oriented and like to be the ones in charge.

I – Influence

If Influence is the main characteristic of someone’s personality, then they are people oriented, sociable, enthusiastic and persuasive. They love to make social connections in the workplace and often relish collaborative opportunities where they can work with others.

S – Steadiness

Having Steadiness produces individuals who are patient and dependable, preferring stability in their working lives. They tend to be very loyal and trustworthy team players who can listen well and work autonomously. They have a good balance between being task oriented and people oriented.

C – Compliance

If Compliance is the main trait, then people tend to be analytical, logical, and conscientious. That means they like structure and rules! But they are also excellent problem solvers, able to think deeply about challenges and issues that arise.

While most people will have a dominant trait, they will also have signs of the other traits in their working behaviour too. That’s why DISC reports can be so insightful.

Where Can Extended DISC® help?

The Extended DISC® process is really helpful in two main areas of your business:

Recruitment

One of the biggest challenges of recruitment is establishing whether a candidate is going to be a good fit for your existing team. They might have the right skills and experience on paper, but paper doesn’t tell you about their personality. Well, unless that piece of paper is a printout of a DISC report!

By understanding the behaviours of candidates or internal applicants, you can ensure they are placed in the right roles within your company. Set them up to succeed in the role and you will enjoy greater staff retention and better productivity from your whole team.

Ongoing Business

When you understand your team better, you can achieve more. Communication, conflict resolution, development, and workplace culture can all be improved with greater insight into your team’s behaviours. You can even enhance sales and customer service strategies by adapting them to appropriately fit the behaviours of your sales and service teams.

The Benefits Of Using DISC

Better Recruitment

Truly establish who is the best fit for the role by having the Spice Gals link your Job Description to an Extended DISC® Recruitment Report. This can help you to shortlist the right candidates by measuring the values and competencies that are non-negotiable for your business during the recruitment phase.

Couple that with other assessments like skill and cognitive ability testing, along with matching their job-relevant competencies based on their personality traits, and you will position yourself to find the ideal candidate every time.

Better Team Culture

When everyone understands each other better, it helps to create a positive team culture. People feel more valued, so become more invested in their roles and in creating good outcomes for the business. This positivity reduces conflict and creates a better working environment. And when people are happy in their work, they are more productive and give a consistently better performance.

All of this adds up to increased staff retention, better engagement from individuals, and an overall positive team culture.

Better Development

Ongoing development is essential for good business performance. DISC can help you identify the areas of development that are going to be most beneficial for your individual team members.

Not only can you help your team develop better communication and increase their skill and knowledge base with ongoing learning, coaching and leadership development, but you can also boost team dynamics.

Finally, you can be consciously aware of the common stress triggers for each of your team, allowing better leadership development and people management.

Time To Be Better?

Extended DISC® can help your business be better in so many ways. And if you’d like access to this amazing tool, we can bring it to you.

As Extended DISC® Accredited Practitioners, we can use the Extended DISC® system to help with recruitment, personal growth, team building and leadership at your workplace.

We have a number of different DISC reports that can give you the insight we’ve just discussed. So, we’d love to get to know you and your business better so that we can recommend the best option for your organisation.

Chat with the Spice Gals today.

How To Make Sure Your Policies and Procedures Are Followed

Policies and procedures! Yep, we know they are two of the most boring words in business.

But, if you don’t get them right, it can cause a few headaches you won’t want to deal with.

So, let’s look at these super exciting documents in a little more detail.

Which policies and procedures does your business need, how can you make sure they are followed by your team, and what can you do if they aren’t?

How To Make Sure Your Policies and Procedures Are Followed

What Are Business Policies and Procedures?

Policies and procedures are essential components of your business operations. They provide a framework and guidelines for employees to follow while carrying out their duties. Your workplace’s specific policies and procedures ensure consistency, compliance with laws and regulations, and efficient business operations.

While the specifics and tone of your policies and procedures may vary depending on the nature of the business, here are the policies we feel every business should have:

Code of Conduct

A business code of conduct is a set of guidelines and principles that outline the expected behaviour and “conduct” for individuals working within an organisation. It helps to serve as a moral compass and establishes a framework for ethical decision-making and responsible business practices. It promotes integrity, transparency and compliance throughout all levels of the business.

Disciplinary Policy and Procedure

A disciplinary policy outlines the guidelines and procedures of how an organisation handles disciplinary matters like employee misconduct or performance issues. It provides a structured framework for addressing violations of company policies, rules, or standards of behaviour and defines the consequences that may result from any misconduct.

The reason it is documented into a policy ensures consistency and fair treatment of employees while maintaining a productive and respectful work environment.

Health and Safety Policy

Your Health and Safety policy outlines your organisation’s commitment to providing employees, visitors, and customers with a safe and healthy work environment. It includes procedures for identifying and managing hazards, reporting incidents, and implementing safety measures.

Drug and Alcohol Policy

A Drug and Alcohol policy is exactly as it sounds. A set of guidelines that demonstrate how to deal with issues related to drug and alcohol use in the workplace. It is meant to ensure a safe, healthy, and productive work environment for all while mitigating the risks associated with using these substances. It sets out the company’s stance on drugs and alcohol, names prohibited substances, explains testing and screening, and specifies consequences and disciplinary action.

Vehicle Policy

Your company vehicle policy sets out the rules for vehicles owned or provided by the company for business purposes. It should include the expectations, responsibilities, and procedures that relate to the use, maintenance, and safety of the company vehicles.

Why You Need These Policies and Procedures

The various policies and procedures we just mentioned are what you can use to put your company rules and expectations into practice. Here are just a few of the ways these documents and processes can help you do that:

Set clear expectations for your employees
Identify and manage risks within your organisation
Allow for easier management decisions
Reduced risk of misunderstandings when it comes to employment conditions
Become a reference point for legislation and other compliance matters
Maintain consistency throughout all company branches and locations
Support good training and onboarding
Act as a backup for your employment agreements
Aid with crisis management and business continuity

Creating and Maintaining Your Policies and Procedures

If you don’t have any of the ‘must have’ policies that we mentioned in the above list, then now is the time to create them. You can get assistance with this from trained HR professionals, like the team here at Spice HR.

It’s also important to seek the input of your team when putting these policies together. Often, they are the ones on the ground, keeping the business running, so their thoughts and feedback will be invaluable for creating appropriate policies and procedures.

If you do already have these documents created, think about when the last time was that you updated them. If it’s been a while, then it might be time to review them. This will help to ensure that your policies and procedures remain relevant to your business. Look to review these on an annual basis and when there are any major changes within your organisation.

Communicating Your Expectations

It is all well and good to have these policies in place, but it is important that the information contained within them is communicated to your team.

Here are a few ways that you can do that:

Onboarding: When a new team member joins your organisation, ensure that instruction on the relevant policies and procedures is given during the onboarding process.
Easy access: Ensure your policies and procedures are stored in an area that is easily accessible by all your team. An intranet or cloud-based shared folder is ideal.
Share updates: When you conduct your annual policy review, make sure to share any changes with your team so that they are aware of any new expectations.
Provide training: Ongoing professional development will be one of your companies KPI’s. So, relate your training and education back to your policies and procedures where appropriate to ensure the information stays current and relevant.
Role modelling: Leading from the front is a technique that all your managers and leaders should be adopting, and this is no different from role modelling the good behaviours set out in your various policies and procedures.

What Happens If a Policy Is Breached?

Inevitably, there will be times when policies are breached by members of your staff. Whether it is intentional or accidental, it is important that any such breaches are dealt with efficiently.

Of course, the first step is to look at your Investigation and Disciplinary process. This will set out how to deal with the issue and who should be involved in the process. Depending on the severity of the issue, you may choose to include your HR team (or an HR expert like Spice HR) to make sure everything is handled correctly.

Whether the consequence is simply a conversation, performance management or disciplinary action, you want to ensure that you use timely and open communication and feedback throughout the process. Also, document everything so you know what has taken place. Then, if you need to seek advice, you can show your HR expert what has taken place.

Get Those Policies Put Together

How are the policies and procedures looking at your workplace? If they need some attention, now is the time to do it, as you don’t want to be caught short without the necessary processes in place.

And if you need support, help or guidance on how to put them all together, reach out to the Spice Gals today. We can make sure you have all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed when it comes to your policies and procedures. Book a time to chat with us now.

When Automation Meets Human Leadership

It’s no secret that we are living in a world of developing technology.

And one of the biggest advancements in recent times is automation.

Incredibly helpful for streamlining processes and creating capabilities, automation is a useful tool that can aid with HR functions in your business.

However, it is important to remember that ‘Human’ is right there in the name when you are talking HR!

So, let’s explore what happens when Automation meets human leadership and how you can strike the right balance in your workplace.

When Automation Meets Human Leadership

What Is HR Automation?

HR automation refers to the use of technology and software to streamline and automate various Human Resource processes. This can include tasks such as record management, employee onboarding, performance management, payroll, and other administrative tasks.

There are a variety of HR automation tools available, with the most popular being an HR Information System (HRIS). These tools can help businesses save time and reduce errors by automating routine HR tasks, enabling employees to self-serve certain HR functions, and providing managers with better insights into employee performance and engagement.

Some of the benefits of HR automation include improved efficiency, increased accuracy, reduced administrative burdens, and better compliance with employment laws and regulations. Additionally, by automating certain processes, businesses can free up their HR team to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as employee development and engagement.

How To Use HR Automation

HRIS can help enhance engagement and productivity when it comes to the HR functions in your organisation. An HRIS can offer transparency and real-time data to allow for better feedback and reward and recognition.

Here are some of the benefits of using an HRIS in your business:

Easier onboarding

An HRIS can help to streamline your onboarding process as many of the manual tasks (like paperwork, orientation scheduling and sending welcome emails) can be automated. This can save your HR team time and creates an efficient process where nothing is missed. Onboarding progress can also be tracked, ensuring new team members are always fully onboarded and ready to start work.

By having a central platform that employees, managers and new hires can communicate through, it reduces confusion and ensures everyone is on the same page. Generally an HRIS also integrates with your other HR systems, such as payroll and recruitment platforms, so it makes it easy to have your new team member accurately set up in all the necessary systems and onboarded effectively.

Better training experiences

Even though automation is a big part of an HRIS, you are still able to personalise training programmes within the system, allowing managers to create tailored learning plans for individual team members based on their roles, skills and development needs. This is especially helpful as it means each training module is then relevant and useful to the individual employee, creating a more effective learning experience.

Having an HRIS that your team can log into means training material is easily accessible in one location, and everyone’s progress can be monitored.

Performance reviews

The automation capabilities of an HRIS can streamline your performance review process. Automate the tasks of scheduling review meetings, sending reminders to employees and managers, and collecting feedback from the right people to create an efficient, consistent and standardised review process.

Your system can also help you deep dive into performance data to identify high performing employees and areas of improvement. This helps with remuneration and creating plans for additional training and support where needed. Helpfully, this can also integrate with your payroll system too!

Having the review process standardised allows for timely feedback to be provided.

Staff engagement

You can use an HRIS platform for sharing employee appreciation and recognition. You can also track and monitor employee engagement outside formal review times via pulse surveys.

A wealth of data

Over time, an HRIS becomes a repository of HR documentation and employee history. It means you will always be able to lay your hands on specific HR detail when you need it.

It also allows for quick and easy reporting on HR data, creating the opportunity for analysis and prediction of trends that might influence your people strategy.

This data portal is not only of benefit to HR, it also has self-service elements to ensure leave requests and employee information remain up to date.

Keeps people connected

Workplaces have evolved in the last few years. While we used to all sit side by side in the office, things are quite different now. So, your HRIS can be used as an internal communication hub. This provides a seamless connection for all team members, whether they are in the office, working remotely, or a hybrid of the two.

Considering Human Leadership

Technology is clearly a massive part of our daily functions. But, we can’t rely solely on robots yet! There are simply some things that AI and automation systems cannot do. We still require strong human leadership to complement technological advancements.

Employees still want to be able to connect with their leaders on a human level. They don’t want leaders who are emotionally distant. They need connected, empathetic leaders who value investing in relationships with their team members.

Part of that is creating an environment of positive role models. It’s also about creating a great team vibe and leaders who provide personal and timely feedback on employee performance. Finally, today’s team members don’t simply want to work for managers, they want to collaborate on projects together and work for common business goals.

Leaders may need further training in soft skills to facilitate all of this. This will help them to develop trust and share accountability with their team. Remember that “Human Leadership” prioritises employee wellbeing and corporate culture. There is no longer a cookie-cutter approach to managing humans.

Balancing Humans And Automation

Creating the perfect working environment is about balance. You want to incorporate the benefits of automation that an HRIS offers, but ensure that your team is still backed by strong human leadership.

Need some help striking that balance?

Then the Spice Gals are here to help you do it. Have a chat with our team today!