Some more statistics of the research include the following: 86 percent of companies suffer from an inadequate leadership pipeline. 79 percent have retention and engagement troubles (i.e. high turnover rate). 75 percent have significant trouble attracting the employees they need. In other words, these problems stem from poor leadership, or at the very least, a poor leadership system. Why is this Happening?To put it simply, today?s workers want more out of their jobs. They don?t want a position where they sit around and do meaningless work for eight or more hours a day. They want their work to mean something to someone, somewhere. They want an experience. They, just like clients, are demanding and know what they want. If they can?t get it at one place, they leave and try somewhere else, hence the low retention rate. Overwhelming OddsPerhaps one of the prime reasons why there is a 26 percent turnover rate in the US workforce is that two-thirds of the 21st-century workforce feel as if they are overworked. That?s right – two out of three of your employees feel like they are doing too much for too little. To put it in economic terms, the costs outweigh the benefits, and they feel like they are sacrificing too much of their home life for their workplace. 40 percent of them work more than fifty hours a week, and the majority of them would like to work fewer hours. There are too many distractions at work that can hinder performance, and realistically, people can?t do as much without being weighed down by emails or conference calls. A lot of people find themselves working outside of work via their smartphones or other mobile devices. Not-so-Simple SolutionsThis is clearly a problem that needs to be addressed, lest companies lose a quarter of their employees annually simply due to boredom and poor leadership conditions. This shouldn?t happen, and there are ways to correct this imbalance of engagement. Some companies have well-established work practices that have been around for years, and aren?t so sure they want to make any drastic changes. Some might be concerned that if they give the leash some slack, the dog will run free. Their problem in this situation is that part of building a great business is using trust as a foundation. If everyone gets along and trusts each other, relationships will flourish and take the company to greater heights. Tips on How You Can Be an Engaging LeaderWhen it comes down to it, how engaged a worker is with their job is dependent upon their manager finding ways to motivate them. To that end, here are six tips from Forbes on what ?Wise Leaders Can Do to Engage Their Employees.? Stop unknowingly creating tension by expecting them to behave a certain way, rather than allowing them to be their authentic selves. Detect the most positive capabilities in people. Stop micromanaging and start empowering them to discover their full potential. Put employees in a position of influence and allow them to discover their own potential. Share your success to build their momentum. Be consistent and have their backs. We would add to this list the necessity of having working technology. Nothing causes an employee to disengage with their work quite like a painfully-slow workstation and unreliable network connection. Of course, reliable […]

For employers, what?s the best way to approach monitoring? There Should Be an Understanding of Company PolicyAs the business owner, you have complete legal authority to go through your employees? internal emails and instant messages. After all, you own the network. While acting on this right opens up a ton of insight into who might be wasting away their workday, it doesn?t necessarily mean that you should read every message that?s been written. If you do, you might find a couple of messages that will get you hot and bothered. Furthermore, if your employees are unaware that you?re reading their every message, they may find it unfair when you judge them based on opinions which they thought were expressed in private. If you foresee a future where you?ll need to dig through company messages, then it?s your responsibility to communicate to your employees that their messages are being monitored. This is best for everybody and will help keep the peace in the workplace. Objectivity is a NecessityFor example, one issue that you, as an employer, might encounter when investigating employee messages is the office trash-talker. For the purpose of ascertaining the extent of the damage done to the company culture, you may decide to go through their messages. In the worst case scenario, this rogue employee might have messaged everyone in the office (even your most loyal workers), spreading their negativity. When you review internal messages like this, it?s important to remember that there are two sides to every conversation. In the aforementioned scenario, a loyal worker might find themselves hesitant to respond to their fellow employee?s trash talking messages; yet, they might feel it rude to not respond at all. From your perspective, it?s important to identify when an employee is participating in an attack, versus when they?re responding with neutral language for the sake of being polite. Take for example this hypothetical IM conversation between two employees; a loyal employee (LE), and a disgruntled employee (DE). DE: I?m so sick of this policy, it?s unfair and the boss is a tyrant with a bad hairpiece!LE: There are some policies here that can be improved upon.DE: This isn?t the first time the boss has messed with me like this, he?s a jerk and I?m sick of everything.LE: The boss can be strict. After reading this exchange, the employer (who may be offended and biased prior to the investigation) is now in a difficult position. Without a proper understanding of context, it would be easy to come down on both employees for this conversation. However, a more careful and objective reading of this hypothetical conversation shows that LE didn?t say anything wrong; rather, LE responded to DE in a way which appeased his/her feelings while preventing the problem from spreading. This subtle peacekeeping strategy might be overlooked by an employer who?s on a witch hunt. Everyone Needs an OutletEveryone needs a monitor-free place where they can vent about their day-to-day frustrations. Venting can be therapeutic, and it?s important that workers dealing with stress have a way to express their thoughts and opinions without worrying about losing their jobs for being too vocal. Sound familiar? This used to be the role of the office water cooler; but now, since today?s society is comfortable expressing itself through digital mediums, people have no […]

This is what we call a turnkey solution. These types of solutions are prepared to be handled by any organization at any given moment. This means that they can be integrated almost immediately, with minimal preparation. In essence, they?re akin to ?off the shelf? products, but at the same time, they?re vastly different. One of the biggest benefits you receive from integrating a turnkey solution is that you know it?s been thoroughly tested and that it works right off the bat. At White Mountain IT Services, we?re all about providing our clients with turnkey business solutions that are designed to work right out of the box, so you can immediately concentrate on using it to help your organization get ahead of the competition. Here are some of the turnkey technology solutions we offer. Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR): With our BDR device, you get the best of data backup with the reliability you expect from a disaster recovery solution. We understand that you don?t have time to sit around when your business?s future is at stake, so we make it easy for you to get back in the game as quickly as possible following an infrastructure-destroying disaster. Your business?s data is backed up incrementally throughout the day to our secure data center, allowing you to proceed to restore it once you have the hardware capabilities of doing so. Furthermore, our BDR can act as your server if it fails to continue functioning properly, meaning you?ll experience minimal downtime. Unified Threat Management (UTM): Just like the BDR, a UTM solution offers several benefits in one convenient package. This is what we call the ultimate security solution for your business?s network. You receive firewall protection, antivirus, spam-blocking, and content-filtering solutions, all designed to limit your network?s exposure to potential threats. It?s a tried and true solution that can mitigate your business?s online risk factors, if implemented properly. It?s often used side-by-side with our remote monitoring and maintenance solution, which is capable of monitoring your network for suspicious activity, and deploying mission-critical patches to your software and operating systems, should they become outdated. Cloud Storage and Management Solutions: Cloud storage solutions are designed with the end user in mind, and can be customized to suit the needs of any business. Your employees can easily store and access information from any approved device, making working remotely easier than ever. These solutions can be implemented to augment your existing infrastructure, so they can easily be integrated into any network with ease. What it comes down to is getting quality solutions quickly and easily implemented into your corporate technology infrastructure. If you?re ready to start using turnkey solutions to your advantage, give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800. We have a variety of services that can help you jumpstart operations.