Business Education

A Growing Japanese Trend Should Give American Entrepreneurs Serious Thought About How They Run Their Businesses

Did you know employees in Japan are actually paying people to help them quit their jobs? Yep, it’s true. Japanese workers are hiring “retirement agents” or “quitting support services” to help them resign from their positions. And, this isn’t just a fad, either. In fact, it’s a growing phenomenon. Now, part of it is cultural. But, quite a few reasons are relatable to any company anywhere else in the world.

Unsurprisingly, these employees are resigning over very familiar qualms and grievances. These individuals are unhappy with several aspects of their workplaces and are taking action to step away and transition to other opportunities where they believe they’ll be far more content and earn just as much – if not more – than where they currently work.

5+ Effective Ways Business Owners Can Keep Their Employees Productive and Happy

This trend in Japan, where employees are hiring intermediaries to help them quit their jobs, reflects a deeper issue of workplace dissatisfaction, discomfort with direct confrontation, and burnout. This movement offers valuable lessons for American entrepreneurs to minimize turnover and retain key talent. Here are the key takeaways:

Improve workplace communication. A significant reason for employees seeking third parties to handle their resignation stems from poor communication channels with management. American entrepreneurs should foster an open, transparent, and empathetic communication culture where employees feel comfortable voicing concerns and ideas without fear of retaliation.

Enhance employee engagement. Employees who feel disengaged or disconnected from the company’s vision or their role are more likely to seek an exit. Entrepreneurs should ensure that employees are regularly recognized for their contributions, have opportunities for growth, and feel like valuable contributors to the business.

Create clear career development paths. Employees who feel stuck or uncertain about their future within a company are likely to look for opportunities elsewhere. Offering career development plans, regular feedback, and training can keep top talent engaged and committed to long-term growth within the organization.

Foster a positive work environment. Toxic workplaces push employees to leave, often silently or through messy, dramatic situations. American entrepreneurs should focus on building a positive, inclusive, and supportive company culture that prioritizes employee well-being, collaboration, and respect. A happy workforce is a loyal one.

Competitive compensation and benefits. Compensation isn’t just about salary—benefits, flexibility, and work-life balance matter too. Entrepreneurs should periodically review their compensation packages to ensure they align with market standards and meet employees’ evolving needs.

And here’s a bonus tip: offer access to mental health and wellness support. Burnout is one of the main drivers behind this trend. Providing mental health resources, promoting work-life balance, and offering wellness programs can reduce employee stress and make them feel more supported, potentially decreasing the desire to quit.

As you can see, this trend highlights the importance of addressing workplace dissatisfaction proactively. By focusing on communication, engagement, wellness, career growth, and a healthy work environment, American entrepreneurs can reduce turnover and keep their key talent from seeking alternatives.

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Successful People Over Come These Big Challenges

May 16, 2017 No Comments

You’ve heard the cliches about you being your own biggest obstacle and starting with the person in the mirror to change course. Although inspirational, these leave something to be desired, and, it’s an important element called action. It’s difficult to take on challenges, especially when it’s your own business. These will be a reality, but, it’s how we act and react that ultimately dictates the outcome. The reason successful people act, or, react in certain ways is because they accept one immutable truth — avoidance does nothing but make situations worse. Oddly enough, just acting without a true purpose or plan, usually delivers the same consequence, which is why Zig Ziglar said many times over, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Successful people not only act and react in a deliberate way, they do so with a goal in mind. Successful People Overcome these Big Challenges The trouble for some entrepreneurs is they let other things get in the way. Let’s be clear, we all have doubts, we all are susceptible to believing the worst, and to give into negative emotions. This is why there are no self-help manuals on how to fail. Failure is something we all do naturally, success is something that’s learned. It’s a combination of experience, judgment, and attitude. When you fail, you ought step into a Thomas Edison mindset, accepting the ultimate answer might be among many failures. Many small businesses are limited in growth by the number of hours they have in the day. They can’t scale their businesses without adding more people or automating existing processes. Automating sales and marketing processes allow small businesses to gain the efficiencies of their bigger counterparts. —The Business Journals Within these examples, we see perseverance, but, even the most resolute can be negatively impacted by various influences. All sorts of pressures can put an entrepreneur under a lot of stress and stress stretches thin clear thinking. It’s how you deal with these that determines if, as a business owner, you will succeed or will fail. In other words, successful entrepreneurs don’t let these challenges hold them back — not even the following: Money. This is perhaps one of the single largest challenges (read: myths) that plague the business world. While money does provide you with resources for options, that doesn’t mean said options are worthwhile. Just ask Facebook, a company valued at about $200 billion with more than a billion users worldwide. Just two years ago, in 2013, the company put a lot of resources (read: money) behind Facebook Home. It debuted with a two-year subscription price of $99. Just two months later, it drop precipitously to a mere $0.99, after consumers put-in their two-cents worth. Having to really think about spending money wisely means having to make informed decisions. Age. The number of years you’ve lived on this planet might be relatively few or relatively long, but, it doesn’t really matter. Notice the word “relatively.” Age is only a number and it doesn’t mean that you’re naive if you’re young or wise if you’re old. Your age doesn’t give people the authority or right, to tell you what you should and should not do. Self doubt. This is a primordial trait, and, one that’s designed to make us approach the unknown with caution. Our primitive ancestors simply didn’t know if something would be harmful or helpful until it was tried. Doubt is healthy because it forces us to take pause but it doesn’t have to be an insurmountable barrier. Use it to your advantage and don’t let it take control. Toxic people. Successful people don’t allow toxic people in their lives. What’s more, they quickly identify such bad personalities and stay clear. The reason some avoid what’s otherwise obvious, is the ability to rationalize certain relationships thinking that the good will outweigh the bad — it won’t. Another big challenge is one that’s very real and direct: the competition. You are nearly assured to see others succeeding in the same industry, even in the same niche. This can certainly be a discouragement, but, doesn’t have to be one. Instead, look at them as an inspiration, if he or she did it, then why can’t you do the same? While you might have different beginnings, talents, and resources, you can use what’s at your disposal to your advantage. Set small measurable goals, achieve each one, and built up success in an incremental, sincere fashion. Want to find out about what a business coach can do for you? [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]

Now is the Perfect Time to Plan for the Next Big Disruption

July 13, 2020 No Comments

Pandemics, natural disasters, and other unfortunate events might be a rarity, but they do happen. While it’s certainly possible we may not experience a major event in the near future, it’s irresponsible to ignore the possibility. After all, there’s an undeniable truth to the old adage, “Better safe than sorry.” Even if it is only a minor occurrence, being prepared is just plain smart. Fortune Favors the Prepared You’ve no doubt heard the expression, “Fortune favors the prepared.” The reason it’s been around so long, is because it’s proven true time and time again. When you have a plan in-place, you’re much less likely to panic. Stress and anxiety are very powerful emotions which can cause you to make rash decisions. And, everyone knows that making decisions in a rush often leads to worsening already bad situations. Today’s business landscape has several unique features, which will add new complexities on top of the historical playbook. This makes it important for business leaders to prepare for the specific circumstances of the next downturn, as well as exploiting the right lessons from the past. —Harvard Business Review So, knowing what you’re going to do in advance provides you with an immense advantage. You’ll be able to follow along a predetermined path. At the very least, you’ll have parameters in-place to help guide you, should your plan not be totally applicable. Planning for the Next Big Disruption We’ve already gone over some of these points before, but most, if not all, warrant repeating. When you prepare, it’s much easier to take decisive action, virtually eliminating the need to debate a course of action. Here are some helpful tips for how to plan for the next unplanned event: Ready your team for truly remote capabilities. When the impact of the novel coronavirus was foreboding and uncertain, precautionary steps were the only responsible thing to do. If you allowed your employees to work from home, they did so on the fly. And, since reopening, might have returned part- or full-time to the office. However, they probably did not have and still don’t have all the necessary resources to truly work remotely. Put those tools in place now and this will offer you a more seamless transition if needed in the future. Prepare your place of business. We previously discussed protecting a business from vandalism. Although this is unpleasant to think about, it is something that you should plan for. Having the right security and structural preparedness is a necessity to limit damage caused by vandalism. Additionally, you should have prevention and recovery tools in place for other events, like natural disasters, criminal activity, and other unfortunate events. Streamline your organization. Due to the global pandemic and subsequent shutdowns, many businesses furloughed or outright terminated employees. But, expenses remained, despite a marked decrease or near complete cutoff of earnings. While you may have made some temporary adjustments or even cut some expenses out altogether, now is an ideal time to re-examine your operations, pinpointing duplication, inflated expenses, and other unnecessary elements. The overall point being, even if you managed to pull through this last disruption, you may not be able to do so again. Now is an ideal time to plan ahead put in place measures so they are ready to go at a moment’s notice. What other suggestions do you have getting prepared? Please, take a moment to share your thoughts and experiences by commenting and benefiting others! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

Business Pros and Cons of Furloughing Employees

April 14, 2020 No Comments

Thinking about furloughing rather than laying off your employees? It’s an all-too-common conundrum right now, amidst the coronavirus pandemic shutdown. But, it’s something that a large majority of businesses must consider, given the present and quite uncertain circumstances. Read on to learn more about the upsides and downsides of furloughing your employees. Employee Furlough Disadvantages We’ll begin with the most problematic cons of furloughing team members. Doing so puts your company at-risk for permanently losing your top talent. Furloughs also undermine employee morale and may even damage it further, and if you have applied for the SBA Paycheck Protection Program, one of the conditions for the loan to be forgiven, is that you keep your employees on your payroll. An employee furlough is a mandatory suspension from work without pay. It can be as brief or as long as the employer wants. Furloughs can take place in both public and private institutions. An organization will furlough employees as a cost-saving measure when it doesn’t want to lay off staff but lacks the resources to continue paying them. —The Street.com Then, there’s the trouble of re-opening your business. Even after a short-term period, it takes a substantial amount of time to get things back up and running. Additionally, the cost savings might not be as significant as you might believe because it’s for a short time frame and not necessarily long enough to be worthwhile (though it can certainly prove helpful). Employee Furlough Advantages Since furloughs are happening in many industries right now, the temporary change can’t be all bad. There are advantages to furloughing employees, like the following: Avoids layoffs. The most obvious upside to going with furloughs instead of laying people off is that you avoid the latter. In other words, you aren’t terminating team members. Instead, you’re temporarily removing them from the business without pay. Reduces rehiring. Another benefit of furloughs is the fact that you won’t have to go through the trouble of rebuilding your workforce from scratch. Rather, you can just reassemble your team, either one-by-one or in small groups. Saves compensation costs. Of course, when you furlough employees, you don’t pay their wages or salaries. Since labor is most typically the largest business expense, this can really help your company financially. (Though, you may still opt to furnish them with benefits during their furlough period.) It allows you to better plan. Yet another benefit of furloughing instead of firing employees is that you can formulate a more workable plan during that time. The longer it goes on, the better grasp you’ll have of what to keep and what to jettison. To put it another way, you can use the opportunity to streamline things in order to make your business more productive and more profitable. What other business pros and cons of furloughs would include? Please comment and share your thoughts and experiences! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.