How To Keep Your IT Team Happy

How To Keep Your IT Team HappyHow To Keep Your IT Team HappyHow can IT managers keep employees engaged and prevent job turnover by ensuring their gruppes are happy at work? New research from Robert Half can help point the way.Lets start with a question Whats so important about ensuring that every employee on your IT team stays happy at work? Isnt it enough for employees to simply be good at what they do and make good on their deliverables for the company?A happy employee is a better employeeRobert Halfs happiness study found that a happy employee is in fact a better employee, and thus helps both you as a manager and your company as a whole. This welches found to be as true for professionals in the tech industry as for any other field or industry, regardless of location. The study reports what a growing body of research has also validated that when you have happier employees on the job, youll be working with people who are not only more engaged and more loyal, but also more creative a nd productive than employees who are less satisfied.After surveying more than 12,000 professionals in North America from a wide range of industries including technology, we were able to determine how IT stacks up in terms of workplace happiness.Looking at the study results, several areas stand out for IT managers when considering drivers of job satisfaction for their teams. Compared to professionals in other industries, more IT employees feel that they areRegularly learning new things at work (65% IT versus 54% industries overall)Satisfied with their work-life balance (73% IT versus 66% industries overall)Paid appropriately based on their efforts and achievements at work (66% IT versus 55% industries overall)Able to influence important decisions in their work (63% IT versus 51% industries overall)Get the chance to be creative in their job (58% IT versus 47% industries overall)Receive constructive feedback on their performance (58% IT versus 48% industries overall)Appreciated for the ir efforts at work (66% IT versus 58% industries overall)While IT professionals had higher percentages in each of the above areas compared with the overall study, there is still clearly room for improvement. For example, this data shows that more than one-third of IT talent surveyed is not regularly receiving new learning opportunities at their company, more than one-quarter are not satisfied with their work-life balance, and nearly half dont get the chance during work time to be creative.Learn more about the latest IT hiring trends download our Salary Guide.Here are some specific findings of the Robert Half study on the managerial benefits of having employees in your company who are happy at workMore resilience and loyalty. Happy employees have been found to roll with the punches and stay on the job for a longer time period. Lower turnover means that you as a manager retain the institutional knowledge of the employee, and youll also reduce the amount of time and resources needed fo r hiring and training.Higher quality of work. Happiness in the workplace has been shown to produce oben liegend performance at work for both individuals and teams. Since an employee who is feeling good on the job cares more about the work than those who are not, the former will put in more effort and as a result be more productive.Less employee illness and absenteeism. Put simply, a happy employee is just healthier than an unhappy one, both physically and mentally. As a manager, you benefit from having happy and healthy team members since they will miss less work due to sickness - and your company will benefit too.How IT managers can make their teams happierFollowing are some strategies you can use to help more of your employees feel better about their job and more satisfied at workEmpower your staff. While IT employees, as mentioned above, fare better than those in other industries as far as their ability to influence important decisions in their work, there are still more than on e-third of IT respondents (37 percent) who dont feel that they have enough influence in their company. To address behauptung employees, consider helping them gain strength in these areasBuilding confidence in their decisionsDeveloping critical skills to make more meaningful contributionsBeing more invested in their jobRegularly seeking employees feedback is another way of nurturing their personal commitment to the job. IT professionals want the satisfaction of knowing their ideas are heard and, when possible, acted on. Your goal as an IT manager should be to make yourself available for input and make sure team members know its OK to take smart risks by stretching their problem-solving muscles.Show appreciation for effort. Approximately one-third (34 percent) of IT employees surveyed indicated they dont feel appreciated for their contributions at work. This is an opportunity to increase workplace happiness staring you right in the face. As an IT manager, you can improve this percenta ge by showing your staff that you sincerely appreciate their dedication. This can often be as simple as just recognizing their progress by saying thank you for their hard work. Your abroll-container-transport-system of basic gratitude can help to foster positive emotions on your team.Why bother with saying thanks? Everyone likes being praised, but theres also a scientific reason. According to the study, when people feel appreciated, it prompts their brains to make them feel generally happier. When offering praise, be sure that it is not only sincere, but is also very specific to a particular effort the employee made. Timeliness is important too - dont wait until the moment has passed to express your appreciation. Say something as close to the time of the effort as possible (ideally that same day), rather than delaying your positive feedback.Support work-life flexibility. Taming the juggle between personal and professional responsibilities day in and day out is another way to make w orkers feel better, and in the process less stressed. Tech professionals report the best level of work-life balance out of all industries in the study. But more than one-quarter (27 percent) of tech employees are not satisfied with their current level of work-life balance. To help these employees enjoy more balance, IT managers can encourage people on their teams to take breaks during slow periods at work and explore any flexible benefit options that your company offers.Lead by example, showing people you support their work-life balance as well as your own. Small steps like leaving the schreibstube at a decent hour, avoiding late-night emailing and texting to your team, and truly unplugging from business during your vacations will show your staff that youre serious about protecting your downtime as well as theirs.Provide opportunities for camaraderie. One area where IT employees didnt score much higher than other industries was in the area of friendships at work. Tech employees expe rience in this realm essentially mirrored those in the study as a whole, with around a third (34 percent) expressing that they do not have good friends in the office.As an IT manager, you may want to address this shortfall in your employees professional support system if it aligns with the companies in the study. Having a sense of camaraderie can improve employee happiness by boosting cooperation and communication on teams. In fact, Robert Halfs research found that of the total study population, people who report having positive relationships with others on their team were 2.5 times more likely to be happy on the job than those who dont. Every happy employee countsManagers can create in-house opportunities for employees to forge and strengthen bonds with their coworkers. Whether its a group lunch, one day a month devoted to a team-bonding event, or a holiday gathering in the conference room, your influence in helping your team develop positive workplace relationships will pay divide nds across the board.As you make strides in helping your IT team get happy at work, remember to factor yourself into the equation. Use the principles discussed here to stay engaged in your own experience as an IT manager. Collaborate with your leadership team as needed to increase your areas of decision-making and empowerment, solicit positive feedback and appreciation, keep your life balanced through healthy practices, and build your alliances across the company. As Robert Halfs research reveals, managers moods play a pivotal role in how their employees feel. Cultivating your own happiness habits can help your whole IT team feel better - and do better - at work.

Age Discrimination When the kid interviewing you says youre too old

Age Discrimination When the kid interviewing you says youre too oldAge Discrimination When the kid interviewing you says youre too oldOne of the things I was most surprised by when I got into the jobs business over a decade ago was the prevalence and practice of age discrimination in hiring right here in the USA.Oh, sure were elend like some overseas markets where job ads explicitly demand youth, or a particular gender, or beauty(), in the applicant, but there it isThe blank look on your interviewers face when you talk about growing up in the 60s or 70s. The skepticism with which your Snapchat skills are regarded. The cultural references that pass silently like two Teslas in the nightWell, at least the younger generation seems to giggle at your references to Gunga-galunga.Most of the time.All of it adds up to a pernicious undercutting of your ability to get hired and get ahead. We have to admit the ugly truth that age discrimination exists - theres no doubt about it.And theres no si lver bullet for those facing it. If youre in the job market and over the age of 52, you will almost certainly face stereotypes and negative attitudes regarding your desirability because of your age. And in some cities, in some markets, that negative environment impacts candidates as young as 40 years of age.While theres nothing you can do to stop it, I have, over the years, observed which candidates and applicants have succeeded despite their age and which have failed because of it.If I had to summarize, Id say it appears to me that age discrimination is mindset discrimination first and foremost. And youll need to review how you are presenting your mindset - your attitude - to your future employer.Every hiring manager is asking herself, every HR person is asking himself, unterstellung questions about you and every other candidate theyre interviewingWill this candidateBe able to excel in this role?Be able to learn and adjust as the role evolves?Be able to master the tools and techn ologies involved today and tomorrow?Get along well with others on the team?Take direction and feedback?And its important for you to realize that youth is the symptom, not the cause, of age discrimination.What I mean by that is that hiring managers are hiring for open-mindedness, flexibility, and a sociability with others. On average, theres a perception on the part of hiring managers, whether right or wrong, that those attributes are more frequently found in the young, as opposed to the experienced.And its worthwhile to review why these attributes have so much value in the business world today.As the world changes, businesses change even more rapidly. Companies sometimes need to jump on new trends before they pan out, or hedge their bets, or make sure theyre well-prepared for most contingencies. And that means theres always plenty of new to keep up with.So a workforce that is flexible, open-minded and interested in learning is far better than a workforce that is determined to keep d oing it the old way.The old way works fine might be OK for you around the home, but in business, it has proven to be an enormous destroyer of value. Take a look at the hard times that old famous companies have fallen upon. Heck, even some of the newer tech companies that were darlings within the last decade have had difficulties mastering new environments.So expecting your future employer to be pleased with an old ways are tried and true mindset wont serve you well in your job search.So it is not necessarily youth itself that companies are hiring for, rather, it is those attributes that have proven effective in todays business environment.The cause of age discrimination is the perception around older professionals adaptability, curiosity, and team spirit youth is merely a symptom.Since you cant change your age, your goal is to address the underlying root causes of age discrimination - your goal is not to appear or act age-inappropriate - it is to present yourself, effectively, as a constructive, resourceful, coachable, team player.When confronting misperceptions in your job search, it is always better to show than to tellDescribe situations in which you adapted new technologies to the problem at hand. It is helpful if these examples arent from the seventies, but rather represent transitions that your interviewer herself went through.Recount how you were able to help younger (and older) staffers get to a solution that was stumping all. Detail the challenges you faced and what tactics you used to overcome them.Relate your experiences with receiving and using feedback constructively. Discuss how you used the situation to update your behavior and outlook. Share the process you went through to find where you could perform better and the steps you took to achieve an improvement. Ideally, quantify that improvement.Illustrate with specific stories your interest in, and passion for, the work that you do. Why does it drive you? What excites you about your work? Your y ounger competition does this out of habit - because they cant talk about decades of success in the business - so you need to make sure you put yourself on a fair footing.As you can see, the important thing is that rather than telling the hiring manager that youre open-minded, curious, flexible, adaptable to new circumstances, and sociable enough for the role, show him that you are.And a final word to remake the point about youth being a symptom and not a cause of age discrimination.On occasion, one finds older candidates that mistake having an open mindset with mimicking a twenty-year-olds mindset.There is a difference.Arriving at a job interview replete with the names of the latest bands, dropping age-inappropriate lingo into your answers, and wearing clothes that reveal too much about your desperation by trying too hard, all have the opposite effect of what youd hope for.Interactions like these reconfirm your interviewers fears that youll be obtuse, unsavvy, and a management cha llenge on the job.No, your best tactics are to communicate, verbally and nonverbally, that you are adept at keeping up with the times, and, even more importantly, interested in doing so. And the best way for you to do that is to show them precisely those behaviors and traits for which they are interviewing.

Top 6 Innovations in 3D Printing

Top 6 Innovations in 3D Printing Top 6 Innovations in 3D Printing The year 2015 saw 3D printing continue its march into every dimension of our lives. With new materials, new methods, and new applications, the young field is revolutionizing prototyping and manufacturing, and changing the worlds of design, medicine, construction, and, of course, hobbying.What were the key developments of the year that brought us closer to 3D utopia? Brian Federal gave us his favorites. Federal is a filmmaker out of North Carolina, and a 3D printing evangelist as he describes himself. Hes currently producing a feature length documentary called 3D Printing Revolution. Heres what wowed him in 2015.1) The Printing WelderThe size of most 3D printed objects is constrained by the size of the 3D printer theyre printed in. A group of Dutch manufacturers stumbled on this little fact when they were looking for a way to 3D print furniture. So they invented their own method. The innovation is a robotic arm with a p rint head that extrudes metal strong enough to support structure, says Federal. Working with Autodesk and the Heijmans construction company, theyve managed to print a model of a bridge that will eventually span a canal in Amsterdam. This is a small step into the much broader field of Construction Automation.Elastomeric polyurethane engineering resin. Image Carbon3D2) Speed PrintingThe vast majority of 3D printing technologies use a layer-by-layer strategy (hence the word additive.) For the user, the method has some serious disadvantages. Chief among the complaints is the eons it takes to complete a job. But the building-up tactic also limits potential materials, increases that chance of introducing flaws, and reduces an objects ultimate strength. Carbon3Ds CEO Joseph DeSimone wants to change all that. Inspired by a morphing bad guy who rises from a molten puddle in Terminator 2, their Continuous Liquid Interface Production approach creates monolithic forms out a pool of polymer. And it happens to be 25 to 100 times faster than other printers on the market, with the potential, according to DeSimone, to be 1000 times faster. Securing a tap from The Ford maschine Company, and $100,000,000 in Google Ventures cash, these guys are set to deliver a broad spectrum of innovation, says Federal. This is a company to watch.Amanda Boxtel, a test pilot for a 3D printed hybrid robotic exoskeleton. Image 3D Systems3) Powerful Personal ApplicationsThe world of biomedicine is where 3D printing technology has the greatest potential to significantly alter peoples lives for the better. Its arguably where tailored one-off items are most in need. 3D printed implants and prosthetics have helped many, but what could be more miraculous than letting the paralyzed walk. Scott Summitts 3D Systems partnered with Ekso Bionics to do just that. The Ekso Bionics suit fits to a persons body perfectly and will enable a spinal injury patient without the use of their legs the ability to walk again , says Federal. 3D Systems gave Amanda Boxtel, who had been in a wheelchair for years, a full body scan. They were able to then make form-fitting parts (for spine, shin, and thighs in her case) that integrated seamlessly with the moving parts of an exoskeleton. As a result, Boxtel welches able to walk again. Now Ekso Bionic is producing the system for anyone that needs robotic assistance.4) Prints in SpaceA rocket engine is no game-piece to be sold on Etsy. But that doesnt mean you cant 3D print oneor most of one. In fact, doing so gives you the option to test and retest more quickly and cheaply than any other manufacturing technique. Test and retest is just what Elon Musk and his engineers at SpaceX have been doing for years with their 3D printed SuperDraco rocket engine. This year the rocket finally got off the ground. The innovation of a new, primarily 3D printed, reusable rocket is exponentially delivering new opportunities in space travel, mining, and colonization, says Federal .5) On the CheapWhatever miracles 3D printing may be bringing to space travel, to the injured, and to manufacturers, as a household phrase 3D Printer has just one meaning a tool that allows anyone to produce as much goofy plastic stuff as they can dream up. Many companies have aimed their products at this everyman market, but XYZ seems to stand out. The innovation here is the price point and massive sales distribution, says Federal. The companys CEO, Simon Shen has said that, with the Chinese government, he plans to deliver 3D printers to every school in China. Wish I was hearing that kind of commitment here in the good old USA, says Federal.6) Phone PrinterOf course, no technology has been truly democratized until it can be done with a cell phone. Now Jeng-Ywan Jeng, a professor of mechanical engineering and the dean of the engineering department at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, has invented a printer that uses light from a cell phone to polymerize liqui d resin. This product is not on the market yet but I have seen test prints that had remarkable resolution, says Federal. This innovation could be a major disruptor with the addition of tablet and TV versions that will bring cost to print down dramatically. Jengs dream is to have the phone make the scan and then use its light in the tiny printer to print the end product. And maybe someday well be printing as much as were currently texting.Michael Abrams is an independent writer.Learn more about the latest technologies in 3D printing at ASMEs AM3D Conference Expo. For Further DiscussionThe innovation of a new, primarily 3D printed, reusable rocket is exponentially delivering new opportunities in space travel, mining, and colonization.