Recruitment team responsibilities

An internal recruitment team’s responsibilities cover a range of duties around hiring talent in pursuit of big-picture company objectives. These duties include:

• Sourcing: Identifying and attracting potential candidates for open positions via job boards, social media, and networking events.
• Nurturing: Building and maintaining relationships with potential candidates through regular communication and engagement.
• Assessing: Evaluating candidates through interviews, skills assessments, and screenings to determine whether to make an offer.
• Hiring: Extending job offers and managing the initial steps of the onboarding process, such as issuing offer letters and coordinating preboarding activities to help with the transition before the HR team takes over.

Why have an internal recruitment team?

An internal recruitment team gives your company the power it needs to hire big and fast during a growth spurt. Internal recruiting teams also make it easier to find highly specialized talent because the team already knows your company culture, business priorities, and other expectations.

Recruiting team roles

A well-rounded recruitment team may consist of the following roles: department heads, hiring managers, recruitment managers, recruiters, recruitment coordinators, talent sourcing specialists, and recruitment marketing managers.

Sourcer

Also known as talent sourcers or candidate sourcing specialists, sourcers are niche roles in the recruitment department. A talent sourcing specialist:

• Identifies and adds top candidates to an open role through job boards, social media, events, and other creative means.
• Proactively finds and engages with candidates to support departmental needs or diversity hiring.
• More common in large companies and industries with high turnover.

Recruitment coordinator

They also go by the titles hiring coordinator, staffing coordinator, and talent coordination specialist. Typically, enterprise companies leverage recruitment coordinators to support recruiters by handling preparatory tasks throughout the hiring process. A recruitment coordinator:

• Manages the logistics of the recruitment process.
• Assists recruiters and talent sourcers in scheduling meetings, interviews, and assessments.
• Creates offer letters and running background checks.

Recruiter

Recruiters act as the primary point of contact for all parties involved in the hiring process. A recruiter:

• Collaborates with hiring managers to understand the specifics of each open job requisition.
• Writes job descriptions.
• Conducts preliminary interviews.
• Presents qualified candidates to the hiring manager. 
• Acts as the primary point of contact for all parties involved in the hiring process.
• Handles the job offer process, including negotiation and feedback.

Technical recruiter

• Specializes in filling technical roles in IT such as software design, engineering, etc.
• Common in niche industries.

Campus recruiter

• Specializes in campus recruiting with colleges and business schools to fill entry-level roles.
• Often travels to schools to participate in job or career fairs and conduct interviews.

Executive recruiter

• Specializes in hiring for C-suite level positions.
• Usually has a wider professional network with more experience and seniority because of the expertise needed to recruit at this level.

Recruitment marketing manager

A recruitment marketing manager can also be someone from the marketing department. A recruitment marketing manager:

• Oversees the marketing efforts specifically for promoting job openings.
• Acts as a liaison between the marketing and recruiting teams.
• Boosts employer brand by creating marketing campaigns that highlight the company’s culture and values.

Hiring manager

Hiring managers collaborate with recruiters to initiate and guide the recruitment strategy for the role they want to fill. A hiring manager:

• Submits job requisitions.

• Defines the scope, responsibilities, and requirements of the job.
• Has the final say in candidate selection.

Recruitment manager

Recruitment managers work closely with department heads and hiring managers to understand their hiring needs. A recruitment manager:

• Oversees teams of recruiters and sourcers.

• Designs and implements big-picture recruitment strategies.
• Manages the recruitment budget to optimize spending.
• Tracks recruitment metrics to assess the team’s performance.

Head of recruiting

Large companies usually have a separate head of recruiting who reports directly to the head of human resources or CEO. However, in smaller companies, this duty falls under the head of HR. In either case, the head of recruitment:

• Oversees recruitment managers and teams to ensure that the recruitment goals are met.
• Manages relationships with external vendors like recruitment agencies.

What’s the right size for your recruiting team?

The right internal recruitment team structure depends on your company’s size, hiring needs, and recruitment staffing budget.

How to build an internal recruiting team

Before you can ramp up your headcount growth, you need to find the people who will do the hiring. As with any recruitment process, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind:

1. Consider your organization’s anticipated hiring volume, the complexity of open roles, industry-specific demands, and existing HR capacity to determine how much internal support you need and which recruiting roles will be most impactful.
2. Establish competitive salary ranges for each recruiting role based on industry benchmarks and your company’s financial projections.
3. Define each recruiting role’s essential duties to ensure the expectations are realistic and aligned with organizational objectives.
4. Outline onboarding objectives including training requirements and productivity milestones.
5. Develop long-term career paths for each role to support employee growth and engagement.

When should you consider outsourcing?

You should consider outsourcing your recruitment process in any of these situations:

• Your company lacks the expertise or resources to execute effective recruitment strategies.
• Your internal team is overwhelmed by the volume of incoming applications.
• You need to scale up your workforce quickly, like during seasonal hiring or company expansions.
• You need to fill a niche or high-skill role.
• You need a reliable talent pipeline and want to maintain a pool of pre-vetted candidates ready for future vacancies.
• Your organization is experiencing high turnover.

In these cases, a third-party recruitment agency or recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider gives you access to a broader range of resources, expertise, and networks to tackle complex hiring challenges. An external recruitment team can manage all or part of the process and guarantee quality hires while reducing the administrative burden on your internal staff.

However, many organizations benefit from a mix of both approaches. For instance, an internal recruitment team may handle most day-to-day hiring needs and collaborate with an external agency to tap into a broader or more specialized talent pool.

The post Recruitment Team Roles & Job Descriptions appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Key takeaways

What are paid holidays?

Paid holidays are national, state, or religious holidays that employers choose to give as paid days to their employees. In the United States, there is no federal law that mandates employers to provide a paid holiday for any occasion.

However, because paid holidays are so common, many employees expect to receive paid time off on certain holidays. Human resources (HR) software such as BambooHR makes it easy to schedule holidays and administer paid time off or overtime pay.

List of common paid holidays

In the United States, there are six holidays where employers frequently provide holiday pay. These federal holidays are:

• New Year’s Day (January 1).
• Memorial Day (Last Monday in May).
• Independence Day (July 4).
• Labor Day (First Monday in September).
• Thanksgiving Day (Fourth Thursday in November).
• Christmas Day (December 25).

Some generous employers also give employees even more paid holidays. Other days that employees may get off include:

• Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday (Third Monday in January).
• Presidents’ Day (Third Monday in February).
• Good Friday (Friday before Easter).
• Easter (varies).
• Juneteenth (June 19).
• Election Day (varies).
• Veterans Day (November 11).
• Black Friday (Friday after Thanksgiving).
• Christmas Eve (December 24).
• New Year’s Eve (December 31).

How holiday pay works for full-time vs. part-time employees

Since there is no federal law mandating holiday premium pay or paid time off, it’s up to the company to decide how they want to handle it for their workers, whether full-time, part-time, hourly, or salaried.

Generally speaking, salaried employees exempt from overtime are more likely to receive paid time off on federal holidays, especially if they work full-time. In contrast, hourly non-exempt employees typically do not receive paid time off on holidays since they are only paid for the time that they work. However, you can decide whether or not to offer paid time off for these holidays for all of your employees or institute separate holiday PTO policies for different employee types.

As for holiday premium pay, most businesses offer time and a half to incentivize hourly, non-exempt from overtime employees to work on holidays. Rhode Island remains the only state in the U.S. that mandates this practice.

If you’re worried about implementing and paying holiday premium pay for your employees, payroll software makes it easy to set pay practices for certain holidays ahead of time. Gusto, for example, supports multiple pay types, including holiday premium pay, and determines the proper overtime pay amounts automatically so you can avoid manual tracking and calculating.

Not sure if your employee is exempt or non-exempt? Check out our guide that explains employee classification in great detail.

How to create a holiday paid time off policy

Evaluate company needs

Before putting pen to paper, you need to consider what issues you hope to address in your holiday policy. Reflect on your company culture and values, then consider these questions:

• Which holidays are the busiest for the company? Which are the least busy?
• What’s the financial impact of shutting down the business for a holiday? 
• What tasks won’t be completed because of a closure, and how can you prepare for it? 
• What are the expectations of customers, clients, partners, or investors? 
• Is the company beholden to any collective bargaining agreements or service-level agreements?

It’s important to get a 360-degree picture of what to expect at various levels of the business during a particular holiday. Work with client-facing teams to understand customer service expectations and how holidays will affect staffing demands.

Internally, employee survey tools let you collect anonymous feedback about the business’s approach to holiday operations. Consider partnering with your company’s DEI committee and/or employee resource groups to determine the religious and cultural holiday accommodations that are appropriate for your workforce.

Understanding the cultural impact of holidays in other countries can be tricky. Learn more: Cultivating Cultural Competence in the Workplace

Write a holiday time off policy

Next, it’s time to create the actual policy. Follow these steps to write a comprehensive holiday paid time off policy:

Communicate the new policy to employees

Policies are only effective — and enforceable — if everyone on the team knows about them, and your holiday policy is no different.

Likewise, it’s important to make sure managers understand all holiday protocols alongside other time off policies. Deviation from the policy could risk litigation, especially if it appears that an employee’s time off request was approved or denied for discriminatory reasons. 

To make sure your bases are covered, have each employee formally acknowledge the policy. An HRIS works well in these instances — for example, Connecteam notifies employees of new policies and collects electronic signatures. If you’re concerned about employees adhering to new policies, you can utilize these acknowledgments as proof that each employee is aware of changes.

Holiday time off FAQs

The post The HR Guide for Paid Holidays appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

What is gamification in the workplace?

Gamification in the workplace is the use of game techniques in a non-game context. It encourages employee engagement, motivation, satisfaction, and retention. Remote companies in particular benefit from the ways gamification brings teams together digitally even if employees are physically working from different locations.

Some gamification techniques you can use in your workplace include:

• Creating a leaderboard to encourage healthy competition.
• Awarding digital badges for hitting milestones.
• Sending weekly or monthly “report cards” or check-ins that summarize employees’ standings.
• Transforming training courses into quests or challenges.
• Offering a lottery or sweepstakes prize for completing certain objectives.
• Providing points or credits that can be redeemed for tangible rewards.

Examples of gamification

While gamification is no longer a new thing to anyone in the business world, it’s still difficult to manage it effectively without technology. Fortunately, there are many tools that you can implement to leverage gamification to support your sales team, training curriculum, or wellness program.

Sales competitions

For salespeople in particular, the idea of a performance-based contest is appealing since competition forms the foundation of sales. Salespeople compete against their company’s bottom line and must bring in enough revenue to justify their position or secure a bonus. They must also compete against rejection, which is significantly more common than closing a deal.That’s why gamification is a logical partner for sales competitions: applying game elements using software like Ambition encourages selling behavior and motivates the team to close more deals. Sales teams can set up leaderboards for various goals to balance collaboration and individual progress.

Learning management paths

Onboarding and training programs are necessary parts of doing business. However, many traditional training courses are tedious, and few employees are motivated to complete them in a timely manner. Even if they do finish the course on time, few employees retain all the important information.

Gamified learning programs are often structured around quest- or challenge-based courses. For example, Centrical lets you choose from different game narrative options like a car race or a game of hide-and-seek. Whether you need to train a new hire about the company’s processes, conduct annual compliance certifications, or teach a whole department how to use a new software platform, this gamified structure helps improve knowledge retention and on-time completion rates.

Health and wellness programs

Effective wellness programs give employees the knowledge and tools they need to improve their lives at work and at home, often leading to higher productivity and lower health insurance costs for both employees and employers. However, wellness programs are often underutilized because employees either lack awareness or don’t have a clear incentive to participate.

Gamification applies the same principles of friendly competition and milestone accomplishments to motivate employees wherever they are in their wellness journeys. Depending on the structure of your wellness program, this could take many different forms like step count leaderboards or mindfulness challenges that change from week to week. Many of these programs require self-reporting, but some platforms like Wellable allow employees to sync data from wearable devices such as Fitbits or Apple Watches.

Wellable integrates with the devices your employees already use to track their health metrics and earn points that can be redeemed for rewards.

How to implement gamification in the workplace

1. Determine what to gamify

If your company is new to gamification, then we recommend choosing one area to start with implementation. The examples we listed above — sales competitions, help desks, onboarding, learning management, and health and wellness — are a great place to start. Pick one to focus your gamification efforts on, and then you can expand into other areas later once you get a feel for what techniques work at your company.

2. Identify gamification goals

Then, decide what big-picture goals you want to reach in that area. Some possibilities include faster completion rates for help desk tickets, increased training participation rates, or higher win rates for sales opportunities. Identifying the specific goals that you hope to achieve will help you select the most effective gamification techniques.

3. Pick a gamification technique

The specific gamification techniques you implement should be closely tied to your overall goals. For instance, a leaderboard is an effective tactic to encourage some friendly competition amongst the sales team, but it’s not the best choice if you want to encourage the whole company to complete a training course about new software implementation. Being selective about which gamification techniques you use will increase your chances of achieving your goals.

4. Select rewards or incentives

Many companies use prizes, gift cards, and other rewards as incentives in their gamification programs. Since employees aren’t motivated to keep winning the same prizes over and over again, some companies rotate reward types quarterly or yearly to keep them fresh. If you don’t have a good sense of what rewards your employees will find most motivating, use employee engagement software to survey them about what rewards would be most effective.

5. Configure analytics reports

No gamification program is perfect out of the gate, which is why you should set your key performance indicators (KPIs) before launch. Many gamified software platforms provide reports and dashboards to track employee activity, success rates, and other metrics so you can see what’s working and what isn’t. Leverage these analytics to make improvements to your gamification program and increase results over time.

6. Gather employee feedback

In addition to tracking quantitative KPIs, gathering qualitative employee feedback will help you measure the effectiveness of the gamification program. Your employees will likely have recommendations on how the program can be improved, so listen to what they have to say and take their suggestions into account.

Benefits of gamification

When implemented well, gamification offers many potential benefits for both employees and employers. For starters, it increases employee engagement and motivation, grabbing and maintaining their attention. Gamification also appeals to a younger workforce, especially Millennials and Gen Z employees who grew up with video, computer, and smartphone games that are built on these techniques.

Gamification encourages constant feedback and progress tracking, which in turn promotes a culture of continuous improvement and increased transparency. Depending on what techniques you choose, your gamification strategy can foster healthy competition or to encourage collaboration and teamwork.

When it comes to learning management specifically, you can use gamification to make training fun and engaging instead of time consuming and boring. Gamification increases completion rates for training courses and may help participants better recall the information they have learned.When taken altogether, these benefits of gamification frequently result in improved productivity and increased revenue for the company. While gamification tools and training development do represent an upfront cost, they frequently pay for themselves over time.

The post Gamification in the Workplace: Examples to Increase Engagement appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

After evaluating several SurveyMonkey alternatives, I’ve narrowed it down to the top five options you should consider:

• Google Forms: Best for Google users.
• Zoho Survey: Best free plan.
• Typeform: Best for survey templates.
• SurveySparrow: Best for large companies.
• Qualtrics: Best for advanced users.

Best SurveyMonkey alternatives

Standout feature

Offline use

Forever free plan

Starting price*

Google Forms

Visit website

Drag-and-drop form builder

No

Yes

Forever free

Zoho Survey

Visit website

Customizable variables

Yes

Yes

$25/mo.

Typeform

Visit website

Beautiful templates

No

Yes

$25/mo.

SurveySparrow

Visit website

Advanced surveys

Yes

Yes

$19/mo.

Qualtrics

Visit website

Analytics and reporting

Yes

No

Custom quote

*Prices reflect annual billing.

Google Forms: Best for Google users

Visit website

Overall score

3.0/5.0

Pros

• Completely free for anyone with a Gmail account.
• Very low learning curve; great for beginners.
• Generates automatic summaries of responses.

Cons

• Must have a Gmail account in order to use it.
• Only 17 templates to choose from, and designs are simplistic.
• Limited question types.

Why I picked Google Forms

I chose Google Forms because it’s completely free for anyone with a Gmail account. It also has a low learning curve, making it easy for beginners to master. Google Forms is a good choice for startups or students on a budget that need a completely free option.

About Google Forms

If cost is the most important variable to you, then you can’t go wrong with Google Forms, which is completely free with a Gmail account. However, the free price tag means that both functionality and aesthetics are lacking. Users say that Google Forms isn’t the best choice for professional settings due to its basic design and limited features, though it may be enough for small teams or startups with nonexistent budgets. If you’re ready to upgrade from Google Forms, then consider one of the other alternatives on this list.

Key features

Drag-and-drop form creator

Google’s extremely simple drag-and-drop form creator makes it a breeze to put together surveys and forms. Even if you’ve never created a survey before, Google Forms presents an extremely low learning curve, especially if you’re familiar with other Google products.

Google Sheet integration

Google Forms integrates directly with Google Sheets, which is Google’s cloud-based answer to Excel. Google Sheets makes it easy to view all your responses in one place and run simple data analysis.

Pricing

Google Forms is free forever for anyone with a Gmail account.

Zoho Survey: Best free plan

Visit website

Overall score

3.5/5.0

Pros

• Forever free plan supports unlimited surveys.
• Choose from 30+ question types and 250+ templates.
• Webhooks feature connects to almost any third-party software.

Cons

• Free plan limits each survey to 10 questions max.
• Users say the templates lack customization options.
• Navigation could be more logical.

Why I picked Zoho Survey

I chose Zoho Survey because it offers a forever free plan that supports unlimited surveys and up to 100 responses per survey, which is more generous than many competitors’ free plans. It also offers 30+ question types and 250+ templates to choose from, making it easy to create detailed, professional-looking surveys and forms.

About Zoho Survey

Zoho Survey offers more than 250 templates and question types to jumpstart your survey campaign, plus customizable variables to tailor your surveys as needed. The customizable reports let you keep track of the metrics that are most important for your goals as well. Users say the interface is relatively intuitive and easy for non-technical users to grasp, making it easy to create customer and employee surveys. Zoho offers a limited free version that may be sufficient for some users, but most users will need features that are restricted to paid plans, which start at $25 per month.

Key features

Customizable variables

If you upgrade to the Pro plan, you will get access to customized variables, which allow you to include information about a respondent (such as their name) without making them answer the question. You can also use the variables to auto-fill questions on your survey.

Offline access

If you upgrade to the Plus plan, then you can use the Zoho Survey mobile to gather survey responses without an internet connection. This is especially helpful if you want to capture responses on a tablet at a trade show or another event where the Wifi is not guaranteed.

Pricing

• Free: $0 for unlimited surveys and survey collectors, plus up to 10 questions per survey and 100 responses per survey.
• Plus: $25 per month billed annually or $35 per month billed monthly.
• Pro: $35 per month billed annually or $49 per month billed monthly.
• Enterprise: $75 per month billed annually or $109 per month billed monthly.

Typeform: Best for survey templates

Visit website

Overall score

4.0/5.0

Pros

• More than 600 beautiful templates to choose from.
• User-friendly interface.
• Mobile-responsive surveys.

Cons

• Not possible to edit previously submitted responses.
• Free plan is limited to only 10 responses per month.
• No offline mode available.

Why I picked Typeform

I chose Typeform because of its vast library of aesthetically pleasing and mobile responsive templates. I also appreciated its intuitive interface, which makes it easy to create fully customized forms, surveys, and quizzes.

About Typeform

While Typeform only offers a couple other tools besides the survey maker, it’s a worthy SurveyMonkey competitor to consider if you mostly need survey help to measure customer and employee satisfaction. The software allows you to create forms, surveys, polls, and quizzes using Typeform’s aesthetically pleasing templates, which receive rave reviews from users. It also integrates with the most popular business software platforms, such as HubSpot and Slack. However, users do say that Typeform lacks certain features, such as offline access and the ability to edit previously submitted responses, which left them feeling like they were paying for aesthetics rather than a robust set of features.

Key features

Extensive template library

Typeform is known for its beautiful templates, and the platform offers more than 600 options to choose from. The templates are also mobile responsive, so they will automatically adapt to each screen size to ensure that the survey looks its best.

Quiz maker

In addition to surveys and forms, Typeform also allows users to create fully customized, content rich quizzes, no coding required. Use the Calculator function to set up a scoring system to automate correcting and tallying quiz results.

Pricing

• Free: $0 for unlimited forms and up to 10 responses a month
• Basic: $25 per month billed annually, or $29 per month billed monthly.
• Plus: $50 per month billed annually, or $59 per month billed monthly.
• Business: $83 per month billed annually, or $99 per month billed monthly.
• Enterprise: Contact sales for a quote.

SurveySparrow: Best for large companies

Visit website

Overall score

4.5/5.0

Pros

• Advanced survey types available.
• Good reporting and analytics features.
• 5,000+ integrations available through Zapier.

Cons

• Higher learning curve due to the more advanced features.
• Pricing is higher than many competitors.
• Software could be more intuitive.

Why I picked SurveySparrow

I chose SurveySparrow because it offers enterprise-oriented tools that SurveyMonkey lacks, like custom domains, custom CSS, scheduled reports, and recurring surveys. It also offers a wider range of integration options, so there’s a good chance it’ll connect smoothly with your existing tech stack.

About SurveySparrow

FedEx, Xerox, and SAP are among SurveySparrow’s enterprise customers, and for good reason — the platform’s survey tools, automations, and integration options are well-suited for large companies. It also offers modules for 360-degree feedback and NPS (net promoter score) surveys, which enterprises need to get an accurate picture of employee engagement. These features will be too advanced for most small businesses, but they will appeal to larger companies looking for one survey tool to do it all.

Key features

Multiple survey types

SurveySparrow offers multiple types, including 360 degree feedback to promote employee engagement and NPS surveys to measure customer loyalty. It also offers other helpful productivity tools such as reputation management, a ticketing system, and even a website chatbot.

Many integrations

SurveySparrow offers hundreds of native integrations for seamless connections, plus webhooks to communicate with any third-party application. Users can also leverage Zapier to connect SurveySparrow with more than 5,000 other apps and set up automated workflows.

Pricing

• Forever free plan: $0 for 3 active surveys, 10 questions per survey, and 50 responses per month.
• Basic: $19 per month billed annually, or $39 per month billed monthly.
• Starter: $39 per month billed annually, or $59 per month billed monthly.
• Business: $79 per month billed annually, or $149 per month billed quarterly.
• Professional: $249 per month billed annually, or $399 per month billed quarterly.
• Enterprise: Contact sales for a quote.

Qualtrics: Best for advanced users

Visit website

Overall score

4.5/5.0

Pros

• Useful for designing complex surveys.
• Built-in reporting tools.
• Lots of flexibility to choose question types and order.

Cons

• Pricing plans are expensive and confusing to navigate.
• High learning curve.
• Interface design could be more intuitive.

Why I picked Qualtrics

Qualtrics offers over 100 questions to choose from and supports advanced logic and branching, which is ideal if you’re looking to create intricate surveys with lots of variables. It also offers advanced reporting tools for in-depth analysis, making it an especially good choice for market research.

About Qualtrics

If you’re an enterprise business looking to take your survey capabilities to the next level, then Qualtrics is a better option than SurveyMonkey. This robust survey software offers more than 100 question types, plenty of survey templates, powerful statistical analysis, and integrations with other common business software. Surveys can be sent via email, mobile device, app, websites, chatbots, and more to reach your audience wherever they are. The full suite of features — and accompanying price tag, which begins at $1,500 a year — will likely be too much for smaller companies, but it’s worth it for larger businesses that need to send a lot of surveys.

Key features

Survey design recommendations

Qualtrics’ ExpertReview feature analyzes each survey question to offer design recommendations. This helps users design appealing surveys that promote a higher completion rate and more thorough responses.

Reporting graphs

Qualtrics supports in-depth descriptive analysis of survey results and responses with its detailed analytics module. Choose from over 30 different graph types to visualize the data in multiple ways and explore the results of each survey.

Pricing

• Qualtrics Surveys: Free for up to 3 active surveys, 500 responses per survey, and 30 questions per survey.
• DesignXM: Contact sales for quote; this plan supports unlimited active surveys and unlimited questions per survey.

The post Top SurveyMonkey Alternatives & Competitors appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Mind minds are ideating and visualization tools that can be used for everything from brainstorming to project planning to note-taking. Mind maps use hierarchies to organize ideas around one single concept or theme. In this guide, we explain what a mind map is and how it differs from a concept map. Then we break down the four steps to making a mind map and five use cases for mind maps. Finally, we wrap up with expert mind map design tips to help you create your own for school, work, and more.

What is a mind map?

Mind mapping is a visual brainstorming technique that orders ideas into hierarchies based on high-level themes or categories. Mind maps were popularized by author and educational consultant Tony Buzan back in the 1970s, and they are still an extremely popular technique today.

Each mind map should have one central idea, and then various sub topics and supporting ideas branch out from this. Because of this set structure, mind maps offer a visual way to display how ideas connect to each other while still keeping them organized. They display a broad overview of a single idea as well as the connections between subtopics related to that idea.

Compared to jotting down random ideas on a whiteboard or piece of paper, mind maps encourage lateral thinking while still keeping ideas organized by category — making them an excellent choice when you need to engage in creative brainstorming, do some complex problem solving, or plan out a project management system.

Mind map vs. concept map: What’s the difference?

A mind map is slightly different from a concept map, even though they may look similar. Concept maps often have one central idea or theme, but they may also connect multiple related ideas. Like mind maps, concept maps do show various topics are connected but don’t organize them into levels or hierarchies, unlike mind maps.

For instance, concept maps can link one subtopic to various parent topics — whereas in mind maps, a subtopic can only be linked to one parent topic at a time to keep the hierarchy organized. The connections between ideas may also be unclear or vague with a concept map, unlike in a mind map where the connections must be very clear and defined.

How to create a mind map: A step-by-step guide

Step 1: Choose the central idea

Each mind map should focus on only one central topic or theme, so the first step is deciding what idea or problem the mind map will focus on. If you need to explore multiple main ideas, then each one should get its own separate mind map.

Step 2: Select your parent topics

After you’ve settled on your main idea, it’s time to select your parent topics. These are ideas or themes that will act as major hubs for organizing smaller topics and subtopics. If you forget a parent topic, don’t worry, you can always go back and add more later, especially if you’re using a digital mind mapping tool that makes it easy to rearrange the layout on the fly.

Step 3: Add some subtopics

Once you’ve jotted down some parent topics to get you started, you can start building out your mind map by adding various layers of subtopics to the mind map. If you think of the mind map as a tree, then these subtopics will form the branches, twigs, and leaves.

Step 4: Connect related ideas

Eventually, you’ll have added all the parent topics and subtopics that you can think of. At that point, you can link up related topics and ideas using colors and/or lines to demonstrate connections. If you want to add even more visual appeal, you can also incorporate icons and photos into your mind map to help break up the text.

Use cases for mind maps (plus sample mind map templates)

Note-taking

If you typically take stream-of-consciousness notes during classes or meetings but have trouble organizing the notes after the fact, a mind map can be a great solution to this issue. Mind maps’ clear hierarchy lends itself well to note-taking, especially if each class or meeting centers around one topic or project. If you’re covering multiple topics, you can simply create a new mind map for each one.

To keep yourself from getting distracted, we recommend using a simple mind map template, like this mind map template by Miro. Using a simple template without a lot of bells and whistles allows you to focus on note-taking so you don’t miss anything in the moment. If you want more detail, you can always add more color coding or organization after the meeting or lecture is over.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming new ideas is another great use case for mind maps and one of the most popular applications. You can either use a mind map during the brainstorming process to keep ideas organized as you go, or sort your ideas into a mind map after the fact to clarify connections and hierarchies.

If you want to use mind maps for post-brainstorming cleanup, then check out the project management software ClickUp. ClickUp offers a cool feature called Re-Layout that will automatically realign brainstorming items to organize your mind map into a seamless structure so you don’t have to do it manually.

Project planning

The hierarchical nature of mind maps also makes them an excellent solution for project planning, especially compared to more flexible options like concept maps that are really only meant for brainstorming. Mind maps can be used to plan out various aspects of projects, including potential roadblocks and solutions, assignments sorted by team member, and subtasks for each deliverable.

To take your project plan to the next level, look for a mind mapping tool that integrates with your project management software of choice. For example, the visualization tool Mindmeister integrates seamlessly with its sibling MeisterTask, which is a project and task management software. You can even view tasks that need to be completed directly in the sidebar, without having to leave the mind map. 

Creating visualizations

Maybe you already have a bunch of information or notes gathered and you’re trying to find a way to make a visualization of this jumble of words. Mind maps are an excellent way to turn text-heavy content into a visually appealing graphic that is way easier to digest than a page of single-spaced text.

Fortunately, there are many options for creating an attention-grabbing mind map using a digital collaboration tool such as FigJam. In addition to its fun and colorful mind mapping template, FigJam also offers a bunch of other diagram types including flowcharts, project timelines, and even a weekly standup template. Using a flexible online whiteboard like FigJam, as opposed to a tool that only creates mind maps, means that you can centralize all your visualizations in one platform.

Presentations

Speaking of visualizations, mind maps are a fantastic option if you are looking to include some graphic elements in your next PowerPoint or presentation. Mind maps present an alternative to the typical list of bullet points while still offering a way to display text-heavy content. Add some color coding, icons, and even photos if you want to add even more flair to your presentation.

Some platforms such as Canva actually allow you to create mind maps and other images or graphics, then add them directly to a presentation — all within the same platform. If you’re looking for a more visually appealing alternative to PowerPoint that you can use to make many other graphics, definitely give Canva a try.

Mind map design tips and best practices

Looking to take your mind maps to the next level? Apply these mind map design tips and best practices to improve your next mind mapping experience and generate even better ideas. These tips can be used in almost any situation, whether you are brainstorming by yourself or with colleagues.

Try a warm-up activity

If you are specifically looking to brainstorm ideas, then try opening the session with a warm-up activity to get the juices flowing. One popular option is ideating alternative uses for a common object, such as a chair or paperclip.

Set a timer

Some people tend to get bogged down in their attempts to find the perfect idea and waste a good part of the brainstorming session as a result. Experiment with setting a timer and challenging your team to write down as many ideas as possible in a short span of time.

Keep an open mind

Whenever you generate ideas, it’s inevitable that some are going to be better than others — but don’t dismiss them right away. Instead, keep an open mind and write down everything that comes to you. You and your team can weed out the weaker ideas later, so don’t stifle your creativity up front.

Sort ideas after the fact

Some people find the structure of a mind map too restricting during the actual brainstorming phase. If that’s true for you, then wait to use the mind map until after you are done generating ideas. Then you can leave some time at the end so you can use the mind map hierarchy to sort and connect ideas.

Finish up with a clear plan

Mind maps are a great starting point, but they’re just that: a starting point. Whenever you wrap up a mind mapping session, you should end it with a clear plan that outlines what the next steps are and which team member is responsible for what tasks.

The post What is a Mind Map? Examples, Tips and More appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

• Zoho Recruit: Best for affordability
• JazzHR: Best for beginners
• Workable: Best for extensibility
• Breezy HR: Best for candidate screening
• Recruitee: Best for on-the-go teams

Best recruiting software for small business 2024

Overall score

Use case

Starting price*

Learn more

Workable

Visit website

3.92

Best for extensibility

$189 per month billed monthly

Workable product overview

Zoho Recruit

Visit website

3.89

Best for affordability

$25 per recruiter per month, billed annually

Zoho Recruit product overview

Breezy HR

Visit website

3.76

Best for candidate screening

$157 per month billed annually

Breezy HR product overview

JazzHR

Visit website

3.52

Best for beginners

$75 per month paid annually

JazzHR product overview

Recruitee

Visit website

3.51

Best for on-the-go teams

$199 per month billed annually

Recruitee product overview

* Starting prices are based on paid tiers.

Workable: Best for extensibility

Visit website

Overall score

3.92/5.00

User scores

3.88/5.00

Pricing

3.38/5.00

Support

4.20/5.00

Platform interface

4.05/5.00

Applicant tracking features

4.06/5.00

Pros

• Lots of recruiting and HR features included on all plans.
• Wide selection of third-party integrations.
• Well-designed interface is visually appealing and easy to navigate.
• Can customer support via phone, email, or live chat.

Cons

• More expensive than some competitors.
• No free plan available.

Why I chose Workable

I chose Workable because it offers more than 280 integrations with third-party software, including payroll, background checks, performance management, and more. This extensibility means that Workable is highly likely to connect to any other business software that you currently have, or that you might start using in the future, so it can scale with your business. Workable also scored very highly in terms of its application features and customer support.

About Workable

Workable is a recruiting platform that also includes some basic HR tools, which sets it apart from other recruiting software like Ziprecruiter. All plans come with an org chart, employee profiles, employee directory, and company file management. You can also choose to add on time off management, employee onboarding, e-signature capabilities, and payroll integrations for an additional fee. Depending on your HR demands, Workable alone might suffice for your needs, so you can centralize everything in one platform instead of paying for two.

In addition to connecting to over 200 job boards, Workable helps you find even more passive candidates through AI candidate sourcing and a robust people search system. You can also use Workable to save potential candidate profiles for future hiring needs. Current employees can also refer potential candidates through the referral portal.

You can set up Workable auto reject candidates who give certain answers to application knockout questions — for instance, if they don’t have enough experience or are in the wrong geographic area. Sending out interview invites with video call links is easy thanks to the two-way Google Calendar sync.

Key features

Anonymized resumes

This unique feature is available on all Workable plans and is designed to reduce bias during the hiring process. When this is enabled, you can’t see contact details when a candidate is in the sourced or applied stages, and can only view the relevant info on the resume. Once the candidate is moved to the phone screen stage you can contact them. Keep in mind that this feature doesn’t block photos, however, only text (attaching photos to resumes isn’t standard practice in the US, but it’s much more common in other countries — something to keep in mind if you start hiring abroad).

AI-powered screening assistant

If you’re overwhelmed by applications, you can use this optional feature to quickly identify good candidates. This AI recruiting tool will generate short summaries of candidate profiles alongside a checklist that shows how well a candidate matches your job’s requirements. Once it’s finished, it will rank them according to how well they meet the requirements. You can always edit the AI’s conclusions by selecting the “edit this profile summary” option.

Gallery

Workable anonymized candidate profiles. Image: Workable

Workable AI-generated candidate summary. Image: Workable

Workable candidate source report. Image: Workable

Pricing

While Workable offers an excellent combination of recruiting and HR features, it’s also the most expensive software on this list and doesn’t offer a free plan. For that reason, I recommend it for growing small businesses that are looking to invest in slightly more advanced recruiting software and who will really make use of Workable’s third-party extensions.

• Premier: $628 per month billed annually, including HR features (no monthly plan available).
• Starter: $189 per month billed monthly, including HR features (no annual plan available).
• Standard: $313 per month billed annually or $378 per month billed monthly, including HR features.

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Zoho Recruit: Best for affordability

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Overall score

3.89/5.00

User scores

4.06/5.00

Pricing

4.25/5.00

Support

3.63/5.00

Platform interface

3.63/5.00

Applicant tracking features

3.95/5.00

Pros

• Lots of customization options.
• Great balance of price and features.
• Forever free plan for one active job.
• Create and save your own job posting and pipeline templates.
• Paid plans get automatic search access to eight different job databases.

Cons

• No native e-sign capabilities (requires an integration with Zoho Sign).
• Hiring pipeline interface is not intuitive.
• Not enough ways to collaborate with stakeholders during the screening stage.

Why I chose Zoho Recruit

I selected Zoho Recruit as the best small business recruiting software for affordability because it offered the most bang for the buck out of all the software I tested, ranking a 4.25/5 for pricing. Not only does Zoho Recruit offer a forever free plan for one active job, it also charges a very reasonable price per user for the paid plans, making it a cost effective solution if you only need one or two people to access the software.

About Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit is the applicant tracking system (ATS) offered by Zoho Corporation. Like all Zoho products, it integrates seamlessly with the rest of the Zoho business software stack. Certain tiers of paid plans also get access to additional integrations with third party software, such as Google and Outlook. That being said, non-Zoho integrations are much more limited compared to competitors like Workable — the software stack is designed to encourage users to sign up for as many Zoho products as possible.

To create a job requisition in Zoho Recruit, fill out the simple form and review your posting, then Zoho will syndicate it to multiple job boards. You can also use one of the pre-loaded job templates, or create and save your own for future use. If you already have candidates in mind, you can upload their resumes directly or add their information manually. Zoho Recruit also supports employee referrals.

Once you’re ready to move candidates forward in the hiring pipeline, you can schedule video and phone interviews through Zoho Recruit, and add multiple interviewers to the invitation. After you’ve made your final selections, you can use the native offer letter templates to generate an offer — though you’ll need third-party software to get digital signatures, since Zoho Recruit doesn’t offer e-signature capabilities.

Key features

Job board syndication

All of Zoho Recruit’s plans, including the free one, allow you to post one job to multiple websites with the simple click of a button. Zoho Recruit connects with more than 25 job boards around the world — including Google Jobs and LinkedIn — as well as more paid and sponsored job boards. This feature matters for small businesses because it helps you get your job postings in front of as many people as possible with a minimum of time and effort.

Source Boosters

Instead of waiting for candidates to find you, you can go out and find the best candidates with Zoho Recruit’s Source Boosters. Source Boosters connect to eight different job board databases such as Monster and CareerBuilder so recruiters can proactively search for candidates that match open listings. All paid plans get access to this Source Boosters feature, which is worth noting, since many competitors restrict similar features to more expensive tiers.

Gallery

Zoho Recruit job board selection page. Image: Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit Source Booster selection page. Image: Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit candidate pipeline example. Image: Zoho Recruit

Pricing

While Zoho’s pricing is quite affordable, and one of the main reasons it ranks so highly, it does charge per seat, so it may not be the most cost effective option if you need many users to access the recruiting software. Zoho also charges extra for certain features that are included in other software, such as extra storage, and those fees can add up over time.

• Forever free: $0 for one active job posting.
• Standard: $25 per user per month billed annually or $30 per user per month billed monthly.
• Professional: $50 per user per month billed annually or $60 per user per month billed monthly.
• Enterprise: $75 per user per month billed annually or $90 per user per month billed monthly.
• Client portal add-on: $6 per license per month.
• Video interview add-on: $12 per license per month.

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Breezy HR: Best for candidate screening

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Overall Reviewer Score

3.76/5.00

User scores

4.17/5.00

Pricing

4.06/5.00

Support

2.25/5.00

Platform interface

3.55/5.00

Applicant tracking features

4.34/5.00

Pros

• Free forever for one active job listing.
• Unlimited open jobs on all paid plans.
• Connects to 50+ free jobs boards for sourcing candidates.
• Applicant screening tools available on all paid plans.

Cons

• No phone support available, even for the more expensive plans.
• Fewer integrations with third-party software than some competitors.

Why I chose Breezy HR

I chose Breezy HR because it offers great tools for candidate sourcing and screening at an affordable price. Not only does it offer a forever free plan for one active job, but it also provides unlimited job postings and candidates on its entry level paid plan (as opposed to most competitors, which limit you to 2-5 active jobs on the cheapest plans). The drag-and-drop pipelines make it super easy to either move candidates forward or disqualify them, and the hiring conversations module keeps all communication centralized in Breezy HR so stakeholders stay on the same page.

About Breezy HR

Breezy HR provides a collection of tools for sourcing, hiring, and onboarding candidates. (It also recently launched a new performance management tool, which is separate from the hiring software and charges its own fee.) Alongside Zoho Recruit, Breezy HR is one of the few recruiting software that offers a forever free plan that costs $0 for one active job.

Breezy HR has a very thorough job creation tool that walks you through seven different steps to create and share a job posting. The software comes preloaded with a library of templates and also allows you to create and save your own templates for both jobs and hiring pipelines. There is also an internal job creation feature that is available on paid plans only.

I was able to add candidates manually and by email as well as through bulk import, employee referrals, and the LinkedIn integration. I also appreciate that I could move a candidate to a different stage from the job’s individual page or the candidate profile page. Breezy HR also makes it possible to set up automations for both disqualifications and stage progressions, speeding up the screening process and reducing time to hire.

Key features

Drag-and-drop hiring pipeline

I found Breezy HR’s interface to be one of the most pleasant to use. The design is based on a Kanban board, where individual candidate profiles are the cards and the screening stages are the columns. Simply drag and drop each candidate to the next stage to move them through the hiring process, or remove them from the screening process if they’ve been disqualified.

Customized candidate pools

If you’ve got a candidate profile that isn’t a great fit for your openings now, but that you want to keep in mind for the future, then you can save them to something called a candidate pool. Candidate pools allow you to save applicants that aren’t associated with a specific job opening, so you save them for candidate relationship management. Breezy HR allows you to create unlimited candidate pools on all paid plans, ensuring that you always have potential hires to reach out to, which is especially important in high turnover industries.

Gallery

Breezy HR drag-and-drop hiring pipeline. Image: Breezy HR

Breezy HR candidate pools. Image: Breezy HR

Breezy HR candidate scorecard results. Image: Breezy HR

Pricing

Breezy’s free plan and cheaper paid subscription plans are great for supporting the beginning portions of the hiring process, but offer little in the way of offer management and onboarding support once you find the best candidate. For instance, you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Business plan if you want to set up approval workflows for sending offer letters. If you’re interested in Breezy, keep in mind that you’ll probably need to integrate with an HRIS to help with the document management and approval workflows associated with the ending stages of recruitment.

• Bootstrap: $0 for one active job posting.
• Startup: $157 per month billed annually, or $189 per month billed monthly.
• Growth: $273 per month billed annually, or $329 per month billed monthly.
• Business: $439 per month billed annually, or $529 per month billed monthly.
• Pro plan: Contact Breezy HR for pricing information.

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JazzHR: Best for beginners

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Overall score

3.52/5.00

User scores

4.03/5.00

Pricing

3.19/5.00

Support

3.58/5.00

Platform interface

3.99/5.00

Applicant tracking features

3.15/5.00

Pros

• Logical layout is very easy to navigate, even for beginners.
• Fast calendar syncing for interview scheduling.
• Excellent reporting module.
• Includes offer letter templates and e-signature capabilities.

Cons

• Only the Pro plan gets phone support.
• Doesn’t have a mobile app for on-the-go recruiting.
• Difficult to customize the career page without coding knowledge.

Why I chose JazzHR

I chose JazzHR because it has a very simple and logical layout that is easy to navigate, even if you’ve never used an ATS before. Unlike some other platforms that overwhelm you with customizations or bury essential functions in random menus, JazzHR’s step-by-step interface makes it fast and easy to create and post a job, add candidates, and move them through the interview pipeline. The plug-and-plug modules require minimal training, saving SMBs owners time and hassle so they can focus on actually hiring candidates instead of doing admin work.

About JazzHR

JazzHR offers step-by-step instructions for creating a job posting, a feature that makes it an excellent choice for beginners. You can browse the library of native job templates but can’t save your own custom templates (though you can clone an existing job). You can upload a resume, input the resume text, or manually add a candidate. JazzHR also integrates with Monster, LinkedIn, and CareerBuilder to help you source more candidates.

Candidates can be moved through the pipeline from their individual profile pages. After you’ve got your calendars synced, you can add invitees to interviews and generate video call links for Google, Zoom, and other platforms. When you’re ready to make an offer, the Pro and Plus plans get access to offer letter templates and native e-signature capabilities.

Key features

Hiring pipeline automations

With Workflow Helpers, JazzHR’s automation tools, you can automate eight different tasks across the hiring pipeline — not just sending emails or text messages, but also adding interview guides and exporting candidates. Automations like this remove to-dos from SMB owners’ plates so they can focus on the more important tasks, such as actually conducting interviews.

Reporting module

JazzHR had one of the best reporting modules I tested, including both time-to-hire and time-to-fill reports. You can easily filter by job, country, city, hiring manager, or department to see exactly the data you need.

I was also able to schedule reports, which is a rare feature among ATS. If you’re new to recruiting software and frequently forget to run reports, JazzHR’s scheduling feature will take care of it for you. These reports quantify your hiring statistics, helping you to quickly identify what recruiting processes are working and which ones can be improved.

Gallery

JazzHR new job posting. Image: JazzHR

JazzHR recruiting workflow automations. Image: JazzHR

JazzHR time-to-hire report. Image: JazzHR

Pricing

Most SMBs will be interested in JazzHR’s Hero plan, which allows you to post three active jobs at a time for just $75 per month paid annually (additional jobs cost $9 per month). For even more features like e-signatures and a Zoom integration, you’ll need to upgrade to the more expensive paid plans. So, if budget is your biggest concern, you might have better luck with platforms that offer forever free plans like Zoho Recruit and Breezy HR.

• Hero: $75 per month paid annually, or $99 per month paid monthly.
• Plus: $269 per month paid annually, or $325 per month paid monthly.
• Pro: $420 per month paid annually, or $499 per month paid monthly.

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Recruitee: Best for on-the-go teams

Visit website

Overall score

3.51/5.00

User scores

3.84/5.00

Pricing

2.81/5.00

Support

3.05/5.00

Platform interface

4.31/5

Applicant tracking features

3.44/5

Pros

• Well-designed interface with an easy-to-navigate layout.
• Mobile apps available for both iOS and Android devices.
• Internal jobs postings can be consolidated on an internal page.
• Highly customizable career page.

Cons

• No offer letter templates or e-signature capabilities.
• More expensive than some competitors.
• Doesn’t disclose customer service hours.

Why I chose Recruitee

I chose Recruitee because of its well-designed mobile apps, which are a must for SMB owners who are juggling recruiting alongside many other tasks. The mobile app will also benefit small businesses that attend many local job fairs or otherwise do a lot of their recruiting in person and on site. I also liked that Recruitee provides a highly customizable career page as well as a dedicated page for internal jobs only.

About Recruitee

Recruitee is designed for on-the-go growing teams. The straightforward design makes both the desktop and the mobile app easy to navigate, and creating a job posting is very quick. You can’t save a job template, though you can duplicate existing jobs.

You can upload a resume or input a candidate manually, import multiple candidates with a CSV file, or use LinkedIn integration to add candidates. Recruitee also offers a Chrome extension for Xing, Dribbble, StackExchange, and GitHub to help you source even more candidates. The system is pretty accurate at parsing resume data (though not perfect), and you can add multiple recruitment team stakeholders to a single candidate’s profile.

When you’re ready to move a candidate forward, you can do that from the job’s individual page or the candidate profile page. Recruitee also makes it possible to set up automations for both disqualifications and stage progressions to move the process along. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide offer letter templates or e-signature capabilities; you’ll need an integration with HelloSign, DocuSign, and Signrequest for the latter.

Key features

Mobile apps

The Recruitee mobile is available to download from the App Store (for iOS devices) and the Google Play Store (for Android devices). The Jobs tab displays published jobs and how many candidates have applied, and you can move candidates around in the pipeline once you select a specific job. Use the app to email candidates or leave an evaluation after interviewing them. You can also notify colleagues in the Notes tab, which basically functions as a comment feature.

Customizable career page

Recruitee offers one of the most customizable career pages that I tested, with the added bonus of not requiring coding knowledge in order to make changes. The content block-based page creator is reminiscent of Squarespace and makes it easy to create custom pages. You can even upload your own fonts to ensure that the career page matches your main website as closely as possible, creating a cohesive online experience for candidates and maintaining your company brand.

Gallery

The Recruitee tablet and mobile apps.

Some of the section types available in the Recruitee career page builder.

The Recruitee hiring pipeline.

Recruitee tablet and mobile apps. Image: Recruitee

Recruitee hiring pipeline. Image: Recruitee

Recruitee career page section types. Image: Recruitee

Pricing

Recruitee’s per month pricing is slightly higher than average, though it’s not nearly as expensive as Workable. You’ll be limited to five job slots on the Start plan, but all plans support unlimited users which is a plus. For unlimited job slots, you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Grow plan.

• Start: $199 per month billed annually, or $249 per month billed monthly.
• Grow: $249 per month billed annually, or $311 per month billed monthly.
• Optimize: Contact the sales team for a quote.

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Small business recruiting software FAQs

The post 5 Best Recruiting Software for Small Business 2024 appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Being proactive with risk analysis helps set realistic objectives, while creating a complete risk management plan create safeguards against time-consuming and costly oversights. Read on to discover various project risks examples that can emerge during the course of a project, and what to do about them.

Cost risks

Cost risk refers to the possibility of a project exceeding its allocated budget, a common risk management issue. This financial risk can occur for various reasons such as poor initial budgeting, mid-project scope changes, unforeseen complications, or incorrect cost estimations. Cost overruns can hinder the project’s progress and may stall its completion if the budget cannot be adjusted or supplemented.

How to manage cost risks

• Use budgeting tools such as those offered by Wrike (Figure F) to set an initial budget and monitor spend throughout the project to prevent overages. Budget management tools are an integral part of risk management processes in several industries. One good example is construction risk management, an industry that often deals with cost issues.
• If possible, set aside a contingency plan or fund so that you have some extra resources on hand in case extra costs arise.
• Revisit vendor contracts and negotiate them or comparison shops to see if you can realize any additional cost savings.
• Conduct regular project risk assessments to identify potential cost overages and create strategies to address them.

Scope creep

Scope risk, or scope creep, refers to the unexpected and uncontrolled expansion of a project’s objectives beyond its original intentions. This risk category typically occurs when project goals aren’t precisely outlined from the start or when requirements change partway through the project.

How to manage scope creep

• Before kicking off a project, take advantage of project scope templates like the ones offered by Smartsheet project management software (Figure A) to create clear expectations and deadlines up front.
• Engage with stakeholders from the very beginning so that all necessary decision makers can help with the creation and the approval of the project scope.
• Schedule regular progress reviews and risk assessments so you can ensure that the initial project scope is being followed and deal with scope creep as it occurs.

Performance risks

Performance risk occurs when a project does not fulfill the expectations and requirements set forth during project planning. Even though a product may have been delivered on time and on budget, that doesn’t guarantee project success, which is the definition of performance risk.

How to manage performance risks

• Identify potential performance hazards from the start of a project by assessing the current market landscape, investigating users’ needs, and staying ahead of technological shifts.
• Use project management software analytics, like this dashboard from monday.com (Figure B), to track project performance and maintain real-time oversight of processes and milestones.
• Foster transparent communication among your project team and conduct regular risk assessments so that performance-related issues can be identified early and often.

External hazard risks

External hazard risk refers to unpredictable events stemming from external factors beyond project management mistakes. These project risks can be natural, such as climate events, or man-made, like vandalism, terrorism, or societal disruptions. These factors can significantly affect the project’s timeline, cost, and quality.

How to manage external hazard risks

• Use historical and political data to regularly asses external risks bases on a project’s locale and nature; enterprise risk management software can be very beneficial for creating these kinds of forecasts.
• Have contingency plans ready, such as alternate work sites or emergency resources, as well as insurance policies to cover potential damages and delays.
• Incorporate practices like safety drills or supply stocking so that your personnel will be safe and prepared in the event of an emergency.

Technology risks

Technology risk covers the potential challenges and threats posed by the hardware and software used to complete the project. These project risks range from technical failures, cyberattacks, and system breaches to the fast-paced evolution of technology itself, including project management software.

How to manage technology risks

• Institute robust cybersecurity measures, including firewalls, encryption, and routine security audits, to fend off cyber threats and technical risk.
• Carefully set roles and permission for your project management software, like the above example in Trello (Figure C).
• Create backup systems and data storage to counteract technical risks, preventing data loss or unplanned downtime, and have a contingency plan in place in case of technological disruptions.
• Conduct regular training sessions to keep personnel updated on new technologies and how to navigate them and on how to prevent cyber attacks.

Operational risks

Operational risk refers to potential disruptions arising from internal processes, people, systems, and project management methodologies. It also encompasses external risk events that impact the day-to-day functioning of a project, such as changes made by vendors or suppliers.

How to manage operational risks

• Use workload management software, such as ClickUp (Figure D), to review workflow and capacity planning and spot operational risks before they arise.
• Ease the transition by ensuring your project team is well-prepared and has time to adjust to major operational changes.
• Consider scheduling regular team meetings to discuss upcoming changes and provide additional training if new processes or systems are introduced.

Communication risks

Miscommunication underlies many project issues, leading to missed deadlines, excess project spend, shifting requirements, uncompleted tasks, and other project management issues. The communication needs to be clear and thorough as well as frequent; if conversations are vague or contradictory, that can cause just as many problems as communicating irregularly or not at all.

How to manage communication risks

• Utilize a central tool or platform to keep everyone on the same page, like Asana project management software that offers in-app messaging (Figure E), which will help to prevent siloed work.
• Encourage open communication channels so team members can ask questions, seek clarification, and provide feedback.
• Schedule regular meetings with stakeholders and team members to foster collaboration and engage in risk identification.
• Implement strategies to bridge cultural and linguistic differences if the team is diverse.

Skills resource risks

Skills resource risk refers to the potential shortfalls in the necessary skills, expertise, or knowledge among the project team members. Such risks can emerge from a range of factors, from team member turnover to lack of training. This can mean the project management team needs to be more adequately prepared to meet project requirements or handle unexpected challenges.

How to manage skill resource risks

• Assess required skills and compare them with existing team members to pinpoint areas for improvement.
• Invest in training programs that equip team members for specific project demands; a learning management system can help you create custom courses if you can’t find an out-of-the-box one that works.
• Embrace a flexible staffing approach and alternate between permanent and contract roles as needed, especially when niche skills are required.

FAQs

The post 8 Common Project Risks & How to Manage Them appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

In this guide, we’ll cover the pros and cons of using Salesforce project management and discuss how you can make the most of Salesforce’s project management features.

Pros and cons of using Salesforce for project management

First of all, we need to begin this section by clarifying that Salesforce is not primarily intended as a project management system. While the cloud-based CRM platform is great at supporting your sales team, it was not designed as a project management solution.

That being said, Salesforce CRM does offer some features, extensions, and workarounds that can help with project management within a sales context. However, since Salesforce was not designed with project managers in mind, that means that it lacks many features that are standard issue in more dedicated project management tools.

This means that, if you have extensive, complex project management needs, then even the workarounds might not be enough to make Salesforce meet your requirements. Salesforce is also mostly intended to be used by sales teams, making cross-functional collaboration with other teams like marketing and finance very difficult.

At this point, you are probably asking yourself why you wouldn’t use a separate project management platform in addition to the Salesforce solution.

Why Salesforce for Project Management?
	One of the big advantages of managing projects inside Salesforce is ensuring that all your projects, accounts, opportunities, cases, and so on remain linked and synced in real time. Using a single system also cuts down on errors and reduces duplicate work, leading to greater efficiency and accuracy.

With these benefits in mind, we’ll dedicate the rest of this guide to walking you through how you can use Salesforce project management despite its limited capabilities.

The post How to use Salesforce for Project Management appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

What is the best free payroll software?

Doing payroll manually can quickly become tedious, and the errors rack up fast. After a couple of pay periods, many people begin to wonder: Is there a way to do payroll for small businesses without breaking the bank? For your company, the answer may lie in free payroll software.

Payroll4Free.com: Best for Windows users

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Pros

• 2048-bit SSL encryption.
• 1099 contractor payments possible.
• Automatic tax calculations.

Cons

• Macs must run Windows to use the software.
• Monthly fee if you want the company to handle your taxes.
• User interface is outdated.
• No native time-tracking app.
• Ads are displayed within the program to keep the software free.

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About

Payroll4Free.com is a downloadable software that allows you to pay up to 25 employees for free. This comes with a catch, however: You must be able to download the Windows app in order to use it. Despite the name, there is no cloud or web-based option, and if you are a Mac user then you must be running Windows on your Mac in order to use Payroll4Free.com.

The upside is that Payroll4Free.com comes with one of the most well-rounded feature sets of any free payroll software for small businesses. Functionality includes tax support, free direct deposit, employee self-service portal, and vacation time tracking. 

If you already own a PC (or a Mac that runs Windows) and you need free payroll software, Payroll4Free.com should be one of your top choices.

Key Features

Employee portal

Payroll4Free.com provides employee portals for workers to access copies of their W-2s and pay stubs, plus view any accrued paid time off (PTO). Employees can even make updates to their personal information, like addresses. For a small business, this functionality can give you back much-needed time to focus on higher-priority projects instead of employee administrative tasks.

PTO tracking

Payroll4Free.com can track employee vacation, sick, or PTO. If your employees accrue PTO based on the number of hours they worked, you will have to input their hours manually or import them from your time clock software for the calculations to run. However, this feature prevents you from purchasing a separate solution for PTO management.

Why We Chose Payroll4Free.com

Payroll4Free.com is designed for Windows or Mac users with Windows software. Despite this, it checks all the boxes with payroll, tax calculations, self-service support, and contractor payroll. These simple features may be all you need to get your small business up and running.

TimeTrex: Best for integrated time tracking

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Pros

• No cap on the number of employees you can pay.
• Integrated time tracking and attendance.
• Automatic scheduling function.

Cons

• No tax filing (only generates tax forms).
• No direct deposit.
• Pricing is not transparent and the free trial is difficult to find.

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About

Unlike Payroll4Free.com, TimeTrex does not cap the number of employees that you can pay for free. Not only that, TimeTrex’s “community edition” is completely free in perpetuity. However, TimeTrex makes it tough to find the free forever version of the software, instead pushing website visitors to sign up for a free trial of the paid version of the software.

The community edition is available in both a cloud-hosted, web-based portal, and a downloadable version (you should be aware that the downloadable version requires PHP, a web server, and a database of your own in order to get it up and running). Both can be found on this page on the TimeTrex website.

As the name suggests, TimeTrex also includes a native time-tracking app in addition to payroll, a helpful integration that makes it even easier to run payroll. Other features include scheduling, HR management, and more tools in addition to payroll. TimeTrex also offers the option to integrate with other (paid) software like ADP and Quickbooks, should you decide to switch to them.

Key Features

Time tracking

If you are a small retail shop or restaurant, TimeTrex’s community edition supports payroll and time tracking to manage your hourly workforce. Moreover, its time tracking features are pretty robust for a free solution, including shift scheduling functions for managers and web browser clocking in and out for employees.

Both payroll and time tracking are essential to running any small business. TimeTrex’s free versions are great basic options until you need more advanced features, like varying pay schedules.

Workforce management

Besides payroll, TimeTrex supports performance reviews, tracks workplace injuries, and stores employee records like disciplinary records or exit interviews. As a result, you can maintain an auditable electronic database of necessary documentation without resorting to pen and paper.

Why We Chose TimeTrex

In addition to payroll, TimeTrex’s free community edition provides various HR features for your small business. In particular, its native time tracking can speed up your payroll process as you do not need to import your data from another platform or manually input hours.

For more accuracy, TimeTrex offers more advanced time tracking, such as geofencing, on its paid versions. This can be especially useful if you employ field workers who don’t clock in or out from a central location.

HR.my: Best for non-U.S. businesses

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Pros

• Supports dozens of languages.
• Cloud-based software that is available anywhere.
• Crowd-funded model.

Cons

• Ads can be annoying.
• No payroll tax calculations or filing.
• No direct deposit.

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About

Similar to TimeTrex, HR.my offers free payroll functionality without any headcount limitations. HR.my is a crowd-founded and ad-supported software that includes payroll as part of its diverse feature set. The ads can get annoying sometimes, but the tradeoff is worth the inconvenience for many users looking for a free payroll solution.

One of the app’s big distinguishing factors is the fact that it supports 67 different languages, which is great for international companies with employees in multiple countries. While the idea of free multilingual HR software sounds great (and it is), potential users should know that HR.my isn’t based in the US, so it isn’t inherently compliant with US labor laws. This can make calculating taxes and other required deductions more tedious, which is why we recommend the software for non-US businesses.

HR.my features include payslip generation, salary record keeping, time tracking and attendance, expense claim management, and too many others to list here. But even with all its features, this free software still can’t compete with full-fledged HRIS systems and other paid HR software stacks, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

Key Features

International payroll

HR.my is flexible enough to satisfy different global payroll cadences if you are a startup with remote international workers. Although you have to manually add in employee tax deductions and file them yourself with the correct agencies, the free solution may be worth the extra administrative effort. It also may be a non-issue if you only need payroll for your contractor workforce.

Discussion forum

Like TimeTrex, HR.my includes basic document workflows to handle processes like injuries or employee misconduct investigations. HR.my also offers a discussion forum where employees can raise questions, brainstorm or collaborate on projects, and give feedback to peers. This is crucial for your global employees, who may have to work asynchronously with various coworkers across different time zones.

Why We Chose HR.my

While TimeTrex includes tax reports for Canadian users and a limited number of other countries, HR.my’s support in multiple languages plus flexible payroll may be the better option for your distributed team. Moreover, HR.my’s other communication tools support cross-company consistency by eliminating information silos.

ExcelPayroll: Best for Office 365 users

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Pros

• Tax form printing.
• Bookkeeping entry generation.
• Check printing.
• Multiple options for tax computations.

Cons

• Manual spreadsheet entry required.
• No tax filing or direct deposit.
• No extra features beyond payroll.
• No cloud option or employee portal.

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About

With ExcelPayroll, you can do payroll for up to 50 active employees each month; nonprofits can request an exemption for more. While ExcelPayroll is a free downloadable add-on for Excel, it does require that you have an active license for Office 365, so it’s not technically 100% free.

This is why we recommend ExcelPayroll for business owners who are already paying for Office 365, so you don’t have the added expense of the license. If you’re already using an Excel spreadsheet to do payroll, then ExcelPayroll will automate the calculations and make everything a little bit easier for you. But if you’re not used to doing payroll in a spreadsheet, or don’t already have an Office 365 license, then one of the other free options on this list may make a bigger impact on your business operations.

Given that it is an add-on for Excel spreadsheets, ExcelPayroll is pretty stripped back in terms of functionality. Its features are focused narrowly on preparing payroll, so you won’t find a lot of extra bells and whistles. Features of note include vacation time accrual, workers’ compensation reports, wage garnishments, and other deductions.

Key Features

Pre-built Excel formulas

ExcelPayroll comes pre-built with payroll formulas to calculate tax and benefits deductions, overtime, commissions, and PTO accruals. Simple drop-down menus allow you to choose which formulas to use, while highlighted cells and guided instructions make it easy to process, even for payroll first-timers.

Multiple payroll runs

ExcelPayroll supports unlimited payroll runs, so you can fix any payroll errors as soon as they occur. You should still have a consistent payroll schedule per labor law regulations; however, having the option to correct miscalculations and pay employees their due is especially important with small teams.

Why We Chose ExcelPayroll

If you use Office 365 for most of your small business functions, ExcelPayroll can help extend the functionality of your Excel without paying extra. And, because you are already familiar with Microsoft products, ExcelPayroll may be easier to learn since it uses its interface.

That said, ExcelPayroll does not offer other workforce or time-tracking features like other solutions in this roundup. So, it may be a better option if you are a small local team or are already satisfied with your other workforce management tools.

eSmartPaycheck: Best for free payroll tax calculations

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Pros

• Free paycheck preparations.
• State-specific calculators.
• Basic tax form printing and filing.

Cons

• Very limited feature set.
• No direct deposit.
• No saving payroll information so you have to do it from scratch each time.

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About

eSmartPaycheck supports an unlimited number of employees, but only the web-based payroll calculator is free. For this reason, eSmartPaycheck is a good choice for employers who are confident doing payroll manually but want an automatic calculator to check their math. 

Paid features offered by eSmartPaycheck include printing paychecks and pay stubs, adjustable pay cycles, and a federal withholding calculator. If you want these features and more, then you can sign up for a 3-month free trial. After that, annual subscriptions start at $75 per year.

Key Features

Payroll calculator

eSmartPaycheck breaks out payroll tax calculations by state to ensure you deduct correctly from your employees’ paychecks. If you have employees in multiple states, this can be a useful tool to avoid researching and calculating each state’s different taxes yourself.

Low-cost e-filing services

eSmartPaycheck includes automatic federal tax e-filing in their payroll subscription fee. It also provides state tax equivalent e-filing for an additional $20 annual subscription. Paying to have eSmartPaycheck file your payroll taxes on your behalf may outweigh the time and effort it takes to do it yourself.

One thing to note: eSmartPaycheck does not support local tax filing, if applicable to you. Some states also do not allow for e-filing. In these cases, you will have to prepare and file these yourself.

Why We Chose eSmartPaycheck

If you are familiar with payroll and only need a way to check federal and state tax calculations, eSmartPaycheck is a great free resource. Besides Payroll4Free.com, it is also the only other platform in our roundup that offers payroll tax e-filing services. If a low-cost payroll tax filing service is important to you, then eSmartPaycheck may be your best bet.

How can I do payroll myself for free?

When it comes to doing payroll for free, you have two main options: calculate payroll manually with spreadsheets or use free payroll software. Manually calculating payroll is very time-consuming and prone to error, so most people find it helpful to have some kind of software support whether free or paid. Some solutions — namely, ExcelPayroll — offer a blend of manual and automatic payroll processing.

Generally speaking, free payroll software has more limitations and fewer features than the paid versions. There’s often a cap on the number of employees, and the functionality of the tool is restricted. Most free payroll solutions are also either online-only or desktop-only (not both) and often lack integrations with other software as well.

In other words, if you don’t have the money to invest in paid software, be prepared to spend more time on manual payroll processes, even if you use free payroll software to speed things along.

Also read: How to Do Payroll Yourself: A Small Business Guide

How to choose free payroll software

Forever-free payroll software options like the ones in this guide may meet your business’s short-term needs. However, the limitations that come with free tools often outweigh the cost savings, and businesses tend to outgrow them quickly.

Fortunately, there are also plenty of low-cost payroll software platforms that provide robust functionality without breaking the bank. Head over to our Payroll Software Guide to discover affordable, highly-rated solutions for small businesses.

About the author

Kara Sherrer is a writer and marketer who has worked with both B2C and B2B clients across many different industries, including technology. She is passionate about helping clients to create and promote informative content according to SEO best practices. Discover more of her work at karasherrer.com.

The post Best Free Payroll Software appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.

Explore software that can help you shift to a ROWE model in our Performance Management Software Guide.

What is a results-only work environment?

A results-only work environment is an approach to company culture in which employees are rewarded for their work output, not the number of hours worked or their presence in the office. At a ROWE company, employees have a lot of autonomy over when, where, and how they work as long as they meet their goals. Employees also manage themselves rather than everything being controlled by supervisors.

The ROWE approach is more radical than flexible hours, which still requires employees to work a certain number of hours per week. It also doesn’t require employees to report to an office a certain number of days per week; in a ROWE company, work is something you do, not a place you go.

As more companies embrace hybrid and remote work opportunities as well as flexible working hours, many businesses are becoming interested in implementing a results-only work environment. However, ROWE requires a major company culture shift to implement successfully.

How do you implement a results-only work environment?

Ready to transition to a results-only workplace? Here are some of the steps you will need to follow:

1. Hire the right people
2. Build organizational trust
3. Set measurable goals
4. Track goal progress
5. Maintain employee engagement

Hire the right people

In order for a ROWE to succeed, you need driven employees who are motivated to do their best and pursue continuous improvement. As you move forward on your hiring initiatives, prioritize candidates who demonstrate intrinsic motivation that will help them thrive in a ROWE workplace.

Implementing an applicant tracking system (ATS) can help you identify promising candidates and speed up the hiring process.

Build organizational trust

In a ROWE organization, a strong culture of trust is paramount. Not only does leadership need to have confidence in employees to get the work done without micromanaging, but employees also need to believe their managers are evaluating them fairly and not playing favorites.

Building trust and camaraderie can be tough when not everyone works the same hours in the same office, so get creative about team-building exercises you can do virtually.

Set measurable goals

Before tracking performance, managers must first set goals at the individual, team, and company levels. The goals should be consistent, clear, and measurable to ensure equitable performance ratings across team members and departments.

Each person should know what their responsibilities are and when their tasks should be accomplished — deadlines still exist in a ROWE model with flexible working hours.

Track goal progress

Once those clear goals are set, managers and employees will need to track progress toward them on a regular basis. If a team member isn’t meeting their goals, regular performance discussions can serve as check points to provide feedback and coaching.

Performance management software can help standardize and automate this process, making it easy to prioritize regular check-ins without requiring a lot of extra time and effort. 15Five, for example, provides a central dashboard for users to review progress toward all goals at a high level and drill down into the narrower targets that support each goal.

Maintain employee engagement

Poor employee enthusiasm and motivation can slow the transition to a results-only work environment. To keep employees motivated, implement an employee engagement program. Employee engagement consists not just of publicly praising and rewarding workers for their achievements, but also soliciting feedback from them in the form of anonymous surveys and taking meaningful action.

Advantages of ROWE

Among many benefits, ROWE enables companies increase employee satisfaction, reduce operating costs, and create objective performance management processes.

Increased employee satisfaction

One of the biggest advantages is the increase in employee satisfaction that typically accompanies a switch to ROWE, which can also lead to lower employee turnover in the long run. While there may be a brief increase in turnover in the beginning as employees who don’t like ROWE leave the company, turnover will drop and employee retention will improve as the remaining workers see the benefits of ROWE.

Reduced operating costs

The ROWE framework often helps companies downsize to smaller offices since more employees work remotely, or possibly get rid of office space altogether, saving significantly on rent. Meanwhile, remote employees save on commuting expenses as well as energy and time.

Objective performance management

A ROWE model focuses on employee performance rather than factors that are more easily influenced by unconscious biases. Concrete, quantifiable KPIs are more objective than criteria like culture fit and team leadership, thus creating a more equitable evaluation process.

Disadvantages of ROWE

ROWE also comes with potential disadvantages that may give companies pause, including less collaboration and communication, limited scope, and greater compliance risks.

Less collaboration and communication

Remote work can create challenges for highly collaborative environments to implement ROWE. Teams that are spread across different time zones or work vastly different schedules may experience communication delays that can hinder productivity.

Limited scope

ROWE principles may not be practical in some work environments. For starters, ROWE is not appropriate for customer-facing fields, such as customer service and retail, or employees who must be present at a job site, like office managers and maintenance staff. It’s also not suitable for new or inexperienced workers who need lots of training and support.

Greater compliance risks

ROWE’s work-from-anywhere policies can also result in compliance issues and tax complications. This is especially true if employees are working abroad or the HR department is inexperienced with these kinds of policies. ROWE can also sometimes backfire if it creates a company culture that motivates employees to engage in undesirable or unethical behavior in order to achieve results and meet targets.

Should you implement a ROWE?

Switching to a results-only workplace is a big transition, but it may pay off for your company in the long run in terms of higher job satisfaction, lower turnover, and better profits. The right HR software stack can make the transition easier and improve your performance management process. 

Check out our HR software and performance management software guides to explore tools that will help you get started.

The post Rewarding Performance in a Results-Only Work Environment appeared first on TechnologyAdvice.