www.hnmagazine.com HISPANIC NETWORK MAGAZINE
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Thrive together
Diversity and Inclusion are the principles that bind us together. At Alight we are committed to building a culture where; diversity is visible, valued and sustained, we drive awareness, accountability and community. This commitment extends to building upon the inclusivity and diversity of our suppliers whose business values are aligned with ours. We are actively pursuing diverse suppliers to ensure our suppliers provide competitively high-quality products and services. To learn more go to alight.com/supplier-diversity
Alight unlocks enterprise growth for the world's most influential companies with future ready human capital and business solutions. Learn more at alight.com .
you feel defensive. If youre prepared, its an opportunity.
5. How often will I receive formal and informal feedback?
Keep in mind that some people love feedback - especially posi- tive feedback - while others only want to learn about what they could do better. (Like me.) So first, explain your typical process. Frequency of formal per- formance appraisals. Feedback timelines for new hires. Basic stuff. Then go further. Since great leaders adapt to the needs of their employees, ask how the candidate prefers for feedback to be handled. Maybe youll agree - if the candidate is hired - to do weekly check-ins for the first 60 days. Maybe you'll agree to a for- mal review after 30 days. Maybe youll agree to a daily 10-minute Zoom call for a remote employee to answer questions, clear road- blocks and clarify tasks. Because how you prefer to provide feedback doesnt matter. What matters is that the way you deliver feedback helps your employees perform at their best.
6. What are your expectations regarding off-hours communication?
According to research published earlier this year in Journal of Management , formal policies dont limit the stress, anxiety and impact on personal time caused by after-hours emails. To make things worse, a study published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes shows that co-workers significantly overestimate how quickly senders expect replies to non-urgent emails - especially those sent outside normative hours like nights or weekends. But then theres this: Setting expectations up front does tend to reduce the negative impact of off-hours communication. So if you expect employees to be available outside of work hours, say so. Explain why, how, and under what conditions. And dont be tempted to soft-sell the frequency. Because then youre likely to lose a great employee once he or she figures out what you really expect.
7. What is something I dont want to know about this job?
No job is perfect. (Otherwise, it wouldnt be a job.) Maybe priorities regularly shift. (If you run a startup, priorities seem to shift from hour to hour.) Maybe job descriptions are more suggestive than absolute, and employees regularly wear different hats. Maybe you know exactly what you want the employee you hire to accomplish, but not how. Whatever it is, be honest. Not only is being candid the right thing to do, but oddly enough, it also might make the person you hire more likely to succeed. Research shows that telling someone that something will be hard - telling them they are likely to face road- blocks and resistance - helps them cope with the mental challenges that naturally occur. So dont sugarcoat the effort involved. Great candidates will love the challenge. Theyll embrace the opportunity to show that whatever they need to accomplish wont be that hard. At least not for them.
Jeff Haden is a keynote speaker, ghostwriter, LinkedIn Influencer, contrib- uting editor to Inc. , and the author of The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win.
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