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9 Ways To Create A Fun Employee Referral Program

The success of an employee referral program hinges entirely on the active participation of employees, and we all know that in any organization employees are one of the biggest skeptics of any new program. It needs a lot of well planned interventions and communication to win employees over to your side and the same holds true with employee referrals. With referrals there is the added element of boredom setting in after sometime as the same process is repeated for every new opening.

Adding fun and excitement therefore becomes imperative to keep employees engaged with the program even after the initial euphoria over the program has settled down. Adding a bit of fun to the program helps keep things interesting and also spreads positive word of mouth about the program which helps to draw in more employees to participate in the program.

Below are some tips on how you can create a fun employee referral program that is truly appreciated by employees.

• The first and foremost thing to do is to add many more winners to the referral program instead of just one. The fun element goes up significantly if there are multiple chances of winning prizes throughout the program, even if the prizes are small in nature. For instance including movie tickets for someone whose referral manages to cross the 1st round of interview will add more excitement to the program.

• Surprise your employees every now and then by mixing things or adding new elements to the referral program. For instance you can introduce a double rewards hour where employees earn double the normal rewards for referrals made within that hour. Other ideas include holding surprise lotteries and raffles for employees whose referrals have made been successfully screened for interview.

• Hard to fill positions can be made fun by holding competitions with special prizes for employees who refer candidates for that position.

• Another way to keep things fun is to introduce limited time offers with attractive prizes where employees referring qualified candidates within that time frame earn special rewards.

• Gamification is a wonderful tool to promote fun and excitement in the program. Have a leaderboard displaying the points each employee has earned in the referral reward program and keep pitting them against each other to keep things interesting.

• Introduce points based rewards system where points are redeemable against prizes. Introduce bonus points from time to time for employees completing a specific action which adds more fun and surprise to the referral program

• Team competitions are another way to build fun into employee referrals. Special competitions between functions and departments with the winning prize going to the team with the maximum referrals are another way to promote both excitement and collaboration within teams.

• Organize drawings or raffles at scheduled times of the year. It could be in the form of a annual bumper draw like a vacation cruise or multiple small draws throughout the year for employees participating in the referral program

• Organize referral events and create videos and posters of employees having fun at these events and circulate them widely for people to relive those events and keep looking forward to the next one.

Adding fun to the referral program means putting your creative caps on and thinking from the point of view of what would interest employees and help them stay engaged and excited about the program. When you are able to think from that perspective, you are sure create a rocking and high-performing employee referral program.

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Parenting Tips During Divorce

The thought of going through a divorce is both heart wrenching and frightening for most people. Further, it is very common to feel like you have failed, or that you wish you could have done things differently. Support groups exist in many areas that can help with the emotional issues associated with divorce, and they can provide practical suggestions on how to move forward. The last thing many people want to deal with are the procedural issues that are associated with a divorce action.

If the parties getting divorced have minor children, one of the most difficult issues involves how to restructure each parent’s relationship and time with children. While kids are generally resilient and will adapt to the new situation, some may take the divorce especially hard. The key is for each parent to maintain a sense of normalcy with the children, to provide a strong sense of stability, and to refrain from putting the children in the middle of the parties’ disputes. The following tips might be helpful:

Remember that your kids still have two parents

It is common that one parent is commonly the “on duty” parent while the other is less involved due to work commitments outside of the home. In some cases, one parent is constantly absent from home, and the other is almost 100% responsible for childcare duties. During a divorce, the less involved or even the “absent” parent may suddenly become much more interested in spending time with the children. Sometimes, this increased interest generates tension between the divorcing couple. The parent who stayed at home resents the newfound interest and may view it as nothing more than a cynical legal ploy or strategy to hurt the parent who stayed at home. The other parent may view that resentment as an attempt to interfere with that parent’s relationship with the children.

While each of these views may have merit in certain cases, oftentimes, the tension is simply the product of both parents trying to cope with a very new situation. The key is for each parent to remember that he or she should do what is best for the children, and always put the interests of children first. Both parents should stress that each parent loves them. The children should understand that they did not cause the divorce (in many cases young children will believe they caused the divorce). In addition, the parents should work hard to make the parenting time transitions smooth and tension free.

Remember to be a parent, and not a friend

One common mistake in a divorce situation is for one or both parents to stop acting as parents and start acting more as friends. Parents are concerned about the impact the divorce is having on their kids. Sometimes this results in a breakdown of discipline and constant questions to child about what they want to do.

It is important to parents to help their children get through the transitions associated with a divorce. However, children still need structure in their lives. Further, by asking the children to make many critical decisions, the parents are unknowingly putting the children in the middle of the divorce. Even though some parents find it very difficult to communicate with the other parent during the divorce, such communication is typically critical for the children’s wellbeing.

Use patience when introducing the children to a “new” person

Transitioning the children into the new living situation is sometimes made more complicated by introducing a new girlfriend or boyfriend into the mix. First, introducing the children to a new “friend” during the divorce will frequently cause significant tension between the parents. The issue is no longer the children’s relationship with the parents, but also the children’s contact with a new person. Second, many new relationships will not last. Introducing the children to new people, only to have those people disappear from the children’s lives, can create a heightened sense of instability for the children. Finally, if you do not know the new person very well, you may not correctly anticipate how they interact with the children and how the children interact with them.

Each parent should exercise good judgment with respect to when and how the children meet a new “friend.” In most cases, the best approach is to wait a good period of time before introducing the children to a “friend.”

Don’t involve the kids in the divorce

It is rarely, if ever, appropriate to involve the children in the divorce. Involving the children means much more than taking them to court with you. Parents should not discuss the divorce case, the financial issues between the parties, motions filed by the other parent, positions the other parent has taken in court or the parenting time issues the parties are negotiating. It is widely recognized that children want and need to feel loved by both parents. When issues concerning the divorce are discussed with the children, they can feel forced to pick a side. This puts significant stress on the children.

Related to this issue, is the need to refrain from saying negative things about the other parent in front of the children. Neither parent should disparage the other parent to the children and should not let anyone else disparage the other parent in front of the children.

If you have issues concerning your divorce matter, you should contact an experienced family law attorney today.

Article provided by Law Offices of George M. Sanders, PC
Visit us at www.sandersfamilylaw.com

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Order Management Systems for E-commerce – Katalyst

Katalyst Technologies recently reported on the rise of e-commerce as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the sheer extent of the surge has surprised even us. According to Adobe and Forbes, these past few months have escalated industry growth an estimated four to six years. The $82.5 billion spent online in May marked a 77% increase over last year, with the state of Connecticut seeing a whopping 99% boost.

On the downside, however, with more e-commerce sales come more dissatisfied customers. 25% of people who have shopped online in the last three months say that they’ve had a negative experience. Clearly, there is room for improvement. A better order management system (OMS) such as Celero could be just what your organization needs.

What is an OMS?

An OMS is effectively a one-stop-shop for an e-commerce business’s functions: tracking sales and inventory, managing orders, ensuring security, and collecting data. What the customer experiences as the simple, streamlined process of placing an order is actually an intricate series of behind-the-scenes operations working step by step to flow efficiently.

A customer makes their way towards an e-commerce site, browses the selection of products, adds an item to their cart, and places the order. They can choose a payment method and shipping speed, and their order is placed. Especially with mobile ordering, all of this can be done in the span of about 30 seconds. Meanwhile, internally, the OMS is working on updating inventory and notifying users of their cart status. Furthermore, it is also processing the payment, informing the appropriate delivery company, and preparing to track information and status updates that the customer can access as they wait for their order to arrive. This process must be all be handled with encryption to protect sensitive information. That’s a lot to handle in just a couple of clicks!

Why It’s Necessary

With so many consumers turning to e-commerce now, an effective and easy and secure sales system is necessary to keep up with competitors. But it also makes things better for customers and employees by removing any unwelcome surprises from the order process. What happens if your site is not correctly integrated to manage inventory, and a customer orders a product that is out of stock? You’ve probably lost that customer for life. An OMS will not only make sure that no customer deals with the bait and switch of unassumingly ordering an out of stock item, but can also handle predictive analytics that prevents it from going out of stock in the first place.

If you have multiple warehouses, an OMS can properly balance orders based on priority and item allocation. If you have a brick and mortar location, it can indicate available physical stock. Operating without an efficient OMS will lead to unnecessary complications and stress for customers and employees alike.

How to Choose Your OMS

Depending on your organization’s needs, there are a number of things to consider when selecting an OMS. The experts at Katalyst are ready to assist you in implementing the best solution for your business.

Site integration. If you have an existing website, you will likely want to select an OMS that can complement it, rather than operate separately. Celero can be easily integrated with Shopify, Magento, Quickbooks, ShipStation, and many other leading industry products.

When you’re exploring new OMS solutions, it’s probably because you hope to grow your business. Not all systems are equipped to handle larger loads, so it’s important to select one that can accommodate your organization’s needs, now and in the future.

Customer functionality. The idea of opening an e-commerce site that allows servicing customers all over the world is exciting but also presents challenges. If your OMS is optimized to account for different currencies and languages, as well as determining the best global shipping strategies, it will make the process much smoother.

An effective OMS is the key to a strong e-commerce presence. Now is the time to scale your operations—and Katalyst can help.

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