How tech can support your business’ DEI initiative

Here’s a special alert for our AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) readers: a new collaboration with K-pop superstars BTS. And if that’s not your cup of tea, perhaps a 6K-piece Rivendell set from Lord of the Rings might entice you.

Hot off the SMB press this week:

• How you can use tech to support your DEI efforts.
• The power of asynchronous learning activities for employee development and retention.

But first, here are some headlines that caught our attention this week.

TL; DR

This week's highlight reel

• TikTok to ShipShop. The social media platform has launched an in-app shopping feature in the U.S. that allows users to buy goods directly from brands. It’s a bold move, especially considering that rival Instagram is moving in the exact opposite direction — shifting their focus from e-commerce to advertising.
• Orange-mageddon. First, it was eggs. Now, U.S. consumers face another threat to their breakfast spreads: Orange juice futures (AKA, contracts to buy and sell OJ) have almost doubled in value compared to last year due to an unusually small orange crop coming out of Florida. Guess we’ll have to get our Vitamin C fix with “Cranberry Dreams.”
• You better BELIEVE it. If you’ve ever wanted to taste those shortbread biscuits from Ted Lasso, you’re in luck — Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is launching a special flavor called “biscuits with the boss” in homage to the Apple TV+ series.  Let’s hope the ice cream will be “like seeing Billy Joel perform live. Never disappoints.” 
• The happiest place on Earth? Disney employees are pushing back at CEO Bob Iger’s new return-to-office mandate, which would change their current hybrid schedule of 2 to 3 days in office to at least 4 days. Just goes to show: Even at the company “where dreams come true,” the desire for flexibility and remote work still reigns supreme. 

GET TECHY

8 tips for using tech to boost DEI

We all know DEI is an important initiative for most businesses. If you need a reminder: A diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace leads to better decision making, attracting and retaining top talent pools, increased creativity and innovation… the list goes on and on. You straight-up get better returns when you make DEI a priority. 

So if you’re looking to boost DEI in your org (we know you are), it’s important to make efforts throughout the employee lifecycle — starting with hiring and ending with the exit interview. And we’ve got good news for you: This all becomes way easier when you use the glorious power of technology. 

Here are 8 tips to boosting DEI with the right tech:

1. Create a candidate-focused career site.
Here’s some jarring news: Your hiring process — from the very first moment — could very well be harming under-represented groups. 

How? You could unknowingly include some discouraging language in your job description, are unclear about the necessary qualifications for a position, or force candidates to jump through a dozen hoops just to get their application in your hand. Suddenly, your selection process is inherently biased against demographics who consequently can’t or choose not to apply. Totally shrinking the top of your candidate pipeline. Yikes.

Instead, overcome the self-selection bias by using language that encourages candidates to apply for the job. And definitely don’t make them type their whole resume into your site, only to have them attach their resume later. (We mean. Come on.)

2. Offer a self-service promotion playbook.
At the end of the day, you want your team to know that their talent advancement comes from what they can do, not who they are. So, you need to articulate your skills-based approach for career advancement.

When employees can understand how a decision (such as a raise) is made, they’ll gain confidence in you and your processes.

🔥 Tip: Snag our Equal Opportunity Policy starter template to express your commitment to treating all employees fairly and equally.

👉 See all 8 tips.

WE ALL SYNC FOR ASYNC

Facilitating continuous training with async learning activities

We *love* training.
Close to the point of obsession. Whether the training is for your new hires or your ten-year company veterans, it is a must for all employees. 

Why? You mean besides employee growth and professional skill development? We’ve found that companies that held frequent and continual training sessions and devoted resources to employee development experienced significantly longer employee tenure. And almost half of businesses that said they focused more on onboarding and training during the pandemic reported a significant increase in revenue.

And one of the best training methods?
If you’re not already familiar, allow us to introduce you to asynchronous training: self-led online learning that makes training engaging and most importantly, accessible to all of your employees (in office or remote). 

It also not only gives employees the chance to move at their own pace, but also offers them multiple ways to engage with learning content — whenever and wherever they need it.

Intrigued? Here’s how to set your team up with engaging asynchronous learning activities:

1. Build your knowledge base. For this type of learning to work, you need to document your best practices and processes. You’ll want to store it in a single location that’s accessible and easy to use (*cough* Trainual *cough*).
2. Leverage video resources. The great thing about asynchronous learning: It allows you to be innovative and engaging with your learning materials. So, don’t limit yourself to the written word — record training content to show employees exactly how it’s done. 
3. Gamify learning. The more fun employees have with learning, the easier it'll be for them to soak up knowledge. In fact, training games are proven to help with retention. To gamify your training, add quizzes or make your training a competition amongst employees. Offering small prizes wouldn’t hurt either.

👉 Learn more about async learning. 

LOOK MA, WE MADE A PODCAST

This week on Organize Chaos

We have a question for you, and be totally real with us: How many 90% off post-V-day sale chocolates do you have left? If it’s none, hey — no judgment. If it’s most of them, we’re sending major props your way. And now that you’re thinking about those delicious, creamy, decadent chocolates… you’ve got a choice to make. 

Do you spend the next 10 minutes stuffing your face with all the mystery flavors (not a bad choice) or do you pull up a mini episode of the best SMB podcast EVER, Organize Chaos? Yeah, you know what to do. 

Throughout the week, founder and CEO of Trainual, Chris Ronzio, offers up free entrepreneurial and small business leadership advice on the podcast, covering everything from people to processes to productivity — and how to organize your life around it all. The best part? Each bite-sized episode is less than 10 minutes.

Check out some of our most recent episodes:

• How to handle copycat competition.‍
• The business strategy behind a $25,000 dinner.