Let’s be honest, work is stressful. It’s up to you to create an environment where your employees can thrive and successfully navigate increasing workloads, distractions, negativity, and changes in the workplace. 

According to The American Institute of Stress, 75 percent of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. Additionally, 80 percent of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress, and 42 percent say their co-workers need such help. It’s up to employers to help employees handle everyday stress. 

Getting a handle on employee stress not only increases productivity and improves overall employee well-being, it also prepares your team to handle events that are even more stressful or worrisome. Tapping into your employees’ emotional intelligence refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.

Here are some emotionally intelligent tips to help your employees better manage stress: 

You’ve heard it a million times: keep your social media presence professional. Facebook, Twitter and, of course, LinkedIn are now riddled with employers and recruiters searching and researching potential hires. 

But Instagram is a safe zone, right? You can post there freely and a potential employer would never see it. 

Wrong.

The 2018 Recruiter Nation survey from Jobvite found 25 percent of recruiters are investing in Instagram recruiting efforts. An even greater number of millennial recruiters (35 percent) see the value of the social media site as a talent source. 

This trend is actually a good thing for young professionals. It’s another chance to show recruiters and employers just how awesome you are. When you approach Instagram like a trained job seeker, you increase the chances of getting noticed for your dream job.

Congratulations! Summer is here, the hectic days leading up to graduation are over, and now you and the students you’ve helped mold can relax. For a minute.

OK, that minute is up! As your newly-graduated students move into active job seeker status, there are several tasks you can encourage those brand new alumni (or even current students) to do throughout the summer to gain valuable experience, learn new skills, and get ready for the workforce.

Here’s a summer to-do list you can download and share with recent grads and students:

No employer wants to ever consider having to lay off a large portion of their workforce — but it happens. In 2019, alone, we’ve already seen major layoffs from large companies like General Motors, Buzzfeed and, most recently, the final white-collar cuts by Ford. Smaller organizations like local factories, school districts, or even fire departments have also had to let a significant number of employees go.

Sometimes, layoffs can’t be avoided in order to keep the company afloat. But whenever possible, employers should offer displaced employees the best severance packages and support they can. It’s important to show you care for their well-being. After all, many of these individuals have given years to your organization.

The question then becomes: what’s the best way to support displaced employees? To find that answer, you need to understand the greatest worries of displaced workers. Then, find ways to alleviate the specific fears of your displaced workforce with a severance package that offers more than a modest payout.

Here are three typical — and understandable — concerns of laid-off employees you need to consider when determining the offerings of your severance packages:

Right now, unemployment is the lowest it’s been in over a decade. In fact, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 3.9 percent of Americans were out of work at the end of 2018 and those record lows have maintained through the first quarter of 2019. While this is great news for employees, employers are having an incredibly hard time finding qualified candidates.

Many employers are failing to attract talent right from the beginning of their hiring process. They’re not paying enough attention to their job descriptions. And as a result, job seekers are ignoring the company’s available opportunities.

Having great job descriptions means more than updating the information about the role. You also need to craft them in a way that gains skilled job seekers’ interest and trust. If you want to successfully attract talent, it’s time to learn more about how job seekers interpret job descriptions and what are their expectations.

Here are four secrets to making your job descriptions more appealing to candidates:

When companies like Uber and Postmates started, they expanded the number of gig economy jobs available. In fact, a 2018 report from Upwork revealed, in the past five years, the number of American freelancers increased from 3.7 to 56.7 million. While many anticipated the increased amount of gig and freelancing jobs would change how we thought about career paths, few realized how popular the option would be among young people.

The Upwork report found 45 percent of college-aged young adults (18 to 21-year-olds) are already freelancers. Remarkably, 42 percent of survey respondents between the ages of 22 and 34 continue in the gig economy.

To offer students the best advice to help them navigate this new approach to their career, you need to understand the difference between a traditional career path and one in the gig economy. Here are four steps to take so you can prepare your students for a gig economy jobs: