McDonald’s is the master of workflow optimization.

They sell 2.36 billion hamburgers annually. While at college, I estimate I made at least 200,000 when I worked for them. Every one of those burgers was a process involving many tasks. In the kitchen, we had lots of processes. They were difficult to forget, and I’d often wake up shouting, “How many nuggets do you want?!”

McDonald’s processes are continually improved and optimized to be smoother and more efficient. I once discovered a technical – yet easy – process that saved me a lot of work. What was it? At the end of the article, I’ll tell you how I used a 5 step process to complete it.

In the meantime, let’s look at how Process Street can help optimize your workflows. To use workflow optimization, you need to know:

• What is workflow optimization?
• How do you optimize a workflow?
• Optimize your workflows with automation

Workflow documentation could have saved me from drowning in paper. 

I was in the process of presenting an English lesson. A mapped-out complex presentation. You will have given your fair share of presentations if you work in a team-driven business. You’ll know a plan is required to help you be efficient, avoid error, and be impactful. In short: optimized.

54% of companies believe mapping complex processes is challenging when automating workflows.

Workflow documentation can help to edit, track, and store the documents that shape your workflows. Process Street has created this article to help you understand the topic:

• What is workflow documentation?
• Benefits of workflow documentation
• How to document your workflows
• Make things easy with workflow documentation software

Employee onboarding best practices are the anchor to stop you from going adrift.

Surely, you’ve had that sinking feeling? The one where you’ve invested in a super new hire, but it didn’t work out. When it comes to new hires leaving early, you’re not the only fish in the sea. Gen Z spends just over two years in one job. That doesn’t seem long, leaving you with the feeling that something’s off.

What’s more worrying is that 30% of employees leave a job in the first 90 days. Maybe the answer is to be more realistic with new hires. By that, do we mean to tell them Gary in HR has a habit of misplacing paperwork, usually passports? No, there’s a better way. 

The truth is that excellent onboarding leads to 69% of employees staying with you for up to three years. Want in on some of the action? We thought so. That’s why Process Street has written this article to point you in the right direction.

These are the 5 best practices for employee onboarding:

• Onboarding tip #1: Use preboarding to get a quick start
• Onboarding tip #2: Have an onboarding roadmap
• Onboarding tip #3: Use your new hire’s insight
• Onboarding tip #4: Involve your entire organization
• Onboarding tip #5: Plan beyond the first year

Continuous improvement tools are essential.

They’re a means of increasing productivity while eliminating errors. And they’re closely associated with lean manufacturing, particularly in streamlining processes. Every process should be continuously improved, especially in a world where checking email alone costs us 1000 hours every year.

I once used a continuous improvement tool to transform my skill level in meditation. I was amazed at how quickly a process could be made leaner and more agile. If your organization has been wondering which continuous improvement tool to use, Process Street has written this guide with you in mind.

Here’s how to transform your process for success with continuous improvement tools:

• Continuous improvement 101
• What benefits can continuous improvement bring?
• The 5 continuous improvement tools you need

HR digital transformation reminded me of South Korea.

On a recent trip to Seoul, I automated my whole journey. My train tickets, flight tickets, insurance, and apartment key were on my phone. As a result, I felt more engaged on holiday. Which made me wonder, did I ever want to carry paper documents again?

Okay, carrying paper isn’t a difficult task. But as a process, it’s convoluted. Plus, it’s slow. I wasted less time due to automation. By adapting to change, I had a lot more fun.

Adapting to change – technological change – is at the heart of an HR digital transformation. However, it’s not an easy one to get right. It’s often expensive, with HR tech spending up by 57%. But try not to worry. This Process Street post will explain how to do it without breaking the bank:

• What is HR digital transformation?
• HR digital transformation benefits
• HR digital transformation roadmap
• HR digital transformation examples

My psychological contract was beginning to wear thin. 

Rats surrounded me. Then two tons of glass nearly fell on top of me. My job description, at that time, did not include kindness, reciprocity, and understanding. But an unwritten agreement with my employer made me include those qualities in my work.

The agreement I’m describing is an intangible concept. Please don’t be embarrassed; I had to look that word up too. One thing you might want to look up is that 57% of employees quit their jobs due to feeling disrespected at work. That’s where understanding and respecting the psychological contract can help.

At Process Street, we know you can trawl Google like a fishing boat with a broken net. That’s why we write posts to make topics easily accessible. Here’s one about the psychological contract:

• What is the psychological contract?
• The importance of the psychological contract
• Psychological contract example
• What happens when you breach a psychological contract in the workplace?
• Ways to improve and maintain the psychological contract

HR tips come in all shapes and sizes. However, the best tips are from experienced people managers.

A tip, and an unwritten rule, for working in a Japanese office is that you usually work in silence. When I worked in a Japanese company, my record was working eleven hours without saying a word to anyone. I practiced that task day after day. After sitting in silence for twelve months, I know myself well.

Learning the unwritten rules of any workplace can take time. All experienced HR managers know that. As well as concrete documented processes, you tend to pick up abstract rules during your career. As I progressed in a Japanese office, I discovered other unwritten rules, but for the moment, I’m going to share five unwritten rules we’ve collected from experienced HR experts in this Process Street article.

Here are 5 HR tips you need to know:

• Excellent communication comes from good relationships
• Be an active listener to employee feedback
• Make employee onboarding personal
• Simplify your process
• Let automation do the work for you

You must sometimes wonder if using employee onboarding email templates can be fruitful? Employees ignore 65% of emails; 96% of customers have unsubscribed from email lists.

The above statistics show that an email needs to be more effective than ever. With that said, email templates can be a gamble. You already know that if you’ve been searching Google. You’ve probably seen templates with more text than a phonebook and awful grammar.

However, email templates can save time, mainly when contacting new hires. At Process Street, we’ve created ten email templates to take HR managers through pre-boarding, onboarding, and right into a 90-day meeting. We’ve also edited the living daylights out of our templates. You’ll be getting friendly but succinct emails to make a great impression.

These are the email templates to use when onboarding new hires:

1. Pre-boarding email template
2. Employee onboarding process
3. Welcome email to a new employee from HR
4. Confirming the employee’s first day of work
5. Employee onboarding requirements
6. Virtual onboarding email template
7. Onboarding announcement email
8. Employee onboarding feedback email
9. Employee onboarding survey email
10. The 90-day email

86% of companies believe a multigenerational workforce is the key to success.

This success is due to a diverse workforce giving organizations more problem solving, varied perspectives, and diverse skills. This Process Street article will help you optimize and engage employees of all ages. At the end of the post, I’ll tell you about a secret famous butler I met in a multigenerational workforce.

Here’s how to understand and engage a multigenerational workforce:

• What is a multigenerational workforce?
• The strengths and weaknesses of each generation
• Five tips for engaging a multigenerational workforce

When I researched the unlimited PTO policy, I started thinking of a famous spy.

That’s because my eight-week paid time off was due to James Bond. 

I realized that while I sat in a Shanghai bakery. Ten years earlier, I’d bought a set of James Bond books in a bric-a-brac store. Before coming to China, I’d sold the books and made a considerable profit. 

I hadn’t intentionally taken an eight-week vacation, but I’ll explain that paradox at the end of the article. 

Whether eight weeks or one week, PTO (paid time off) is essential. It increases:

• Performance
• Productivity
• Well-being

Recently, unlimited PTO has exploded in popularity. This Process Street post will guide you through the drawbacks and benefits of this ever-popular policy. You can also use our new template on the subject with your free Process Street account.

Here are four key topics to help you understand and use an unlimited PTO policy:

• What is unlimited PTO?
• 3 Drawbacks of unlimited PTO
• 3 Benefits of unlimited PTO
• An unlimited PTO policy example