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While there are many benefits to having a shared collaborative environment (frequent communication, more effective use of space, etc.), it’s not all sunshine and roses.

For all their faults, walls, doors and cubicles are excellent sound barriers. They cut out distractions and work to keep your private conversations private. But not all noise is the same. Some sounds—like music—are meant to be shared.

Unfortunately for country music and hip-hop aficionados, not everyone has the same taste in music. When you’re in a closed environment, this doesn’t matter: you can blast Britney Spears all day, and no one will stop you.

But with open office layouts, music can mean the difference between a productive day and a splitting headache. After all, one person’s Pop Trash is another person’s Treasure.

So what’s to be done? Should HR embrace the benefits of the office radio, or toss it like the fax machine?

The sound of music

Work can be boring. It can be mundane, and it can be repetitive. Sometimes it can feel like one day drags on for weeks. All of these are normal, okay things to feel. But they’re also feelings you don’t want your team to experience very often, or they won’t be working for you much longer.

Music is an easy way to keep people stimulated. It’s HR’s job to keep your team engaged, so if music is what it takes, why not embrace it?

Many people swear that music helps them concentrate and keeps them performing at a high level. Whether it’s the beat of the music or a simple white noise effect doesn’t really matter. If it works, it works.

Of course, neither making the day pass faster or helping people concentrate are good reasons for a shared office radio. That takes us to the final, and perhaps most important reason to embrace music. Like so many other things, it’s all about culture.

If you’re at all interested in HR, culture is (or should be) at the core of everything you do. You build a common environment. You built a common brand, a common writing style, and even common out-of-office messages. If you want a common culture, you should create a common soundscape too.

The please-drown-me of music

On the other hand, many of the problems shared office spaces create are only further exacerbated by an office radio:

• Trying to have a conversation? Sorry, I can’t hear you over AC/DC.
• Trying to concentrate? Not possible, The White Stripes are drumming on your brain.
• Trying to talk on the phone? Yes, that is Beyoncé in the background.

Worse still, office radio suffer from the same problem as many common resources: who’s in charge? Who should make sure it’s still working? Who turns it on and off each day? As you know, “it’s not my job.”

Most importantly though, not everyone likes the same music. It’s not just rude to subject people to music they don’t like: it’s cruel.

The sound of compromise

Before you plug in (or unplug) the nearest radio, get feedback from your team. Make it anonymous for best results.

If most people are interested and there’s no strong opposition, put the radio closest to the most enthusiastic people, keep it at a reasonable volume, and make it clear that anyone can shut it off at any time for any reason.

If someone is strongly opposed, or people don’t really care, consider promoting a common Internet radio station. People can opt-in when the mood suits them, and keep it off the rest of the time.

If it’s a collaborative process, your team might even learn a little bit more about each other. Everyone wins.

This article originally appeared on TLNT as Is Office Radio Music to HR’s Ears?.

Joseph Fung is co-founder and CEO of TribeHR, pioneer of the industry’s first social HR platform. Try it today.

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I field dozens of calls from salespeople and potential business partners every week, so this in itself wasn’t an exciting occurrence.

What was interesting, however, was the complete misalignment between the centralized IT purchasing services the gentleman on the phone wanted me to invest in, and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies I promote to my team.

This got me thinking. Not about BYOD in and of itself — I’m a fan, and its benefits have been covered extensively, including most recently here on TLNT by Michelle Smith — but rather about who is responsible for advocating for it.

What if as the CEO, I had found myself persuaded by that telemarketer to scrap our BYOD policy? Or what if I had opposed BYOD to begin with?

In a traditional business, hardware purchasing decisions are largely left in the hands of an operations, IT, procurement, or related department. But in a social and mobile world, devices are more than just technology, aren’t they? Indeed, more than half of people would rather lose their wallet than their phone.

If our cell phones are so vital to our lifestyles and senses of self, do the very devices we use not all at once become a system of engagement, an employment perk, and a compelling recruiting tool?

When it comes down to it, should HR be the one to insist on BYOD?

Stay Ahead or Fall Behind

HR’s role as an effective strategic partner means anticipating future workforce trends, and making sure that your organization has the policies and procedures in place to continue to thrive. BYOD — despite its limitations — isn’t going away, so it’s HR’s job to prepare for it.

The latest generation of employees expects to have access to their mobile device 24/7, including while they’re on the job. You may find that they tolerate carrying two devices, but they’re not happy about it. So why start off on the wrong foot?

Even if IT or purchasing resists, HR needs to wade through the wants and needs of (potentially petty) company politics, and insist on the policies that make most sense strategically. If this means shaking things up a little bit, then so be it.

Ultimately, the price of devices has dropped remarkably, security has never been better, employees have never been more informed, and there are only a handful of market leaders.

If you can support both Windows and Mac PC environments, you can support iOS, Blackberry, and Android personal devices, too. If necessary, download some of the tech support requirements onto your employees’ service providers. That’s what they’re there for.

Alignment and Economics Trump Everything

On the other hand, maybe you can’t support inter-operability on a half-dozen different mobile devices and operating systems. Keeping all of your IT needs in-house guarantees that when there’s a problem, you know who’s in charge of fixing it.

Perhaps more importantly, economies of scale mean that a centralized purchaser can get better device and service pricing schemes than any individual employee. Compare that to when your employees are expected to do the shopping and front the cost of their devices: as a group, you could end up spending way more than you need to.

Finally, don’t forget about the minority of employees who don’t own and aren’t interested in owning their own device. Do you provision equipment for these employees, but not the rest? Do you insist they incur a significant expense they wouldn’t otherwise undertake? The simplest solution is to keep purchasing in-house.

A Battle Worth Fighting

BYOD is important, but it might not necessarily be your top priority. That’s okay. When developing your HR plan, consider where BYOD falls into the grander scheme of social HR for your business.

If your IT and executive leadership are receptive to social HR, use that as a platform to push for BYOD. But if they’re hesitant on social HR yet receptive to BYOD, start with BYOD and work your way up from there.

In the end, HR does need to insist on BYOD. You can’t afford not to.

This article originally appeared on TLNT as Smart Device Policies: If HR Doesn't Insist on them, Nobody Else Will.

Joseph Fung is co-founder and CEO of TribeHR, pioneer of the industry’s first social HR platform. Follow TribeHR on Twitter!

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If you’re like a growing number of companies, the answer is “team bonding.”

Fitness events like mud runs, bike trips, and other sporting challenges are increasingly common in businesses of all sizes, as companies work to increase employee engagement through teamwork, while simultaneously promoting healthy lifestyles and wellness for their workers.

Mud runs: For businesses too! Flickr/Jeff Wright

For some employees, however, participation is a luxury that’s far out of reach. What happens if other commitments, different abilities, or varied interests keep some of your team from participating? Is physical exercise the best way, or will it work to marginalize some of your staff?

Low-impact, high results

For your most enthusiastic fitness buffs, weekend-long bike trips and iron man competitions are the only way to go. But for the rest of us, there are plenty of low-impact fitness activities that can be accessible for the entire team.

Need an extra-low barrier to entry? Leverage the many inexpensive tools available that will remind your team to take stretching breaks, or organize times for yoga, meditation, or tai chi — you won’t need a dedicated fitness facility or expensive equipment. Office yoga, for example, doesn’t have to mean pricy private instructors: start by simply circulating top yoga exercises that can be done in a cubicle.

If you’re keen to organize something more team-oriented, charity walks and other such events make it easy for anyone to join in, either by fundraising, donating, volunteering, or participating. And you can always put together a DIY activity, like a lunchtime picnic in the park with frisbees and footballs to pass around.

Fitness on your own time

There’s no doubt that healthy employees are happier and more productive, but you can demonstrate a commitment to your employees’ health and wellness without organizing grand events or making non-participants feel left out.

Start by taking a look at your workplace environment: do you have the facilities to accommodate workers who would like to jog or cycle to work? Are stairs and sidewalks being given as much priority as elevators and parking lots? Does your work-from-home policy help employees who would rather not own a car, but don’t want to get stuck outside in a storm?

Even if a fitness-friendly environment is out of reach for your workplace, you can still incentivize healthy living. Try keeping a regular supply of fruit for your team to snack on, or including gym memberships and activity allowances as a part of your benefits options.

Cheerleading the team

Don’t worry if employees opt to take on challenges with their colleagues in their own time. With the increasing blur between work and home, many workers view colleagues as personal friends as well as professional acquaintances.

If there’s interest, send along a group of cheerleaders for the big event, throw some company money behind the activity, and encourage the rest of the team to share and celebrate the things they love.

With a little bit of creativity, you can keep your team healthy in a way that fits your culture and welcomes everyone. As they say, “a team that sweats together, stays together.” The payoff for you is a stronger company (literally).

This article originally appeared on TLNT as Exercising Your Workplace Culture: Does Fitness Have a Place?.

Joseph Fung is co-founder and CEO of TribeHR, pioneer of the industry’s first social HR platform. Book a demo or start a free 30-day trial today.

To get notified by email when we have great new HR content, click here.

They were still tweens when American Idol first aired, they cringed (and secretly cheered) when Justin Bieber found fame using YouTube, and they grew up alongside Mark Zuckerberg as he went from baby-faced student to billionaire.

Gen Y grew up with messages from society telling them to work hard, because “you can change the future.” The dream for this latest batch of fresh faces to enter the talent pool is distinctly different from that of previous generations.

Accommodating Millennials can be both a blessing and a challenge for the HR function. They often want encouragement but with independence, and want flexibility but in a structured environment.

So should you bother to make changes? How far should they go?

The Zuckerberg effect

A recent UNC survey found that 92 percent of 21-to-24 year olds felt entrepreneurship education was vital to the new economy and job market. You can leverage the innovative ideas this generation is eager to share by coaching them towards entrepreneurial opportunities within your company. Google is the pioneer in this department, famously allowing employees to spend 20 percent of their time working on projects outside of their defined job role.

If you can help your employees find their passion, they’ll be unimaginably successful. The key is to recognize when young employees are getting listless in their jobs. Take the opportunity to coach them into defining their ideal job descriptions, and give them the opportunity to show how they can contribute.

Changes are worth pursuing, but how can you leverage the largely untapped entrepreneurial spirit of your young employees? Try quarterly business improvement pitches to senior management , one-day company idea hackathons, or simply establishing a mold-your-own-job policy so that restless talent feels comfortable proposing ways to shape their role to be a better fit over the long term.

Real-time feedback

By all definitions, Gen Y is a generation of digital natives that live in real-time on the Internet. Making your team comfortable at work means incorporating the digital elements of their external lives into the office environment, and for some businesses this can be a burden.

The capital required to launch new engagement initiatives can be substantial, and the threat to workers from other generations is very much real. Moderate your enthusiasm for Millennials by remembering that while your workplace needs to be prepared for the employees of the future, you also need to effectively manage the team you have today.

Start fostering a culture of open communication with small initiatives. One TribeHR customer, a growing SME in Toronto, has a large screen in their break room that shows progress updates from every member of the team — including the CEO. Change is easier to manage when there’s clear buy-in from the top, but that buy-in isn’t always easy to get—and sometimes it’s not worth trying to get it at all.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director at a customer in the UK tweets regularly, so that his team can always see what he’s thinking about, providing a channel for powerful personal interactions with company leadership in real-time. While you can’t always meet the boss for breakfast, you can always knowing what he’s chewing on — but is it worth the time and effort?

Making it work

Generation Y is transforming the workplace daily, and given the right opportunities, they’re poised to make a hugely positive impact. They’re not only the most highly educated workforce in history, but they also grew up with the world’s information at their fingertips, and an ingrained culture of sharing that information with others.

Above all, Millennials believe in looking for a chance to make a big impact. With the right tools and strategies, you can leverage the young workforce to launch your business into a more social, more knowledgeable, more engaged future. And you don’t have to break the bank doing it.

Generation Y employees are young and restless. Tap into that potential.

This article originally appeared on TLNT as Should Businesses Change to Better Accommodate Millennials?.

Joseph Fung is co-founder and CEO of TribeHR, pioneer of the industry’s first social HR platform. Book a demo or start a free 30-day trial today.

Quit being so efficient

Employees at every company hope to find success in their careers—who doesn’t? Once those pesky butterflies from the first few weeks of a new job go away and employees get settled into the daily routine, they’re able to get into a groove and handle their responsibilities with ever-increasing speed and precision. But this comfortable pattern, Inc. taught us this week, may not always be the most conducive to success.

Employees often get caught up in the pursuit of efficiency, losing sight of other important aspects of the job in the process, like valuing customer satisfaction. The author recommends producing swift results at work, to be sure, but cautions us to value moderation and prudence, as well.

Reach outside your shell

For employees with “Type A” personalities, an active attempt to stop being so efficient may seem a bit scary, but an article in Forbes this week tells us that accepting discomfort and the lessons that come with it is a surefire way to improve your learning. We’ve all heard of the notion that success is difficult to come by without taking risks.

In a competitive environment, employees and companies that allow themselves to step outside of their comfort zones—to speak up in an important meeting, for example, or offer to meet with a prospective client—are most likely to strike gold and reap career success.

Don't miss out

Golden opportunities like these are not always easy to come by, and according to TLNT this week, millennials are the generation most concerned by this. The term “FOMO,” or “Fear Of Missing Out,” and is largely self-explanatory.

Many young employees feel a sense of internal urgency at work that parallels their internal need to figure out what to do with their lives—where they want to settle down, who they want to surround themselves with, and what the rest of life has in store for them. The author advises employers to manage the FOMO phenomenon among millennial employees by maintaining strong and open lines of communication.

Widening awareness

It’s important for employers to accommodate their millennial employees in order to encourage their best work. At the same time, it’s vital for millennial employees to adhere to the pre-existing culture and habits of the business. At the end of the day, it’s really all about making an effort to relate to others, we learned this week from the Harvard Business Review.

In order to gain respect and influence at work, employees must master situational, personal, and solution awareness. By doing so, they can show others that they understand their outlook and opinion about any given circumstance, as well as their “Path to Progress.”

The ability to truly understand someone else’s point of view requires us to step out of our shells. This is a valuable skill for the workplace, to be sure, but it’s some solid general life advice, too. (You can thank us later!)

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