Keeping employees happy and productive is essential to the success of the office. It’s important to create an atmosphere where employees feel appreciated and inspired to stick around, not merely to cut down on turnover expenses. This blog post explores ten key factors that affect employee retention, such as possibilities for professional advancement, competitive pay, extensive benefits, and flexible work schedules.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “Agile?” It’d be no surprise if your mind goes straight to software engineering, given Agile’s origins as a self organized way of working for developers in the early 2000s. But in recent years, its methodologies have become ubiquitous as a highly efficient way for all teams to work, with its frameworks used everywhere from marketing to HR, in military operations, and beyond.

In the world of work, even the most exciting jobs, like being a scientist or a virus hunter, have their share of boring tasks. Neuroscience suggests that being bored can be good for you, but the question still stands: how can you deal with boredom in a way that keeps you engaged and productive?

Initiatives can’t succeed without the right resources. Nobody knows this better than Rita Khayat, Asana’s Head of PMO for Strategy and Operations. Khayat is responsible for keeping business-critical goals on track—which she does by allocating the right resources, at the right time, to the most important work. Khayat’s team is responsible for four main business areas within the CIO org: Resource management is essential for each of these areas.

A project dependency is a task that relies on the completion of a different task. This article breaks down key terms associated with dependencies and the different kinds of dependencies you may see in project management. Much like a relay race, projects are often completed by passing tasks from one team member to the next. Unlike a relay race, some project tasks require other tasks to move forward before they can be started. This relationship between tasks is known as a dependency.

Time and billing software helps companies keep track of billable time spent on client work. Without it, companies have no data on time worked and can’t figure out actual billable hours—leading to lost revenue from missing billable time entries. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best time and billing software for agencies and consultancies.

Rita Khayat is an expert at managing complex, company-wide programs. As Asana’s Head of PMO for Strategy and Operations, Khayat is responsible for keeping business-critical goals on track. She does this with clear processes, 20+ years of experience, and a knack for using Asana to its full potential. Khayat’s team is responsible for four main business areas within the CIO org: Together, these responsibilities span many different teams and require a high level of cross-functional coordination.

Slack AI is available for purchase on all paid subscriptions, helping customers to ignite employee productivity by unlocking the full potential of their data.

A block of hours agreement can be referred to by a number of other terms, such as a block of time, block contract, or prepaid hours agreement. Some client billing agreements involve invoicing upon completion of a project, or on a monthly or other scheduled basis. In most of these cases, the billing occurs after completion of some work. With a block of hours agreement, the company receives payment from a client prior to the completion of work, for a specified price and number of hours.

A cross-functional team is a permanent or temporary group of people with different types of experience working together to achieve a common goal. Cross-functional teams benefit companies because when team members with multiple skill sets work together, they can pursue company goals more efficiently. In this piece, we’ll explain what a cross-functional team is and provide tips for how to build one.