Pride Month: Getting Involved

All of June, LBGTQ+ communities come together all over the world to proudly celebrate their identities and experiences in what is known as Pride Month. While there has been significant progress toward equality for the LGBTQIA+ community in more recent years, the collective community continues to face various forms of exclusion and discrimination.

A simple Google search to find your local LGBTQ+ Center is a great way to get involved, not just during the month of June, but throughout the year. These local centers are often overlooked, especially in rural areas, and can be life changing for youth. If you are interested in getting involved outside of your local community, below are just a few of the national nonprofits working tirelessly to advocate for equality, provide access to health care and support, protect basic rights for the LGBTQIA+ community, and eliminate discrimination, that you can get involved with.

Advocacy

• Out & Equal Workplace Advocates - Out & Equal is the global convener, thought leader and catalyst actively working to achieve workplaces of equality and belonging - supporting LGBTQ+ employees and leaders who thrive in their careers and lives and achieve greater impact on the world.

• GLAAD Inc. - GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and creates a world where everyone can live the life they love.

• Pride Foundation - Pride Foundation fuels transformational movements to advance equity and justice for LGBTQ+ people in all communities across the Northwest.

• SAGE - A national advocacy and services organization that’s been looking out for LGBT elders since 1978. We build welcoming communities and keep our issues in the national conversation to ensure a fulfilling future for all LGBT people.

Health Care

• AIDS United - AIDS United’s mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the United States. AIDS United envisions a time when all people, governments, and organizations commit to ending the epidemic and strengthening the health, well-being, and human rights of everyone impacted by HIV.

• Resource Center - Resource Center is a trusted leader that empowers the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) communities and all people affected by HIV through improving health and wellness, strengthening families and communities and providing transformative education and advocacy.

Legal Services

• Transgender Law Center - Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.

• GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) - Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation. GLAD is committed to fulfilling this mission with urgency and perseverance. To succeed, we will lead boldly and be guided by the following aspirational values.

• American Civil Liberties Union Foundation - For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country. Whether it’s achieving full equality for LGBT people, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age of widespread government surveillance, ending mass incarceration, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach.

Social Support

• The Trevor Project - The Trevor Project is the leading and only accredited national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people under the age of 25. The Trevor Project offers a suite of crisis intervention and suicide prevention programs, including TrevorLifeline, TrevorText, and TrevorChat as well as a peer-to-peer social network support for LGBTQ young people under the age of 25, TrevorSpace. Trevor also offers an education program with resources for youth-serving adults and organizations, a legislative advocacy department fighting for pro-LGBTQ legislation and against anti-LGBTQ rhetoric/policy positions, and conducts research to discover the most effective means to help young LGBTQ people in crisis and end suicide.

• Point Foundation - Point Foundation empowers promising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential - despite the obstacles often put before them - to make a significant impact on society. Point is the nation's largest scholarship provider to LGBTQ students of merit; granting more than 400 scholarships since 2002. Point promotes change through scholarship funding, mentorship, leadership development, and community service training. Upon completing their tenure as scholars, Point Alumni have access to the Point community, resources, and leadership programming. Point continues to explore ways to support LGBTQ students, such as a Community College Scholarship Program (initial funding thanks to Wells Fargo), assisting LGBTQ students in their final year at a community college who are planning to transfer to a four-year college or university. For 2018-2019, Point is providing financial and programmatic support to 98 students.

Hireforce is committed to advocating for equality and work towards eliminating discrimination in the workplace, with the individuals and corporations we partner with, and in our everyday lives.

Minimizing Distractions, Increasing Optimization

Whether your job is fully remote, you’re in the office, or you’re beginning to phase back into going into the office, there are endless distractions that keep you from focusing fully on your work.

We all face distractions every day that lower our productivity and increase our stress. Adopting new habits can help you control these distractions. Make it clear to people when you don't want to be disturbed, remove yourself from distracting environments to find somewhere quiet to work where you can focus, and keep your to-do lists clear and manageable.

Being able to limit these distractions can help you minimize the amount of context switching you’re doing on a daily basis.

Context Switching

Context Switching is breaking your focus on the task at hand to think about something else such as reading an email or slack notification or responding to a text. Context Switching occurs when you abandon your current task and move on to another task without completing the first.

Negative Effects of Context Switching

• Context switching steals up to 80% of your time.

  • Most workers spend an average of 1 minute and 15 seconds on a task before some kind of interruption.

  • Multitaskers take 50% longer to finish a given task.

• Context Switching damages your brain

  • When we repeatedly tackle multiple things at once, information is processed in the wrong parts of the brain, messing up our thinking patterns permanently.

    • One study found that performing multiple cognitive tasks simultaneously can lead to declines in IQ scores of up to 15 points.

    • Another study found that the brains of heavy multitaskers had “smaller gray matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex” which explains their reduced cognitive control performance.

  • Heavy multitasking has been proven to weaken your memory.

• Context Switching lowers the quality of your work

  • Focusing on one task at a time = 100% of your productive time available

    • Task switching between two tasks at a time = 40% of your productive time for each and 20% lost to context switching ₁

    • Task switching between three tasks at a time = 20% of your productive time for each and 40% lost to context switching

Minimize Interruptions and Avoid Constant Context Switching

1. Time Block Your Day

   • Time blocking is the practice of planning out every moment of your day in advance and dedicating specific time “blocks” for certain tasks and responsibilities.

     • Start with your high-level priorities

     • Add blocks for reactive tasks each day - responding to email, Slack, etc.

     • Place buffers in between tasks - If you assume you can switch gears on the spot, you’re going to end up frustrated and behind schedule.

     • Schedule your breaks, not just lunch

     • Overestimate how long things will take (at least to start) - don’t be over-optimistic with your day until you have a solid understanding of what you can get done in a given period of time

     • Tell people what you’re doing - make sure the people around you understand what you’re working on, when you’re available, and set realistic expectations on communication and collaboration.

     • Revise as needed - try to be as realistic as possible when you set your schedule but be prepared to move things around or throw it out for a day if a priority task needs your attention

2. Build a Habit of single tasking during your day

   • Focusing on one task at a time can make you up to 80% more productive than splitting your attention across multiple tasks

3. Turn off Notifications on email, slack, iCloud messages, etc.

   • Define in your time block when you will check email, slack, etc.

4. Take Breaks

   • Use breathing exercises to combat stress. The anxiety of too many tasks makes it easier to context switch. Instead, take a few minutes to try a simple breathing exercise that will calm you down:

     • Sit somewhere comfortable with your back straight

     • Close your eyes and begin breathing through your nose

     • Inhale for a count of two

     • Hold your breath for a count of one

     • Exhale gently through your mouth for a count of four

     • Finish by holding your breath for one second and then repeat

   • Stretch, workout, or go for a quick walk. Even small moments of exercise during the day can help you stay focused for longer. If you can take a break outside, fresh air has been found to increase focus and balance.

   • Watch a funny video or something else relaxing. Breaks don’t have to be ‘productive’. Doing something you enjoy is a great way to quickly break out of the cycle of work and recharge your focus.

5. Disconnect from "Work Mode"

   • Record your progress. Start by acknowledging what you accomplished, tasks completed, time spent on Focus Work.

   • Organize any uncompleted tasks. Put everything in a place so it won’t pull at your attention, this could mean adding to your to-do list, updating your calendar, or setting reminders.

   • Glance at the week ahead. Take a second to make sure there’s nothing big on the horizon you’re forgetting. The goal is to convince yourself that you don’t need to ‘check in’ later when you’re trying to relax.

   • Acknowledge that the day is over. Do something to signal that you’re finished for the day. This could be closing your laptop and putting it away or even saying the words “Workday complete”.

You’re never going to be able to remove all the distractions in your daily life, but you can certainly make great progress against context switching and minimizing distractions. Start with building one or two habits into your daily life and grow upon that. 

₁ Context switching: Why jumping between tasks is killing your productivity

  MacKay

  https://blog.rescuetime.com/context-switching/

Ways to Support the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

By Julianne Chang

Hireforce has developed a greater awareness of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month now more than ever. The alarming rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans over the last year is heartbreaking to witness. This is yet another reminder that we must all use our voices to reject racism in all forms.

Hireforce strongly condemns violence of any kind, especially racial violence and hate crimes. We stand in support of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The month of May, we honor our AAPI brothers and sisters. Asian American immigrants and Pacific Islanders contribute greatly to the U.S. economy. This is a time to recognize their achievements and how they have strengthened our communities. Building on our commitment to help others who are looking to learn, unlearn, donate, or take action, here are some resources and ways to support the AAPI community.

Stop AAPI Hate

An organization launched by the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University. Stop AAPI Hate offers educational, legal, and local resources. Stop AAPI Hate also tracks and responds to incidents of hate, harassment, physical assault, discrimination and more.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

A non-profit and civil rights organization that provides legal services and education on behalf of low-income Asian Pacific American communities. AAJC’s mission is to advance civil and human rights for Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all.

Asian Mental Health Collective

A non-profit organization with a mission to normalize and de-stigmatize mental health within the Asian community. AMHC provides resources that are easily available and accessible to Asian communities worldwide.

Asian Mental Health Project

Asian Mental Health project aims to educate all Asian communities about mental health, empower people to identify issues and seek help, and create a safe space to share experiences.

Asians Are Strong

A movement formed to promote physical safety, unity, and proactive not passive. Asians Are Strong offers self-defense tutorials and workshops to empower the Asian community and encourage everyone to help one another.

Hollaback!

Hollaback! operates to end harassment in all forms including online, the workplace, transportation, protests, the polling booth, and all identities who are treated as “less than” just for being who they are. Hollaback! collects stories of harassment and even train people to respond to, intervene in, and heal from harassment.

Compassion in Oakland

A movement formed to support our Elderly Asians by offering to chaperone anyone within Oakland’s Chinatown neighborhood. Compassion in Oakland’s mission is to promote safety and community especially to those who are vulnerable.

Why Your Company Should Consider Hiring Salesforce Contractors

At some point, every business needs to bring on additional help. Most of the time, a company’s immediate thought is to direct hire, rather than considering the benefits of hiring a contractor. There are several positives to note when hiring contractors, that aren’t available when hiring full time employees:

Less commitment on your end

• It’s not uncommon for companies to be hesitant when agreeing to hire a contractor from a third-party recruitment firm. The beauty of working with Hireforce is that if things change on your end, such as a delay in project start date or a change in budget, or in the off chance you’re not satisfied with the contractor for whatever reason, you can end the agreement immediately.

You may currently be overlooking your perfect fit because of sponsorship restrictions

• Considering contractors opens up your candidate pool to some exceptional talent that you may have otherwise overlooked because of visa sponsorship restrictions your company may have. Hireforce handles the logistics behind working with Salesforce contract professionals so you can focus on what is most important to you; finding reliable talent to get the job done.

There is (almost) always a potential for full-time conversion if you fall in love

• Contract-to-hire or temp-to-hire is becoming an increasingly popular way for companies and their employees to feel each other out prior to making the commitment. As extensive as your interview process is, nothing compares to working face to face (or screen to screen) with someone for a few months when it comes to deciding whether they’re a good fit for your organization.

Bring on someone who can hit the ground running

• There are many factors to consider when hiring FTE Salesforce professionals such as: do you have the project pipeline that will keep them engaged and interested, soft skills, culture fit, likelihood of staying with your organization long-term, etc.). Hiring contractors who have niche expertise for specific projects, working only on what is needed and when, will end up saving your company time and money in the long run.

You set the expectations

• We’re frequently asked about what happens if there are less (or more) hours of work available for the contractor than initially indicated. Once a contractor is hired on, you can feel free to discuss weekly hours expectations with the contractor. Hireforce will only ever bill for hours worked and approved by the client.

• Whether you need someone to work five or 40 hours per week, for two weeks or two years, we’ve got you covered.

Salesforce’s Sales Cloud, Reimagined

In October 2020 Salesforce published the fourth edition of its State of the Connected Customer research report, an “annual study of how customer expectations and behaviors are changing as businesses, technology and society at large evolve.” This was Salesforce's largest survey yet, gathering over 15,000 responses across 27 countries and six continents.

The survey revealed that 81% of customers around the world expect to conduct more business online after the pandemic than they did before. With that, 51% of salespeople say they’ll travel less for work after the pandemic than they did before, with only 16% disagreeing with the statement. In addition, 47% of surveyors predict that most selling will be done virtually moving forward.

With these staggering results of a shift to a larger online presence in sales, Salesforce did what Salesforce does and revamped Sales Cloud. A few key features of the reimagined Sales Cloud include:

• Salesforce Meetings allows virtual conversations to be more engaging, with a 360 view of all attendees’ account history, service cases and bios on a single screen during the meeting, and automated action items for salespeople after the call.

• AI-powered predictions, insights and automated explanations with Tableau Business Science lets sales teams analyze data and make smart decisions, faster, without relying on a data scientist — for example, when updating quotas, looking at forecast accuracy or reassessing selling strategies — all using clicks, not code.

• MuleSoft Composer for Salesforce connects data and apps without writing code so sales operations teams can connect apps and systems to Salesforce, automate sales processes, and unlock richer sales insights without waiting on development resources.

• Customers can find ready-to-install apps integrated with Sales Cloud on the Salesforce AppExchange — the world’s leading enterprise cloud marketplace. In addition, customers can connect to the right consulting partner to implement scalable Sales Cloud solutions for their specific business needs through the Consultant Finder on AppExchange.

As always, Salesforce released a trailhead highlighting what’s new with Sales Cloud that you can find here. This trailhead shows you how to:

• Access your forecasting from anywhere.

• Leverage sales cadences on any top sales object, at any stage of the sales cycle or deal.

• Leverage even more field safety capabilities within the Salesforce Maps Field Safety Kit.

What new feature are you most excited to utilize in your business?