Recruitment – Getting It Right More Often

Posted on April 30, 2012 by CEO Leadership Skills

The Accounts Clerk had resigned and the Administration Manager leapt into action and placed an advertisement in the local paper for a replacement. Two weeks of frenzied résumé reading and interviews followed and a suitable replacement was found.

The Administration Manager was feeling very pleased with himself until the General Manager decided she was not getting the information she required and said they really needed an accountant. She was very surprised they had recruited another bookkeeper level person as she always intended to upgrade the accounts area when the opportunity arose. No problem, said the Administration Manager, she is on probation. I’ll just terminate her. They now have a claim made against them for unfair dismissal. This may succeed or they may get away with it. What effect does this have on other employees? How professional does management look? How much has this cost? How unfair was this on the new employee?

When the question is asked of managers “what is the next action after a resignation?” the response is invariably to advertise. This response is indicative of organisations that do not have a proper human resource management process for recruiting – probably one of the most expensive exercises undertaken by most managers. The cost of losing and replacing an employee ranges from three months pay to up to three times annual salary. This is an involved and important exercise, yet it is quite often carried out in an ad hoc way with often very serious and expensive consequences.

A human resource management process is necessary and people need to be trained in it.

The process needs to cover such issues as:

Who will be involved in the recruitment process? – This may include the supervisor, internal customers and peers.
Is the job necessary? – The job may be able to be combined with another job or be outsourced.
Does the job need redefining? – An up to date job description should be prepared.
Is it full time, part-time or can it be combined with another job? – The amount of work carried out by the job should be assessed to see if it can be restructured. New systems often change the size of some jobs. Recruitment is a good time to review this.
What type of person do we need? – The person needs to be described in terms of knowledge, experience, skills and attributes.
What do they have to do to be successful? – Specifically define what must they have done in the past to show they can do the job.
What type of competencies do they need? – Define the behaviours they must exhibit when they are doing the job. This is how they do the job.
Where can we best find such a person? – Decide on what you are going to ask for in an advertisement as “must haves”.
What is the best way of reaching them? – Do we use consultants or an employment agency? Is external advertising the best way? Print media, the Internet? Are these people already in the organisation? Would existing employees know anyone?
How will we know if they have what we want? – Define what you want to see in a résumé. This should show they have had the opportunity to acquire the “must haves”.
How do we screen the applicants? – Can we screen by reading résumés and over the telephone before face to face interviews?
How do we plan the interview? – The key pieces of information required should be defined with the key questions written out.
How will we make the final selection? – If this process is followed, the final decision making is easier. Only those that have demonstrated the “must haves” are on then short list. Some testing may be required for specific issues. Reference checking is a must. Who are the right people to ask and what shall we ask them?
What conditions will the person be recruited on? – If you have policies and systems in place for these this will also be a relatively easy decision.
How will we know we have made the right decision? – Having key measures of success in place before the appointment will make reviewing the new employee an easy task during the probation period.

While some people are good at recruitment, it needs a human resource management process that is known by all recruiters to obtain consistent results in an organisation. It is unlikely you would let an employee operate expensive equipment without training. Not having training for recruitment is expensive, time consuming and sends the wrong message to current and potential employees.

Guest Author:

Paul Phillips, Horizon Management Group.

Republished from CEO Online – your online business resource – www.ceoonline.com. Get valuable business tips and easy-to-read articles delivered direct to your inbox every week. Register NOW for your copy of CEO Online’s FREE e-newsletter: http://www.ceoonline.com.au/subscribe/

Six Ways To Preserve Your Most Valuable Asset – Your People

Posted on April 16, 2012 by CEO Leadership Skills

Staff retention is no longer just on the radar screen, it is now a top priority for corporate executives. And for good reasons. Companies that do not address their retention issues now will likely find themselves in a critical staffing shortage down the road as the war for talent heats up. Those that do will be able to preserve and develop their most valuable asset: their people.

Companies are seeing the number of voluntary resignations increase from year to year. According to a recent Monster-sponsored study, 40 percent of the 600 HR managers surveyed have seen turnover within their organisations increase in the past 12 months and 55 percent expect employee retention will continue to be a high to very high priority over the next five years.

The financial impact of such employee attrition is what really grabs the attention of management. Forty percent of companies report direct costs of $5,000 to $20,000 to replace a single employee, according to a recent talent retention survey. Indirect costs resulting from the impact of the turnover were reported to exceed $10,000 per employee.

Other research supports the retention concerns of HR and top management. A survey of 5,300 adults by Yahoo! HotJobs revealed that two-thirds of respondents are open to switching jobs, while a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll of about 420 middle-management and non-management employees indicated that as many as 76 percent of respondents are currently looking.

Interestingly, that percentage was comprised of 41 percent who were actively searching for a new job (i.e., those who were going on interviews and potentially ready to leave the organisation) and 35 percent who were passively job searching (i.e., those who had posted resumes online or were browsing job postings, but were not yet certain they wanted to leave).

The results of these surveys indicate that the majority of employees are certainly open to switching jobs; however, only a smaller portion has actually made the decision to leave.

Companies that can quickly implement changes that successfully address employees’ reasons for leaving may be able to increase staff retention while attracting employees from competitors. In the current environment where employee turnover rates can range from 10 percent to 40 percent, improving retention alone can create a competitive advantage for an organisation.

Why people are leaving

Before an organisation can take the necessary steps to reduce turnover, it first needs to know the reasons why people are leaving – or thinking about leaving. Surprisingly, only 69 percent of companies use employee surveys on an ad-hoc basis and only 32 percent implement personnel and workplace changes as a result of the findings, according to the Monster study.

The actual reasons why employees leave will vary depending upon the company, but recent surveys can shed some light on what people are thinking:

The SHRM poll cited the top three reasons as better compensation elsewhere, better career opportunity elsewhere, and being ready for a new experience.
Employees rate good relationships with managers as one of the top factors that keep them in their current jobs, according to the Employee Satisfaction and Retention Survey by Salary.com. People tend to join companies for factors such as pay, benefits, and the job itself, but once they are settled into their positions (about 90 days) a lack of trust in their managers is one of the biggest reasons why they leave.
A new study discovered that feeling underappreciated and the perception of being treated unfairly were two reasons for turnover that resonated significantly higher with employees than with business owners.
This study also revealed that business owners may grossly overrate external factors, such as returning to school or a spouse being transferred, as the most important reasons for employee turnover. According to the survey, approximately 52 percent of staffing directors and hiring managers believe external factors are the cause for leaving, while only a mere 10 percent of employees reported that was their most important reason.

Understanding employee attitudes is increasingly critical to managing retention. And while the majority of companies use monitoring tools such as onboarding interviews and exit interviews to gauge satisfaction, most organisations do not place much emphasis on assessing satisfaction in between these employment stages. Monitoring attitudes throughout the employee lifecycle will allow organisations to implement feedback into the working environment on an ongoing basis.

Six ways to ensure employees stay

Given the financial, organisational and market impact turnover can have, companies must view the problem as a business problem, not simply an HR issue, in order to successfully address it. So what can companies do to boost staff retention? Here are some suggestions:

Educate employees on the fair market value for their position
In the Employee Satisfaction and Retention Survey by Salary.com, nearly 50 percent of employees believed they were underpaid, yet after analysing the data, Salary.com found that less than 22 percent were actually paid below the fair market value for their job.

Since many employees do not know what a competitive salary is for their position, they assume the grass is greener elsewhere and start a job search. Employers should provide information demonstrating that their compensation is indeed competitive or make adjustments if it’s not.
Make sure job titles truly reflect the roles and responsibilities of employees
The Salary.com survey also found that inflated job titles may have contributed to some 30 percent of respondents feeling underpaid. These results seem to indicate that granting a higher title without a commensurate increase in salary will soon leave employees feeling undervalued even if their current salary is truly competitive given their responsibilities.
Promote a real sense of work/life balance
Many organisations say they want their employees to attain a proper balance between their jobs and personal lives, but how many really live up to it?

According to a recent Yahoo! HotJobs survey, more than half of the people surveyed said they have to work on their days off at least once per month, and more than 33 percent said they do some aspect of work every single day.

While a high salary is important for many employees, the survey found that 90 percent of respondents believe they need to have work/life balance along with a feeling of fulfillment in order to feel successful in their positions.
Build an employment brand that motivates employees
A successful employment brand will position your organisation as a well-managed company and good place to work, which will in turn reduce turnover while increasing both the number and quality of applicants. Employees who take pride in their company, its practices, and its leadership tend to be more engaged and more productive as a whole.
Hold managers more accountable for the retention of their staff
Since the relationship employees have with their bosses can be a significant factor in their decision to stay, managers should be empowered to create an environment of trust and engagement. Coaching, training and feedback can all help managers build the necessary skills to positively affect turnover rates.
Make recognition a part of your company’s DNA
Recognition and rewards should be personal, establishing a positive and tighter bond between employee and manager and employee and the company. To attain such a bond, recognition should be given on a routine basis, not just at the annual employee appreciation event.

Managers aren’t the only ones who should be praising employees. Co-workers should also praise their peers for a job well done and executives should recognise employees who have gone above and beyond their duties. Creating an environment where people feel valued will make it that much harder for employees to leave if opportunity knocks at another company.

Seven Suggestions For Sensational Staff

Posted on April 2, 2012 by CEO Leadership Skills

Apply these seven simple suggestions to nurture your team and you’ll end up with the best team in town!

Quite often when I’m out stumping the speaking circuit a boss with a problem corners me. The problem – “How can I keep my good staff?” and they want an instant solution.

The story is always much the same. They have a terrific team, but they keep losing team members.

In working with teams from many types of businesses, I’ve found that if there are some common elements in place it makes it much easier to retain top performing people. They are:

Communication
High on the list of complaints of team members in virtually every company I’ve worked with has always been “lack of communication”. Most bosses think they communicate well with their staff but that’s not the way the team sees it. Sometimes the only information they get is what they find out on the notorious “grapevine”. Sit down with them on a regular basis and ensure that they know what you know and that they have the opportunity to get answers to their questions.
Training
A perennial complaint is that there’s no point in training people and losing them. Sure, but there’s one thing worse…not training people and keeping them! Frankly, I’m amazed at how few bosses ensure their people are provided with the skills training that they need to perform their job better. This is especially true in areas where team members have acquired their skills “on-the-job” by watching what other team members do. When they get to the level of proficiency of their colleagues, they see the only course open to them that will change their results is to change their employer. It is far better for you to skills train existing staff. By training them you will retain staff.
Team meetings
Great team meetings are one of the most important contributors to a stable, contented and productive team. They need be of no more than one hour’s duration and should always start on time. The objective is to motivate, educate, inform and recognise and to do it in such a way that team members want to be there.
Recognition
A good team leader will look for opportunities to acknowledge the achievements of all performers publicly amongst their peers. The team meeting affords a great opportunity to do this. Private recognition is also very powerful! This can be as simple as sending a personal letter home to a team member just to let them know that they’ve done a great job.
Authority and responsibility
One of the gripes I constantly hear from bosses is that their team members left to take a job with higher responsibility but “if they’d only just waited they would have had the same opportunity here.” Don’t make your team members leave to get authority and responsibility: give it to them soon rather than later.
Reward
Your team members want to feel that their efforts are valued and that they are earning rewards in line with the market. If you’re going to have your team perform, pay them the income they reckon they’re worth and then manage them so they earn it. Over pay your people and establish an environment in which they can over perform.
Interesting job
In the poll of what people look for in their work this was their most important demand. People want a job that has variety and interest. Maybe they see that they are just doing the same old thing day after day with no relief from the relentless grind. Give them an occasional challenge, a nutty problem or an interesting project to get their teeth into that will add variety, flavor and spice to their routine activities. A little bit of curry in a bland diet works miracles.

Guest Author:

Winston Marsh. Ideas are just one of the weapons in Winston Marsh’s incredible business building holsters. You can harness the power of his fantastic ideas at your next conference to fire up your business, people and your profits.