Temp agency provides professional hr consulting and recruiting services to assist organizations with their efforts to improve performance, productivity, and profitability.
24-Nov-2008
24-Nov-2008
How to Get Corporate Flight Jobs
Category : Human Resources
For more information on corporate flight jobs, corporate jet catering and executive jet jobs, visit http://www.CorporateFlyer.net
24-Nov-2008
How to Get Corporate Flight Jobs
Category : Human Resources
For more information on corporate flight jobs, corporate jet catering and executive jet jobs, visit http://www.CorporateFlyer.net
24-Nov-2008
sphr offer to help you pass the PHR and SPHR exam on your first try. http://www.phrsphrtraining.com
Jacquelyn Donner, SPHR
23-Nov-2008
Fortunately, turnover is on a declining trend in the UK, but this also means that enterprises must continue to find ways to retain staff to remain competitive in the marketplace.
Some employee turnover is positive. A company that is too conservative in staff retention will become uncompetitive because some employees cost more to retain than to terminate. For example, keeping poor performers in order to avoid the cost of hiring and training a new employee will typically cause morale problems as well as discourage good performance in other workers. A chronic lack of workplace discipline can easily follow.
When a poor performer is removed and a productive employee is hired, the new employee can typically save or earn the company money that was lost to their unproductive predecessor. Further, a certain amount of ‘new blood is helpful in bringing in new ideas, keeping current with the industry, and encouraging a competitive and productive environment.
Unfortunately, a large amount of turnover is unproductive. When an employee leaves the company, there are many immediate and ongoing costs. First, there may be administrative costs directly involved with the resignation itself, such as organizational changes, administrative tasks such as ceasing salary and benefits, and so on.
To hire a new employee typically will add recruitment costs to advertise the position, as well as selection costs in reviewing and interviewing applicants. There may be costs related to covering the position while staff is being hired, such as through overtime or hiring a temporary worker.
Finally, there is the cost of training the new employee. Due to all of these factors, it can take months or even years for the new employee to become profitable for the company.
To prevent such costs, staff retention efforts are mandatory. One must focus not just on retaining staff, but specifically on retaining the best performers. While a workplace party may marginally improve morale overall, it may be more cost effective to target staff retention funds at the best employees through a compensation program that offers commissions, bonuses, or awards to productive employees.
Further, it is important to create an atmosphere of open communication with employees to help find the causes of turnover. In a large enterprise, an anonymous survey can be done to ask employees if they are considering resignation and, if so, what factors are involved with their thoughts of leaving the company.
Through this pool of data, trends can be established and the enterprise can target the specific issues that employees are struggling with. For example, employees may be leaving due to lack of flexibility in their work schedule, and creating options such as job sharing may drastically reduce turnover. Only through careful examination of the enterprise can staff retention efforts be effective.
Richard Reid of
Pinnacle Proactive, Specialists in the
Employee
Assistance Program,
Stress Management,
Staff Retention & Absenteeism. Take a Proactive Approach in Growing Your
Organisation
22-Nov-2008
Training Budgets In A Bad Economy
Category : Human Resources
It’s well known that when a company has to cut back on expenses, one of the first things to go is budget for training such as Excel courses. London-based companies like companies all over Europe are slashing their excess expenses and training managers are suddenly left with no money to do their jobs. How can they continue to provide necessary employee development?
Prioritize Your Training Needs
It is rare that an organization completely eliminates training, so managers are usually faced with reduced rather than eliminated budgets. It becomes a matter of stretching this new budget to meet the company’s needs.
Go through the company’s training schedule and ask hard questions about which courses are critically necessary. Team building and time management are useful skills for long-term employee development, but the company is not going to collapse if these courses are suspended for a year.
On the other hand, fundamental employee skills are necessary to the daily operation of the company. An organization with extensive spreadsheet operations would still need to send employees to Excel courses in London in order to remain competitive.
Look For Creative Solutions
“Thinking outside the box” has become such a cliche it has lost its meaning, but taking alternate approaches to a problem is a good way to find new solutions.
Contact your provider of Excel courses in London and ask about pricing options. You might be able to save money through group discounts, sending several employees at once rather than one at a time. Reserving courses far in advance often brings substantial savings in training costs.
While your budget has been cut, other departments may not have been hurt so badly. Require other department managers to provide some or even all of the cost of outside training. Many department heads will do so without hesitation.
Beware False Economies
One of the biggest dangers in a poor economy is taking measures that save money today at the cost of hamstringing company operations in the future. Managers have to take a strategic view and make decisions with the best long term outcome.
Completely eliminating training is seldom a good idea. Workers will struggle to do their jobs and use software they may not be familiar with, leading to lost hours of production that far exceed the cost of taking a course. This also leads to employee frustration and plummeting morale.
Looking for internal experts rather than sending employees to outside Excel courses in London is seldom an ideal solution. There is a difference between knowing a subject and teaching a subject. Using outside instructors who are experienced in certified both in the software and teaching methods provides a more effective training experience and a more efficient use of training budgets.
Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on excel courses + london, please visit http://www.microsofttraining.net
21-Nov-2008
To pass the PHR or SPHR exam you must have a minimum of 2 years of human resource experience in which the function of HR is a total of 51 percent of your activities. A candidate must have at least 2 years of professional HR experience to be able to sit of the exam. Also preferred is a candidate whose main role in the organization they are employed by is that of human resource management. The exam is score unlike any other exam. There are 225 questions administered and your end score is based on a scaled score of minimum 500 to maximum 700. Everything for employee motivation, learning and leadership to Samuel Gompers will be covered on the exam. Very few people would know all the knowledge base covered unless they have prior training in human resources. For professional working in human resources, SPHR is one of the highest certifications one can receive.
No one really enjoys writing a job description; its tedious, repetitive and unsatisfying work. But its also essential because job descriptions provide the basis for establishing a pay scale, evaluating employee performances and determining appropriate training initiatives. HR professionals typically have broad experience in putting together job descriptions and can provide invaluable assistance to emerging managers. A job description should be in place before a new employee starts work. But if you simply need to update a description, begin by distributing questionnaires.
Input from employees is important, although they may overestimate or underestimate their responsibilities. They are also likely to resist this information-gathering process, so try to make the procedure as pleasant as possible. Necessary information includes identifying the responsibilities, knowledge and skills required for the position, and details of the work environment and conditions of employment.
Where practical, observe employees in action to gather additional information; however, this approach is ineffective for jobs that require cognitive aptitude. Interviewing is effective, but can be time-consuming and costly by taking employees away from their jobs. You also can ask employees to keep a daily log of their tasks, a method that works best with highly structured, repetitive jobs.
HR professionals have long recognized the importance of training programs in fostering employee and organizational development. Training should begin with an assessment of the companies needs and objectives, and whether conditions are conducive for the
development of a program. Executive management must support the programs design and time demands on employees. Emerging managers will require help in formulating a training initiative.
phr certification offer to help you pass the PHR and SPHR exam on your first try. http://www.phrsphrtraining.com
Jacquelyn Donner, SPHR
21-Nov-2008
Many human resource professional are intimated by a 200 question detailed HR exam. Everything for employee motivation, learning and leadership to Samuel Gompers will be covered on the exam. Very few people would know all the knowledge base covered unless they have prior training in human resources. Consider using some type of review program before you go in to sit for the exam because the details about labor unions history, key figures, laws, compensation and so on are things that most people just would not know. The exam is based on the entire human resource body of knowledge and can be quite comprehensive.
Although most employees welcome feedback, many managers choose to ignore performance assessments. They believe the process is too complex and has little effect on employee performance. Managers also are concerned about possible legal ramifications that may stem from issuing a poor review. But they miss a golden opportunity to build morale, improve communication and increase motivation if they fail to participate in this process. Regular and systematic performance reviews enable managers to:
Recommend pay raises, identify candidates for promotion and place struggling employees in more suitable positions. Give employees a realistic picture of where they stand and how they can improve. Recognize areas that would benefit from training initiatives. Express general support and appreciation of their employees. Managers should follow these guidelines when conducting performance reviews.
Give employees at least a weeks notice to prepare. Provide them with a copy of the companies appraisal form several days beforehand, so they can grade themselves. Reserve enough time to conduct the review properly, and ensure you are not interrupted by other people. Try to create a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere, so employees can respond and ask questions. Be honest yet sensitive in your observations about each employees performance and your expectations.
Explain opportunities for advancement if applicable. Allow time for employees to address the appraisal.
Tell employees they are welcome to speak to you at any time. Make sure that both you and your employees sign the appraisal form following the end of the review. Evaluate all performance appraisal programs, even those with strong track records, to determine their effectiveness. The analysis should focus on whether employees. Understand the feedback they receive. Consider the feedback beneficial. Demonstrate improved performance in the ensuing months. Help the company achieve its overall goals and objectives.
The system also should include a channel for employees to register their observations, complaints and suggestions. More importantly, they should feel that management values their input and will make the appropriate changes and adjustments. The program will not be useful if employees perceive that management is merely paying lip service.
phr certification offer to help you pass the PHR and SPHR exam on your first try. http://www.phrsphrtraining.com
Jacquelyn Donner, SPHR
21-Nov-2008
Your employees are the backbone of your business. If they are unhappy, under trained, or unable to do their job correctly, your company’s success suffers. Therefore an employee satisfaction survey can help you to stay on track with your employees and your business.
Here are some of the ways an employee satisfaction survey can benefit your business.
Ensure your employees know their jobs. A survey can help you keep tabs on your employees’ attitude about their work. For example, a survey helps you make sure that your employees feel like they have been well trained in their jobs. There is nothing more frustrating for an employee than feeling like they don’t know what they are supposed to be doing. Therefore, an under trained employee is an unhappy employee. And of course, this ultimately results in unhappy customers.
Improve customer satisfaction rates. Making sure your employees feel like they are well trained helps in another way: It ensures that your customers are able to enjoy the standards that you have established for your company with as few frustrations as possible while doing business with you. While it may not be immediately obvious, an employee satisfaction survey ensures that your customers are happier, as well as ensuring your employees are happy and confident in their jobs.
Ensure employees are happy. Happy employees make good employees, but happy employees also make devoted employees. This is important because fewer resignations mean fewer positions to fill with new hires. Not having to go through the process of hiring and training new employees saves your business both time and money, as you will see below.
Save money spent on hiring and training new employees. There are no two ways about it: A business that has high turnover will spend a lot more money on hiring and training new employees than a business that has low turnover. First there is the cost of running the ads and paying somebody to go through applications and conduct interviews; even if that person is already on your payroll, it’s time you’re paying them when they could do something else more productive.
Even after you have spent money on running ads, interviewing, and hiring a new employee, you have to spend more money on training. If you have a high turnover rate, you probably have a trainer, or even a training department, on staff. But even if you don’t, you are paying somebody for time that could be spent on work that is more directly conducive to your company’s success.
Eliminate time wasted on hiring and training new employees. All of the processes described above take a lot of time, and you know the saying: Time is money. When you have your experienced senior employees spending time on training new hires, you are potentially costing yourself money by diverting resources away from activities that would be more beneficial to your business, both financially and in terms of long term success. I cannot stress more, training and hiring is expensive!
Find out how to keep your employees. If you are noticing high or increasing turnover rates, an employee satisfaction survey may give you suggestions to keep more of your employees. Perhaps long-time employees feel that their pay does not accurately reflect their experience and devotion to your company; perhaps there is something you could do to make employees feel more at home with your company. Whatever the problem is, a survey can help shed light on the subject.
Many business owners don’t realize the powerful connection between your employees’ happiness and your business’s success. You can’t have a successful business without happy, competent employees, so it makes sense to use an employee satisfaction survey to keep tabs on your employees’ attitudes about their work and their workplace.
Andy West writes for NBRI, a reputable company helping business owners explore venues to enhance employee relationships through an employee satisfaction survey. For more information visit NBRII.com.
20-Nov-2008
When you must take on employees for your business, you will have to go through the hiring process. After preliminary interviews, you should be able to narrow the field to three or four top candidates. And that is the time to do a little detective work to insure you have the right (and honest) employees coming in.
It’s estimated that up to one-third of job applicants lie about their experience and educational achievements on their resumes or job applications. No matter how sterling the person seems in the interview process, a few phone calls upfront to check out their claims could save you a lot of hassle – and even legal battles – later on. Today, courts are increasingly holding employers liable for crimes employees commit on the job, such as drunk driving, when it is determined that the employer could have been expected to know about prior convictions for similar offenses.
Unfortunately, getting that information has become harder and harder to do. Fearful of reprisals from former employees, many firms have adopted policies that forbid releasing detailed information. Generally, the investigating party is referred to a personnel department, which supplies dates of employment, title and salary – nothing more.
There are ways to dig deeper, however. Try to avoid the human resources department if at all possible. Instead, try calling the person’s former supervisor directly. While the supervisor may be required to send you to personnel, sometimes you’ll get lucky and get the person on a day he or she feels like talking. Sometimes, too, a supervisor can tip you off without saying anything that will get him or her in trouble. Consider the supervisor who, when contacted by one potential employer, said, “I only give good references.” When the employer asked, “What can you tell me about X?” the supervisor repeated, “I only give good references.” Without saying anything, he said it all.
Depending on the position, you may also want to do education checks. You can call any college or university’s admissions department to verify degrees and dates of attendance. Some universities will require a written request or a signed waiver from the applicant before releasing any kind of information to you.
If the person is going to be driving a company vehicle, you may want to do a motor vehicle check with the motor vehicle department. In fact, you may want to do this even if he or she will not be driving for you. Vehicle checks can uncover patterns of negligence or drug and alcohol problems that he or she might have.
If your company deals with property management, such as maintenance or cleaning, you may want to consider a criminal background check as well. Unfortunately, national criminal records and even state records are not coordinated. The only way to obtain criminal records is to go to individual courthouses in each county. Although you can’t run all over the state to check into a person’s record, it’s generally sufficient to investigate records in three counties birthplace, current residence and residence preceding the current residence.
For certain positions, such as those that will give an employee access to your company’s cash (a cashier or accounting clerk, for instance), a credit check may be a good idea as well. You can find credit reporting bureaus in any Yellow Pages. They will be able to provide you with a limited credit and payment history. While you should not rely on this as the sole reason not to hire someone (credit reports are notorious for containing errors), a credit report can contribute to a total picture of irresponsible behavior. And if the person will have access to large sums of money at your company, hiring someone who is in serious debt is probably not a very good idea. Be aware, however, that if a credit check plays any role in your decision not to hire someone, you must inform them that they were turned down in part because of their credit report.
Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His “Top Ranked” Earn Money at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to start and prosper with your own Internet Home Based Business.
20-Nov-2008
The professional human resources exam is a comprehensive testing for human resource employees who wish to increase their competitiveness in the workforce. The SPHR or senior professional in human resources is issued by the Human Resource Certification Institute. Candidates must know all the current laws, rules and regulations related to the every aspect of the employment process. The current exam covers details of the labor relations process, going back as far as the 1900s. The labor movements covered on the exam in only based on United States employee and management relations. There are a lot of important figures, facts and critical events that candidates must know.
A significant section you must have knowledge on is the 401k section of employee compensation. Remember that your employee Retirement plan trust is an legal entity manages the assets of a 401(k) plan. These assets must be separated from the assets of the corporation that sponsors the plan. Every plan should have a Plan document that defines the plan, stating who is eligible, what matching contributions the company will make, and so forth.
If this document is improperly signed, that alone can result in your plan being disqualified. The summary plan description is the laypersons overview of the plan, other than promotional material, that prospective participants receive. The IRS form 5500 is an annual report to the government. What are the employees investment choices or funds selected by the plan trustees. Who is the plans sponsor or business organization that offers the plan to its employees.
The administrator is responsible for making sure the plan is in compliance with federal regulations. Some problems with a plan, such as an accounting error, can be easily corrected. If the plan has an under-performing mutual fund investment, the administrator can simply change to a more successful fund. However, other situations are more serious. The number of IRS investigators auditing 401(k) plans for compliance has increased fivefold since 1990. If the IRS determines, for example, that a plan favors executives and owners unfairly, it can revoke the tax exempt status of the funds. This form of enforcement has generated an additional $200 million for the government. Thus, the responsibility for plan compliance is quite serious. Plan Changes in tax and employment law can call for continual adjustment of the plan. Willingness to review and update the plan is where many administrators fall short.
Plan sponsors tend to focus on minimizing administrative costs instead. Record Keeping administrator keeps track of the accounts of individual participants, pooling together all funds under the 401(k) plan and jointly investing them in mutual funds. The mutual funds cannot track the accounts of the individual 401(k) plan investors, so that important task falls to the plan administrator. Participant Service 401(k) administrator has the ongoing task of educating the participants about the services available under the plan. The bottom line is that administering a plan is a demanding role, and the least expensive administrator is unlikely to provide an adequate service level. With high maintenance being the foremost criticism of such plans, the lowest-cost provider can be more expensive in the long run.
sphr certification offer to help you pass the PHR and SPHR exam on your first try. http://www.phrsphrtraining.com
Jacquelyn Donner, SPHR
20-Nov-2008
So you are hiring new employees and have narrowed your stack of resumes to the 10 or so top candidates, now it’s time to start setting up interviews. If you dread this portion of the process, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are some ways to put both yourself and the candidates at ease – and make sure you get all the information you need to make a smart decision. Start by preparing a list of basic interview questions in advance. While you won’t read off this list like a robot, having it in front of you will ensure you cover all the bases and also make sure you ask all the candidates the same questions.
The initial few moments of an interview are the most crucial. As you meet the candidate and shake his or her hand, you will gain a strong impression of his or her poise, confidence and enthusiasm (or lack thereof). Qualities to look for include good communication skills, a neat and clean appearance, and a friendly and enthusiastic manner.
Put the interviewee at ease with a bit of small talk on neutral topics. A good way to break the ice is by explaining the job and describing the company – its business, history and future plans. Then move on to the heart of the interview. You will want to ask about several general areas, such as related experience, skills, educational training or background, and unrelated jobs. Open each area with a general, open-ended question, such as “Tell me about your last job.” Avoid questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no” or that prompt obvious responses, such as “Are you detail-oriented?” Instead ask questions that force the candidate to go into detail. The best questions are follow-up questions such as “How did that situation come about?” or “Why did you do that?” These queries force applicants to abandon preplanned responses and dig deeper.
Here are some suggestions to get you started:
-If you could design the perfect job for yourself, what would you do? Why?
-What kind of supervisor gets the best work out of you?
-How would you describe your current supervisor?
-How do you structure your time?
-What are three things you like about your current job?
-What were your three biggest accomplishments in your last job? In your career?
-What can you do for our company that no one else can?
-What are your biggest strengths/weaknesses?
-How far do you think you can go in this company? Why?
-What do you expect to be doing in five years?
-What interests you most about this company? This position?
-Describe three situations in which your work was criticized.
-Have you hired people before? If So, what did you look for?
Your candidate’s responses will give you a window into his or her knowledge, attitude and sense of humor. Watch for signs of “sour grapes” about former employers. Also be alert for areas people seem reluctant to talk about. Probe a little deeper without sounding judgmental.
Pay attention to the candidate’s nonverbal cues, too. Does she seem alert and interested, or does she slouch and yawn? Are his clothes wrinkled and stained, or clean and neat? A person who can’t make an effort for the interview certainly won’t make one on the job if hired.
Finally, leave time at the end of the interview for the applicant to ask questions – and pay attention to what he or she asks. This is the time when applicants can really show they have done their homework and researched your company, or rather, that all they care about is what they can get out of the job. Obviously, there is a big difference between the one who says, “I notice that your biggest competitor’s sales have doubled since launching their Web site in January. Do you have any plans to develop a Web site of your own?” and the person who asks, “How long is the lunch break?” Also, candidates who can’t come up with even one question may be demonstrating that they can’t think on their feet.
End the interview by letting the candidate know what to expect next. How much longer will you be interviewing? When can they expect to hear from you? You are dealing with other people’s livelihoods, so the week that you take to finish your interviews can seem like an eternity to them. Show some consideration by keeping them informed. During the interview, jot down notes (without being obvious about it). After the interview, allow five or 10 minutes to write down the applicant’s outstanding qualities and evaluate his or her personality and skills against your job description and specifications.
Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His “Top Ranked” Earn Money at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to start and prosper with your own Internet Home Based Business.
20-Nov-2008
While many enterprises are concerned about the costs of such programs, they may not be aware that studies show an actual cost savings from creating a working employee assistance program.
One major positive result of an employee assistance program is a competitive advantage in the marketplace. A workforce that is enduring chronic stress is less manageable and less productive. Stress can manifest in many ways which hurt your business, including lack of courtesy, less creativity, lack of concentration, lack of motivation, and employee absenteeism. Employees with mental health or personal problems typically have a work performance of at least 35% below normal.
Absenteeism has obvious costs to any enterprise. Employee assistance programs providing intervention in cases of substance abuse, major life events, and chronic stress problems can drastically decrease the number of days missed.
Many employees have personal or family problems that prevent them from attending work which can be resolved or mitigated through an employee assistance program. Because 5.6% of the average enterprises payroll is spent on absenteeism, a cost of less than 1% for an employee assistance program is a huge cost savings.
Another major benefit to employers is a decrease in turnover. In 65 to 80 percent of cases, the cause for termination is due to personal or interpersonal factors rather than an inability to perform the job. An employee assistance program is designed to help resolve precisely these type of issues before termination is necessary.
For example, an employee could get free counselling services to learn to manage workplace stress effectively, or two workers with an interpersonal dispute could seek out mediation in order to resolve the problem. Terminating an employee has many negative effects, including loss of workplace morale, disruption to work processes, and increased costs to the enterprise for recruiting, hiring, placement, and training.
Even a small reduction in turnover can have huge impacts on an enterprises bottom line. For example, replacing a single clerical worker has a cost of nearly GBP 2,000, replacing a member of technical staff can cost GBP 7,000 or more.Stress and personal problems can also create unforeseen problems such as workplace accidents, injuries, and disabilities. Studies show that stress contributes to 85% of accidents.
If an employee assistance program helps reduce the workplace disruption and morale problems of a single significant workplace accident, it can likely pay for an entire year of the programs cost.One study of employees in an automobile plant showed dramatic changes from implementing an employee assistance program in order to specifically offer support for alcoholic employees. This created a huge difference in the workplace.
For example, absenteeism decreased by 56 percent, disciplinary problems decreased by 63 percent, and workplace accidents decreased by 82 percent. The relative cost savings of an employee assistance program will, in most cases, far outweigh the initial financial cost.
Richard Reid of
Pinnacle Proactive, Specialists in the
Employee
Assistance Program,
Stress Management,
Staff Retention & Absenteeism. Take a Proactive Approach in Growing Your
Organisation
19-Nov-2008
Assessing motivation and talent in a business setting is critical because of the importance of these factors in predicting success. Although “good fortune” or “luck” can contribute to success, the identifiable determining factors are motivation and talent.
Fortunately, both motivation and talent can be assessed. Structured interviews and tests can identify motivation, personality features, critical thinking ability, and emotional intelligence. Such results can help with hiring decisions and setting the course for individual development.
Motivation and talent as predictors of success.
An individual’s motivation and talent are the best predictors of success in a business setting. Because of the role of “good fortune” or “luck”, it is unreasonable to say, “only the motivated and talented succeed”. Good fortune can shine on the untalented and motivated, the talented and unmotivated, and the untalented and unmotivated.
If you take good fortune out of the equation, it is reasonable to state that an individual’s level of success will be a function of his or her motivation and talent. Of course, the specifics of a person’s motivation and talent are important.
For example, someone may be motivated to cultivate affiliation or good personal relations with others. When you combine this motivation with a talent for relating well, it predicts success in arenas where affiliation is paramount. It does not predict success in arenas where competition is more important than cooperation.
Assessing motivation and talent in a business setting.
Assessing motivation and talent in a work setting has a narrower focus than assessing the same factors in general. In a business setting, a person’s motivation to find food and shelter hopefully will not be relevant. On the other hand, it is relevant to know whether a person is motivated by a need to achieve, by a need to exercise power, or by a need to affiliate with others (according to McClelland’s Theory of Needs).
Assessing talent in a business setting also has a narrower focus. It may be interesting if an executive has a talent for gardening but his or her talent at influencing others and thinking critically are much better predictors of success in business.
A complete review of important motivation and talent specifics is not possible here. It is important to note, however, that focused motivation and talent assessment is the basis for making good human resource decisions.
Using the results of an assessment to guide hiring and individual development decisions.
A focused motivation and talent assessment informs hiring and leadership succession decisions. The results are not the only data to consider but they can provide critical insight into a candidate’s potential to be successful. If done well, the assessment can provide tangible data to guide a decision.
Another role of a focused motivation and talent assessment is to guide development. By identifying specific motivations and talent deficits, it is possible to precisely guide individual development efforts. Such precision is not possible without the data and insight provided by a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s business motivation and talent.
Dr. Lebo is a licensed psychologist with experience in both the corporate and clinical settings. He can be reached by email at drlebo@intellectusassessments.com. You can also visit the intellectusassessments.com website for additional information.
17-Nov-2008
Have you ever tried to hire employees without posting the job in the newspaper, on the door of your business, or on the Internet? Not doing so makes it difficult to find high quality employees. Not doing so also makes it difficult to fill a position that needs filling quickly.
Luckily, there are many different methods in which you can easily post a job. It may be sort of easy to send a classified ad to the local newspaper, but that is something that is slowly becoming obsolete. This is because the Internet has opened up a completely new doorway to how jobs are listed. With the invention of job listings on the Internet, less and less people actually frequent their newspapers when looking for jobs. They go to job seeker sites and look at the listings there. As a matter of fact, that is how a lot of people get their jobs nowadays.
The evolution of job listings
Let’s step back a bit and look at the days in which the newspaper was the only option. People would go through the lists of jobs and would circle what they thought they could do and would then call the number in the ad. This could be a frustrating process because it was time consuming.
All of a sudden, the Internet came to be and job listing sites were added to the Internet. It took a while for employers to catch on, especially since not all businesses had Internet access like most do today. Nowadays, a job comes open and the boss can go onto the Internet and list the job opening on a website within moments of the job coming open. In just a matter of minutes, hundreds of people can see that ad.
Being that hundreds of people see the ad in any given day, it can be difficult on the boss because he or she has to sift through all of those replies. There are resumes everywhere with qualified people busting at the seams. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. This isn’t a bad thing because this means that there are plenty of qualified people to choose from. Eventually, the boss is able to find a qualified individual and the job is filled in no time.
Another thing that has happened with online job listings is that individuals are more able to find other jobs in other towns and recruiters can recruit from anywhere. It used to not be this easy. Back in the day, someone would have to call or they would have to hear it through the “grapevine” that a job was available with a company across the country. Now all it takes is a surf through a job listings site and jobs can be found on the other side of the world. It is utterly amazing and has done a lot for competition within businesses and even the economy. The best employees are placed within the best companies and some employees are even fought over because they are incredible workers. The Internet has helped revolutionize this.
How these sites work
As the employer, job listing sites makes your job easier. Basically, you just sign up for an account and you then follow the instructions to post an ad. It only takes a few minutes. You don’t have to worry about mailing off your ad and waiting for it to be in a newspaper. It will be live in no time after you have submitted. From there you don’t have to worry about anything other than reviewing the many resumes that come your way.
Job listings sites are easy to use. Basically, you fill out a form asking you what kind of job you’re looking for, where you want to work, and what kind of job title you want. This is the best way for you to target the kind of job you want instead of having to search through all sorts of listings. In the days of classifieds in newspapers, you had to read ads for jobs that you did not want. Nowadays you type in what you want and you’re taken right there.
Newspapers are good for the news
Newspapers are good for the news. Most individuals have the Internet now and, even if they don’t, they will make sure they find Internet access when they’re looking for a job. They know where to find the best jobs and that is on online job listings sites. They know that they aren’t going to find a high quality job in the newspaper anyway. It seems that most of the jobs listed in the newspaper classifieds are jobs regarding work-at-home opportunities that want you to pay some sort of fee. There are also job listings for truck drivers and individuals wishing to sell cosmetics. As for the other stuff, people turn to the Internet and that’s why you should make sure your job listings are listed there and nowhere else.
To maximize your chances to land a quality employee, you can list your job opening on multiple sites. No one ever said that you had to use just one. Multiple sites work out just fine. When the job is filled, you can make sure you remove the ads from the other sites. That way you don’t continue to receive inquiries and resumes about a job that is already filled. That’s something you can’t do in a newspaper. If you pay for the ad to run for 7 days, then it is going to run for 7 days. If you find a great person on the second day, then you have 5 days that you’ve paid for that you don’t need. In the end, you will find that submitting job listings online is more cost-effective and can save you a lot of time in a number of ways. That is just the way to go, so make sure you use online job listings from now on so that you can reach a larger audience of great employees.
Jay Gaulard writes for a wide selection of websites on various topics. He is a veteran of the internet and has come to be respected in his many areas of expertise. This article was written on behalf of Iiamin, a popular help wanted ads website.
17-Nov-2008
Many people who are, in ordinary circumstances, excellent workers may encounter a period in their lives where they struggle with the responsibilities of their work and their outside lives.
Without assistance, such employees may end up being terminated or leaving the job voluntarily, costing the enterprise in recruiting, hiring, and training costs. Any organisation can benefit from an employee assistance program to help prevent these costs and to help employees lead happier and more productive lives.
An employee assistance program offers counseling and other services to employees in a variety of different situations. One common situation is dealing with issues specifically pertaining to the work environment, such as workplace stress or work relationship issues. All of us encounter difficulties in the workplace from time to time, but when stress becomes chronic, it can be destructive and even physically harmful. Chronic stress can cause symptoms such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and even physical discomfort such as stomach aches, headaches, and backaches.
This can lead to very poor work performance as well as difficulty interacting with other employees productively. An employee assistance program can help by providing counseling to affected employees in order to plan ways to alleviate stress. Stress alleviation can include relaxation techniques or coping mechanisms as well as physiological changes such as healthy diet and exercise. By helping employees who are under extreme or chronic stress, staff absenteeism is decreased and workplace productivity is increased.
Employees may also need someplace to turn during or after major life events. While one common example is the death or injury of a loved one, even positive events such as giving birth can create negative effects. Other individuals may be struggling through personal or family relationship problems, such as divorce, which can be isolating and leave the person with no one to confide in. Many people can benefit from counseling in such cases and may not seek out such assistance on their own.
A company that has provided an EAP and proactively informs employees about their options will help individuals who are having such temporary problems, creating positive morale as well as decreased turnover and absenteeism.
Employee assistance programs are not limited to only counseling. Some programs will offer a variety of services to help with work/life balance issues of all kinds. For example, some employee assistance programs can help employees with personal finances or legal problems. While counselors typically do not come on-site for confidentiality issues, some employee assistance programs offer specific services to the employer itself for use in the workplace. For example, consultations for supervisors or management may be offered, as well as support for dealing with workplace relationship problems.
Even training and education programs may be available. During difficult periods, such as multiple redundancies or the death of an employee, critical incident services may be available as a resource to help in the workplace itself. Coverage can also be much more basic, so there is a program available for nearly any level of need.
Richard Reid of
Pinnacle Proactive, Specialists in the
Employee
Assistance Program,
Stress Management,
Staff Retention & Absenteeism. Take a Proactive Approach in Growing Your
Organisation
17-Nov-2008
Typically, such programs include referral services and short-term counselling for the employee (and possibly other members of their household) and are typically offered to employees free of charge.
A company interested in providing an employee assistance program will typically purchase a pre paid plan from a third party provider. Selecting The UK Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) is the professional body for such providers and may be of assistance in helping to find a provider from their list of member companies. Alternately, employee assistance program brokers also exist that can help provide detailed cost information for a variety of plans from multiple companies.
When considering the purchase of an employee assistance program package, one aspect to decide upon is the level of coverage. Most providers will offer different levels of service. While a more budget-driven employee assistance program may offer only telephone support, a full package can offer face-to-face counselling. The size of the company will also significantly alter the available options as well. Specific programs are available for small and medium enterprises (SMBs) that are tailored to this type of work environment rather than a larger corporate setting.
Employee assistance programs not only offer an attractive benefit for employees, they also offer tangible return on the investment to the employer. Employee assistance programs can significantly reduce staff absenteeism, one study showed a reduction of 25-50%, as well as a far reduction in work related symptoms and sicknesses This report indicated that an investment in employee assistance programs creates six to ten times the savings to the company. Levels of substance abuse are reduced and job satisfaction will rise measurably. Employee assistance programs are also a marketable benefit to be presented to prospective hires. Employee assistance programs also retain employees who are struggling through difficult and often temporary periods in their lives, and thus tends to create fewer vacancies to fill through an expensive recruiting and hiring process.
Employers should be aware that their enterprise will need to be aware of the data that can be provided by an employee assistance program. As employee assistance services are only offered on a confidential basis, individual data about employee use is not possible or desirable. This would defeat the purpose of any such system as employees would be too fearful to use it! However, this does not mean that your employee assistance program cannot be monitored and held accountable for results. Aggregate data can and should be solicited from the program regarding usage and satisfaction. Employees should have the opportunity to provide feedback and a review of the process in order to insure that the investment is working. Consult with any prospective provider to see what they offer to employers in this area.
Richard Reid of
Pinnacle Proactive, Specialists in the
Employee
Assistance Program,
Stress Management,
Staff Retention & Absenteeism. Take a Proactive Approach in Growing Your
Organisation
01-Nov-2008
Do You Overlook Generation X?
Category : Human Resources
Tammy Erickson of Harvard Business Online wrote an article titled, “Ten Reasons Gen Xers Are Unhappy at Work”, which highlights how Generation X perceives “most corporate careers paths narrow’ at the top.”
Today, employees of Generation X are in their 30s and 40s and are in a position to be considered as corporate leaders. However, this group is often overlooked or not offered the kind of incentives they desire in order to retain them long enough to succeed into these positions.
Generation X is motivated by positive work relationships and a breadth of opportunities to continually develop their skills and expand their knowledge. They are not primarily driven by salary, recognition and prestige, and unfortunately many company’s reward and succession plans are built on this platform. Generation X is not vocal about their needs and is typically more reserved in the work environment.
Recognizing what motivates this critical generation on the verge of becoming our corporate leaders is essential and building reward and benefit plans to meet them is the key. Managers and employees can work together on an employee’s development and career goals by utilizing an online Performance Management solution.
By allowing Generation X to have input on what they will be held responsible for as well as areas in which they wish to develop, it will help address their need for involvement and career growth. This tool allows managers and employees to engage in continual and immediate communication as craved by Generation X.
Furthermore, Generation X and their managers can gain great benefits from an online Career Development and Succession Planning solution. Such a tool allows Generation X to contribute to and continually update their development plans – assuaging their desire to continuously learn.
It also allows employees to view internal available positions they may be interested in developing a career path for – a key element in retention – and these skills and competencies are visible to the executives building succession plans. This helps Generation X take control of their own career options as well as helps to dispel their perception of the narrow corporate career paths.
Executives are able to source for hidden talent within Generation X thereby greatly increasing the talent pool and the chances of finding highly suitable successors.
As the workforce becomes more multi-generational and diverse, executives and managers will need to be increasingly aware of what drives and motivates their employees. This will be the key to success in all areas of business far beyond finding the best candidates for a succession plan.
Employee Performance Management Human Resource Software
Learning Management System Learning Management System
Succession Planning Succession Planning
01-Nov-2008
Companies may wonder why they should hire an hr consulting firm, i.e., a temp agency, to locate quality employees.
In a highly competitive corporate world, knowledgeable help can mean the difference between a constant influx of clients and bankruptcy. Statistically speaking, every disgruntled customer that leaves your establishment equals seven or more people who won’t give you a chance based on word of mouth.
That is why it is very important to locate individuals who are not only skilled technically but have a great work ethic and understand the value of supplying quality service.
When a company endeavors to locate these people themselves as opposed to hiring a human resource consulting firm, they have a hard time finding quality workers. The reason for this is multifaceted, but can often be attributed to.
- Lack of time – when a company looks for “grade A” assistance, it is often because they needed them yesterday. This can make them hire on someone who may have certain skills but could be lacking in other valuable traits, like interpersonal skills.
- Inexperience – although you may realize what you want, you may not have the ability to acquire it. People will say just about anything to obtain a job, and resumes are often padded to make them sound better than they really are. To truly screen applicants, you would need to do an in depth assessment that you may not have time for, especially if you are in a fast paced work environment.
- Hiring family members or acquaintance – It can be very tempting when we are in a pinch to hire on people you know. The problem with this is that our affection or relationship with the individual makes it impossible to be objective as to their suitability for the job. This can also lead to a ticklish situation if you need to fire them for their ineptitude.
What a reputable temp agency can offer
On the opposite end of this spectrum, an experienced temp agency knows how to expand the job pool. They usually have a team of specialized recruiters who weed out potential employees by a highly stylize criteria. By having a larger pool of candidates and a selective process, you are more assured to find a qualified match for your job.
Temp agencies can also provide:
- Greater productivity – because you are not taking time out of your valuable day to interview all potential hires, you can get more work done. This increased productivity will greatly aid your business growth.
- Employees who are tried and tested – when businesses try to hire employees they have no real way of seeing how well the applicant truly performs in a work environment. Recruiting agencies do, with tailored skill assessments, like WMP or ten key punch tests for data entry that can reveal a workers strengths and weaknesses. They also offer training facilities for applicants to improve their abilities and learn new skills that will help them in the job market.
- Employee resource – No matter how organized an office is, if someone leaves or get sick, it can disrupt the office routine. Temp agencies can replace sick individuals, those on maternity leave or who don’t work out. You can also hire on temps for seasonal work, as many organizations see increased workloads around Holidays or summer months depending on the nature of their business.
It can end up costing you more in the end to not go with an established recruiting agency. If you start weighing the pros and cons of looking into human resource consulting, remind yourself that the time you spend working as opposed to worrying over the exhaustive hiring process is more time spent building your business up. When one considers the above facts, then the benefits of hiring workers through a temp agency is worth its weight in gold.
Temp agencies provide temporary staffing, permanent recruiting, and hr consulting. When looking for information on temporary staffing, consider Drake International.
29-Oct-2008
I think one of the things most up and coming entrepreneurs fail to analyze is whether they really want to deal with employees or not. And if they are willing to deal with them then how many are they willing to handle? There are so many possibilities out there for a person to start a business. And the beauty of all these opportunities is that many of them nowadays don’t involve hiring employees. Instead you can have a nice cozy home office. You might have a virtual assistant. Maybe you even have an avatar on your website. But what you don’t have to have is a flesh and blood person coming in to work each day. A person whose sole intent it would seem is to drive you nuts.
Now don’t get me wrong not all employees are that difficult to deal with. I’ve certainly had many more good employees over the years than bad. But for every 5 good employees I’ve had there was always one that I quickly learned was bound and determined to drive me over the edge. I’ll give you a couple of examples of the things that some of my past employees have done.
Let’s see now. I remember a team leader I used to have. He often ran on site installation crews for our products. The guy was actually pretty good at it too. He was young but fairly sharp. He picked up on things fast and we could rely on him to get the job done. Of course that was before he was caught smoking pot behind the warehouse one day. Unfortunately I wasn’t the one that caught him instead it was another employee. So what did this guy do? He used his position with me and my General Manager to bully the employee into keeping quiet. It was a my word versus your word sort of thing. Eventually though the story did come out and he did get fired.
Here’s a situation I really love telling about. You see as our company continued to grow so too did our efforts to diversify our workforce. This led to us hiring a number of Hispanic workers over a very short period of time. Well one employee in particular had trouble with this fact. And he would take the opportunity to show his displeasure whenever he could. Of course only when I or my GM weren’t around. He’d berate them and call them racist names that I won’t repeat. Well of course it all got back to me.
As soon as I found out I tried to let him explain himself. The first time he told me some lies and I gave him a second chance. I’d hoped that he would’ve learned to keep his mouth shut. But sure enough he had to do it again. The next time he got the old heave ho. But this guy just couldn’t let it rest. He actually filed a workers compensation claim within a couple of days. He claimed he’d been laid off. When I denied the claim he took it to arbitration. I really don’t know who he thought he was by trying to pull such a stunt. But the ending really was funny.
My sister actually represented my company at the hearing. And oh boy what a hearing it was. The judge just happened to be black and a woman. Well my sister was one of the employees he had been insulting only with her he’d do it when she wasn’t around. The judge asked him if he’d been doing these things. He actually said yes but only behind her back. And after my sister had told our side of the story he went and called her a (Bleep!). Well you get the idea. Anyway he thought he was doing it in a low enough voice that the judge wouldn’t hear. Wrong! Needless to say he failed to win his claim.
The reason I’m telling you these stories is because until you have employees of your own you just can’t begin to fathom how much trouble they can be. Not all of them are going to be this bad. Some will be outstanding. But you just can’t be sure what you’re going to get. So keep these stories in mind when you are deciding on what type of business venture is right for you.
Cash Miller is an expert in small business affairs. To receive more tips that can help your business and allow you to run a successful company you can sign up for his FREE Newsletter. Once you’ve signed up your going to receive access to 5 FREE E-Books that can help your business prosper. And as a Bonus FREE Newsletter Members can expect to receive an additional FREE E-Book each week.
