EffortlessHR Blog » retention

Engagement, Performance, Retention – Where do Your Employees Fit?

Lola Kakes — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:16:39 +0000

The economic crisis of 2008/2009 has many companies looking at ways to save money and get through the hard times. What this normally means is that they look to lay off people, cut back benefits (which make good employees look at other opportunities), stop training programs, reduce marketing, and basically “hunker” down.

I feel like I am in a unique position as both a business owner and a human resource generalist to address this economic drama. Let me explain. As a business owner I am facing choices in doing business. Credit is hard to find and cash flow is tight. Clients still are there, however, and they still want and need my services. Sometimes, they just don’t know what they need. So, in my role as HR advisor, it is my obligation and the duty of my company, including my star employees, to help them understand what they need.

I don’t believe this is the time to “hunker” down. If you do, you won’t be prepared when things start moving upward. What you do need to do is spend wisely and use your people efficiently. How, you may be asking, do I do this?

Imagine what would happen if everyone of your employees were in a job that best used all their inherent talents. Imagine your company being empowered with employees who were engaged in their jobs and were interested in helping you succeed. I know that as a business owner, I would love to have that type of workforce and feel blessed that I do have this kind of workforce. I also know, as your human resource advisor how to help you have this type of workforce too.

I believe that in order to get through these rough times and keep the right people actively engaged, performing well, and keeping them on board requires business owners of all sizes to use all the tools at their disposal. This can be done with various tools but the tools I am most familiar with and which I use most effectively are the Profiles International, Inc. assessments. These assessments, along with your company standard hiring and training processes will help you develop a better understanding of the people you employ. This will help you solve many of your most critical and expensive problems.

Reliable information makes HR decisions easier to develop and you can successfully fit people to jobs in which they will excel, retain good employees, become a better manager, improve customer service, and build an effective team.

The foundation of your success is the best use of your assets. If you talk to any management expert, they will tell you that your human capital (your employees) is your most valuable asset. The problem is that only a small percentage of businesses use a pro-active, systematic, analytical process to select, manage, retain, and plan for succession for employees.

I believe if you use the available tools to see results from selection, to coaching and performance management, you will achieve greater productivity and profitability through your human talent.

Imagine the difference in your company. You may need to invest a little to gain a lot. Don’t hunker down – look forward and inspire the best in yourself and in your people.

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Source: Effortless HR Software's HR Blog | Engagement, Performance, Retention – Where do Your Employees Fit?

The Importance of Employee Management

Lola Kakes — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:09:42 +0000

A 2006 study conducted by Cornell University associate professor Christopher Collins, Ph.D., in effect showed that small businesses could grow if they are more effective in managing their employees. As a small business owner and a Human Resource Generalist, I agree completely. That is one of the reasons I have been so actively supportive of strong employee management programs for small businesses, and why I developed EffortlessHR.

Professor Collins’ study showed that compared to companies who do not practice employee management strategies, those companies who do can experience:

22% higher revenue growth
23% higher profit growth
Over 66% reduction in employee turnover

Why is employee management so important? I will give you my thoughts, from my perspective.

I started out as a single person operation, a consultant. Many entrepreneurs start out as a single person business entity and many never want to change. They do not want to grow to the point where they need to hire employees. They do not want the bother. That is a whole other issue that we can discuss at a different time. For now, I want to concentrate on why I think have a strong employee management program is important and why I incorporated that type of philosophy into EffortlessHR.

Effective employee management understands what the job is, the type of individual that would fit the job and the company, empowering the employee to do the job, and treating employees with respect. You cannot be effective, however, if you are not organized. Therefore, the first step is to get your office in order.

Many business owners are so busy they put off filing (I know I have), or they put things in piles or in drawers, thinking they will get to it later. Later never comes and before you know it, the employee you thought was going to be a wonderful addition to your business opportunities is not really working out, but you can’t seem to find all the information on him or her. You have misfiled the application (if you even have one) or the resume. You may not have completed the paperwork on the reference checking so you may not remember what you discovered.

You may not even remember what job duties you discussed, training that may have been agreed to, or any number of important details. You know you did all this, but – where is the documentation? If you filed it, is it in compliance with state and federal guidelines? Can you easily put your hands on what you need, when you need it?

If you take the time to organize your files and keep information current and easily accessed, you have the start of an effective employee management system.

Small businesses especially must be more effective, because the affect a single person has on a small company is greater than the affect a single person may have on a larger company. For example, if a small business owner hires incorrectly, the time and training and effect on who handles the job is much more pronounced than in a larger company who have possible employees who can fill in until replacements are found.

In addition, by being better organized, you have a better understanding of the skills needed to do the job. If you understand the job, and you have hired correctly, then you can empower the individual to do the job without you standing there holding his/her hand. This frees you up to do other things. This also shows the employee that you trust them, which goes a long way in retaining good employees.

One of the reasons I designed EffortlessHR was to have a place small business owners could capture certain information about their employees in a simple and effective manner. It is like building a personnel file on line. All the information you need is there, you just have to enter it and use it. If you do, you will be a more effective manager and you will have an Employee Management System.

Being better organized will allow you to work on your business, not in your business.

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Source: Effortless HR Software's HR Blog | The Importance of Employee Management

Training Employees in a Tight Economy

Lola Kakes — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:00:38 +0000

Unfortunately, in a tight economy the first item to be slashed on the company budget are training programs, when in actuality training should be increased. One reason you should be looking to increase your training dollars is that you want to retain your star employees and show them that the organization believes in them and is looking to develop their skills to be even more valuable to everyone.

Let’s look at the different types of training that may be important to your organization.

Job Skills Training – A responsible organization will take steps to provide employees the means to improve their skills. This is especially true with new hires, who are not fully up to speed and may need a program to help them not only develop their skills but to reinforce the company policies and procedures. This type of training will help off-set the time to answer questions or to re-do a job because it was not finished to company standards.
Compliance Training – Employment compliance issues are constantly in the news and are always changing. Staying current on compliance issues may be critical to the liability of the company and may be crucial for new supervisors and current management to take. If your company is mandated under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to provide safety training, you may be at risk if you do not comply.
Employee Development – Helps a company place employees in the right position to reduce turnover and poor morale. Effective training will not only address the needs of the individual employee, but also communicate to the employee the needs of the organization.
Succession Planning – Training of your star employees into lower, middle, and upper management will give them the opportunity to learn new techniques and to develop new skills. This type of training helps the organization to plan for growth and retirement issues.
New Supervisor Training – All too often, a good, hard worker is promoted into a lead or first line supervisory role – without any training. By taking the time to analyze the capabilities of the employee and training them into this new role, will safe the company time and money and the individual the peace of mind of knowing what is expected in this new role.

Training, just like other functions, is a process. If you plan ahead and put a good, solid program together, training will only benefit your organization. With proper training, you can transform disengagement into employee engagement.

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Source: Effortless HR Software's HR Blog | Training Employees in a Tight Economy

Employee Orientation Process

Lola Kakes — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:00:56 +0000

One of the most critical aspects of the recruiting process is Orientation. Orientation is a function that allows a new employee to learn about the organization, what the expectations are in the position, who is responsible and accountable, and in general what they need to know to become an integral part of the company.

It is sad, however, that many companies not only don’t provide an orientation, but expect the new employee to be able to figure it out themselves. The problem is, if you don’t provide a formal orientation process, the employee will still receive an orientation and it may not be the one that will benefit the employee, their co-workers or the company.

As part of the hiring smart philosophy, orientations can be simple to prepare and conduct. All it really takes is planning. It actually begins at the point of hire when the offer is first presented. The offer letter can include a welcome and a brief overview of benefits, time to report, who to report to and what to expect the first day, week and follow-up months. By merely making sure the new employee is listed on the company roster and in the phone system can make the first impression very favorable.

On the first day, the employee should be given a tour of the facility, no matter the size, and especially those areas the employee will be most involved with during their work day. Introduce the staff and prepare a list of their names and job functions. Time should be made to go over the basic operations of the company and department, such as work hours, timeliness/punctuality, explaining the time tracking process, pay day schedules (including direct deposit information or banks used in the area), overtime policy, lunch time or break time policies, parking, telephone and Internet policies, security regulations and how the telephone system works. In addition, a review of the new employee job description, the filling our of necessary forms, and a schedule for any additional needed information – such as training.

This is an opportunity to explain to the new employee the importance of their position and how it works to the support of the goals of the company. Orient the employee to their work area and make sure they have all needed supplies, materials, documents and manuals that may be necessary for them to do their job.

Just as important as the work schedule and pay schedule is the listing of Holidays and time-off provided by the organization, or how to report a sickness or necessary absence. Explain that a 90-day review will be conducted to ascertain any difficulties or answer any questions about the job.

A good orientation may take a day to actually complete. A great orientation will continue throughout the next 3-months as the new employee learns more about the company and the job. This is accomplished by following up with the employee and asking for their feedback or evaluation of the orientation program.

A carefully planned and executed orientation program will go a long way toward helping to retain good employees because it shows the care and time given to the program. A poor orientation may tell the employee that nobody really cares. PodTech has a great article on the On-Boarding process.

Just asking the employee, “How are you doing?” will go a long way toward making your orientation a great one.

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Source: Effortless HR Software's HR Blog | Employee Orientation Process

Are you a Manager or an “Ogre”?

Lola Kakes — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:29:41 +0000

Employee retention is one of the key issues facing businesses of all sizes. We know that turnover is expensive – two and a half times an employee’s annual salary – more for a managerial level employee. Many think money is the key motivated, but it isn’t. People leave their managers, not their companies. Do you conduct yourself in a professional manner or do you:

Intimidate your employees – yell at people, throw tantrums in meetings, belittle people
Take credit for what others do, never accept blame when things go wrong
Micromanage, distrust people
Betray confidences, gossip and spread rumors
Constantly criticize, fail to praise your employee’s good work
Withhold important information or resources for the success of the project, job, etc.
Play favorites, inconsistently enforce policies and procedures
Act superior – do not ask for other’s opinions or suggestions
Set unreasonable deadlines
Have poor communication skills, i.e. use humor inappropriately, swear, etc.

If you’ve answered “yes” to any of the above, it’s time to take stock of your behavior and resolve to make changes to more effectively manage your employees.

You can:

Seek professional assistance if you have anger management issues.
Take a leadership training seminar or class to learn appropriate managerial behaviors
Live by the golden rule “Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You!”

Don’t let negative behavior drive your valuable employees out of the company!

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Source: Effortless HR Software's HR Blog | Are you a Manager or an “Ogre”?

Understanding HR Recordkeeping

Lola Kakes — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:22:39 +0000

Recordkeeping has been a major obstacle for many companies who don’t know what to save, where to save the files, how long they need to save them, or what to do with them once they are created. More importantly, they don’t know who has access to them or how to destroy them.

While there is no federal or state requirement that an employer maintain personnel files, employers are required to keep certain records to comply with various laws and regulations. The overriding concern is to balance employee privacy and the employer’s need to know while still managing to keep good records.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) standard operating procedures, the following items should be kept in separate files:

• Medical Records—the Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to keep all medical records separate. Many states have privacy laws to protect employees. All medical records including physical examinations, medical leaves, workers’ compensation claims, and drug and alcohol testing must be kept separate. (See Glossary for a detailed definition of this act.)

• Equal Employment Opportunity—to minimize claims of discrimination, it is important to keep source documents that identify an individual’s race and sex in a separate file. Additionally, if internal/external charges are investigated, it is also recommended that these files be maintained separately.

• Immigration (I-9) Forms—it is recommended that these forms be maintained chronologically by year. Keeping this information in a separate file reduces the opportunity for an auditor to pursue and investigate unrelated information. (See Glossary for more information and a definition of I-9.)

• Invitation to Self-Identify Disability or Veterans Status—this information is required to be maintained by federal contractors. Laws prohibit employment decisions based on certain protected classes; however, managers have the right to access an employee’s file for a number of operational issues. Unless there is a need to know for accommodation purposes, these files should be maintained separately to reduce a potential source of bias.

• Safety Training Records—Occupational, Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”) may audit a company’s training records; keeping this information separate will protect the employer from an auditor pursuing and investigating other information in the personnel file.

Remind all employees that personnel records contain information that is very confidential and/or sensitive and should be handled very carefully.

Penalties for not following record retention guidelines can vary, depending upon the law or regulation they cover as well as the information they protect.

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Source: Effortless HR Software's HR Blog | Understanding HR Recordkeeping