Blog Archives
By Liza | Categories: Consulting | No Comments
Did you know what many people start from the wrong template when they recruit staff? Time and time again we see fuzzy job descriptions that have only a vague relationship to the role on offer.
When it comes to building an engaged team, getting the basics right is critical.
Here’s why.
The process of putting together a position description forces you to analyse the key tasks involved in a role, the skills required to perform that role, the key characteristics which will enable someone to succeed in that role, and the indicators of success – the key performance indicators if you like.
This lays the groundwork for an effective recruitment campaign, as you will know what you want, and all parties involved in recruitment are hiring from the same script. You can use the position description as a template for performance reviews, then develop targeted training or interventions to address any shortfalls in your staff member’s performance.
That’s just the basic part.
Here are some things you need to keep in mind.
Most staff need certainty and guidance, no matter how experienced they are. When you have clearly laid out your expectations staff know what they need to deliver to achieve salary increases or bonuses if they are linked to performance.
Without effective position descriptions, it is difficult for you to address any issues with your team’s performance, as you have never fully laid out your expectations. You may also be exposing yourself to the risk of litigation if any dispute arises.
We know pulling together position descriptions can be challenging, particularly if you are in an environment that changes rapidly. Often it can be difficult to interpret which part of a role is critical to business success. Then there’s the old issue of “we’re all too busy” and have no time to think about these.
We’ve written before about workforce planning. We’re passionate about this topic as we know it makes everyone’s life easier. If you would like assistance with your workforce planning and coming up with a set of position descriptions that will lay the foundation for your future success, give our Workforce Management Solutions team a call. (02) 8221 0553.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
By Liza | Categories: Consulting | No Comments
If you are like most businesses you are head down concentrating on what it takes to grow your business in one of the most unpredictable economic cycles we’ve faced. Or you probably think that HR is something that you need to think about once you have your business systems in place.
If this sounds like you, we urge you to stop. Here are some things you must think about if you don’t think you need HR.
You may be exposing yourself to large fines.
Take for example the recent changes to the OH&S laws. These laws are now more complicated and more stringent. Under the new Act (now called the WHS Act) corporations face fines of up to $3 million per offence, while individuals face fines of $600,000 or 5 years in jail. Read here for more information.
You may be exposing yourself to litigation.
There have been a number of changes to the Fair Work Act and minimum terms and conditions with the National Employment Standards. Did you know for example that you no longer need to give three warnings in order for a dismissal to be considered fair? Most people we speak to do not know this and are using outdated procedures and paperwork to manage their staff. Read here for more information.
Your workplace may be making people “sick.”
Ok we know this sounds a little harsh, but your workplace practices could actually be causing your staff to be disengaged, or indeed to be taking “sickies” when they are not actually sick. This issue is complicated to manage. Read here for more information.
Your administrative processes are costing you time and money.
Payroll and personnel files can be voluminous. Without a centralised point for paperwork you may not be paying people correctly according to workplace awards and legislation. This is what usually happens when files live in different parts of an organisation.
You may be missing out on a whole host of benefits.
Your staff could be more engaged, loyal, promote your brand and help you achieve the growth your business deserves.
This is where HR can really add value. They can help you identify what makes your business unique, the values that have made you successful and work with you in developing recruitment, training and performance management systems to help you replicate that culture that will drive your business forward.
We call all this workforce management solutions. We provide tailored solutions as you need them.
Why not give us a call?
The bottom line is that we are confident we can add to the bottom line of your business.
(02) 8221 0553.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
By Liza | Categories: Consulting | No Comments
Did you know how much the Australian “sickie” costs?
Take a read of this piece recently in the Australian Financial Review. According to this report, Australians sickies cost our economy up to $38 billion per year. The average Australian takes 9.4 sickies per year. Compare this to people in the UK who average 7.
Out of control sick days can be reflective of many things in a workplace. So some self examination is needed here.
Does your workplace tick any of these boxes?
- employees believing that their sickies may not be noticed, or have limited impact
- employees having little control over their work combined with inflexible management practices
- stressful work environments and poor management practices
- a flawed workplace management system. (Take a look here for an example of Canadian air traffic controllers who had diarised a rolling series of sick days among themselves. The workers would then make up for their absences at times that attracted overtime rates, and would therefore earn more money.)
Work practices aside, you may just have a person who takes a sickie because they can’t be bothered coming into work, or they have something better to do with their day. Football or beach anyone?
So what can you do?
How do you manage an employee who has too many sickies?
What evidence do you need if you suspect the system is being abused? What evidence is compelling evidence? What if the employee can provide medical certificates? Do you have any avenues then?
There’s no one easy answer on managing absenteeism.
The truth you need to have practices in place to create a positive work place culture, effective managers and performance management systems, and then have the confidence and tools to be able to deal with the bad apple employee who abuses the system.
If you would like help managing your absenteeism, we have a team of workforce management experts who can help you identify the problem, and come up with strategic and targeted solutions. Call us now on (02) 8221 0553.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
By Liza | Categories: Consulting, Recruitment advice | No Comments
Every day we hear reports about issues with social media.
Employees bullying, stalking and harassing other employees; staff making inappropriate comments online about your workplace; people who use Facebook too much during work hours; employees tweeting confidential information and disputes over who owns LinkedIn contacts gathered in the name of business development.
If it seems like an ever shifting minefield, it is.
The way people use social media changes as new sites emerge.
Who knew about Pinterest and Google Plus a year ago?
Not only are new sites an issue, but social media changes as the crowd determines how the platform is used. Think how quickly the fad for planking took off fuelled by posting photos on Facebook. Many people posted photos of planking in the workplace, creating a whole other set of workplace safety issues.
Some of these issues can be difficult to deal with.
Social media moves so fast. The law is lagging behind.
This person was sacked for a rant on Facebook.
In this case the decision of the company was upheld.
This person was reinstated by Fair Work Australia after his employer tried sack him over comments on a Facebook page.
Do you have a social media policy? If so how would yours stand up in this instance?
It’s up to you to have your social policies in place.
Enigma HR Workforce Management Solutions team can help you develop sound social media and HR policies. Give us a call on (02) 8221 0553
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
By Liza | Categories: Consulting, Insurance and accounting job market | No Comments
Why do your best people leave you?
The reasons will surprise you – especially if you are a company that does not have any formal feedback mechanisms in place.
They say people join companies and leave managers. We talk to a lot of people when they are looking to leave their jobs. While we’ve found this to be generally true, we thought we’d explore some research to dig deeper behind what makes people unhappy at work.
Here’s what we found…
1) You have ignored their development – paying no attention to your staff is actually worse than negative attention.
This is interesting. It seems the impact of paying no attention to your staff is greater than paying negative attention. Read this assertion from Tom Rath and Jim Harter – the authors of “Well Being – The Five Essential Elements.”
“The most disengaged group of workers we have ever studied are those who have a manager who is simply not paying attention.
If your manager ignores you, there is a 40% chance you will be actively disengaged or filled with hostility about your job. If your manager is at least paying you attention – even if he is focussing on your weaknesses – then the chances of you being actively disengaged go down to 22%
If your manager is primarily focussing on your strengths, the chance of your being actively disengaged is just 1%.”
2) You didn’t have them at hello – you neglected them during the critical first 120 days of their employment
According to employee attachment expert, Anthony Sork – the first 120 days of your new employee’s employment are critical to whether they bond with you as a manager, and your organisation. By this we mean whether they feel security, trust and value, acceptance and belonging. There are 20 different drivers to your employees’ attachment that you’ll need to consider. These include the professionalism of the recruitment process, the time of the recruitment process, right through to communication around your company’s values. Read this piece for what you might inadvertently be doing wrong to breach your employee’s trust from day one: and this on how you can tell if your employees are secure.
3) They are happy with their salary, then they find out what other people are earning.
People are weird when it comes to money. You may have made them an offer. They accepted, and in your mind the deal is done.
Not so fast…
If that person thinks they’re earning less than their peers (not necessarily their workplace peers), then that seems to present a problem.
Again, the authors of the Well Being book have some interesting observations:
“Consider the following two scenarios, and assuming the same purchasing power in both, which one would you choose?
A: An annual income of $50,000, while people around you earn $25,000 a year
B: An annual income of $100,000 while people around you earn $200,000 a year
Using a classic economic model, everyone should choose an income over $100,000 over $50,000. Instead nearly half the people presented with these options pick the lower salary of $50,000 a year.
They chose to make half the income as long as it is double the income of their peers.”
4) You ignored their request for change, until it was too late
Counter offers do not work.
In our experience by the time an unhappy employee marches into your office and hands over the resignation letter, it’s already too late. You will have had plenty of chances to rectify the situation. Ignore them at your peril. Read this earlier post on why this is so.
5) You’ve neglected to think about the impact of your employee’s friends and family
While you may know that people’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected, you may not know by just how much.
According to this research by James H Fowler and Nicholas A Christakis, the chances of you being happy increase by 15% if a direct connection in your social network is happy.
What’s interesting about this study is that your friends’ friends can actually influence your happiness. If a friend of your direct connection is happy, then the odds of you being happy increase as well. You don’t even need to know that person or have contact with that person to be influenced.
While mindful of employee’s privacy, from a management point of view a good question to ask is “is everything all right with you outside of work?”
So what do we make of all of this?
You need to be proactive in managing your teams’ employment experience. As we said earlier, the impact of paying no attention is profound.
Are you confident about your retention strategies?
For a comprehensive assessment, call our Workforce Management Solutions team now on (02) 8221 0553.
In 1997, I founded Enigma HR with the philosophy: “be ethical; be professional; be friendly and serve my clients well.” We specialise in insurance and accounting placements and have been assisting professionals in this industry for over 20 years.
Website - More Posts
