Recruiting and Retention Archives - Page 3 of 75

Company Doors Drive Employee Turnover – Friday Distraction

March 31, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

Organizations have several different types of “doors”.

Some companies have configured their office space to have “no doors”. Everything is open. Employees work at communal tables. Meetings are held in little spaces that are pre-reserved. This open office concept has been seeing some backlash lately, but many companies swear by it as a way to encourage collaboration.

Then there are “open door” companies, which means that employees are encouraged to walk in, sit down, and say whatever is on their mind. Feedback is encouraged. Obviously, there’s a downside if the policy doesn’t match the practice.

Finally, some companies have the “revolving door”. Today’s Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos explains it all too well.

The sad part about the cartoon is that often we don’t need data to see the revolving door of employee turnover. But we do need data to remove the revolving door. Think of data as the tools that will help take the door off its hinges and into the dumpster. When trying to impact employee turnover, there are three core data areas to examine.

Recruiting and onboarding practices. Organizations need to look at their hiring practices to make sure they’re selecting the right people. And review the onboarding process to ensure new employees are being set up for success. If companies hire the wrong people and don’t properly train them, employees are sure to leave.

Employee recognition and rewards. Employees want to know they’re doing a good job. And if they make an honest mistake – which does happen – that they will have an opportunity to fix it. If employees come into work every day not knowing what to expect, they will start looking for a more stable work environment.

Retention and offboarding. Companies need to understand why employees leave. Correction: companies need to understand why employees start looking for another job. A subtle but important difference. More importantly, organizations should know the reasons employees stay with the company. It’s valuable information to share during the interview process (which leads us back to #1).

We need data to remove employee revolving doors.Click To Tweet

Next time you’re walking around your office, check out the doors. Which type(s) do you have? And are you okay with what you see?

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Poor Performance Review May Stop Job Transfer – Ask #HR Bartender

March 30, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

I know there’s lots of talk about changing the traditional performance appraisal process. One of the things that has to be addressed is how the annual performance review impacts other things. Like employee transfers – as today’s reader note points out.

Dear Sharlyn, I’m hoping you can help me with this situation. I had my year-end performance review conversation with my manager. It seemed fine with two areas of improvement mentioned but nothing alarming per my manager. I did not receive a written appraisal at that time.
A couple weeks later, I told my manager that I was requesting a transfer to another department. After that, my manager gave me my written performance appraisal, which appeared more critical than our original conversation. Meanwhile, my transfer request was accepted and I was “unofficially” offered the position.
Now I’m concerned that my current manager gave me a more critical written performance review as a form of retaliation because I applied for a transfer. And that my new manager will read what my current manager wrote and withdraw the transfer offer.
Should I prepare a rebuttal or simply state that I disagree with the performance appraisal? I really appreciate any advice you can give. Thank you.

There are so many things we don’t know about this situation that it’s impossible to give a definitive answer. We don’t know how the company typically processes performance reviews. Or what the two areas of improvement were that the employee needed to work on. And did the employee agree that those areas needed improvement.

We also don’t know what the company policy is regarding transfers. I’ve worked at organizations where an unsatisfactory performance review could stop an employee transfer. It wasn’t because of retaliation. It was the feeling that an employee with performance issues should not be able to take those issues to a new department. It wasn’t considered fair.

For example, let’s say an employee has an attendance issue. They show up five minutes late for work every day. It might not seem like a big deal, but that five minutes impacts the team getting started on their work. The employee’s current manager has coached them on this issue. Could the current manager approve the employee’s transfer request? Absolutely. But they’d be passing along that lateness issue to the employee’s new department and manager. So, many organizations will say that an employee’s performance must be satisfactory in order for a transfer to be approved.

On the other hand, I’ve worked in organizations where as long as the receiving department was willing to accept the employee transfer knowing the performance issues existed, then it was fine. The new manager was aware that they were going to be responsible for coaching the new employee. Using the same example above, maybe the employee transfer would allow the employee to start work thirty-minutes later and fix the tardiness issue. Everyone knows it, so the transfer is approved.

Employee transfer policies are typically defined by the organization. And they should be communicated to employees so they understand the criteria and process. Employees want to know how they can create a future with the company, that includes promotions and transfers.

Performance review processes are also typically defined by the organization. They also should be communicated because employees want to know how their performance is going to be measured. It should also include what to do if an employee doesn’t agree with their review or what managers should do if they need to change a rating.

Performance reviews serve many purposes in the organization. It’s important for companies to establish what performance management means to them AND communicate it to all employees. And managers need to consistently apply it to all of their employees.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while wandering the Wynwood District in Miami, FL

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Job References Are Out of Date – Ask #HR Bartender

March 23, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

When it comes to providing job references, I’m a bit torn. I know a lot of companies still ask for them. On the other hand, I’ve always thought that your references will all say that you’re perfect, so why bother? But after receiving today’s reader note, maybe I need to rethink my position.

Hello! I’m in the middle of interviewing for an upper-level research technician position and I’ve discovered that my reference list is out of date. I’m uncertain who to contact in this matter. I don’t want to contact the wrong HR person and be disqualified. Who is the best person to contact?

Regardless of your personal opinion about references, if you’re looking for a job, you should have your references ready. There are still plenty of companies that ask for references. Let me toss out a few things to consider in putting together your reference list.

References should be people you’ve worked with. I’m going to define “work” a little loosely here, because I do believe that you can use people you’ve worked with on large scale volunteer projects as references. When I was a part of HR Florida, we had a $1M budget. Those who volunteered on the conference team were working with budgets in the hundreds of thousands. They should be able to use that experience to demonstrate their skills. And their HR Florida colleagues would be ideal references.

Keep your job references current. There are several aspects to keeping references current. References from today are better than references from a decade ago. Stay in touch with references so you have their most current contact information. When you start interviewing, let your references know so they can support you. And absolutely, positively tell your references whenever you give their name to a prospective employer. You might not know exactly who is going to call, but at least give them the company’s name.

Clarify any mistakes in job reference contact info. I’ve actually had this happen. One of my references changed her cell phone number after I had given it to a recruiter. So, I called the recruiter and explained the situation. It wasn’t a big deal and it was only one phone number. I’m not sure in the situation above how much of the reader’s reference list is out of date and if there’s a logical explanation for the situation. Only the reader knows. But I’d like to believe that employers are reasonable. Even when we do all the right things, sometimes contact info needs to be updated.

The people you ask to be your job references should know your strengths and be willing to talk about them. They should be open to having their contact information provided to companies and receiving calls about you. The better job seekers are about managing their job references, the more they can help you get a job. And that’s the whole point of having references in the first place.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while touring the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, NV

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10 Strategies for Recruiting In a Highly Competitive Job Market

March 21, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by Alongside, a company that bridges the communication gaps to create a better hiring experience for both employers and job seekers. Check out how they help companies like Motörleaf showcase their team dynamic to active and passive candidates. For a free trial or demo of their product, visit their website. Enjoy the post!)

We continue to hear how recruiting is a challenge. In a research report published last year by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), sixty-eight percent (68%) of HR professionals are experiencing difficulty recruiting candidates. There are several reasons for the increased difficulty including skills gaps and lack of experience. However, forty-nine percent (49%) of HR pros cited competition from other employers as part of the challenge.

I feel like l’ve always worked in highly competitive environments. My thought is there are two different kinds of competition:

Industry-based is specific to a type of work, like the competition for tech talent in Silicon Valley. It could be based on a highly technical position. Or it could be the result of a geographic region becoming a hub for certain types of businesses.

General competition applies to all jobs, and is the result of low unemployment, increased voluntary quits, etc. It could also be the result of a geographic region getting a large employer and creating lots of jobs. Another reason could be a skills gap in a much-needed area like supervisory skills or critical thinking.

Organizations are not immune to competition and must be prepared to address both types. And, the answer isn’t poaching employees. It’s taking steps to make your organization rises above the competition.

10 Activities Your Organization Can Do to Recruit More Effectively Against the Competition

Build a solid employment brand. It starts with understanding what makes your organization unique. If your recruiting team doesn’t know, how will they sell candidates on the value of coming to work for the company. Make a concerted effort to find out why employees stay. Hiring managers could make this a “stay interview” question during their one-on-one meetings.
Be a great employer. Don’t hesitate to apply for a local/state/national “best places to work” award. It’s a great way to promote your organization and culture. Also, consider allowing the HR team to present at conferences. Not only is it great professional development for HR but they are sharing the company’s best practices.
Have a competitive compensation and benefits package. I realize a lot goes into the conversation about employee compensation and benefits. But the reality is, as the job market gets more competitive, so do compensation and benefits. Organizations need to ensure their packages are internally fair and externally competitive.
Have a good employee referral program. Employee referrals continue to be the most cost effective source of quality applicant flow. If the company is offering a bonus for recommending candidates, make sure it’s appropriate given your cost per hire. And consider adding alumni and contingent workers – both in terms of being referred and providing referrals. They’re a key piece to today’s recruiting strategy.
Give candidates a realistic job preview. Job seekers are doing their homework before applying with a company. Organizations should develop a career portal where active and passive job seekers can see a typical “day in the life” of an employee. This can be done with video and using employee testimonials. Also, while I know it’s an extra step, consider using more readable/relatable job descriptions (versus legalese ones.)
Make it easy to apply. HR professionals and hiring managers should try to find and apply for a job at their company to understand what applicants go through. Organizations need to distribute their job openings where candidates spend their time – one of those places being social media. And, candidates should be able to easily view and apply for jobs using their mobile devices.
Build a talent community. The days of recruiting only when there’s an open job requisition are over. Competition means recruiting all the time. If you don’t have an opening, find a way to keep job seekers engaged. And if job seekers aren’t ready to apply, find a way to keep them engaged. Create a community where future candidates can learn about the company.
Promote your brand! I know I’ve said that organizations need to build great career websites, distribute job openings on social media, and make sure your site is mobile responsive. That alone isn’t enough. Recruiters need to start taking media requests to talk about the company brand. They need to teach employees how to use social media so they can, in turn, talk about the company brand.
Train hiring managers to interview well. Organizations shouldn’t assume that everyone knows how to interview. Interviewing is harder than it looks. Recruiters should help hiring managers understand the connection between cost per hire, turnover, and the hiring process.
Consider boomerangs. This won’t apply in every situation, but giving former employees a door to return to can be a very successful strategy. Allow an employee to leave, gain new skills, and return with a fresh perspective. Just be sure to address old issues that caused them to leave in the first place.

10 Proven Strategies for Recruiting In a Highly Competitive Job MarketClick To Tweet

Good Employees Want to Work for Good Companies

If you’re a good employer, job seekers will want to work for you. Organizations need to get the word out about their culture, jobs, and benefits. Now isn’t the time to be shy about the benefits of working at your organization. Because you can bet your competition is telling candidates the benefits of working for them.

P.S. One other aspect of recruiting that organizations need to address is bias. High-performing organizations are diverse, so it’s important for organizations to deal with this issue in their recruiting process. If you want to learn more about “How to Manage Bias in a World of Social Recruiting”, sign up for a special webinar on April 19 at 1pm Eastern with Emily Brennan from Alongside and workplace leadership expert Pierre Battah.

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Don’t Tell Employees Why the Company Culture is Great

March 16, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 3 Comments

One of the core topics in any orientation and onboarding program is company culture. We want candidates to see the company culture before they apply and during the hiring process so they know they’re a good fit. And we want them to fully immerse in the culture once they arrive.

And I use the word “immerse” because some organizations are taking the challenge literally and creating cultural immersion programs. For example, Cirrus Logic, based in Austin, Texas has a culture camp they call “School of Cirrus Rocks”. In an article for Austin Woman Magazine, Chief Culture Office Jo-Dee Benson explained the theme. “We make integrative circuits for audio applications, and a lot of our employees are musicians. It’s a theme that has really evolved and resonated with our organization.”

Benson started with Cirrus Logic in 1995 as their director of marketing and communications and expanded her role to vice president of human resources in 2005. At the time, the company was facing challenges attracting, engaging, and retaining talent. She knew the company needed to do something really different and used her marketing savvy to develop a “culture camp” – think of it as a mashup between Jack Black’s “School of Rock” and Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion”.

At last year’s Great Place to Work Conference for small and medium workplaces, I had a chance to see the School of Cirrus Rocks program in action. Here’s how the program works:

Prior to the session, participants were asked to take pictures about what inspires them around Cirrus. On the day of the program, participants meet at a local bar. The first half of the day, participants learn about storytelling. Why? Because storytelling is how employees share the company values.

During the second half of the day, participants break into groups and are tasked with pulling their images together into a story. Then, with the help of local musicians, music is added. Basically, employees create a story in the form of a song about working at the company. The groups perform their song in the best place – a local bar with local musicians and their co-workers cheering them on.

While every company isn’t going to create a School of Rock themed culture camp, there were several takeaways that can be applied to any company culture program.

Commitment. It is obvious that Cirrus Logic is “all in” with this program when it comes to resources (i.e. people and budget.) There’s a lot of people and equipment involved to produce the program so it’s only held 3-4 times a year. But when it happens, they do it right. Organizations that are committed to a culture camp need to be fully committed.

Listening. Cirrus Logic felt it was important for new hires to tell the company why Cirrus is a great place to work, versus the traditional other way around. Organizations need to listen to their employees and understand what employees love about the company. It will tell them what to keep and what to share with candidates.

Reinforcement. The program itself reinforces Cirrus organizational values like continuous improvement (accountability), innovation (investment to solve problems), integrity, communication, and job satisfaction. Any organizational program should align with company values, whatever those values are.

Recognition. The Cirrus Logic program works hard to make participants feel special. First, they ask participants not to disclose what happens in the School of Cirrus Rocks to other employees. Yes, participants have some idea…but they want people to enjoy the surprise. And Cirrus also gives participants a very cool memento to remember their experience – a miniature guitar.

Communication. I mentioned earlier that the first part of the session focuses on storytelling. The idea being that telling good stories helps your career. It’s the “story” that gets you on the meeting agenda so you can sell your ideas to others. For example, organizations can create an activity for employees to tell their culture story in six words (like the Hemingway six-word story activity).

Teamwork. Whenever you do something a little scary, something that takes you outside your comfort zone, like creating a song and singing it with your co-workers, you will remember it forever. This culture immersion camp helps bond people with each other and with the company. Trust me, participants will remember the people they went to camp with.

Again, what Cirrus Logic does in their culture camp works for them and they’re getting a return on investment that justifies the program. It’s not about other companies duplicating their program. It’s about making sure that employees understand your company culture so much that they can tell you about it (rather than being told).

P.S. If you’re looking to gain more creative inspiration for your company programs, consider attending the Great Place to Work Conference this year in Chicago. The dates are May 23-25, 2017. Speakers from Marriott, H&M, IKEA, Google, and many more are on the agenda. I’m looking forward to being there.

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Reduce Turnover: Develop an Employee Experience Strategy – #WorkInspired

March 7, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 2 Comments

(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, a leading provider of workforce management and human capital management cloud solutions. Kronos was named one of the 2017 Best Workplaces for Giving Back by Fortune Magazine in conjunction with consultancy Great Place to Work. Congrats to them! Enjoy the post.)

I know the phrase is well-worn, but the reality is that “the war for talent” is on. Forty percent of employers say they’re struggling to find qualified candidates, according to ManpowerGroup’s most recent Talent Shortage Survey. And while there’s talk about artificial intelligence (AI) helping organizations with recruiting processes, let’s face it, people want to be hired by people.

So, what really helps organizations attract and retain the best talent is having an exceptional candidate and employee experience. At Kronos, they call this WorkInspired. Chief People Officer David Almeda calls it a mutual promise between employees and the company. “Kronites bring their passion, ideas, talent, and customer-first mentality to work every day. In return, the company is committed to providing an engaging, transparent, collaborative, and high-trust employee experience. Being a great place to work is quite literally one of a small number of high-priority imperatives that are communicated to all employees each year as part of the company’s overall business strategy. In other words, being a great place to work is every bit as important as our traditional business priorities as a global software provider, such as application development and migrating customers to the cloud.”

We all know that people are candidates before employees, so I asked Almeda how Kronos brings WorkInspired to the hiring process. “We consider those early recruiting days with a prospective Kronite to be the beginning of an extended, very intentionally created employee experience. Our hiring process is meant to emulate the same WorkInspired experience and attributes that current employees enjoy.”

3 Ways to Improve the Candidate Experience

Make it easy for job seekers to find and apply for jobs. If the company can’t attract applicants, they can’t hire employees. Basic but true. Organizations need to be where candidates are and in today’s world, that’s on social media using a mobile device. Pew Research reports that as of January 2017, ninety-five percent of Americans own a cellphone of some kind and roughly half own tablet computers. Add to that seventy percent of Americans use social media, and it’s easy to see the importance of having a social and mobile recruiting strategy. If an individual isn’t ready to apply, organizations can use talent networks to stay engaged with candidates and keep them informed of what’s happening around the company.

Create a robust internship experience. One of the things that’s impressive about Kronos’ talent acquisition team is their commitment to go above and beyond for candidates and help them find the next best career move, with Kronos or elsewhere. Where you can really see that in action is their internship program. Kronos is committed to giving interns the best experience for their career, which includes participation in an “Intern Olympics” competition between Greater Boston technology companies. The event focuses on networking, leadership, and fun. It’s something the interns will hopefully remember for a long time, especially when they’re looking for career opportunities.

Give candidates a realistic job preview. At Kronos, candidates are exposed to as many potential colleagues as possible so they can better understand the company culture, the work environment, their would-be role, and performance expectations. Recruiters routinely share their expertise with candidates to demystify the job search process and help candidates present themselves in the most genuine and positive manner. Hiring managers are encouraged to make each candidate touchpoint special by demonstrating what WorkInspired means to them by sharing emails, articles, photos, and more to emphasize what it would be like to not only work at Kronos, but on that particular team and for that specific manager.

3 Ways to Improve the Employee Experience

Develop a meaningful feedback process for the employee experience. At Kronos, employees are asked to rate their managers twice a year. The ratings are focused on four key areas of manager effectiveness that they’ve determined makes up the DNA of their strongest people managers. Managers then share their results with their teams along with their plan for developing their areas of opportunities. Managers are also encouraged to share these results with candidates as part of the interviewing process – providing even more insight into what it would mean if they got the job. Additionally, managers are provided with target development goals while at the same time being held accountable to continuously improving their results.

Offer employees a competitive pay and benefits. Almeda acknowledges there never will be a one-size-fits-all benefits and perks program. “Kronites have a number of different interests and priorities driven by factors such as age, location, parental status and many, many others.” so we work hard to research what matters most to our people. We examine the data provided by our bi-annual global engagement surveys, run focus groups, and partner with third parties to develop a well-rounded package of benefits that is competitive, affordable, and appealing to Kronites. These programs fall into four core buckets: Care for Each Other; Care for Our Customers; Care for Our Families; and Care for Our Communities. The benefits are meant to maximize work-life for employees, with a stress on the fact that our families are the number one priority – not work.”

Create a productive office environment. If you’re not aware, Kronos is in the process of relocating their headquarters from Chelmsford, Massachusetts to the nearby city of Lowell. While moving more than 1,400 employees is a challenge, Almeda said Kronos used it as an opportunity for employee involvement. “Our very first action was to assemble a core team of advocates to work alongside our real estate, facilities, and procurement departments to build a new facility befitting our culture and the company we’ve become. The advocates’ responsibility is to act as a conduit between the Kronos design team and their individual departments: providing information and office updates downstream to their colleagues while bringing new ideas and feedback upstream to the core design team. We are also leveraging our internal collaboration platform, Chatter, to post move updates for Kronites, share plans and photos, and run polls to get a feel for what employees want to see in their new space or gather data about a specific design decision.”

Everyone Deserves a Great Manager

Whether it’s candidates or employees, recruiting and retaining the best talent takes great management. Almeda said Kronos is committed to developing Kronites. “We believe that everyone deserves a great manager. But being a great manager is not easy. It takes work. It takes coaching. It takes guidance. Above all, it takes courage. To maintain our success as a company, we know that we must invest in what we call manager effectiveness. A key part of evaluating the effectiveness of our 750-plus people managers around the world is how closely connected their direct reports feel to our overall corporate strategy and, more importantly, can see clearly how they directly contribute to our success.”

Organizations that want the best talent need to bring their recruiting process full circle. Create a candidate and employee experience that’s welcoming and inclusive. Then, inspire employees to drive the innovative ideas that moves the business forward. Ultimately, employees will share their stories. That’s what creating a best place to work is all about.

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