What you Should be doing

Losing team members is never fun and no one ever wants to sit town and tell an employee that they are terminated. However, it is a natural part of business that will occur so it’s important to understand how you can learn from them. Employers tend to only recognize the fault of the termed employee but there is always something that you could or should have done differently to avoid the termination.

Always ask yourself the following questions after you term and employee:

1. Why am I letting this person go? What did they do or what did they not do?
2. Where there any signs in the beginning that I missed from either the hiring process or the introductory period?
3. Did I properly educate the employee on how to complete their tasks properly to meet company expectations?
4. Did I avoid counseling the employee to help create action plans for improvement because I “didn’t have time”?
5. What should I do differently next time?

The harsh reality is that people repeat behaviors until they understand how their behaviors should be changed. Employers must understand and accept responsibility when employees are failing at their job. Take the time to ask these questions before you get to the point of no return. If you fail to do this, you will continue repeating the process.

Do Your Employees Love their Job?

The reality is that most employees aren’t loyal and enthusiastic about their position with your company. Why? Well they’d like to be but they really need you to practice the following in order for them to feel happy about their job:

1. Get the Right People on the Bus! Your team wants nothing more than to have good co-workers that they can depend on that share the same vision as them. Many employees are constantly frustrated with one or more co-workers who barely contribute resulting in everyone else having to pick up their slack. When all the right people are on the team tasks and processes are completed with ease and growth is constant.
2. Cross Train! Employees want and need to understand how other departments work together to achieve the same goal. The great thing about cross training is that employees learn new things on a continued basis allowing them to contribute more to the entire team. This is also handy if someone is out because someone else will likely know how to fill in and help cover their duties.
3. Communicate! Wow – this is a huge one and the sad part is that many companies fail at this. All employees want is to feel as if the “know” what is going on around them and with the company. You can and should share just about anything that happens in your company. You also want to communicate the bad news. Some companies just focus on the good as they’re worried about telling the team about the bad.
4. Provide Positive Leadership! Recognize staff excellence because it’s free and everyone appreciates it. Provide feedback on how employees are doing and help them by creating action plans to continue successful behavior and how to improve weaknesses. Mistakes will happen – use them as learning opportunities. Far too many leaders punish employees for honest mistakes and it incredibly de-motivating. It also puts a bad taste in their mouth and they start to lose respect for you as their boss. They expect you’ll be upset but they don’t need you to lash out and throw darts at them. It solves nothing.

Leadership Greatness

Being a leader is incredibly important because your team depends on you to help them create and obtain continued success. Anyone can be labeled a leader but true leaders invest in their team, guide and train them, as well as, commit to the vision and strive to constantly achieve greatness.


Tips on how to be a Great Leader:

1. Create a Vision for Growth and Make Sure its Known: Your team needs to know what your vision is so they can align their goals and contributions to support the vision. The reality is that many companies fail from not having a vision or by having a vision that has not been shared throughout the company.
2. Maintain 100% Integrity at All Times: As the leader you must stick to your vision and core values. Failure to do so will result in holding back the company and your team. You must stand up for your self, your team and the company at all times. Your team will respect and honor you.
3. Be the Ultimate Resource: Your team needs to know that they can depend on you. If you don’t know the answer then they will expect you to guide them to the answer. Make sure you know your stuff. There’s nothing worse than having a leader who you can’t depend on or look to for answers.
4. Be 100% Committed: If you believe in something and know that the result will support your vision, show uncommon commitment. Expect positive results by turning disadvantages into advantages and by always looking for opportunities.
5. Make Your Team Feel like #1: Leaders are only leaders because of the people they have following and helping them achieve their ultimate vision. Commit to them as they commit to you. Find what they want to achieve and leverage that to help them grow into great team members. They will appreciate your support and know that your there for them which will result in 100% commitment from your team.

Pass the PEOs Please

By Harley Luplow, columnist

The last quarter of the year is a time when many businesses review, renew and modify their insurance and employee benefit plans. Health insurance premiums have dramatically increased for a number of area companies, and it's been a challenge to maintain current coverage without passing on costs to employees.

Of course, employers can shop around for a new health-care provider and absorb some of the cost increases themselves. But there is another option that may prove to be more optimal: entering into a co-employment agreement with a professional employment organization or PEO.

The co-employment relationship is one where a company's workers become employees-of-record with the PEO.

The working relationship between the company and its workers essentially remains the same but for payroll, tax and insurance matters that are managed for a fee by the PEO.

The PEO is able to reduce benefit costs because it has a larger number of employees and can negotiate better rates for health care and workers compensation insurance.

Beyond the cost savings on health and workers compensation premiums, a PEO can handle administration of payroll processing and tax payments, 401(k) plans, federal and state unemployment obligations, EEOC claims and other issues.

A PEO can also be effective for small and medium-sized businesses by lifting the traditional human resources burden off the administrative staff so it can focus on core business issues.

Liability risks are often minimized as the PEO will stay abreast of, and in compliance with, new worker safety, hiring/firing and tax issues that may be difficult for small business owners to track.

While each company's situation is unique, annual cost savings can range from $25,000 for a 20-person firm to $250,000 for firms with more than 100 workers.

From several experiences using PEOs at public and private firms, I was able to reduce costs substantially and really enjoyed the online access so our workers could administer their own payroll and benefits accounts.

With online access, workers can review federal and state withholding deductions, track vacation and sick day accruals, read over health benefit plan details and access and print out pay stubs.

This saved me and my staff countless hours, plus the workers felt more in control of their finances and benefits.

As with most important longer-term decisions, it pays to investigate and compare costs and employee features of PEOs.

The cost stabilization of utilizing a PEO allows companies to consider offering enriched employee benefits that can help retain and attract top performers.

While it may seem a bit different to have someone else manage your workers' payroll and benefits issues for you, it can truly pay dividends for your company and your staff.

And it's really nothing new, as the basic PEO concept of employee leasing started in the U.S. in the 1940s.

Harley Luplow (JD Indiana University & MBA Georgetown) is a local business consultant

City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks, Lots of Stress in the Air ...

Wait a minute, that's not the right lyric, is it? But it may be a more realistic sentiment for your workers. Millions of Americans experience increased stress levels around the holidays. Stress is not only a health risk; it's also a safety risk. Stressed-out workers are more likely to have accidents.

Along with the decorations, shopping, and celebrations during the holiday season comes a heightened concern for safety. All the activities, partying, driving, and stress at this time of year can increase the risk of accidents. So although OSHA doesn't require it, providing holiday safety-awareness training would certainly be an excellent idea.

With all the hubbub during the holidays, some of your workers might be distracted on the job. They might be thinking about holiday plans and preparations instead of focusing on their work, and that could lead to carelessness and accidents. Other employees might not be getting as much sleep as usual, what with parties, shopping, and other after-work holiday activities. This means they might come to work tired, or even a little hung over, and that could be dangerous, too.

Be on guard during the holiday season by practicing a little extra supervision and giving additional safety reminders. Here are some simple ways your employees can manage holiday stress and still keep safe and enjoy the season:

• Plan. The earlier they make arrangements for parties, presents, travel, and so on, the less pressure they'll feel.
• Scale back. Cut back on or eliminate one stressful part of the holiday season. They don't have to do it all!
• Ask, don't guess. Ask people what they want for presents. Think of all the time and effort they'll save—and they'll be able to give just the right thing.
• Don't skip meals. Getting proper nutrition when they're on the run is essential for avoiding headaches and keeping their energy up.
• Stick to normal sleeping and waking times. Lack of sleep can add to stress and tension.
• Drink in moderation. Sip alcoholic beverages slowly. Alternate nonalcoholic beverages, such as soda or water, with alcohol.  

White House Fact Sheet

Although details of the agreement have yet to be released, its major components, as described in a Fact Sheet released by the White House, are as follows:

• Current income tax rates would be retained for two years for everyone. Presumably, current law’s favorable tax treatment of long-term capital gains and qualified dividend income would be retained as well.
• A two year alternative minimum tax (AMT) “patch,” which would prevent exemption amounts for individuals from dropping and allow personal credits to offset AMT.
• Retention of “key tax cuts” for working families (earned income tax credit, child tax credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit).
• Allowing businesses to write off 100% of their equipment and machinery purchases during 2011.
• A two-year extension of the R&D tax credit and other tax incentives to support business expansion. (It is not clear at this point whether the bipartisan agreement will extend all of the business and individual tax breaks that expired at the end of 2009.)
• Reducing the workers’ share of Social Security tax for 2011 from 6.20% to 4.20%.
• Extending unemployment benefits for 13 months.

Reportedly, the bipartisan agreement also would reinstate the estate tax with a $5 million exemption amount and a 35% top tax rate.

http://trendhr.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/social-networks-provide-clues-to-decision-making-in-the-hiring-process/

The use of social networking websites grew in every age group from 2009 to 2010, according to a Pew Research Center survey, “Internet & American Life Project Survey,” and cited in a white paper, “The Effects of Social Networks on Employment.”

The survey results include: in the age range of 18-to-29, social networking use grew from 76% to 86%; in the 30-to-49 age range, use grew from 48% to 61%; in the 50-to-64 age range, use grew from 25% to 47%; and for 65 and older, it grew from 13% to 26%.

Because more people are using social networking websites, the white paper suggests that more employers are turning to social networking sites to help with the hiring process. According to the white paper, written by StormStaff, “Hiring managers believe that candidate social networking profiles can be very helpful in providing a more well-rounded view of these job candidates, and it can also be a great help in finding the best qualified candidates for a job while screening out those who may not be such a good fit.”

The white paper noted that the most popular social networking sites searched by employers for information about prospective employees were Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace (in that order), as reported in a 2009 CareerBuilder survey. The white paper also stated that jobseekers report that they search for job listings (35%), facts about organizations (26%), and information about career paths within the organizations (23%).

Screening Job Candidates

Some reasons reported in the CareerBuilder survey that led employers to screen out candidates based on what they found on the candidates’ social networking profiles included:

• Provocative/inappropriate photographs or information—53%
• Content about drinking or using drugs—44%
• Bad-mouthing of previous employers, co-workers, or clients—35%
• Evidence of poor communication skills—29%
• Discriminatory comments—26%
• Misrepresentation of qualifications—24%

The white paper also reported that CareerBuilder found that 18% of hiring managers said that the content they found on social networking sites convinced them to hire the candidate.

The 9 Essential Skills of Human Resources Management - How Many Do You Have?

by Jay Schleifer

When interviewing a potential new hire, it is standard procedure for a Human Resources professional to assess the candidate as compared to a list of key skills and personal characteristics needed for the job.

In considering ideas to start our new HR Daily Advisor service, some at BLR thought it might be interesting to turn the tables on the profession, and come up with a list of such attributes for Human Resources professionals themselves.

In no way is this authoritative, but it is the opinion of people, including BLR Founder and Publisher Bob Brady, who’ve spent decades meeting with HR professionals, supporting their goals and reporting their achievements. You may agree or not with our assessments, but either way, we’d like to hear about it via the “share comments” link on this page.

That said, here goes:

Human Resources Management Key Skill #1: Organization

Human Resources management requires an orderly approach. Organized files, strong time management skills and personal efficiency are key to the Human Resources function. You’re dealing with people’s lives and careers here, and when a manager requests a personnel file or a compensation recommendation that lines up with both the organization and the industry, it won’t do to say, “Hold on. I’ll see if I can find it.”

Human Resources Management Key Skill #2: Multitasking

On any day, an HR professional will deal with an employee’s personal issue one minute, a benefit claim the next and a recruiting strategy for a hard-to-fill job the minute after. Priorities and business needs move fast and change fast, and colleague A who needs something doesn’t much care if you’re already helping colleague B. You need to be able to handle it all, all at once.

Human Resources Management Key Skill #3: Discretion and Business Ethics

Human Resources professionals are the conscience of the company, as well as the keepers of confidential information. As you serve the needs of top management, you also monitor officers’ approaches to employees to ensure proper ethics are observed. You need to be able to push back when they aren’t, to keep the firm on the straight and narrow. Not an easy responsibility! Of course, you always handle appropriately, and never divulge to any unauthorized person, confidential information about anyone in the organization.

Human Resources Management Key Skill #4: Dual Focus

HR professionals need to consider the needs of both employees and management. There are times you must make decisions to protect the individual, and other times when you protect the organization, its culture, and values. These decisions may be misunderstood by some, and you may catch flak because of it, but you know that explaining your choices might compromise confidential information. That’s something you would never do.

Human Resources Management Key Skill #5: Employee Trust

Employees expect Human Resources professionals to advocate for their concerns, yet you must also enforce top management’s policies. The HR professional who can pull off this delicate balancing act wins trust from all concerned.

Human Resources Management Key Skill #6: Fairness

Successful HR professionals demonstrate fairness. This means that communication is clear, that peoples’ voices are heard, that laws and policies are followed, and that privacy and respect is maintained.

Human Resources Management Key Skill #7: Dedication to Continuous Improvement

HR professionals need to help managers coach and develop their employees. The goal is continued improvement and innovation as well as remediation. And looking to their own houses, the HR professional also uses technology and other means to continuously improve the HR function itself.

Human Resources Management Key Skill #8: Strategic Orientation

Forward-thinking HR professionals take a leadership role and influence management’s strategic path. In gauging and filling the labor needs of the company, devising compensation schemes, and bringing on board new skill sets leading to business growth, they provide the proof for the often-heard management comment, “People are our most important asset.”

Human Resources Management Key Skill #9: Team Orientation

Once, companies were organized into hierarchies of workers headed by supervisors. Today, the team is king. HR managers must consequently understand team dynamics and find ways to bring disparate personalities together and make the team work.

Nine Skills, But Also One Caveat

As we listed these skills, one thing we didn’t do was try to prioritize them. Because no general list of skills can take into account the business strategy at your particular organization.

Which leads to the caveat we mentioned, as expressed by Bob Brady.

“HR is a creature of, and serves the business strategy,” Brady says. “It’s important for HR people to know what that strategy is and what makes the business tick so the approach to HR can be tailored accordingly.

The One Interview Technique that Gets Real Answers

by Steve Bruce, hrdailyadvisor.blr.com

In real estate it’s location, location, location, and in interviewing it’s probe, probe, probe. Typically the candidate’s first answer to your interview questions will be reasoned and impressive—and well rehearsed.  It’s by probing deeper that you’ll get real insight.

Asking probing questions is the key to eliciting meaningful information from well-prepared applicants. Here's an example of how your probing can reveal the real story.

You: Well, I'm looking for a stellar project manager, so tell me about an important project that you managed.
Applicant: I recently managed the computerization of our entire vendor/purchasing/inventory management program. 

(Great. Sounds like a winner—that's just what we need someone for.)

You: How did you do as far as bringing it in on time and on budget?
Applicant: I'm very proud of that.  With a year-long project, we were up and running and fully trained two weeks early.  The overall budget was $3.5 million and we brought her in at $3.34. 

(Is this a qualified candidate or what?  Seems great so far. Should we move on to some other topics? Let's probe a little bit.)

You: How many were on the team?
Applicant: 18.

You: Were you the team leader?
Applicant: Yes

(Wow, this candidate's going to be great, but maybe we should probe a little more.)

You: Who selected the software?
Applicant: Oh, the consultant did.  She was very sharp.

(Hmmm. The consultant?)

You: How were the team members selected?
Applicant: Well, my boss picked the internal members, and the consultant picked the technical people.

(Maybe this candidate's involvement was not as great as I first thought. Let's probe more.)

You: Who directed the day-to-day activities of the team?
Applicant: Oh, the consultant did that.  Very technical project, very technical.

(Wait a minute. What did the applicant do?)

You:  So how often did you meet with the team?
Applicant: I attended all the meetings to be sure that everything was going well. I sent out the reminder notices for the meetings and I printed up the agenda after the consultant worked it up.

You can see where this going. This candidate, who initially appeared to be a successful high-level project manager, was in reality a low-level coordinator. The candidate was never lying, but it took considerable probing to bring out a complete picture of his efforts.

Bottom line, especially when it comes to key responsibilities and accomplishments, probe, probe, probe.

How a Bad Job Description Lost an Airtight Case, and Other Horror Stories

by Steve Bruce

Here's what might happen when job descriptions aren't accurate and up to date:

Failed to Define Essential Functions

One of the most common failures of job descriptions is not segmenting out the essential functions of the position. Here's what can happen:

You've fired a person who just can't get the job done. Yes, the person has a disability, and you've tried to accommodate the disability, but the person just isn't getting enough work done. True, he is doing duties D, E, and F, but he isn't making any progress on A, B, and C. And, unfortunately, those are the duties that you really care about—the ones you view as the real meat of the position.

The former employee now visits an attorney and you've got a lawsuit on your hands. Discrimination against a person with a disability. It's going to come down to a simple question—Did the employee accomplish the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation?

If yes, there's a potential winning lawsuit; if no, probably not. So you go to the job description. Whoops. You haven't broken out the essential functions. You're going to be in a hole, trying to establish, after the fact, that A. B, and C were actually the essential functions.

And the situation is going to be that much worse in the case where A. B, and C—essential as they are—don't take as much time as D, E, and F. Can you prevail in court? Perhaps, but why put yourself in that position?

Job Description Is Out of Date

Jimmy's been fired for poor performance. He sues saying it's not true, his performance was good, the company just doesn't like people in his protected category.

But, you say, he didn't do X and he didn't do Y, and those are critical elements of the job. Let's look at the job description, Jimmy's attorney says. Whoops. The job description hasn't been updated to include the duties that Jimmy's being accused of failing at.

This sounds like a joke, but over the past few years, most jobs have changed dramatically. With layoffs, almost everyone has assumed new duties.

Sometimes the new duties are at higher level, sometimes at a lower level. For example, a supervisor may have been let go, and those under him now have to assume his supervisory duties in addition to their regular duties.

Or the opposite happens. Say there used to be five people doing a job and now there are two. Those two people are working so hard that the supervisor takes away some of their duties. And usually it's the higher level duties.

Note: This has serious wage/hour implications—in the first case, where higher-level duties were added, a former non-exempt may now be doing exempt work. In the latter case, where higher level duties were assumed by the manager, the job may no longer be exempt.

hrdailyadvisor.blr.com 

Have You Set the Scene for Safety?

By: Safety.blr.com

Both the law and sound business practice compel you to look beyond specific regulations to assess safety training needs and to plan for effective training.

Before you can roll out a successful safety training program, you have to assess training needs and plan for effective training.

Fail to identify needs, and training will miss the target. As a result, the workplace might not be any safer for all the expense and effort.

Fail to plan training so that it comes at just the right time, in just the right amount, and in just the right form, and the result will be disappointing, too.

Assessment

Training assessment in the safety field means several things:

• Needs assessment. What types of training are specifically required by OSHA? What additional training is necessary for a safe and healthful workplace? What do job hazard analyses, incident reports, etc. tell you about training needs? Who must know what about what?

• Learning assessment. How will you know after training whether the training was successful? How will you be able to assure that workers understand what they must do and how to do it?

• Instruction/program assessment. How do you evaluate the success of specific instructional modules and of your overall safety training program? How do you identify necessary improvements? How do you implement changes?

Planning


Planning always follows assessment, and its key elements include:

• Goals and objectives. What do you want your training to accomplish? How will you know when you've achieved it? How will you measure the results of your training?

• Delivery/format. What's the best way to deliver training? Classroom? Demonstration? On-the-job? Self-paced? Computer-based? What's the best way to make training interactive to engage employees in the learning process? What's the best way to deal with language barriers or low skill levels?

• Schedules. When and how often is specific training needed? How can you arrange schedules to accommodate supervisors, employees, and production requirements?

• Written programs. Does regulatory compliance require a written program or policy? Do safety written programs require annual or periodic revision?

• Recordkeeping. What information about training do you need to record and retain? Are training records kept in an organized way that supports the program and meets compliance requirements?

• Trainers. Who will be responsible for training? Will trainers themselves need training in order to carry out training responsibilities successfully? What other resources will trainers need?


These are just some of the issues you must explore when assessing and planning safety training. Tomorrow, we'll talk more about assessment and planning, introducing safety training's seven deadly sins—and seven simple virtues.

Is It Time to Outsource Your HR?

By Toddi Gutner

Most small-business owners know the frustration of spending more time than they want or should on non-revenue-generating activities. From payroll and human resource management to benefits and compensation, entrepreneurs can spend up to 40 percent of their precious day engaged in these necessary but time-sucking tasks.

The answer for many growing companies may be to hire one of the 700 professional employer organizations (PEOs) in the U.S. These companies become the legal employer of your staff and handle all the payroll, benefits and HR functions.

“Most small businesses are under 25 employees, and that means the owner is the most productive, is critical to the success of the business, and has to get out there and generate sales and products,” says Milan Yager, president and CEO of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations. When small businesses outsource non-core activities, “they can focus on the business of their business,” says Yager.

But when does it make sense to hire a PEO? While PEOs aren’t for every company, those that do use them can often offer better benefit packages and thus hire better talent, says Ed Vargas, senior vice president of health and benefits at Aon Consulting. “We help them set up a Fortune 500 package of benefits,” he says.

In assessing whether or not you should hire a PEO, there are several questions to consider before you make a decision:

- How big is your company? Expert opinion varies on how large a company should be before it hires a PEO. A general rule of thumb is “when administrative processes begin slowing down the productivity of the firm,” says Dan Sheridan, president and chief operating officer of Extensis, a PEO. While it is different for every company, “this typically occurs when a business reaches 10 to 15 employees a week,” says Sheridan.

Some PEOs won’t work with companies that have fewer than 10 employees. "Once a company gets very big, then it is easier to have an in-house HR department,” says Janis Sweeney, owner of National Employee Management Resources, a PEO. The sweet spot for a PEO, she says, is between 16 and 80 people. The composition of your workforce is also important. Companies that only offer insurance to a few key executives wouldn’t benefit from PEOs.

- How much does a PEO cost? Like all professional services, the way a PEO prices services varies depending on the company. Industry experts estimate that the cost ranges from about 2 percent to 11 percent of wages. Another way to look at the expense is per employee. With that measure, it would run between $500 and $1,500 per employee per year. For very small companies with only two to five employees, some PEOs might price their services at a flat fee of $150 per month.

On the flip side, it is important to try and estimate the total cost of your HR functions. Truth is, most businesses “have no idea what their true costs are, as they only think of wages but never add up all the other things,” says Yager.

- How much control do you want over your HR functions? A PEO acts as a business partner to the client company. If a business owner wants to control all aspects of a business and is not open to suggestions or following through on recommendations a PEO makes, then a PEO may not make sense, says Jim Thibodeau, president of StaffScapes Inc.

Businesses do lose a bit of flexibility in the coverage they can offer when they use a PEO. Related to the issue of control is the perception of your employees. “Employees are used to seeing [your business name] on the check,” and the PEO becomes the check signer, says Sweeney.

- What services do you need? “Picking the right PEO is of paramount importance,” says Sheridan. The PEO should be certified by the Employer Services Assurance Corporation, have experience in the client’s industry and cover that company’s territory, he says. Also bear in mind that some PEOs specialize in a Web-based high-tech approach, while others are focused on face-to-face support.

Remember — each PEO is different, and business owners would do well to read the fine print.

Toddi Gutner is an award-winning journalist, writer and editor and currently a contributing writer covering career management issues for The Wall Street Journal.

Plan your day, without tying your hands

By: Business Management Daily



How often do you start the day with a to-do list? And how often does that list fly out the window by 10 a.m.?

The trouble is, says time management coach Patricia Hutchings, we don’t build enough flexibility into our calendars. With so many to-do’s and scheduled appointments, “things get out of hand,” she says.

She recommends balancing scheduled time and flexible time. It sounds simple, but it can be a challenge.

Here’s how to make it work for you:

1. Schedule 60% of your week on your calendar, and leave 40% open, Hutchings says.

What to schedule? Appointments and meetings, of course, making sure you add time on either side for preparation and follow-up. But also schedule tasks that you know need tackling by a certain deadline.

2. Keep appointments and scheduled time to a minimum on Mondays and Fridays. “Monday is typically a busy day because lots of things happen that you can’t anticipate,” says Hutchings. “Friday is a last-minute day, since people come to you with work due Monday.”

Thursday can be scheduled heaviest, since it’s the day with the least interruptions, generally.

3. Make your schedule visible, showing what weekly tasks you have and how you blocked out your time.

So when your boss says, “I need this done by x,” you can say, “I’d be happy to. Here’s the schedule as it stands. I want to make sure I can fit this work in. Which of these things can I move forward in order to tackle this instead?”

“Have everything on there that you do,” says Hutchings. “You’re going to blow their minds because they have no idea what you do. You need to demonstrate to them in a visual way what you do. Otherwise, some people think you’re just sitting there.”

Simple Words that can Motivate Employees in a Down Economy

The economy is still down and many companies have closed their doors and just as many have had to consider doing so at one time or another. Motivation and morale is hard to come by in the workplace when the economy is down and your company isn’t doing as well as you or your employees would like. This is an unfortunate truth but certainly a reality for many.

So what can you do to help lift spirits? How can you get your team motivated to reach and succeed company goals necessary to keep your doors open?

Well, it’s simpler than you may think. Some of the best and simple words that a manager can speak to their employees to help motivate and build morale are as follows:

1.) We
2.) Thank you (or) I appreciate your help
3.) I made a mistake (or) I was wrong
4.) What do you think
5.) Great Job (or) Well done

All though these are simple, managers fail to use them as much as they should or even fail to use them at all.

It’s also important to do the following:

1.) Recognize your employees – verbally, in written form, public praise. These are all FREE!!
2.) Ask for input and ideas – when your meeting with your staff make sure to ask them for their input. This is motivating to employees and it makes them feel valued. Implement as many ideas as you can, as long as they’re practical.

Simple phrases remind employees that they matter and when a manager can recognize their good work then your team will be far more motivated to achieve desired results. Your employees need you to lead the way and if you’re not motivated then it’s definitely hard for them to be as well. Yes the economy can be stressful but it’s up to you and your team to pull together and succeed.

Start speaking these simple words to your staff today!

Tips for How to Properly Use Background Checks

Every employer has steps and methods for assessing candidates before they make the final hiring decision. The issue is that many employers fail to use assessments properly and sometimes don’t realize or recognize when they’re discriminating. Because of this concern, it’s important that employers understand why they should use background checks and how they need to be assessed in regards to screening candidates.

First employers need to understand that not all crimes are equal so you need defined criteria that allow you to effectively measure the relevance of an applicant’s criminal history which directly relates to the position.

Review your job description for the position you need to fill. Based on the nature of the position, the type of access and the responsibilities, what could pose a threat should an applicant have a criminal offense on the background check you ran?

Examples of why this would be important:

1.) You need a delivery driver so you do not want to hire someone who could pose great danger to your customers or themselves. You run a background check and find a record on the applicant for a recent conviction for driving under the influence. This would provide you with enough information to make an educated and honest decision to choose not to hire this individual.
2.) You need a bank teller position filled so you definitely need someone who can handle money responsibly that you can trust. You run a background check and find a record on the applicant for a conviction of forgery, theft or embezzlement. This would provide you with enough information to make an educated and honest decision to choose not to hire this individual even if they had the appropriate skills.

You have to decide when you need a position filled if running a background check is even necessary. If you can place just about anyone without much comprise to security, trust or safety then make sure you do not discriminate against applicants for criminal records that really do not directly relate to the position. You can find yourself in a lawsuit very quickly if you fail to have direct and reasonable evidence that supports your reasoning behind failing to hire an individual to their criminal background.

Great Questions to ask During Interviews!

Of course we all are looking for the best fit for the job, right? But how often do you think about their ability to handle your particular management style? This is often an area that managers overlook when asking the candidates questions during an interview. Here are some questions that you should consider asking in your interviews to help assess the candidate’s adaptability to different management styles:

1.) Describe the perfect manager.
2.) Based on your past employment, who would you choose as the best manager you’ve had the opportunity to work for? Why were they good?
3.) Based on your past employment, who would you choose as your least favorite manager? Why were they your least favorite? How did you adapt?
4.) How do you handle conflict with your managers? Disagreements? How do you resolve issues?

By asking questions similar to the ones listed above, you’ll find a greater understanding of how the candidate feels about different management styles. If you find that you’re for the most part the ideal manager described by the candidate then you can have confidence that you’ll work great together should you decide to hire them for the position. On the other hand, if you really like the candidate but worry about being similar to the manager that was their least favorite then you can consider ways to adapt to ensure a smooth and successful relationship if you decide to hire them on.

You shouldn’t base your hiring decision on whether or not they can or cannot handle your management style but rather use these questions to help prepare yourself for building and maintaining successful relationships with new hires.

Tips for Becoming a High Performance Supervisor!

Supervisors have to work at being strong and influential leaders. There are some basic steps that all supervisors/managers need to practice to ensure that they’re truly effective as leaders in their workplace.

1. Define and explain your role and responsibilities. When your team understands the “big picture” of what your role and responsibilities entail then your direction and delegated tasks will be better understood and welcomed by your staff.

2. Set reasonable objectives that are obtainable and that do not conflict with other goals asked of your staff. Employee motivation can be damaged quickly if your short term goals interfere with your long term goals and vise versa. Don’t be the supervisor who pushes too hard on smaller objectives that ultimately interfere with larger objectives. This will hinder your overall success.

3. Provide an opportunity for your staff to participate in the decision making process. Don’t always assume that you have the only and/or best answers to achieving goals and success for your team. Supervisors often forget that their ultimately part of a team and their role is just to lead, supervisor and maintain an effective team. Supervisors should be explaining to their team why decisions are made so that they can help rationalize the decision and provide feedback on how to improve if necessary.

4. PLAN YOUR ACTIONS instead of making it up as you go! Staff needs the big and small picture for their department to be as effective and contributing as you want and need them to be. If you find yourself just making it up as you go then you’re selling your team short. It’s harder to keep employees motivated when tasks and goals change day to day.

Your team is not only as strong as your weakest link but their also only as strong as their leader allows them to be. Leaders (supervisors & managers) often complain that their team is inefficient but they never look to themselves on how and why their team isn’t being successful. This is a huge pitfall for many leaders because they’re not only doing their team a disservice but their also hindering their own individual success.

Payroll Barbie - How to Date

For the Fourth Time Trend Receives Inc. 5000 Award

Rockwall, TX – September 19, 2010 - Trend Personnel Services, Inc., a leading provider of human resource outsourcing, today announced that the company was named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list, a compendium of the most entrepreneurial and fastest growing companies in America.  This is the company’s fourth consecutive year appearing on the list. Trend Personnel is an arm of Trend HR.

TrendHR CEO D.W. Bobst commented on the award: “We are very excited to be chosen for the Inc. 5000 list for the past four consecutive years.  Inc. Magazine is the leading authority on the fastest growing companies. During this challenging economic climate, we were able to achieve the award again based on our team’s outstanding customer service, client referrals and our overall commitment to providing the highest level of quality of services and support.   Our focus is to help business owners be more productive while spending less time on administrative/non-productive tasks, which is critical to businesses in these tough economic conditions.   I would like to express my gratitude to our Trend Personnel Services teammates and our clients who are key to our success. 

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found on Inc.com. 

About TrendHR:

TrendHR is a human resource outsourcing company focused on providing its customers customized solutions to Payroll, Staffing, Workers Compensation, Health Benefits, Risk Management and Human Resource functionality.  Trend operates as an off-site Human Resource Department relieving businesses of hundreds of burdensome details which allows business owners to focus on production and growing their business.  “Do what you do best, let Trend handle the rest!”  

Don’t neglect performance management in tough times

By Laura Raines

For the AJC

When employees are being asked to work longer and harder to keep companies afloat, and budgets are too tight for pay raises, supervisors may be tempted to postpone or suspend annual performance reviews.

That would be a mistake. Not only does it leave employees in the dark about their status, it negates the benefits that companies derive from creating a successful performance management program.

“It’s always better to recognize employees for their work, give them feedback on their performance, and to be upfront about the lack of money for salary increases or bonuses,” said Margaret Hintz, team manager for the Eastern region midmarket division of Administaff in Atlanta. Administaff is a leading professional employer organization that provides human resources services for small and midsize companies.

“Working in chaos is not good for anyone, and if you don’t tell people what is going on, they’ll fill in the blanks themselves,” she said. “When managers tell employees about what is going on in the company, whether it’s good or bad, it builds the level of trust needed to create a good workplace.”

People often equate performance management with the annual performance review that helps companies decide who gets promotions, raises, bonuses or disciplinary actions.

“Effective performance management goes well beyond reviews,” Hintz said. “It’s about the entire life cycle of an employee.”

It starts with a well-written job description with clear performance standards. “The responsibilities should be doable and based on benchmarks that have been achieved in the past,” she said.

For a call center operator, it might include how many calls the person would take in a day, and what percentage of issues should be resolved on the first call, for example. Goals should be defined at the individual level, but linked to the department and overall company goals, so that employees understand how their job fits into the company mission.

Clear job descriptions make the review process more objective, allowing supervisors to assess employees doing the same job with more equity. “Knowing the expected responsibilities also helps employees and supervisors recognize skill gaps, which can be addressed through training and development,” Hintz said.

“When employees hear that management is willing to invest in their development, it sends a clear message that they are valued and have a future with the company,” she said. “It creates a stronger company culture, which minimizes employee dissatisfaction and turnover.”

Using in-house experts as trainers, low-cost Internet classes or Web-inars, or the training resources provided in a professional employer organization package can lower training costs. She encourages her clients to look for low-cost lunch and learn lectures that would appeal to a broad spectrum of workers (such as stress management or wellness initiatives).

There are other ways to reward employees than compensation, as well. A change in title, extra time off, a more flexible schedule, access to a leadership training program or a high-level project can acknowledge value without breaking the budget.

“Companies need to understand what’s important to their employees to be able to reward them when they are successful, and that comes from a performance management program based on communication, collaboration and commitment,” said Hintz.

Bosses should give regular feedback to their employees on what they are doing well and in what areas they need work, rather than waiting for an annual review. “That allows an employee to improve before a formal evaluation,” she said.

With ongoing communication, work progress becomes a more collaborative effort. “The example must come from the top down, with leaders setting high standards for management,” she said.

“The body of human resource knowledge is so vast, that it can be difficult for a small or midsize company to get a handle on creating a performance management system,” said Hintz. Partnering with a professional employer organization can deepen their knowledge of best practices, and add to their resources. Gaining access to more affordable employee benefits at larger group rates can often offset the costs of outsourcing HR services.

“A good performance management system shows employees that you’ve thought through what they need to do; you recognize their contributions; you want to train and develop their skills; and you will reward their success,” said Hintz.

“It’s critical to the overall health of a company, because it strengthens the culture, increases retention and employee satisfaction, and improves a company’s reputation.”

Tips for Organizing Personnel Files – Reward: Limiting Risk!

Did you know it’s important to keep certain personnel records separate? Well it happens to be very important.  Quite simply, you should have at least 2 separate personnel files for each employee.

Why should we have separate files for each employee? 

There are both federal and state laws that require employers to administer and maintain multiple types of personnel records. Due to record sensitivity and subject matter, certain personnel records must be kept separate from the main personnel file. The primary file should house all records directly relating to the employees position with your company. Any non-job related records must be kept separate.

PRIMARY Personnel File (#1) –employees’ personnel related records:

• Completed Job Application (with attached resume, references, certificates etc)
• Signed acknowledgement and receipt of  handbook (policies/guidelines)
• Employee agreement/non-compete (contract)
• Direct Deposit & Payroll authorization forms
• Change forms (pay, title, payroll, address etc)
• Performance reviews
• Counsels / disciplinary actions (completed forms)
• Termination forms / layoffs / LOA
•  Equipment record (assigned items – company phone, vehicle, tools etc)

SECONDARY Personnel File (#2) – confidential, sensitive records:

This file will contain confidential and sensitive personnel information so should be restricted to authorized staff members only:

• Completed Form I-9
• Records of grievances or complaints affecting employment status
• Survey of ethnic, disabled or veteran status
• Workers' compensation claims
• Discrimination claims, charges and related documents filed with EEOC or state agencies, as well as records kept by employer to aid in investigations
• Health and Life information (medical history and status)
• ADA - Work restrictions or accommodation requests
• Harassment claims and/or investigation results
• Wage garnishment records

Keep your employee personnel files separate to protect your company and your employees. Failure to keep certain records separate could lead to large fines should your company ever be audited.

Green Means Go

For the first time in over 30 years, the “Permanent Resident Card” — commonly known as the “Green Card” — is actually green.

The USCIS started issuing the new more secure cards this spring. Newly issued cards are valid for ten years. Older cards with an expiration date will remain valid until that date or replaced by the newer card. Holographic images, laser engraved fingerprints, and high resolution micro-images make the new version of the card nearly impossible to reproduce.

Additional information about the new green cards is available on the USCIS Web site.

Final Regulation of Electronic I-9′s

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a final regulation (75 FR 42575, July 22, 2010) concerning the use of electronic signatures and storage for Form I-9s. The final rule is similar to the initially proposed rule, with a few modifications.




The Final Rule
1) An I-9 must be completed within three business (not calendar) days of hire.

2) A receipt or confirmation is required for an employee only if requested by the employee.

3) An electronic audit trail is required when the form is created, completed, updated, altered, modified, or corrected, but not when merely viewed.



I-9 materials are available at http://www.uscis.gov/i-9.