How Do You Find the Best New Recruits for Your Business?

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So you’ve decided to expand and take on new members of staff; or perhaps you’re replacing someone who is leaving. You’ve written a great job description and a person specification and you know how much you’re going to pay your new member of staff and when you need them to start. Now all you need is a flood of candidates, but how do you attract them?

Advertising. Look at your local press as well as national publications. Depending on the job and your industry you may also want to consider specific trade magazines. The key is to think about which publications your ideal candidates will read, in their search for their perfect job. Remember that you can also advertise online – there are numerous ‘job boards’ that specialise in advertising jobs, so find the ones that your potential candidates visit.

Word of mouth. Talk to your clients, contacts and suppliers to let them know that you’re recruiting. They may know the perfect person for your business and a personal recommendation is always useful.

Internal candidates. Are any of your existing members of staff ready for promotion? They might not put themselves forward for the job, but if you think they’re ready, invite them to apply.

Company website. Use your website to advertise the position. A potential client looking for your services may actually be your next member of staff. Other people searching for particular jobs may find your job and your site if you use popular and relevant key words.

Agencies. There are many recruitment agencies who can help you find the right person. They can handle the whole process, even carrying out interviews if you don’t have the time or skills. Look for agencies that specialise in your industry or the type of position you’re looking to fill.

Job centres. You can advertise your job for free in your local job centre and it will be promoted by the staff, who will be able to recommend the right candidates.

Previous applicants. Someone who wasn?t successful in a previous application may be just the person you’re looking for this time around. Send them the details of the job and find out if they’re still interested in working with you.

Use some of all of these routes and you’ll find it easy to generate a healthy amount of interest in your position, helping you find the best person for your business.

How do you recruit? What’s worked for you in the past – or not worked? Leave a reply in the comment box below.

How Do You Get More From Your Staff?

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The key to getting the best, and more, from your staff is through performance management. What is this and how can it benefit your business?

Performance management is a strategic and integrated approach to increasing the effectiveness of your business by improving the performance of the people who work for you. Put simply, the better the people you employ and the better the investment you make in them, the easier it will be get the best from them and to ask more from them, when you need it.

Research shows that a high proportion of businesses struggle with underperforming members of staff. They spend too much time dealing with issues of absence, sickness, poor attitudes and behaviour, failure to meet objectives and poor standards of work. Then they look to solve them through formal disciplinary procedures. Reacting to issues can be time consuming and costly, as well as very negative. Managing performance focuses on the more positive, preventative aspects of working with people.

Good performance management is about regularly assessing the performance of every individual in your team, providing regular feedback, guidance and support to reinforce good performance and highlight areas for improvement before they become a major issue.

You should also make sure that you have proper disciplinary procedures in place to deal with poor performance. In next week’s blog we’ll share some tips which, if you follow, you will only need disciplinary procedures as a last resort, when informal and positive measures have not worked.

Learn how to get more from your people at our next workshop, in November 2012 at Hennerton Golf Club, in Wargrave, near Henley. This is your chance to really get to grips with improving performance, ask all the questions you have and get some professional support. Places are free but limited. Click here to book online.

Why Bother with HR?

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What’s the point of HR?  Do you really need someone to spend time (and money) looking at the people in your business? Surely it’s quite simple and something you can do for yourself?

Here are a few ideas to help you decide whether or not to bother with HR.

The cost of getting it wrong.  Without the right HR systems in place, you could end up on the wrong side of the law, with a hefty bill to pay. A majority of employers believe that claims to Employment Tribunals will increase following the increase in the qualifying period of service to claim unfair dismissal from 1 year to 2 years. Part of the reason for the anticipated increase is that there is no system to prevent spurious claims being made to a tribunal. There is no potential downside for a claimant and potential for a financial windfall.  No win no fee solicitors support the disgruntled employee to have a go on the basis that the business will make a settlement to avoid legal costs. The figures of employment tribunal awards in the year 2011/12 have now been released and show that the median of all wards was £4560, the average award was £9133 and the maximum award was £173408. Keeping up to date with the legal issues is vital if you want to avoid unnecessary problems and payments.

The benefits of getting it right.  In order to avoid further claims businesses are making changes to their policies and procedures and making sure their managers are well trained in these procedures because a majority of employers believe that the most important factor behind a decision going against them at tribunal has been the role played by the line manager. In most cases the decision concerns the managers failure to follow their own company’s procedure!  On a far more positive note, good HR can really help to boost the profitability of your business. By putting HR management practices into your organisation, studies have shown that you can reduce employee turnover by 7%, increase sales per employee by 5.2% and increase overall financial performance by 6%.

Do you bother with HR? Do you do it yourself, or bring someone in to help with HR issues? Is it worth it, or just another business expense? Leave a reply below and let us know what you think.

Dealing with retirement

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In last week’s blog we looked at retirement and your responsibilities as an employer to adapt to meet the changing needs of your workforce as they work for longer.  Performance management is the key.

As an example we looked at the case of Robin, an employee approaching 65 years of age with 10 years of service for John’s company under his belt.  Robing is no longer performing as well as he used to and doesn’t seem to be as motivated.  John thinks ordinarily Robin should have been retiring but retirement is no longer a fair reason for dismissal.

How should John deal with Robin’s under performance at this stage? Bearing in mind that the Default Retirement Age (DRA was removed by the Employment Equality Regulations in 2011).

  • John should hold regular discussions with Robin to make him aware of the underperformance issues.  It is important that John understands the situation from Robin’s point of view but also that Robin understands the impact his underperformance is having on the business.  These discussions must be an honest two-way flow of information not unfavourable treatment as a result of Robin’s age
  • John should consider and discuss flexible working options with Robin to help him reach his targets in a way that suits him and his changing situation
  • John must ensure that he has in place and instigates a performance management programme that makes provision for older members of staff such as Robin.  It could include for example training options, flexible working, consideration of alternative employment options, as well as regular informal and formal reviews
  • Dismissal as a result of lack of capability is an option if the situation does not improve but John must bear in mind that if he gets this wrong Robin could have a case for unfair dismissal or disability discrimination.

Dealing with retirement

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The removal of the default retirement age (DRA) means that older, longer-serving employees can now remain in the workforce for longer.   For some employers this may not be good news, they would prefer to provide opportunities for new younger employees but for others retirement can mean a loss of difficult to replace talents, skill sets, and knowledge and therefore hanging on to these valuable employees for as long as possible is important.

Whatever your view as an employer you need to be adaptable and flexible to meet the changing needs of your workforce and refine your performance management processes accordingly.

Consider for example John’s employee, Robin.  Robin is approaching 65 years of age and has worked for the John’s company for 10 years.  The company has had a relaxed and informal working atmosphere; however Robin who is in a customer facing sales role is no longer performing as well as he used to and doesn’t seem to be as motivated.  John thinks ordinarily Robin should have been retiring but retirement is no longer a fair reason for dismissal.

How should John deal with Robin?s under performance at this stage?  Catch next week’s blog to find out!

Top tips for dealing with difficult people in the workplace

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How can you effectively deal with difficult people and ensure that you are getting the best out of every employee and in turn increase productivity? Here are my top tips:

  • Don’t Delay: as with almost every HR issue ignoring or procrastinating on a situation does not work. Where difficult people are concerned it can actually get worse with time. Deal with the situation immediately to ensure the difficult behaviour does not escalate
  •  Be objective: do not let personal opinion or emotion cloud your judgement
  • Investigate: does a pattern exist? Are there any trigger factors that cause the individual behave badly? There may be underlying reasons for the behaviour and identifying them can be the key to resolving the situation
  • Speak to the ‘difficult person’ informally: this will also help diffuse the situation quickly. It is easy to look at the bad but give the employee the benefit of the doubt and ask them what the issues are from their point of view as well as pointing out tactfully that there is a problem
  • Conduct regular follow up: this ensures that the problem does not recur
  • Focus on the actionable: look at decisive steps that you can take to correct the situation e.g. re-distribution of work, addressing the team dynamic etc.

Don’t forget our forthcoming Dealing with Difficult People and Conversations Workshop.

If you have ever been in a difficult situation or feel you would like to be well prepared should a situation arise in the future then you cannot afford to miss this workshop. We will outline the dangers of ignoring the issue, the importance of acting promptly and will give you five key tips to help you prepare for difficult conversations. In addition, we invite you to bring your ‘difficult conversations’ with you for us all to discuss in our open forum.

This event is taking place on 13th September at the Hennerton Golf Club. For more information and to book your place please contact me at sueferguson@optionshr.com

Difficult People in the Workplace

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We all come across difficult people in every aspect of our lives and whilst in our personal lives we can simply choose to avoid them in the workplace this is not an option. As a ‘boss’ you have to manage the good and the bad and try the best out of every employee.

Difficult people come in all shapes and sizes – they might be ignorant of others views, bad time keepers, or at the other end of the scale they might be aggressive or intimidating towards their colleagues. Whatever the individual issue, bad behavior by an employee can be damaging for your business.

Difficult behavior will not only have a negative impact on the employees own performance but also on the performance of those around them, with the knock on effects of potential grievance issues, reputation damage and financial risk. As the manager it can also have a direct effect on you personally. Not only can the behavior of a difficult employee cause you stress, failure to deal with them can leave your employees feeling that you are incapable of dealing with difficult situations and undermine your authority

So what to do?  In next week’s blog we will give you some top tips for dealing with difficult people effectively.

Dealing with Gross Misconduct

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What do you do when a trusted employee acts in such a way as to fundamentally breach the contractual relationship you have in place between you?

No easy task and always a worse nightmare situation for any employer, acts of gross misconduct are unfortunately all too often a reality we have to face.  So what tools do you have in your armour to help you deal with the situation quickly, efficiently and with the minimum of damage to your business?

Where gross misconduct is concerned you have the right to implement a summary dismissal procedure, an immediate dismissal without notice or payment in lieu of notice, as long as you can demonstrate that you have a solid reason, have conducted a thorough investigation and have followed proper procedure.  However, it is advisable in all except the most extreme cases to conduct a full disciplinary process first including two to three warnings (written and verbal) and provision for the employee to appeal.

Dismissal is always a last resort but armour up and ensure you have the right procedures in places to deal with this if you have to.

Causes of Lack of Capability: Stress

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We have looked a lot at capability issues over the last few weeks.  As mentioned previously capability refers to an employee’s skills, ability, aptitude and knowledge in relation to the job that he or she is employed to do.  The key feature of lack of capability is that it is not the employee’s fault and is generally outside the employee’s control.  With this in mind in this week’s blog we are looking at stress as a cause of lack of capability in the workplace.

The HSC define stress as an adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them.  Whilst there is no specific legislation as to how to handle stress in the workplace, as an employer you have a duty of care to take reasonable measures to manage stress under the Health and Safety at Work Act.  This is not only for the benefit of your employees but also for the benefit and long term success of your business.

Stress has a significant impact on your bottom line! It is estimated that on average in the UK 10.8 million working days are lost each year as a result of stress, and the cost of sickness absence resulting from work-related mental health problems, of which stress is undoubtedly the primary cause, costs on average £120 per day.

Whilst it is impossible to eliminate all pressures from the workplace you must do everything in your power to reduce the risk of harm and be aware of the early warning signs before it is too late.  These can include past history of stress, increases in absence, physical manifestation such as rashes, changes to behaviour e.g. irritability and complaints from peers.

When you suspect an employee is suffering from the early signs of stress act immediately.  Consider the amount and type of work the employee undertakes and what changes can be made; provide extra supervision and support and offer counselling.  Getting it wrong or not dealing with this issue effectively can result in damaging, in terms of cost and reputation, negligence and personal injury claims.

How thorough is your recruitment process? Here are our top tips:

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Step 1 Preparation:

The key is to put together a comprehensive Job analysis, job description and personality specification – why is the role needed what skills, knowledge and experience does your new employee need to have?  In addition, conduct salary benchmarking, in the market and internally, to ensure you are attracting the right caliber of candidate.

Step 2: Attracting and selecting the right candidate:

There are many tools at your disposal in this regard – advertising, social media, word of mouth, recruitment agencies, websites, job centre etc.  Select the right one/combination to ensure you reach your target audience.   Once you have collected CV’s use these to put together a shortlist for interview, this will give a you full picture of the individual and whether or not they are a match for your organisation and the role you are recruiting for.  Additionally, you can utilise tools such as psychometric testing and practical exercises to see how the individual performs outside of the formal interview process.  Once you have selected the right candidate make them an offer in writing.

Step 3: Legal Compliance

Once you have selected the best candidate for the role there are certain legal requirements you must undertake including discrimination profiling, a medical questionnaire, eligibility to work in the UK and proof of adequate references.  In addition dependent on the role you are recruiting for you may also need to ensure you are paying minimum wage, conduct a CRB check and gather the required documentation to confirm that the candidate is eligible to work in the UK.

For more information on how to get the most out of your recruitment process please contact me at sueferguson@optionshr.co.uk .  The Options HR team have a vast amount of experience in:

  • Personality profiling
  • Helping you to shortlist and interview candidates
  • Guiding you through the selection process
  • Preparing, reviewing and amending offer letters and contracts of employment
  • Developing induction procedures.