Keeping Your Valuable Talent From Leaving

With low unemployment and a growing economy, how do you keep the talent in your office from leaving your organization and finding greener pastures elsewhere?

Employees are an investment, plain and simple! Here are some of the ways an employee cost an organization money:

·         Recruiting the employee

·         Hiring the employee

·         On-boarding the employee

·         Paid time off (vacation, sick, etc.)

·         Compensation (wage, benefits, bonuses, etc.)

·         Turnover

When the country was going through a tough economy, the above list would be enough to keep most employees. However, things have changed. With low unemployment, the competition for talented and skilled employees is heating up! Employers are beginning to feel the pain in the quality and quantity of productivity as their talented and skilled employees are lured away by another organization who is offering some enticements are that too hard to pass up.

What can your organization do to keep from losing your valuable talent? Here is a list of the four main ways to keep your talent from leaving:

1. Increase Wage – Employees are not volunteers! This is important to keep in mind when considering a wage increase for an employee. This is one of the main ways your competition is able to lure amazing talent to their organization. Stay ahead of your competition and pay an employee based on the worth they are to your organization. In addition, increasing an employee’s wage demonstrates your commitment to them and an appreciation for the work they do.
2. Improved Management – This is the number one reason an employee leaves their current employer. Poor management will de-motivate an employee and make their work environment terrible to be a part of. Improve the skill level of your current managers or replace them with leaders who know how to build and strengthen a working relationship with your employees.
3. Better Benefits – Investing in a better healthcare plan, offering a more flexible schedule option, and other such ideas are ways to entice employees to stay with your organization.
4. Employee Development – One of the determining factors for employees to look for employment at another organization is the lack of professional development at their current job. Good employees want to learn new skills and develop weaker ones so that they can be more effective in their job. They also feel that developing their skills gives them an increased chance at a future promotion. When organizations do not take time to develop their employees, they are at great risk of losing their hard working employees who care about their job and the organization while only keeping the employees who are mediocre and don’t really care about much anyway.

Hiring a good employee is only the first step. In order to keep that good employee a part of your organization, it is important to invest time and resources . . . continuously. Having lesser talent within your organization will save money, but you will notice a drop in productivity, morale, and cohesiveness. As this occurs, more and more of your valuable talent will leave. You will eventually notice a big difference within your organization . . . and your customers will as well.

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Hiring and Your Social Media Advantage

Using social media as part of your hiring process will help you find the kind of employees you want for your organization.

Jennifer was hired two months ago by her new boss Sally. Jennifer was an okay worker, but there were some things about her character that concerned Sally and Jennifer's co-workers. She had the skills to do the job, but she was not fitting into her team or the culture of the organization. Sally had thought she made a good hire, but was beginning to doubt Jennifer's longevity with the organization. When it came time for Jennifer's new hire 90-day review, Sally had no choice but to let her go. By this time Jennifer had become a negative influence on her co-workers and morale was beginning to suffer. It was time for Sally to being the costly and time consuming hiring process over again.

Hiring managers are faced with the described situation above far too often. They think they have made a good hire, but soon realize the mistake they made. 20 years ago, hiring somebody who's character and personality does not fit within the organizational culture would be very difficult to foresee. Today, there are resources available through social media that help hiring mangers make more informed hiring decisions.

Why is Character So Important?

When a new employee is brought into an organization, that new employee will have an effect on their co-workers and on the culture of the organization itself. Whether that effect is positive or negative greatly depends upon the character of the the new employee. It is important to take the character of a potential new hire into account before making the hiring decision. Finding someone who has the basic skills and knowledge to get the job done is critical to being able to do the job. With this in mind, if a hiring manager can find a candidate who has good basic skills, not superman skills, but a basic understanding of the job skills and knowledge, but also has good character, then that is a great candidate.

Social Media Resource

When a hiring manager begins to narrow his or her list of candidates down to the final few, it is time to find out more about their character. One of the best places to discover more about a persons character is by reviewing the select candidates social media profiles and posts. This enables a hiring manager to get a basic understanding of the candidates and their character. It is through the language they use, their posts, and how they interact with others that gives the hiring manager look at the personality and character of who they are looking to hire.

Social Media and Privacy

Some hiring managers may say that they do not feel comfortable looking at a candidates social media profiles due to it being perceived as an invasion of privacy. It is important to understand that anything posted online within a blog or social media is not private! Anything posted on the Internet is available to anyone at anytime and cannot be permanently removed. Any type of posting on the Internet, immediately becomes public knowledge. Reviewing someones social media profiles is not an invasion of privacy.

Hiring managers are given the responsibility to bring the best and most qualified new employees into their organization. Having the ability to review social media profiles makes it less of a crap shoot to accomplish this task.

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How a Search Committee Could Benefit Your Organization

Understanding when to use a search committee enables it to become a valuable part of your recruiting efforts.

Steve has been very busy in his efforts to hire somebody for a high profile position within his organization. After spending endless hours sifting through resumes, conducting initial phone interviews, doing on-site interviews, and making the final hiring decision, Steve has finally hired a qualified candidate named Jeff. There was no argument that Jeff was qualified for the position, but Steve was only one opinion and only one view point. Within a few weeks of hiring Jeff, it was apparent to everyone around that Steve had missed something. Although qualified, Jeff was not a cultural fit for the organization. In fact, Jeff was pushing all the wrong buttons and going in all the wrong directions. Jeff was not a fit for the organization and Steve had to let him go. It was now time for Steve to begin the time consuming and costly hiring process all over again.

Could the above situation have been avoided? Maybe not entirely, but the likelihood of it happening could have been greatly reduced if Steve had utilized a search committee in his recruiting efforts.

What is a search committee?

A search committee is a group of individuals gathered together for the purpose of assisting an administrator or hiring manager in recruiting and screening candidates for a vacant position.

Why would I use a search committee?

By forming a search committee, the hiring manager is able to harness the large amount of work that comes with reviewing resumes, conducting initial interviews, and doing on-site interviews. In addition, a search committee provides consistency in reviewing each candidate and the entire hiring process benefits from having multiple perspectives.

When should I use a search committee?

It is best to utilize a search committee when hiring for senior level administrative positions and positions that will have a high public relations impact on your organization.

Who should be a part of a search committee?

Search committee's should be formed with the idea of having a diversity of ideas, opinions, and perceptions. Members of a search committee should include:

1. People who have valued knowledge about the vacant position
2. People who are respected
3. Representatives from areas that the new hire will impact
4. Representative from both genders
5. People of different races and cultural backgrounds

How many members should be on the search committee?

The size of the search committee should reflect the importance of the vacant position. With that being said, a search committee should not exceed 11 members nor have no fewer than three members. Keep in mind that the larger the search committee is, the more time it takes to complete the hiring process.

What are the duties of the search committee?

Search committee's should be active in:

• Determining a timeline for the hiring process
• Identifying where to advertise for the vacant position
• Conduct initial interviews
• Participate in on-site interviews
• Help determine which candidates will advance to each stage of the hiring process
• Help determine the final candidate selected to fill the vacant position

When utilizing a search committee to become part of the hiring process for a vacant position, you are opening a door to new ideas and perspectives. These different and sometimes new thoughts should be encouraged and discussed. It is the objective of the search committee to find and hire the candidate who no only can do the job, but would be the best fit for the organization and the culture within.

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New Overtime Rule and You

New overtime rule could very likely affect your job directly or even indirectly

The United States Department of Labor has released the final rule on changes being made to overtime pay. This rule will be effective December 1, 2016.

Previous Rule:

If you were considered an exempt employee and got paid an annual salary of at least $23,660, you were not eligible for overtime pay if you worked more than 40 hours in a work week.

New Rule:

If you are considered an exempt employee and get paid an annual salary below $47,476 and above $23,660, you could now be eligible for overtime pay if you work more than 40 hours in a work week.

Options for the Employer:

Employers could respond to this new overtime rule in a variety of ways:

1. Employers could begin paying overtime pay to the employees who now fit the new criteria. This could lead to a raise in cost of the organizations products/services.
2. Employers could raise salaried employees pay to the new minimum of $47,476. This could lead to a raise in cost of the organizations products/services.
3. Employers could reclassify the exempt salaried positions to full-time hourly positions. This would limit the ability of employee being able to work additional hours to accomplish their assigned duties.
4. Employers could eliminate the affected positions that would otherwise be considered eligible for overtime pay. This would require the employer to redistribute those job duties to other employees within the organization.
5. Employers could eliminate the affected positions and replace each of those positions with two part-time employee positions. This would also enable the organization to save on paying full-time benefits.

In order for a worker to be exempt from overtime, they must meet the criteria. For example, performing "executive" duties means supervising the work of two or more employees and "administrative" duties requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment. For more information, please review the Department of Labors fact sheet on overtime exemption.

If you feel that you work in a position that could fall under these new overtime rules, please consult your Human Resource department or immediate supervisor. As always, be sure to review your state specific overtime rules.

These new overtime rules will have effect an estimated 4.5 million workers and have a residual effect on their co-workers and products/services.

Here is the new overtime rule as stated by the Department of Labor:

Key Provisions of the Final Rule

The Final Rule focuses primarily on updating the salary and compensation levels needed for Executive, Administrative and Professional workers to be exempt. Specifically, the Final Rule:

1.    Sets the standard salary level at the 40th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region, currently the South ($913 per week; $47,476 annually for a full-year worker);

2.    Sets the total annual compensation requirement for highly compensated employees (HCE) subject to a minimal duties test to the annual equivalent of the 90th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally ($134,004); and

3.    Establishes a mechanism for automatically updating the salary and compensation levels every three years to maintain the levels at the above percentiles and to ensure that they continue to provide useful and effective tests for exemption.

Additionally, the Final Rule amends the salary basis test to allow employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) to satisfy up to 10 percent of the new standard salary level.

The effective date of the final rule is December 1, 2016. The initial increases to the standard salary level (from $455 to $913 per week) and HCE total annual compensation requirement (from $100,000 to $134,004 per year) will be effective on that date. Future automatic updates to those thresholds will occur every three years, beginning on January 1, 2020.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/final2016/

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Employee Breaks and Your Business

Breaks are important to your employees, but those breaks have an effect on your business.

Alice has been helping customers for nearly four hours straight. She gets into an argument with a customer. That argument escalates quickly and a supervisor then gets involved. Things are deescalated, the customer leaves angry, and Alice gets a tongue lashing from her supervisor.

The situation described above has been played out many times in many businesses. Ask yourself this question:

Who's at fault for the above situation?

Everyone will have his or her answer based on their own personal experiences and practices. My answer is simple; it is the supervisor's fault. People are human and they need to be recognized as such. Alice should have not been helping customers for nearly four hours without a break. Despise all of the training provided, it was the fault of the supervisor for not treating Alice as a human that lead to this situation.

Let's take a moment and see how employee breaks effect the business and the employees:

Effects of Breaks on Business

Employees are only productive when they are working. When employees are productive, business is able to get done. When an employee is on break, they are not being productive, but they are still getting paid (outside of a unpaid lunch break).

Effects of Breaks on Employees

When an employee goes on break, they are able to "wind down" and decompress. They take a few minutes to relax and socialize, read, get some refreshment, or step away. This helps employees feel rejuvenated and refreshed. Breaks are just as much mental as they are physical.

State laws vary with this issue. For example, one State says that an employer must give its employee a 10 minute break every four hours and a 30 minute lunch break if working more than six hours. Typical employment law does not take into account the various industries, the type of work being done, and the mental/physical stress on employees.

Perplexing Facts

• Businesses want employees to be highly productive for the maximum time possible.
• Most employees want to be highly productive and do quality work. If a business has employees that don't meet this criteria, then they should find ones who do.
• Employees are humans and humans need time to re-energize, refocus, regroup, and refresh.
• Employees who are given shorter periods of time to work between breaks are typically more productive, effective, energized, and focused. They tend to be highly productive.
• Giving employees the opportunity to be highly productive and appreciating them as humans, will improve morale and decrease turnover. This saves the business money.

In order for businesses to achieve a high level of productivity from its employees and for employees to produce at a high level with high quality work, here is my recommendation:

• Employees get a 10 minute break every 2 hours
• Employees who work 8 hours should get a 30 minute unpaid lunch break every four hours
• Employees who work six hours get one 10 minute break after two hours worked and another 20 minute food break after their next two hours

You should always check with local state laws before creating a break policy. In addition, some flexibility should be considered based on industry and type of work.

If a business treats their employees well, then it is more likely that those employees will treat the customers well!

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Afraid of Improving Your Employees

Are you afraid of improving your employees skills out of fear that they might leave?

The above question is one that has been pondered by many organizations. Some organizations have minimized training all together in order to keep their employees skill sets limited and thus minimizing their potential to leave for greener pastures. While other organizations have maximized training and the development of their employees while understanding the risks.

This is a discussion that needs to be had within every organization. What is the correct answer? There are four key points that will help any organization formulate the answer for their own situation.

Not All Employees Are the Same

When an employee is hired, nobody knows that employees true potential. When additional responsibilities are given to that employee, an organization is able to begin to see what the employee can offer. When an employee develops new skills through training and professional development, an employer is able to observe the true character and potential of that employee. When some employees are given new skills, they rise to the challenge and embrace the exciting change. These employees are looking to utilize their new found skills. While other employees who are given new skills do nothing with them and go right back to where they were before the new skills were learned. Giving employees new skills is an opportunity for an organization to identify employees with potential and possible future leaders. Not all employees will react to receiving new skills the same way. In regards to their potential, each employee is an individual and should be treated as such.

Resources or Cogs?

Every organization has a different mindset when it comes to their employees. Neither mindset is good or bad. Each mindset is derived from the business goals of the organization.

• Resource - Your employees are the greatest resource within the organization. Identifying, guiding, and developing employees with great potential and placing those employees into the areas of the organization where they can have the biggest impact. This is a process that takes time and some serious investment from the organization. As a resource to the organization, employees are developed and given new skills. Once those new skills are fully utilized, then that employee becomes more valuable to the organization.
• Cog - Your employees have been hired to do a job and it is expect that they will do that job well. Minimal amount of training or investment will be made by the organization as the employee only needs to know what is required for their particular job. Each employee is a cog working within a larger machine. If that cog is no longer effective and productive, then it will be quickly replaced by a new cog. All cogs are replaceable and are expected to burnout after a given amount of time.

Some people may object to employees being treated as a cog in a machine while others may object to investing too much into an expendable resource. As stated earlier, neither mindset is good or bad, but rather how a particular business operates.

Employee Value

Jack has just completed a week long training course. He is excited to begin implementing what he has learned into his job. There is a lack of enthusiasm from his supervisor about Jack's newly acquired skills. Nevertheless, Jack begins utilizing his newly learned skills and sees an increase in his productivity. Jack's confidence grows as he becomes a bigger contributor to the organization. However, as time passes, nothing changes with his job, responsibilities and perceived value. His supervisor did not appear to value the additional training Jack received nor the increased value of Jack himself. By this point, Jack has begun to feel frustrated and under valued. He got hired at a different company where Jack feels they value his skills, talents, and true value. After receiving Jack's two-week-notice, Jack's supervisor says to him, "I don't understand what happened. I thought everything was going as it always has." Jack then turned and said to his supervisor, "if that is what you think, then you don't know me."

When an employee receives training that adds to their professional skill set, they perceive that they become more valuable to the organization. If the organization sees that the added skill set did indeed make the employee more valuable, then that perceived value has become a reality and must be recognized. Recognition could come in many forms, including, but not limited to, increased responsibility of a leadership nature, monetary bonus, raise in salary, or a promotion. If the employee perceives their increased value, but the organization does not, then that employee-employer relationship will sour quickly and the employee will look for value validation elsewhere.

Succession Plan

What are your organizations future plans for leadership roles? Will those roles be filled with new employees outside of the organization or will those future roles be filled by developing talent within the organization? If an organization plans on filling future leadership roles with in-house talent, then giving employees new skills and knowledge is a critical component. As stated earlier, when you give employees new skills and knowledge through training and professional development, the true character and potential of that employee begins to surface. Once those potential future leaders are identified, then they must be valued and placed on a track of continued development. An organization's in-house talent will already have an understanding of your organization's culture and will be an example to other employees. There is a risk to developing in-house talent as some of that talent the organization has invested in will leave for another opportunity elsewhere. Should an organization only develop in-house talent? No, this tends to create group think and does not lead to new ideas or a fresh approach. It is important to fill some of the leadership roles with outside talent.

Conclusion

Deciding weather to give employees professional development and add to their skill set is a business decision that needs to be made by every organization. This decision should be based on the organizations' business goals and expected outcomes. There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Take a moment to think about this and ask yourself, "am I afraid of improving my employees?"

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An Effective Termination Procedure Will Protect Your Organization

Help protect your  office from potential liability by having a written termination procedure as part of your office policies and procedures.

Two facts of employment: people get hired and people get fired (or resign).

Few supervisors and managers savor the idea of being good at firing people. Nevertheless, you need to know how to terminate employees in a way that preserves their dignity while meeting your organization's needs. Even the most experienced managers will experience stress and anxiety when they go through the termination process. Having a clear idea of the process won’t make it any more pleasant, but could prevent you from making costly mistakes.

The key to a "successful termination" begins with hiring and continues throughout the employer/employee relationship. Performance Reviews also play a critical role in a "successful termination". But the actual process of termination is what stays in everyone’s mind the longest time. Remember that a termination impacts everyone.

Outline of the Termination Process

• An employee’s manager or direct supervisor should call and conduct the termination meeting. Hold the meeting in a private location other than the employee’s normal work area to limit any embarrassment the employee may experience. Information to be covered in the meeting follows.
• Notify the employee how and why he or she is no longer working at the company. Tell the truth, such as facts about an employee’s poor performance, regardless of how uncomfortable it is. However, never make remarks about an employee’s personal character.
• Inform the employee that the decision is final and when the termination will be effective. (For example, immediately as is common with termination for poor performance or at sometime in the future as is common with a layoff due to reduction in workforce.)
• Let the employee know what benefits (unemployment, health insurance, severance pay, etc.) are available. State laws typically govern how and when final pay and vacation pay is handled.
• Give the employee a written termination notice. Send a written termination notice—by certified mail—to an employee that is being terminated because he or she has failed to come to work as required.
• If you are concerned that an employee may become violent or take legal action, you might consider preparing a statement explaining the termination and read it verbatim to the employee.
• Consider offering assistance to the employee for finding another job. You might offer company assistance in preparing and mailing resumes, making copies or job search coaching tips.

Following the termination meeting, document it with a written, detailed description of the meeting. Include what the employee was told and what the employee said in the notes.

How to Fire an Employee Checklist

• Decide exactly, and succinctly, why you want to fire the employee.
• Compare your reasons for wanting to fire the employee with the job descriptions for that employee’s position. Does at least one of your reasons include that the employee is actually not doing the job properly?
• If you have specific procedures for termination of an employee, follow those procedures.
• If the employee is working pursuant to a contract, you must comply with the terms of the contract having to do with termination; otherwise you may be in breach of contract.
• Be sure to tell employees why they are being fired and give them these reasons in writing. (This can be mailed to them later if more convenient.)
• After you tell employees why they are being fired, allow them to tell you any defenses or other responses they have to your reasons for termination. IT just may be that you are making a terrible mistake, or the employee may confirm your decision to fire them
• Make sure employees’ files include a copy of the written reasons you gave the employees for their firing. Also, make a note in the file of any comments or defenses employees made in response to being fired.
• Be sure all wages, benefits, property, or other things belonging to the employee, or to which the employee is entitled, are given to the employee.
• At all stages of the termination process, from deciding to do so until the employee files is closed for good, treat the employee with common respect and courtesy.
• Never, ever do anything to humiliate the employee. Simply being fired is humiliation enough for an employee.
• Firing an employee is not a pleasant thing. However, being sure of your decision, following proper procedures, and keeping objective records of the decision and the event can put you in the best position possible in case the employee later makes accusations against you, or even if they sue you.

Final Mental Checklist:

• Plan what you are going to say
• Be calm
• Be humane
• Avoid surprises
• Have a strong paper trail
• Write a letter of termination to the employee
• Change the employee’s computer password and eliminate all of their IT access (don't forget email group lists)
• During the termination meeting, make notes of what was said and exchanged

Related articles:

Is A Two Weeks Notice Necessary?

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Is Two Weeks Notice Necessary?

This is a discussion: Should you or should you not accept an employees two weeks notice when they quit?

Amanda works in a healthcare office. She is responsible for billing patients and has just given her supervisor, Jessica, her two weeks notice. Jessica knows that she will not be able to fill Amanda's position within the next two weeks, however, she begins her search. During the next two weeks, Amanda continues with her work and talking with her co-workers. She is no longer afraid of loosing her job for what she says, so she is more open about some of her negative feelings about the office, her supervisor, and some of her co-workers. In addition, Amanda accesses the billing records of some of her family members and "settles" their open accounts. Soon after, Amanda's two weeks are up and she is no longer with the healthcare office. However, what she did during those two weeks will be felt for sometime longer. Morale is lower, there is contention in the office, and the billing records are not matching up.

Giving a two weeks notice is a courtesy and not a legal requirement. It is intended to ease the burden on an employees current employer when that employee has decided to leave. Not giving a two weeks notice could cause excessive additional responsibilities on an employees current co-workers and cause some resentment or harsh feelings.

There is room for discussion for either choice:

Giving Two Weeks Notice - By giving a two weeks notice, an employer would have time to train a permanent or temporary replacement. This is also a time of closure for many of the people who have worked together for many years. During these two weeks, an employer is usually able to gather some honest and open feedback about the position, its responsibilities, and suggestions from the employee who is leaving. However, this is also a time that could make the employer vulnerable to theft, sabotage, or creating discord among the remaining employees.

Not Giving Two Weeks Notice - By not giving a two weeks notice, an employer must quickly assign responsibilities to other employees that were not originally theirs. This would add an extra burden on each of the employees and will have a negative effect on their original responsibilities. However, many times after an employee gives their two weeks notice, their loyalty, heart, and passion for the position no longer exist. The employees mind and focus is now on their new job. The employees effort and focus will not be on their current employer.

We are back to our original question: Should you or should you not accept an employees two weeks notice?

My suggestion - In my personal experience, I have seen many scenarios of what could happen during a two weeks notice period play out. An employer needs to decide weather or not to accept an employees two weeks notice based on the individual employee and the scope of their responsibilities. If the employee has access to sensitive information or an employers does trust an employees actions, then the employer may not want to accept an employees two weeks notice. Some companies have begun taking a different route. When an employee gives their two weeks notice, and that employee falls under the category mentioned above, the employer could offer to pay the employee for the next two weeks, but tell them that their office presence is no longer necessary.

Please share your experiences and opinion on this topic by leaving a comment.

Related article:
An Effective Termination Procedure Will Help Protect Your Office

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5 Characteristics of A Winning Culture

What difference does culture make in an organization?

Organizational culture is defined as: the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.

The effects of culture on an organization's success or failure cannot be over stated. Here are two examples:

In 1958, the Green Bay Packers had 1 victory, 10 losses, and 1 tie. Needless to say, the season was a complete failure. At the end of that season, Green Bay fired their coach and hired somebody who had never been a Pro Football Head Coach, Vince Lombardi. When Vince Lombardi came to Green Bay, he was determined to make the organization into a winning organization. This transformation started with and ended with changing the culture of the Green Bay Packers. Here are the things Coach Lombardi did:

• He got rid of poor performing players and brought in better performing players.
• He instilled in his players a winning attitude.
• He encouraged the players to work hard and showed them the amazing results that come from hard work.
• He helped his players have better focus in accomplishing their goals.
• He found within the team natural leaders and put them in place where they could have the most influence.

Over the next 9 years, the Green Bay Packers won 5 NFL Championships and 2 Super Bowls. It is clear, that the turnaround of the Green Bay Packer culture was a complete success. The Green Bay Packer organization now had a winning culture.

In a more recent example, the Denver Broncos recently won the Super Bowl. How did this happen? Only five years earlier, the Denver Broncos had a record of 4 wins and 12 losses. They had a loosing culture within their organization. After that terrible season ended, John Elway was hired as the Vice President of Operations. During Elway's earlier days as the Bronco's Quarterback and leader, he was part of a winning culture. Elway and the Broncos went to five Super Bowls and won two of those five. He was part of a winning organization. His task now was to bring back the winning culture to the Denver Broncos. Here are the things John Elway did:

• He got rid of poor performing players and brought in better performing players.
• He instilled in his organization an aggressive and physical style of play and thus improving the teams attitude.
• He encouraged the players to work hard and showed them the amazing results that come from hard work.
• He helped his team have better focus in accomplishing their goals.
• He found natural leaders and put them in place where they could have the most influence.

The similarities between Green Bay's cultural turnaround and Denver's is consistent with the methods an organization can use in instilling a winning culture within itself. Here are the five characteristics of a winning culture:

1. High Quality Employees - Low performing employees who are not dedicated to the success of an organization, should not be a part of it. In order to improve the quality of employees, it is important to find the ones that have the right skill set, talent, knowledge, work ethic, and attitude. This type of employee will have a positive effect on others around them.
2. Attitude -  It is important for employees to have a winning attitude. When employees are positive and truly believe in what they are doing, it will show in their quality of work and interactions.
3. Work Ethic - Employers need to encourage and reward hard work through promotions and other incentives. If an organization wants its employees to work hard, then it needs to demonstrate the results of hard work and the great results that come from it.
4. Focus - Having employees coming to work truly focused on the goals of the organization and what they need to do in order to accomplish those goals is a wonderful and unique thing to have. Look for and promote those employees. Employees that only come to work to "punch-in and punch-out" have no place in a winning culture.
5. Leadership - The employees that are put into leadership positions, should embody the qualities that the organization is looking to develop within its culture. This is a critical component of developing a winning culture. It is the leaders within the organization that help drive and mold the desired culture.

Does the culture of an organization make a difference? Yes, it is the biggest determining factor between success and failure. Does the culture of your organization embody the characteristics of a winning culture? If not, start making the necessary changes to help your organization have a winning culture!

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5 Steps to an Effective Performance Management Program

Annual appraisals are only one aspect of effective performance management

Jackie walked apprehensively into her supervisors office. They were meeting to discuss her annual appraisal. She was nervous about what her supervisor would discuss with her. During their meeting, Jackie and her supervisor discussed things that occurred during the past year that had effected Jackie's' overall performance. Often, Jackie would try to recall the various instances, but so much time had passed that she could not remember the exact details the same way her supervisor did. As the meeting went on, Jackie began to feel defensive and irritated. Finally, the meeting was drawing to a close and Jackie had already checked-out mentally. She was done with this meeting and just wanted to get back to work. Here supervisor handed her a list of areas Jackie was to work on improving in her assigned position at the company. Jackie took the list, shook her supervisors hand, and walked back to her desk feeling a bit flustered by the whole experience. She put the list of areas to improve in her drawer and never looked at it again. She went back to work, relived that she would not have to go through that again for another year.

What is performance management?
Performance management is about establishing a shared understanding, between the employee and employer, about what is to be achieved at an organizational level. It is about aligning the organizations objectives and expectations with the employees skills, competency requirements, and resources in order to achieve a desired result. With performance management, the emphasis is on improvement, learning, development, and reaching set goals in order to create a highly productive workforce.

Annual appraisals
It is important to understand that annual appraisals are only a part of a overall performance management strategy. However, far too often, many organizations hold these annual meetings as their entire performance management process. Annual appraisals are often perceived as a painful process, by both participants, that result in no real change or improvement in employee performance. By only having annual appraisals, results in unintentional outcomes:

• Too painful, emotionally charged
• Poor understanding of expectations
• Misdirected bonuses (favorable review, but organizational goals not met)
• Poorly timed
• Subjective supervisor opinion
• Missed development opportunities

Effective performance management

Performance management, when done correctly, effectively links the organizations plans and goals with the employees individual performance. When an employees individual performance helps an organization achieve its goals, that employee would then be rewarded with favorable reviews and possible bonuses that are in-line with the employees performance and contribution. Here is a basic outline of a performance management program:

1. Initial Meeting - Face-to-face planning meeting between the supervisor and the employee. During this meeting, the supervisor and the employee will work together to establish objectives, development plan, and a competency review for the next 365 days.
2. Continuous focus - During the next six months, both the supervisor and the employee should be taking notes independently documenting performance milestones, progression, and set-backs.
3. Interim review - An abbreviated meeting should be held between the supervisor and the employee to measure progression toward the objectives as discussed in the initial meeting. This is also an opportunity to discuss any updates or changes to the objectives based on any change of the overall organizational goal. In addition, this is the time to discuss any additional resources or training the employee might need in order to reach the objective within the next six months.
4. Continuous focus - During the next six months, both the supervisor and the employee should be taking notes independently documenting performance milestones, progression, and set-backs.
5. Final review - At the end of the 365 day period, the supervisor and the employee will meet to determine if the objectives set during the initial meeting were met. If the objectives were met, then the supervisor would have some form of recognition for the employee upon meeting their objective. If the objectives were not met, then the supervisor and the employee would discuss the nature of the objective and if it was obtainable. In addition, a discussion about available resources and training would also take place at this time. This is not a meeting where only the supervisor does the talking. The determination of meeting the objective should be discussed and decided upon by both the supervisor and the employee. If the supervisor does not feel that the objective was met, but the employee does, then their was a communication gap during the initial meeting and the interim review.

Outcomes of an effective performance management program

There are clear signs of an effective performance management program within an organization:

• Communication improves
• Everyone knows the objectives and expectations
• Improved documentation
• Reduction of stress
• Final review (appraisal) becomes relevant and effective
• Learning and development becomes part of the organizational culture

The difference between a standalone annual appraisal and a performance management program is striking. Improving employee morale, reduced turnover, promoting the right people into the right positions, earned job performance recognition, and growing employee skill sets are but a few of the results that will occur when an organization has an effective performance management program in place.

For more information, please feel free to email support@hcsiinc.com

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Leaches in the Workplace: Discrimination

Discrimination within a workforce, sucks the lifeblood out of the organization

Discrimination: the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people

Leaches: bloodsucking parasites

Dan was excited about his new job. However, that excitement quickly dissipated as he experienced some situations that made him feel like he was being treated differently. It was not only how some people talked to him, but also how they looked at him, gave extra space while walking around him, and at times, made an effort to avoid him all together. Dan decided to put all of this aside and earn his way through the company using his talents, experience, and amazing work ethic. His quality of work was at a high level, but the strange treatment remained the same. No matter what he did, Dan felt that his hard work and determination would never pay-off. Less than a year after starting this new job with excitement and enthusiasm, Dan resigned. The company has now lost a valuable and contributing member of its organization. A little more information about Dan; he is a war veteran of African descent who had lost his arm fighting in Iraq.

Discrimination comes in many forms including, age, disability, gender, race, national origin, religious, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and weight. When discrimination is part of a workforce, it sucks the lifeblood out of that organization and all of the people who are a part of it. Productivity is less, morale is lower, and there is an increase in turnover. On many occasions, companies loose valuable members of their workforce who have greatly contributed to its success. Discrimination is a behavior that has a negative effect on everyone involved.

Here are some signs that discrimination may be a part of your workplace:

Odd hiring practices – Failing to hire or refusing to hire a potential employee based on one of the discrimination classifications. Typically, an organization is not even aware that this is happening, because the recruiters have complete control over the initial screening process.

Missed promotions – Promotions are wonderful opportunities for employees to move their careers ahead, but sometimes the most qualified employee is not the one who receives the promotion. When a company promotes an employees, there should be extensive documentation that justifies that promotion. Employees know who the most qualified person is for a promotion, and when that person gets looked over, everybody takes notice and remembers.

Unequal pay – All employees should be paid based on the value that individual brings to the organization in a particular position. Paying people differently for doing the same job is a slippery slope. If employees have similar experience, education, and skills and they are doing a similar job, then their pay should reflect that.

Unequal discipline – It is vital for an organization to have documented discipline procedures and to follow those procedures. Disciplining employees differently could be a demonstration of favoritism or discrimination.

In order to help avoid these unfair practices, organizations need to teach employees what their expectations are in the area of discrimination. They need to be clear, blunt, and they need to teach by example by quickly handling any discrimination practices or situations that may arise. Leading by example begins with management. Companies must demonstrate the type of behavior they expect from their employees. Discrimination will suck the lifeblood out of any organization. Eliminating discrimination will help your employees be more productive, increase morale, and reduce turnover. Discrimination has no place within the workforce of an organization.

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7 Signs an Employee is About to Quit

It is important to be proactive when you believe an employee is going to quit.

Jack has worked at his current position for more than five years. Today, Jack walked into his supervisor’s office and gave his notice that he will be leaving his current position in two weeks. His supervisor was very surprised at the news. Jack is an important part of what the company does and his leaving is going to affect the company in a negative way. Jack’s supervisor knows that it will take some time to replace him and then even longer to train the new hire. This will have a negative impact on the company for the next few months . . . at least! Unfortunately, Jack’s supervisor did not recognize the warning signs of Jack’s intent to find a new job. If he had, this situation could have been averted or prepared for.

Employee retention is an ongoing effort of every organization. They want to keep the best talent and the brightest employees. However, companies do recognize that they are not going to be able to keep everybody. When an employee does intend to leave, there are some signs that could give a company some awareness of that intention, before the employee actually quits.

1. Sloppy Work Habits – the best employees’ are consistent and complete high quality work on time. An occasional slip-up could mean nothing, but the company should begin to have concerns when prolonged lapses in quality or efficiency begin to happen. This could be an indication that the employee has grown tired of their work and has become disengaged from the company.
2. Attendance – Employees typically maintain the same schedule when they arrive to work and when they leave. If an employee begins to arrive to work earlier than usual or leave earlier than usual on a regular basis and begin taking random days off, this could be a warning sign that they are taking time out of their day to attend interviews. Taking random days off could also be a sign that the employee is trying to use up any remaining paid-time-off before quitting.
3. Appearance – Employees will usually wear the same type of clothes to work every day. If the organization does not require employees to wear a tie and an employee suddenly begins to wear one, then the employee should take notice. Does the day the employee upgraded their wardrobe also coincide with a day they slightly adjusted their schedule?
4. Isolation – You don’t want to jump to conclusions, but an employee who takes frequent trips away from his or her desk to seek solitude might be a sign that they are fielding calls from potential employers. It could also be a sign that they are dealing with a personal issue that is conflicting with work.
5. Life Changes – Birth of a child, loss of a loved one, marriage, divorce, sudden illness requiring on-going medical treatment are all life changes that could alter and employees’ career. These changes offer an opportunity to the employer to have a meeting with the employee to discuss future work plans. Failing to do so could end in the company scrambling to fill a big and unexpected vacancy.
6. Out-of-Character Complaining – Happy workers usually don’t make their negative feelings known to other workers. If an employee develops a surly personality and begins complaining about other co-workers or processes, this could be a hint that something is not right. This shows that the employee has become disenchanted with his or her work and the grumblings could have an effect on other employees’ attitudes.
7. Distancing – If an employee appears to separating or distancing him or herself from co-workers, this could be an indication that the employee has begun disconnecting from fellow co-workers in anticipation of their imminent leave. This type of behavior is also noticeable during meetings where the employee appears disengaged.

In order for a company to keep the best talent and brightest employees, its supervisors need to be able to recognize when an employee is preparing to quit. If a supervisor has cause to think a valuable employee might be on their way out, the correct course of action would be to have a meeting with the employee to discuss the supervisor’s concerns. If the employee does intend to leave, then the company can begin the hiring process. This meeting might also be an opportunity for the company to make some changes in pay, benefits, work schedule, etc. in order to keep the valued employee.

If this article was helpful, you may also want to read about employee burnout at: http://bit.ly/1PCFgd7

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Employee Engagement Determines the Quality of Patient Care

Improving patient care has always been a healthcare priority, but outcomes are now tied directly to the bottom line.

More and more CMS is taking into account quality care and patient satisfaction measures to determine how much they will reimburse providers.

Interactions between healthcare employees and patients can often determine the patient satisfaction measures that influence this reimbursement. In addition, it’s these interactions that can convert a single visit into a loyal customer relationship or ensure a one-time customer.  If the patient/employee relationship is going to determine a large portion of the financial viability for healthcare organizations, it makes good fiscal sense to find ways of improving the quality of patient care through employee and patient interactions.  Employee engagement may be the single best way to make these improvements.

An HR Solutions case study using nearly 29,000 healthcare employee opinion surveys revealed compelling evidence that employee engagement has a direct tie to patient satisfaction. In the survey, it was determined that:

●       85 percent of engaged employees displayed a genuinely caring attitude toward patients, compared to only 38 percent of disengaged employees.

●       91 percent of engaged employees recognize their workplace as dedicated to patient care, compared to only 42 percent of disengaged employees.

It’s readily accepted that happy, connected, and supported employees offer diligent patient care. Unfortunately, according to a global workforce study, less than 44 percent of those who work in US healthcare facilities are considered highly engaged.

According to this study, one of the markers of high employee engagement is that employees have clear, measurable goals that allow them to understand how their performance drives success for the organization. However, employees also need clear feedback and guidance to reach those goals. Management can help accomplish these objectives by connecting individual employee goals with organization-wide initiatives, and implementing a recognition program for those that meet and exceed their targets.

Another key element in employee engagement, according to a study by Northwestern University, is communication. When employees feel their suggestions have no value to leadership, they stop offering them and disengage from the organization. This leads to faster turnover and lower work quality. In order to increase employee engagement, management must focus on building up employees through positive feedback and coaching. Employees should be able to assess this feedback, along with their own performance goals, so that they are engaged in the improvement process.

You may not immediately see the results of these engagement activities, but you need to remember the ultimate goal: Improved patient care. Building engagement takes time; it is not a seasonal activity for leadership, management, or HR to tackle and then forget about. Instead, it should be a slow and steady build that draws in more and more employees, and you must implement processes that will maintain your newly engaged culture.

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