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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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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5 Tips for Effective Reference Checks

Conducting reference checks is a vital part of a successful hiring process

There are many reasons why you should check the references of prospective employees. Often, applicants’ resumes and application forms are incomplete or even contain misrepresentations that could lead to a bad hiring decision. So, if you check references, you can help eliminate undesirable applicants, identify the best candidate, reduce turnover and training costs, and even prevent liability for negligent hiring.

At a minimum, carefully conducted reference checks can help ensure that your hiring decisions are more informed. Generally, reference checks should be made before the offer of employment is extended so that you have as much information about a candidate as possible. However, it may be difficult to get a reference-giver to provide helpful information because of their fears of defamation claims and restrictive corporate policies allowing only the release of a former employee’s name, rank, and serial number.  The following five strategies can help your organization conduct effective reference checks:

1. Insist that every applicant sign a release.

Never check references before obtaining the candidate’s written permission to do so. Consent is a strong defense to defamation and other tort (wrongful act) claims an applicant may bring, and it also generally is required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act before an employer can use a third party to conduct checks. To protect further against applicant lawsuits, the consent form also should include language that releases the organization and its agents, as well as former employers and reference givers, from any legal liability that may result from the checks.

2. Get job-related information from applicants.

Before conducting reference checks, request that applicants provide background documentation such as old pay stubs, business cards, job descriptions, and performance appraisals. These items can be used to verify information provided in resumes, application forms, and interviews and can help identify specific issues to follow up on in reference inquiries.

3. Minimize reference resistance.

Expect reference sources to be guarded, or even defensive, since so many organizations try to limit potential legal exposure by releasing only the “name, rank and serial number” of former employees. To facilitate the process, fax or mail the signed consent and release to the reference giver. When calling references, the interviewer can help break the ice by briefly sharing information about himself, the organization, and the job the candidate has applied for. Some employers even ask an applicant to contact referrers first to help ensure that they can actually get through to them.

4. Keep questions pertinent.

To obtain relevant and consistent information on applicants, develop a reference check form with a list of standard questions and require its use for all checks. At a minimum, the form should cover the basics including dates of employment, positions held, and pay rates. In addition, it should contain open-ended questions about skills, qualifications, strengths, weaknesses, work habits, and suitability for the position. The form also should include specific questions about performance issues and disciplinary actions, eligibility for rehire, and reasons for leaving.

5. Document responses, even if limited.

Keep an accurate written record of all your reference discussions to support your hiring decisions and to help protect against negligent hiring, defamation, and other legal claims. And, if the reference giver refuses to provide any information, document the request and the lack of cooperation.

Of course, reference checks are just one of many tools that you need to make a good hiring decision. You also should verify other information on a candidate’s resume or application (such as educational history pertinent to the job) and consider performing additional background checks (such as criminal, credit, and driving checks) if the nature of the job warrants these checks. In addition, you may want to conduct skills testing to further evaluate a candidate’s abilities. All of these steps will help you make more effective hiring decisions.

Hire the Right Employee

Hiring the right employee for the right position will save your practice both time and money.

Judy has just given you her two weeks’ notice. Her position is a critical part of your practice. You spend time advertising the job opening. You spend more time interviewing many “awesome” candidates. An offer for the position is extended and accepted. You take a deep sigh of relief that all is well. However, about 90 days into the new person’s employment things are not going well and they are not going to work out. Make that 60 days . . . nope, 30 days . . . you knew it within the first week. It’s time to cut ties are start over. More time and money spent on the hiring process.

Due to the high turnover rate in the medical field, it is especially important to have an effective hiring system in place. When you hire the right employee, it reflects well for both the person who made the hiring decision and the practice. If a person is hired due to a poor hiring decision, it opens up the possibility of lawsuits, negative culture change, lower morale among other employee, and a decrees in performance. Hiring the right employee for the right position is one of the most important decisions your practice will ever make.

Step #1: Define the Job

Know the exact job duties a new employee would perform and the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) required for the position and then assess whether hiring a new employee is the best option. Many organizations make the mistake of hiring a new employee as soon as they perceive that there is a need. It is very important for the employer to know exactly what job duties a new employee would perform and to assess whether hiring a new employee is the best option. If you do decide to hire a new employee, then you will need to write a job posting. Be sure to write the job posting based on the KSA’s a person will need in order to be successful at the open position.

Step #2: Develop an Applicant Pool

Create a pool of applicants from which you will pick your new employee. This pool can be generated using a variety of sources including, but not limited to current employees, referrals, colleges/universities, employment agencies, internet job sites, job fairs, and radio.

Step #3: Applicant Selection Process

Use a uniform process to evaluate and rate each candidate and select the one best suited for the open position. This process should include, interviews, applicant rating (on KSA’a and culture fit), pre-employment tests, and notification of unqualified candidates.

Step #4: Final Selection Process

Before a hiring decision is made, all interested parties should have the opportunity to interview each final candidate. This final interview is important as it generates buy-in from the decision makers within the practice. Each final candidate should be ranked by every person who interviews them. Once the interview are complete, have a meeting between all of the individuals who interviewed the candidate to get their feedback and rankings. After all of the information has been gathered and assessed, it is time to make the hiring decision. Before making an offer to the selected candidate, it is important that you conduct a background check on the selected candidate. Once the background check has been done and you are satisfied with the results, an offer should be extended to the selected candidate. Be sure the job offer is officially accepted, before notifying the other candidates who were not selected. Once the job offer is accepted, you can begin the new-hire process.

Hiring the right employee will save your practice time, money, strengthen your organizational culture, limit your liability, keep your other employees happy, and make your practice more productive.

For any questions on this or other HR, HIPAA, OSHA, or Medicare related products, please email us at support@hcsiinc.com or visit our web site at http://www.hcsiinc.com.

Changing Trends in Hiring Healthcare Talent

Trends in Healthcare Talent Acquisition

It’s hard to keep up with all the changes happening in health care, especially as they relate to talent acquisition and the evolving roles of the health care workforce. To help health care recruiters and HR professionals stay current with the latest trends, AHACareerCenter.org has released a comprehensive report using resources from the American Hospital Association and other trusted sources.

Here are three insights from the 2015 Healthcare Talent Acquisition Environmental Scan:

●        The age range of health care workers spans more than forty years, creating distinctive challenges and opportunities for both employers and employees, such as:

○        Organizational hierarchies may be restructured as Gen Xers and Millennials rise to leadership roles. As Gen Xers and Millennials become leaders, health care organizations may need to consider flattening their structure and removing departmental and management hierarchies. Gen Xers and Millennials, the bulk of the workforce, consider organizational hierarchies as barriers to creativity and innovation.

○        Health care organizations may need to modify job requirements to cater to new and emerging roles. This includes adjusting competencies so that the workforce aligns with new population health needs. For example, some jobs will need to be redesigned as technology advances. As jobs are redefined, the workforce may transition and redeploy to different settings, roles and organizational structures.

●        With changing demographics, communities are becoming increasingly diverse. The unique diversity of a community should be reflected in the leadership and staff of its hospitals and health care systems. However, gaps in diversity still exist, made evident by the following statistics:

○        Minorities represented 31% of patients nationally in 2013, up from 29% in 2011. However, minorities comprise only 14% of hospital board members, 12% of executive leadership positions, and 17% of first- and mid-level management positions.

○        Diversity efforts in hospital recruitment and retention are lacking. Just under half of respondents (48%) said their hospital has a documented plan to recruit and retain a diverse workforce that reflects the organization’s patient population. Only 22% of hospital hiring managers have a diversity goal in their performance expectations.

●        The rate at which physicians are employed directly by hospitals continues to increase. In fact, physician employment by hospitals has risen by more than 54% since 2000. Other statistics gathered in regards to the physician employment market include:

○        More than 244,000 physicians have found positions in hospitals, due to a variety of reasons: changes in lifestyle, decreased interest in owning a business, levels of regulation, and more. Meanwhile, hospitals are seeking out physicians as a way to increase coordination and manage costs.

○        Only 10% of hospital senior leaders are physicians, according to most surveyed CEOs. This is due in part to the fact that most medical schools don’t include formal business training on running a practice, much less a multimillion-dollar health system. With more than half of new physicians entering the field as salaried employees, the potential pool of physician leaders has grown exponentially larger. Soon, having physician leaders will not only will be important, but a mandate.

(HealthcareSource website)

8 Common Supervisor Mistakes

Eight Common Supervisor Mistakes

Sometimes it seems as though there are a thousand ways supervisors and managers, although well-intentioned, can make misjudgments and end up with employee lawsuits. Here are 8 major, but common, errors to discuss while training your managers and supervisors.

1. Making unlawful pre-employment inquiries

Inappropriate questions during interviews and other pre-employment contacts are a primary source for claims of discrimination. The courts generally assume that if you asked a question, you intended to use the answer as a factor in your hiring decision. Therefore, any questions about or references to protected categories like sex, age, race, national origin, or religion, can later be used against you in court in a discrimination claim.

To the extent possible, standardize the application and interview process. Ask all applicants fundamentally the same questions. Keep questions objective and focused on the job requirements and the skills necessary to perform the job.

2. Delivering “dishonest” evaluations

Many managers and supervisors avoid the discomfort of delivering a review that indicates poor performance and instead cop out with a “satisfactory” rating. As a result, many legitimate actions taken against an employee based on poor performance can be questioned because the performance reviews are positive. So it’s important to be honest with performance evaluations. That’s easier when there are clear standards; if they are not met, just say so.

3. Too vague in discipline and performance write-ups

Similarly, and again to avoid unpleasantness, managers and supervisors will often write something on performance evaluations like “needs improvement.” That’s too vague. Does that mean the employee does a great job, but there’s always room for a little improvement, or does that mean that the employee is terrible? Or how about “talked to Sally about her performance and behavior.” And then we’ve got judgment words like “lazy.” Again, too vague. Offer documentation and documented examples of behavior.

4. Making rash disciplinary decisions

Maybe you will ultimately determine that firing is the appropriate thing to do, but getting angry and making an impulsive decision isn’t the way to do it. First of all, an angry tirade, especially if in public, gets those “I’m going to sue” juices flowing. Second, you should never fire without carefully reviewing the circumstances with HR.

5. Making uninformed responses to medical leave requests

Few supervisory situations are as frustrating and challenging as dealing with employee requests for medical leave, particularly since it may involve FMLA, ADA, and/or workers’ compensation. It’s never convenient, but managers and supervisors have to curtail any frustration and respond professionally. The basic rule for managers and supervisors should be to contact HR when employees are going to take leave that might involve any those three reasons.

6. Not knowing and not enforcing policies

Supervisors and managers are the front line for interpreting and enforcing the company’s policies. But if they don’t know the policies and their associated responsibilities, they’ll be begging for lawsuits. For example, imagine a supervisor telling an employee that he or she does not have time to listen to a claim of unwelcome harassment, or safety issues, or potential NLRB violations.

Regularly review your policies with all supervisors and update them on all changes before the policies are distributed to employees. Managers have an obligation, as unreasonable or impracticable as it may be, to be aware of and understand the policies and laws that apply to their workplace.

7. Letting problems fester

With bad behavior, it’s always tempting to ignore the problem in hopes that the behavior will improve on its own. But you know that’s not going to happen. And, unfortunately, as time goes by, you appear to be condoning the behavior. “You’ve known he was doing this for six months, and you did nothing, and now suddenly it’s a firing offense?

8. Making “Side Agreements”

Managers under stress may be tempted to make “side agreements,” that is agreements that either go against policy or are promises that likely won’t be kept. Sometimes, these agreements are directly contrary to law and policy; for example, employees can’t waive their right to overtime or pay for hours worked—even if they agree, even if they are eager to do a little work on the side. And three problems arise:

·         It’s illegal behavior and there will be subsequent lawsuits.

·         Employees will be left feeling that agreements haven’t been honored.

·         There’s unequal treatment, so others who didn’t get the special treatment or privilege may sue.

(BLR website)

Using Reference Checks Effectively

5 Tips for Effective Reference Checks

There are many reasons why you should check the references of prospective employees. Often, applicants’ resumes and application forms are incomplete or even contain misrepresentations that could lead to a bad hiring decision. So, if you check references, you can help eliminate undesirable applicants, identify the best candidate, reduce turnover and training costs, and even prevent liability for negligent hiring.

At a minimum, carefully conducted reference checks can help ensure that your hiring decisions are more informed. Generally, reference checks should be made before the offer of employment is extended so that you have as much information about a candidate as possible. However, it may be difficult to get a reference-giver to provide helpful information because of their fears of defamation claims and restrictive corporate policies allowing only the release of a former employee’s name, rank, and serial number.  The following five strategies can help your organization conduct effective reference checks:

1. Insist that every applicant sign a release.

Never check references before obtaining the candidate’s written permission to do so. Consent is a strong defense to defamation and other tort (wrongful act) claims an applicant may bring, and it also generally is required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act before an employer can use a third party to conduct checks. To protect further against applicant lawsuits, the consent form also should include language that releases the organization and its agents, as well as former employers and reference givers, from any legal liability that may result from the checks.

2. Get job-related information from applicants.

Before conducting reference checks, request that applicants provide background documentation such as old pay stubs, business cards, job descriptions, and performance appraisals. These items can be used to verify information provided in resumes, application forms, and interviews and can help identify specific issues to follow up on in reference inquiries.

3. Minimize reference resistance.

Expect reference sources to be guarded, or even defensive, since so many organizations try to limit potential legal exposure by releasing only the “name, rank and serial number” of former employees. To facilitate the process, fax or mail the signed consent and release to the reference giver. When calling references, the interviewer can help break the ice by briefly sharing information about himself, the organization, and the job the candidate has applied for. Some employers even ask an applicant to contact referrers first to help ensure that they can actually get through to them.

4. Keep questions pertinent.

To obtain relevant and consistent information on applicants, develop a reference check form with a list of standard questions and require its use for all checks. At a minimum, the form should cover the basics including dates of employment, positions held, and pay rates. In addition, it should contain open-ended questions about skills, qualifications, strengths, weaknesses, work habits, and suitability for the position. The form also should include specific questions about performance issues and disciplinary actions, eligibility for rehire, and reasons for leaving.

5. Document responses, even if limited.

Keep an accurate written record of all your reference discussions to support your hiring decisions and to help protect against negligent hiring, defamation, and other legal claims. And, if the reference giver refuses to provide any information, document the request and the lack of cooperation.

Of course, reference checks are just one of many tools that you need to make a good hiring decision. You also should verify other information on a candidate’s resume or application (such as educational history pertinent to the job) and consider performing additional background checks (such as criminal, credit, and driving checks) if the nature of the job warrants these checks. In addition, you may want to conduct skills testing to further evaluate a candidate’s abilities. All of these steps will help you make more effective hiring decisions.