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Disengaged employees cost your organization money – but how much, and where does it show? Here are several areas where you can, and should, measure these costs.
Disengaged employees do less work per day; they waste time by procrastinating or griping. An outside firm can survey your workforce, anonymously, to determine the level of engagement. One example: in 2008 Staffing World reported that, on average, American workers wasted 2 hours in each work day. To annualize this, multiply those lost hours by the number of working days in a year (about 200 days). To determine the annual cost, multiply that by the number of employees, times the average hourly wage in your organization. Another approach to this calculation is to determine the wasted fraction of a work day. In the Staffing World report, this would be about 2/8 hours, or about ¼ of the work day. Multiply that by your organization’s annual payroll: was 25% of your payroll wasted last year?
Disengaged employees accomplish less with the opportunities they encounter. It may be most obvious in a sales organization. Will the employee make the extra cold call? Push for a closing date? Check back on customer satisfaction? Disengagement may be as easy to measure as a loss in year to year sales.
Disengaged employees do not initiate or innovate. They become satisfied to do the same old things in the same old ways. This is an obvious problem in a marketing organization, where it is critical to attract new customers by generating new campaigns. But most very successful organizations thrive on employee suggestion programs, where front-line workers contribute to improvements on the assembly line, to innovations in products, or to streamlining processes.
Disengaged employees are more likely to resign or to be terminated. They resign because they hope to have more fulfilling careers elsewhere. They are terminated because their performance did not measure up. What did your organization spend on severance payments last year? Were those disengaged employees? Consider the lost productivity from the time an employee resigns to the time the replacement worker becomes a fully functioning member of the team. Ask your Human Resources department what it costs to recruit, background-check, interview, and finally hire an employee. Then annualize the cost: how many employees were hired last year?
Disengaged employees lead to disengaged customers. Your organization is a rare and endangered species if it does not depend on repeat business. Your organization also benefits from favorable word-of-mouth to attract new customers. Your customers will notice poor or slow service; lack of attention to detail; or anything that says “I don’t care”. Have you lost customers due to intangible issues? Has the number of customer referrals gone down, over the last year? What did that cost your organization?
Now more than ever, organizations should be investing in surveying their employee engagement. Find out why your employees are disengaged. Are they in the wrong job? Are they not sufficiently challenged? What would re-energize them? Find out and do something about it today. The results could re-energize your company's bottom line.
Authors: Tricia Neves and Gary Sorrell – copyright protected worldwide. All rights reserved.
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Upon completing a successful selection process, the next challenge a hiring manager will face is finding ways to ensure that all the time, effort, and money spent does not go to waste by having their top talent leave for greener pastures. Below are some of the common retention challenges faced by hiring managers.
Employee disengagement - is one of the challenges facing hiring managers when it comes to the retention of staff. In fact, a Gallup study has shown that as many as 70% of the workforce is disengaged.
Mismanagement – research by Target Training International showed that over 95% of all people stated that they have been mismanaged. As a result, they will attribute their below par performance at certain periods during their employ as having stemmed from this mismanagement. Eventually, those interviewed gave their reasons for leaving the company as being because of one reason: mismanagement.
Beingunclear about job accountabilities - a common reason why people are let go is that there is disagreement at the manager level about what constitutes “superior performance”.
When the individual’s talent is not being applied or when they are not rewarded by the job - are common scenarios which can pose a challenge to successful retention in a company. Both of these issues occur when there is a bad talent/job match and are easily eliminated when the talent of the candidate and the talent requirements of the job are identified, measured and matched appropriately.
Conflict within departments or teams - no matter how talented the team, if the members can't get along and align, the team will not succeed. Occurrences of conflict within a team or between two employees can be avoided completely, or significantly improved when the talents of each individual involved is recognized and understood.
By accurately measuring talent and thereby understanding each individual’s talent, recruiters and hiring managers can tackle the challenges that hinder successful retention in a company. Gallup identified key questions that when answered positively correlate directly to retention.
• Do I know what is expected of me at work?
For a “yes” answer, be sure to inform your staff about what is expected of them at work in the most effective way for their particular style of communication.
• At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best everyday?
Give every individual the opportunity to do what they do best at work everyday, based on their particular talent strengths.
• At work, do my opinions count?
Give the individual an opportunity to voice their opinions, while providing them with opportunities for growth based on their particular strengths.
• Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
In order to enable the supervisor to create a powerful working relationship with the individual, ensure that you provide them with key talent information.
We have the tools necessary to accurately measure all of these areas for each candidate, employee, and the requirements of these for the job itself.
Contact us today!
Authors: Tricia Neves and Gary Sorrell – copyright protected worldwide. All rights reserved.
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Accurate talent measurement is the key ingredient to inform and support the success of both your selection and retention processes. By accurately measuring the talent of every job candidate and employee in your organization you ensure:
The best talent is matched to the job
Managers have key information to successfully motivate, manage and develop the talents of each individual
Jobs are performed at superior levels
Teams are able to work more effectively and profitably
Individuals understand their strengths and challenges and learn how to best adapt to their work environment
Talent is properly identified, developed and given an opportunity to succeed on an ongoing basis
During the hiring process it’s important that you have clarity on what talent the position requires. Identify the key results the job must produce and the talent necessary to produce those results before starting candidate interviews. The more clarity you bring to the interview process as a result of knowing the key results of the job, the less emotional bias will impact your hiring decision. If your organization is clear about the key results a job should produce, there will be overall consensus within the company as to what the performance of the candidate will be measured against. The job performance expectations are clear and reasonable.
We measure 3 facets of talent when evaluating a candidate for a job:
Behavior or the behavioral traits of the individual – This involves evaluating how the individual does their job. Does the job require data analysis, frequent interaction with other people, as well as the levels of competitiveness? How does the candidate’s behavioral traits compare to these?
The individual’s attributes or core skills – Does the position require a capacity for results orientation or accountability for others? What are the capacities of the individual and his or her potential for growth in those areas?
Motivators and rewards – What motivates the candidate – why do they do the job? For example if the candidate is highly motivated by money, does the job reward a passion for ROI? Or does the job reward those who are passionate about knowledge?
We have the tools necessary to accurately measure all of these areas for each candidate, employee, and the requirements of these for the job itself.
Isn’t it time to hire top talent? Contact us today!
Authors:Tricia Neves and Gary Sorrell – copyright protected worldwide. All rights reserved.
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The key ingredient to successful selection and retention is accurately measuring talent. Hiring managers and recruiters are already overwhelmed with the volume of information coming at them from internet based sourcing of candidates so some may avoid the crucial step of measuring talent thinking that it’s just one more thing to do. However without accurate talent measurement companies stand to waste thousands of dollars in trial and error hiring.Below we take a look at some of the common mistakes made by hiring managers and recruiters during selection when talent measurement is not a part of the hiring process.
Having a reactive approach.This is a common mistake when replacing an individual who performed poorly.The hiring manager or recruiter then looks for someone dramatically different from the one who left.This knee jerk reaction may cause the hiring of different talent but not necessarily the right talent.
Having unrealistic specifications. In some cases, hiring managers will engage in a quest for superman or superwoman to fill their vacancies. This can be especially true when hiring for a new position or for a position where there’s high turnover. The tendency will be to look for someone who can be everything to everyone.In the end superman or superwoman will underperform due to the unreasonable scope of the job.
Another common hiring mistake is a readiness to accept candidates at face value. This is despite knowing full well that most people will put their best face forward during an interview, as well as highlight only their most successful work experiences. This is the sort of emotional bias which causes many hiring managers, exhausted from an overwhelming amount of resumes and interviews, to move a candidate forward in the hiring process simply because they “interviewed well”.
There is also the “just like me” bias.This is based on the assumption that a candidate will perform just as well as another top performer, simply because they share the same credentials, previous companies worked for, personality, style and background.
There are ways to accurately measure talent and avoid these common selection mistakes. This involves “looking under the hood” with Talent Assessments. In order to ensure a successful selection, Talent Assessments must:
Be accurate and have validity – Accuracy and validity are essential components that ensure the results of the Talent Assessment are reliable.
Be job related – Talent Assessments must comply with EEOC provisions.
Measure and compare the same success factors for the job and the candidate – In order to truly eliminate bias, you need to be able to draw a straight line between the talent of the candidate and the talent requirements of the particular job.
Predict performance – It is essential for the hiring manager or recruiter to be able to predict performance.Valid Talent Assessments that accurately measure the candidate’s talent compared to the job will provide reliable predictive performance scores.
Show candidate talent gaps for management and development – Knowing where the new hire will need the most attention, management and training saves time and dollars and accelerates performance.
Authors: Tricia Neves and Gary Sorrell – copyright protected worldwide. All rights reserved.
If you have any questions about this article, or about how we can help you with your current hiring needs, contact us today!
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Also, please feel free to forward this blog to your friends and colleagues and to come back often.
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Hiring managers today face certain challenges when it comes to measuring talent for successful selection. Below is a look at some of these challenges.
First of all, over 90% of recruiting begins online through job boards and social media. What this means is that most of the information that the hiring manager or recruiter is using for their research on a particular candidate through the use of sources such as Google, job boards, Facebook and LinkedIn will in most cases have been posted by the candidate themselves. This is especially if the sourced information is employment related.
Secondly, candidates tend to throw resumes at related positions in the hope that they will stick. This means that when most people apply for jobs, they assume that these positions require similar skills and/ or experience which they had used in another job. For instance, a candidate with a sales background will apply for a position as a sales manager, while a former manager will apply to work as a trainer in their field. You will also find those with previous experience in customer service applying for sales jobs, while outside sales positions will attract candidates with a background in inside sales. The same applies for previous business owners who will apply for jobs in their respective areas of expertise.
Another challenge facing hiring managers is that they end up wasting too much time and money reviewing resumes in search for the right talent. This is despite having access to tons of information that is available online. A common scenario is where a recruiter posts an ad for a CFO position and receives over seven hundred emails within 24 hours. The recruiter will thereafter be forced to spend countless hours just going through these resumes looking at the hard skills and educational histories of the applicants. This is even before they begin to check for measurable talent.
Blind spots created in the hiring process due to the emotional bias of the recruiter or hiring manager is another challenge to successful selection. This is because in some cases hiring decisions will be influenced by the emotions of the recruiter. This may be as a result of the personality match between the candidate and the recruiter, where the candidate was referred by a friend of the recruiter or even where the interviewer is simply impressed or aligned with the educational background of the candidate.
Once a candidate is hired, they take at least ninety days to become effective, if ever. Much of that time is spent in the ‘getting acquainted phase’: getting acquainted with the new manager or team, getting acquainted with the systems in the office, how the equipment runs, etc. In most cases, you will find that the true talent match of the individual to the job will only begin to manifest itself in tangible results – if ever – after a period of approximately 90 days. If the candidate is receiving a base annual salary of $50,000, the employer will spend a minimum of $12,500 in this “getting acquainted” phase, before they even get their money’s worth in productivity.
Need help hiring top talent? Contact us today!
Authors: Tricia Neves and Gary Sorrell – copyright protected worldwide. All rights reserved.
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There are a lot of aspects to consider when interviewing candidates for an open position—skill set, years of experience, ability to fit into the company culture, etc. The list goes on and on. However, there’s one factor that many companies completely overlook, and it can often come back to haunt them.
That factor is passion.A candidate’s passion for what they do could be considered the “X Factor” of any search. That’s because when a person has passion for their job, they’re compelled and they’re driven to not only carry out the duties of the position, but also to do so extraordinarily well. For people with passion, going through the motions is not an option. In fact, it’s not even a consideration.
Here are three reasons why employers should hire people with passion over people who lack it:
1. They’re more productive—People with passion don’t leave at 5 p.m. on the dot, and they often work through lunch. They love what they do, so they do as much of it as they can. That translates into more productivity . . . a lot more.
2. They’re more engaged—You don’t have to make sure they’re engaged in their job and with the company. If they have passion for what they’re doing, they’re practically self-engaging. This makes it far easier to retain the person over the long haul.
3. They’re intrinsically motivated—You don’t need to throw huge amounts of money or a slew of perks at these candidates in order to make them happy. Verbal compliments and other forms of recognition for a job well done go a long way. Once again, this increases the chances of retaining their services.As you can see, passion has a distinctly important role in the hiring process. Failure to identify which candidates possess it and which ones do not can have a negative impact on that process. In fact, it could even result in hiring the wrong person for the position.
Job benchmarking is the most important step in beginning a selection process.
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How would 92% retention re-shape your organization?
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Written by Hiring by Design Contributing Author: Gary Sorrell.
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In the first two articles in this series, we looked at the basics of a Health & Productivity Management (H & PM) program, as well as the advantages associated with using one.In this, the third and final article in the series, we’re going to explore how a company can implement such a program.The way in which we’ll approach this analysis is from the standpoint of size.In other words, how both larger companies and smaller companies should implement their programs for the purpose of maximizing their efforts.
Blueprint for larger companies
Bigger companies with thousands of employees face more challenges than smaller companies, in large part because of their size.As you recall, the effectiveness of Health & Productivity Management is tied directly to its emphasis on integration throughout the system.The bigger a company is, the less integration there is, for a couple of reasons.
First, employees are more likely to be scattered throughout the country (or around the world) at various locations.Second, the different departments within a larger company tend to work more independently of each other than they do in a smaller company.As a result, the company is less efficient—and subsequently, less effective—in the area of employee health and productivity.
The keys for the implementation of any program are consistent and explicit communication and set expectations, and this is especially true in the case of large companies.With that in mind, below are important steps that must be undertaken if an H & PM program is to succeed.
1.Secure specific details from senior members of management regarding what they expect the program to achieve.The more detailed, the better.
2.Identify a team of 10 or more people—including a leader—to create and then carry out the program’s overall vision and individual objectives.This might include the use of an outside consultant.
3.Determine which members of the group will be responsible for which tasks.Make sure those roles and tasks are properly communicated.
4.Decide when and where integration and interventions will be utilized.(Refer to the first article in this series for more information about these aspects of the program.)
5.Devise a preliminary draft of the program’s plan, including the evaluation process, for whatever span of time has been approved for the initiative. Three to five years is the norm.
6.Use feedback from senior members of management and stakeholders to modify the plan and present it for final approval.
7.Begin implementation of the H & PM program, making adjustments when necessary.
Blueprint for small to medium-sized companies
As you might imagine, the blueprint for smaller companies is, well, smaller than it is for larger companies.However, the core directives and procedures remain basically the same, especially in regards to consistent communication and set expectations.These are crucial to ensuring success with any Health & Productivity Management program.
Rather than list how the blueprint for small and medium-sized companies is the same as for larger ones, it will be easier to list how they’re not different:
The plan is shorter and simpler in scope and ambition.
The group of people comprising the implementation team is smaller, as well, perhaps consisting of four to six people as opposed to 10 or more for larger companies.
The span of time approved for the initiative is usually shorter, no more than three years in most cases.
If the company is too small to conduct proper integration and interventions, these tasks are outsourced to a separate vendor.
Attention to detail
For a Health & Productivity Management program to be successful, its implementation cannot be haphazard or neglected in any way.In addition to consistent communication and set expectations throughout the process, attention to detail is also of paramount importance, especially during the evaluation phase.Remember, an H & PM program is not unlike any other business initiative—it’s designed to save the company both time and money and help it become more productive and profitable.If it’s not accomplishing these goals, then it’s ultimately not effective.
Something else to remember is that an H & PM program is a little like a fingerprint.No two programs are exactly alike.What works for one company might not work for another.However, if done correctly, the creation and implementation of such a program can hold the key to combating the challenges presented by current economic conditions and the state of healthcare in the years to come.
Hiring by Design Contributing Author: Gary Sorrell.
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In the first article in this series, we looked at the basics of Health & Productivity Management, starting with a definition of the concept:
[Health and Productivity Management] is “the integrated management of health and injury risks, chronic illness, and disability to reduce employees’ total health-related costs, including direct medical expenditures, unnecessary absence from work, and lost performance at work (i.e., presenteeism).”
As we discussed, this concept is comprehensive in approach and pro-active in nature, significantly differentiating it from other healthcare/productivity endeavors. Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, what makes this type of program so important? Why should companies and other organizations consider implementing an H&PM initiative? With this article, we’ll look at the answer to these and other questions.
Meeting the economy’s challenges
The economic crisis currently facing the United States—and in some fashion, the world—makes an effective Health & Productivity Management program even more essential. This is true not just for certain types of companies, either. It’s true for companies in every industry and of every size, namely because the economy is presenting the same types of obstacles for all companies. Some of those major obstacles and challenges are outlined below.
The healthcare dilemma—Healthcare costs seem to skyrocket every year, rising even faster than the annual rate of inflation. For some small business owners, the cost of providing healthcare to employees has become a crippling expense. Consequently, it’s in their best interests to help their employees be as healthy as possible in an attempt to keep costs at acceptable levels from year to year.
The need for more productivity with fewer employees—Companies have been slashing payrolls at quite a fast clip since the beginning of the year, and more job losses are forecast for the remainder the year. As a result, it’s imperative that companies invest in the health of their employees so that they can reap a sizeable investment in terms of productivity. Specifically, they need to maximize their productivity from each employee on an individual basis. This “production-per-employee” matrix is a strong indicator of a company’s long-term success. In other words, it’s what makes a company “lean and mean.”
Survival of the fittest—That leads us to the top priority, both for companies individually and the country as a whole. Continued revenue generation and the existence of concrete profit margins are essential for the continued growth and development of the economy. Only those companies that pay the proper amount of attention to health and productivity will be positioned correctly to reap the benefits once the economy rebounds.
Taking the next step
As you can see, keeping employees healthy and productive has never been as important as it is right now. In all likelihood, it’s going to become even more crucial in the future. If properly implemented and monitored, a Health & Productivity Management program can help just about any company reach their goals and objectives, especially as they pertain to greater productivity and a healthier bottom line.
However, now more questions can be posed. How does a company go about implementing such a program? Are there specific steps that can be undertaken to ensure a greater level of success? Does it matter if you’re a big company or a smaller company? In our next issue, we’ll tackle these questions in the final part of our three-part series.
Hiring by Design Contributing Author: Gary Sorrell
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During this holiday season, more than ever, our thoughts of gratitude turn to all who have made our progress possible and successful.
In this spirit we sincerely say:
Thank you and best wishes for a safe and wonderful Holiday Season.
We look forward to working with you in the New Year!
From all of us at Hiring by Design.
Sincerely,
Tricia Neves
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When it comes to the level of competition that currently exists in our capitalist society, as well as the competition that also exists in what is increasingly becoming a global economy, every company is looking for an edge—an edge that will make them just a little better, stronger, and more resilient than the other guy.
With that in mind, it’s no surprise that new and more aggressive programs are being developed to give companies that edge. One of the latest initiatives in this area is that of health promotion, and one of the programs most directly tied to that initiative is called Health & Productivity Management (H&PM). This strategy, which strives to ensure the growth of productivity within organizations, is gaining more popularity with each passing year.
Definition and Differentiation
Let’s start with a definition of H&PM, one devised by the Institute of Health and Productivity Management (IHPM). That definition is as follows:
[Health and Productivity Management] is “the integrated management of health and injury risks, chronic illness, and disability to reduce employees’ total health-related costs, including direct medical expenditures, unnecessary absence from work, and lost performance at work (i.e., presenteeism).”
H&PM has two main focuses, as listed below:
1.Health problems that are potentially preventable, especially those that could impact the company in an economic fashion
2.Sub-par performance in the workplace, with an emphasis on lost productivity due to “presenteeism.”
There are a number of characteristics that make H&PM unique from other health promotion initiatives. These characteristics stem from the fact that this is a comprehensive approach to productivity management through health promotion. In addition, this is a thoroughly pro-active program, one built on commitment and designed to reach out to employees, as opposed to many of the traditional models that currently exist. Below are some of the specific traits that make H&PM different.
·Prevention—This is perhaps the major thrust of H&PM, its central platform, so to speak. It involves three levels of prevention: primary (precaution), secondary (early detection), and tertiary (impact reduction).
·Integration—The activities within H&PM are designed for integration, meaning that they are both linked and compatible with one another. In keeping in step with its comprehensive focus, H&PM involves internal integration, intra-organizational integration, and external integration.
·Recruitment—Simply letting employees know that it’s available is not enough for H&PM. Recruitment is a staple of the program, utilizing a combination of incentives, personalized attention, and other pro-active but low-pressure methods.
·Systems-oriented—In order to address all of the potential management and productivity risks, an H&PM program emphasizes the use of systems to ensure a comprehensive (and ultimately more effective) approach to problem solving.
·Economically focused—The focus of an H&PM program isn’t just on the company’s economic interests, but on the employees’, as well. If the cost savings realized from the implementation of the program is passed on to the employees, they’ll have more of a vested interest in maintaining the program’s existence.
Commitment is key
Although this represents a brief overview of a Health & Productivity Management program, there are many more details involved. The number and extent of those details depend upon the company utilizing the program, the industry in which the company operates, and the people that the company employs. However, regardless of those variables, what needs to be constant in all instances is a pro-active commitment to carrying out the program’s initiatives. Without that commitment, success is almost impossible.
Now that we’ve discussed the basics of Health & Productivity Management, what makes this type of program so important? Why should companies and other organizations consider implementing an H&PM initiative? In our next issue, we’ll answer these questions and others as we further analyze what H&PM programs have to offer.
Author: Gary Sorrell
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Jobs are performed at superior levels
The key ingredient to successful selection and retention is accurately measuring talent. Hiring managers and recruiters are already overwhelmed with the volume of information coming at them from internet based sourcing of candidates so some may avoid the crucial step of measuring talent thinking that it’s just one more thing to do. However without accurate talent measurement companies stand to waste thousands of dollars in trial and error hiring.
