A mid-year review can provide positive feedback about the employee’s contribution so far, and also give the manager a chance to discuss problematic performance with the employee and work out a solution. Mid-year reviews also help the manager and the employee recalibrate their objectives, if needed. Perhaps the goal no longer applies because there has been a business strategy shift based on the cultural change of the agency. For example, a social service agency has been concentrating on youth and family services. But a recent increase in the need for assisted living facilities for senior citizens has led to a change in the agency’s mission. Therefore, performance goals will need to be modified to include development and implementation of senior services.
HR Tips for Employers
Orientation & Onboarding Tip 5: Make sure new employees are ready to work on the first day.
Prepare the new employee’s work area with the proper tools and equipment ahead of their arrival so the new staff member feels comfortable and has everything needed to smoothly transition into the new position.
Four essential areas to have ready at the new employee’s work station:
- Have the employee’s desk or other work area, and the materials needed to perform the job, set up when he or she comes into work.
- Make sure the employee has a working phone, computer, desk, chair and whatever else he or she may need for the job.
- Set up all computer protocols so the employee can sign on to organization’s Internet, intranet and specific software programs.
- Gather all the proper paperwork a new employee needs to fill out on the first day. (Outside of the usual Human Resources paperwork like department-specific forms—see the next tip about payroll forms.)
Succession Planning Tip #5: Provide the high-potential candidates with both classroom learning and hands-on experience
It is important to combine learning with hands-on experience to fully prepare the candidate for the requirements of a higher position. This could mean offering high potential candidates opportunities for certifications or advanced degrees, and sending them to professional conferences to learn from other experts. A good example in the Public Safety area includes sending officers to the FBI Academy which includes both practical experience and classroom learning. These are great for your company/agency because those employees will bring that knowledge back with them to share.
Questions? Contact me today!
Job Descriptions Tip 4
4. Job descriptions can be used as the basis for training and career growth.
Job descriptions list the qualifications and certifications required for each position. For example, if a Social Worker I employee is interested in moving up in the organization, he or she can look at the job description for the next level position, Social Worker Supervisor. By reviewing the qualifications of the higher position, employees can determine the education, training and certification that may be required to move up. Career paths can also be illustrated by reviewing the titles of positions such as Analyst I to Analyst II and Analyst III. This information encourages employees to know they are not stuck in a position and they can be promoted if they are interested and qualified.
Hiring an Intern Tip #2: What type of projects can Interns handle?
Tip 2 – What type of projects can Interns handle?
In our last post we talked about why you should consider hiring an intern. In this post I would like to explore the types of projects that are ideal for an internship. Interns can handle any project that an employee can handle depending on the individual and the supervision provided
- Projects that include technology are often ideal since younger workers tend to be skilled in this area. This can include developing presentations in Publisher, Power Point or other software.
- Social Media updates are an excellent project as long as you provide some guidelines of what is acceptable on your various platforms.
- Content marketing is another option such as posting and writing blogs.
- Internet research is ideal for new projects, finding clients, researching the competition, or investigating product options related to your next purchase.
- Bookkeeping activities are great for accounting students
- Recording and analysis of data using Excel, Access or other data base systems
- Screening potential candidates for positions or other interns will allow the intern to learn about recruitment processes
- The list can go on depending upon your business needs
When I was an intern as an undergraduate I prepared an environmental assessment for a grant application and developed a comparison of Police Union contract benefits (before Excel) using the old green lined accounting paper. Twenty years later I completed both projects in my full time management position. Just be sure the tasks you need accomplish fit the interest and skill set of your intern.
Questions? Contact me today!
Tips for New Leaders/New Executives Tip 7: Be Prepared to Be a Supervisor
A promotion that changes your position from colleague to supervisor will change the working dynamic with your colleagues. Here are some tips to help you manage that transition successfully.
Be prepared to be a supervisor. Avoid playing favorites.
- Favoritism is one of the biggest complaints about new supervisors. Some old colleagues may expect favors since you worked together previously but you must be fair and equitable to all–including old friends and co-workers and those you only know in passing.
Be ready to discipline a friend if they do not meet expectations after you have warned them and explained what is expected.
Questions? Contact me today!
How to Retain your Talented Employees
To retain your great talent for your organization you need to put forth a great effort during their on-boarding and continue to engage your employees with Stay Interviews. What do I mean?
If you want your great talent to stay with your organizations then you need to make them feel welcome on day one and let them know how important they are to your organization, your mission, your clients and other employees in the organization. How do you do this – well you don’t say here is your desk and computer we know you will be great and let them fend for themselves. You need to provide them with all the information about their job/position with a job description (see blog on job description tips). You need to provide them a profile or brochures about your organization – either the profile you use for your recruitment (see sample profiles on this website) or brochures that describe the organization, mission, vision, organizational chart, etc. Then explain how your new employee fits into the organization and how they will make a difference. (see tip related to on-boarding for more information)
Once they have been with you for 3 months make sure you check in to see how they are doing and at 6 months and 9 months. Then at one year you should do a Stay interview to find out what you can do to keep them engaged and find opportunities for them to grow. (see tips on Stay interviews). In addition to the tips described I have provided you with a number of additional questions to ask the employees during the Stay Interview (This is information obtained at the International City/County Manager Association Conference 2019)
- What do you like most about your work?
- What keeps you here?
- What would entice you away?
- What do you want to learn this year?
- Is there anything you’d like to change about your job?
- Do you feel recognized for your accomplishments?
- What strengths or talents do you have that aren’t being used?
- How do you like to be recognized, acknowledged, and rewarded for a job well done?
- What is your greatest challenge or roadblock?
- What part of working here strikes you as ridiculous?
- What would make your work more meaningful and satisfying?
- How can I or the organization help you reach your career goals?
- What support do you need to be more effective?
- If you could wave a magic wand, what changes would you make in the work environment?
- What can we do to ensure we keep you with us?
For a great source on this topic see my partner, Georgian Lussier’s book titled “Are your Star Performers Packing their Bags? How to Persuade them to Stay” it can be purchased by going to this Link: https://ryangroup.contentshelf.com/product?product=I130129000000BF7
Executive Search Tip 7: How does the firm make a presentation of Candidates to Client?
Now that we’ve gone through all the resumes, conducted telephone interviews and asked candidates to complete a questionnaire we present a semi-finalist list to the client. This is prepared as a report which includes a list of the top candidates with their resume, cover letter, questionnaire and any other information we have gathered about the candidates. Sometimes the candidates are rated as A & B candidates to offer the client our thoughts and other times they are not ranked. The level of input regarding ranking would be determined prior to the report. Some agencies prefer this while others want to rank the candidates themselves.
We also provide an excel sheet with a summary of each of the top candidates pointing out degrees, past position titles, expertise in specific areas related to the position, etc. Some clients also request that we show them all the candidate names and why they were not included in the top semi-finalist list. This allows the client to hear our report, review the materials and decide which candidates fit their organizational culture. Once the selection is made we will start the reference and background work on each of the candidates.
Questions? Contact me today!
Interviewing for Employers Tip 5: Questions About Past Experience
Make sure the Interview Team has candidates’ resumes so they can ask questions about their past experience helpful resources.
Questions? Contact me today!
Tip 4: Performance evaluation provides information and justification for compensation and promotion.
Accurate performance evaluations help managers promote the right employees. Performance evaluations also help determine pay increases and bonuses for employees. When employers link performance evaluation to pay raises and promotion, it shows that they distribute compensation on a fair and credible basis. For example, if your company has a 5-point rating scale, your policy might be that employees whose performance ratings are below 3 are not eligible for a salary increase; if the rating is at 3, they get a 1% pay increase; if at 4, a 2% pay increase; if at 5, a 3% pay increase.
Orientation & Onboarding Tip 6: Have all paperwork ready for your new employee on day one, from Human Resources, Payroll and the Benefits offices.
A well-organized essential document packet will give the employee confidence that their employer is detail oriented and efficient and that all legal and financial documents are in place.
Things to include in your package might vary, but here is a list of commonly included documents:
- Federal W-4, State W-4
- Emergency Contact form
- I-9 form
- Health/Medical Benefit Enrollment form and Health Insurance Plan booklet
- COBRA form
- Direct Deposit form
- Life Insurance form
- Deferred Compensation form (401K) or Pension Enrollment form
- Credit Union form and description (optional)
- Employee Assistance Program information
- Workers’ Compensation Program information
Recruiting with Randi Frank
Tips on recruiting for executives and entry-level positions.
Stay Interviews
What is a Stay Interview and why would you use it? A Stay Interview is when you interview your existing staff to determine the following:
- Are they happy in their existing position?
- What can be done to make their job more rewarding so they stay with you?
- What type of work would they like to do or skill they would like to learn for possible promotions?
- If they are not interested in a promotion is there a way they can be rewarded financially for their added skill level?
- What employee benefits would make them stay rater then look for another job?
Why would an agency do a Stay Interview? There are many reasons, these are some of them:
- You want to let the employees know you value their work and want to help them advance.
- You don’t want to deal with the constant turnover that can affect the performance of the unit and cause low morale and lots of retraining
- You don’t want to lose your good employees to your competitors
- You want to know what you can do to improve the work environment
This is an excellent process to use for your succession planning also – See blog on succession planning.
Succession Planning Tip #6: Task leaders with the job of identifying and mentoring high potential candidates for their own role or other roles.
Putting leaders in charge of mentoring potential candidates’ serves two purposes: it gets the mentor involved in the future of the company, and it gives the mentee an experienced employee to get advice from. This is also a great method for passing on information. If an agency’s CEO/CFO abruptly leaves, for example, valuable information about operations that was shared or documented isn’t lost.
By having this mentoring program in place, you significantly decrease the chances of losing information and you increase the culture of support and team spirit. This culture of promoting from within and mentoring star players will highlight your efforts to share information, goals, and objectives and provide training for the new leaders. (See separate tips on past mentoring blog)
Questions? Contact me today!
Job Descriptions Tip 5
5. Job descriptions help to develop performance standards and set performance goals for performance review.
Examples of job description responsibilities are listed below, along with how they would be interpreted into performance goals that would be evaluated during an employee’s performance review.
Essential functions for a customer service representative:
• Answers customer requests or inquiries concerning services, products, billing, claims and reports problem areas via phone, email, mail or social media.
• Responsible for improving customer retention through programs and service provided to the customer.
Performance goals:
• Improve customer satisfaction by 90% by the end of the year, as determined by customer satisfaction surveys.
• Reduce customer complaints about customer service by 20% by the end of this year.
