If you’re not yet familiar with the government’s recently revised stipulations for hiring unpaid interns, might I suggest pouring yourself a nice glass of Merlot, perhaps turning down the lights and putting on some Al Green, while you sit back and get to know them a little bit better…?
That’s because the Obama administration recently announced that it intends to crack down on companies that don’t comply with the rules regarding unpaid internships, in reaction to recent criticism that such practices unfairly favor privileged students and enable employers to take advantage of free labor.
Six Rules for Employers Offering Unpaid Internships According to a document on Internship Programs, released in April by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, employers are not required by law to pay their interns only if they meet all of the following criteria:
The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment
The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern
The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff
The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded
The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship
The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.
Why All the Fuss? So what’s so bad about not paying interns, anyway? You might ask. After all, shouldn’t they be grateful just for the opportunity to get real world work experience, network with industry professionals and get school credit?
In an ideal world, yes. But it seems that far too many employers have interns doing menial tasks that offer little educational experience or quality training. Other companies, meanwhile, hire interns under the (false) promise that the interns will be offered a full-time position once their internship is complete. Another criticism of unpaid internships is that they favor students from well-to-do backgrounds whose parents are well-connected in the industry (and can afford to work for free) over those who come from lower-income backgrounds.
Unfortunately, many employers that fail to meet the above criteria still manage to get away with not paying their interns. Illegal practices concerning unpaid internships often go unreported, it seems, because many interns do not file complaints for fear that they will lose their current internship or be branded as troublemakers and endanger their chances of future employment at other companies.
Advantages to Offering Paid Internships Aside from helping organizations avoid any potential legal problems, offering paid internships offer a number of benefits for employers. For one thing, paid internships help employers attract a bigger group of qualified individuals, as financial need prevents some highly qualified students from pursuing unpaid opportunities. Paid internship also help ensure students stick to a time commitment; furthermore, students that are paid as if they are professionals are more likely to act the part, too.
Of course, now you might be asking: Why have interns at all if we have to pay them? In a recent Student Branding Blog post, career counselor Karen Obringer lists the following ways companies benefit from hiring interns:
Internships enable companies to train potential future employees
Interns provide new energy to the office
Interns provide new ideas and technology into the office
Interns can do the work that the full-time staff haven’t had time to accomplish or even start
Interns can help evaluate current company practices and offer suggestions of alternate options
Can’t afford to pay your interns? The career counselors at Washington University in St. Louis suggest that employers consider offering an alternative mode of payment, such as transportation reimbursement, free parking, complimentary meals, or free training or workshops.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree that employers take advantage of interns? Do you believe interns should be paid? How do you compensate your interns in other ways?
Last week, I talked about the pros and cons of rehiring former employees, and mentioned that the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act is one of the major reasons employers should be looking at hiring unemployed workers (which could include former employees). But let’s explore further why the bill is so important — both for unemployed workers and the employers hiring them. After all, as a CFO, controller, business owner, vice president of human resources, hiring manager, accountant, or anyone else with a stake in your business’s bottom line, the HIRE Act could have a significant impact on your business.
What is the HIRE Act?
The $17.5 billion legislation, signed into law by President Obama on March 18, 2010, gives a potential tax exemption and credit to businesses that hire unemployed workers. Specifically, the HIRE Act grants businesses that hire workers unemployed 60 days or longer an exemption from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll taxes for each worker for the remainder of 2010. Additionally, if workers are retained for one year, participating businesses get a tax credit of $1,000.
The maximum value of this incentive is $6,621 per qualified employee, which equals 6.2 percent of the Social Security FICA maximum wage cap of $106,800.
The goal:
The HIRE Act aims to provide hiring incentives to stimulate the economy, restore some of the jobs lost in the latest economic recession, and put Americans back to work. The average unemployed worker has been unemployed for ten months, so the Act is in effect targeting those job seekers who have been having difficulty finding work for quite some time. The HIRE Act calls on employers like you to hire unemployed workers and work to retain them.
Keep in mind, recent graduates who are unemployed or working part-time can qualify — so if you’re seeking out new grads or are a start-up looking for fresh talent, you should also be looking into the HIRE Act.
The two major tax incentives of the HIRE Act
No. 1:
Employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax exemption, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers between Mar. 19, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2010.
This reduced tax withholding will have no effect on the employee’s future Social Security benefits, and as an employer, you will still need to withhold the employee’s 6.2-percent share of Social Security taxes, as well as income taxes.
The employer and employee’s shares of Medicare taxes would also still apply to these wages.
No. 2:
For each worker retained for at least a year, businesses may claim an additional retention credit, up to $1,000 per worker, when they file their 2011 income tax returns.
Significant savings
Let’s say you hire an employee and pay them a $60,000 salary. Normally, you would have to pay 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax, or $3,720. With the HIRE Act, your business wouldn’t have to pay that $3,720, plus you have the potential of an additional $1,000 tax credit if that employee stays with your company for one year.
Finding the right employees with the HIRE Act
Not only are you helping stimulate the economy and employ people who need work, but you are also potentially saving a significant amount of money that will impact your bottom line. Instead of looking at hiring as an expense, the HIRE Act encourages employers to think of hiring as an investment.
While the HIRE Act helps making hiring “cheaper,” the quality of your new hires is still paramount; you and I both know that cost savings plus a bad hire is actually more expensive in the long run. This is why CareerBuilder is focused on targeting the right people within that group who would be a good fit for your organization.
CareerBuilder currently attracts more than 9 million unique visitors each month who meet the qualifications as set by the HIRE Act. We go even further by helping you find the qualified workers who are the right fit for your particular culture and business needs. After all, you might need one employee or 100 — but it’s important that you find the right employees to stick around and grow with your business.
The Fine Print: Criteria needed for a business to receive benefits of the HIRE Act
New employee/s must be hired between Feb. 4, 2010 and December 31, 2010.
The payroll tax exemptions are effective for wages paid between Mar. 19, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2010.
The newly hired employees must have been unemployed during the 60 days prior to starting work, or worked fewer than 40 hours for someone else during that 60-day period (and the employer must get a statement from each eligible new hire certifying this fact).
New hires filling positions qualify, but only if the workers they are replacing left voluntarily or for cause.
Family members or relatives do not qualify.
Businesses, agricultural employers, tax-exempt organizations and public colleges and universities DO qualify to claim the payroll tax — although household businesses and federal, state and local governments l do not.
HIRE Act — How are businesses reacting?
It’s a bit of a chicken versus egg argument; it’s hard to say at this point whether the HIRE Act is causing employers to hire more, or businesses are catching on to it after they have already hired. Regardless, any businesses are taking advantage of the new legislation. And although the HIRE Act expires Jan. 1, 2011, President Obama is working to extend it. According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of the Treasury:
From Feb. to May 2010, an estimated 4.5 million workers who had been unemployed for eight weeks or longer were hired — meaning all of the employers who hired these workers are eligible for the HIRE Act payroll tax exemption.
Newly hired workers whose employers are eligible for the exemption constitute 12.2 percent of all workers who were unemployed for eight weeks or longer since the law took effect.
If the 4.5 million newly hired employees who are eligible for the exemption are employed for the rest of the year, their employers would be (collectively) eligible for an estimated $5.1 billion in payroll tax savings.
Find out more about the HIRE Act
While we’ve covered a lot of the basics here, you’ll still want to investigate further to find out how your business can qualify. Here are some additional resources:
Rejecting a candidate because they have too many credentials? On the surface, it seems absurd: Here, it seems you’ve been handed the opportunity to snag executive-level talent at an entry level price…and yet you know that doing so means you could soon be dealing with a very bitter employee who resents taking a job that is below them, or perhaps you fear they’ll leave the minute a better opportunity comes along…
That’s the dilemma employers face when it comes to hiring overqualified workers – and why so many just say no; however, while you certainly want to be wary of someone who “will just take anything” to make ends meet (not that you don’t sympathize), you could also be doing yourself a disservice by dismissing an overqualified worker outright – and miss the opportunity to score major talent for your organization.
So before you immediately dismiss an overqualified worker, just consider the following questions to help you assess why you’re really discounting them – and if you should reconsider…
How do I define “overqualified”? Dismissing someone based only on a resume that is more extensive than what the hiring manager expected might be jumping the gun. For one thing, having “too much” experience is relative. Check with the hiring manager to see how much additional qualification is acceptable before ruling someone out entirely. Not to mention that more experience and qualifications means less time spent training and developing the individual. And finally, just because the person may have more experience doesn’t mean he or she isn’t the best person for the job – it might be worth your time to let the candidate prove it to you.
Are my biases getting in the way? “Every organization has its own internal biases…Hiring managers and recruiters need to acknowledge these biases and realize that great candidates may not fit the typical mold,” one commenter reasoned in response to an earlier post I’d written about not writing off candidates too soon.
Echoing this sentiment, management expert F. John Reh writes that the biggest obstacle to hiring overqualified workers is dealing with underqualified managers who feel threatened by the idea of having someone on their team who is competing for their position or will do anything that might highlight their own shortcomings. What these managers fail to realize, however, is that something done well by their team will actually reflect well on them.
Also, judging from the comments generated by a recent TheWorkBuzz post asking workers to discuss how they felt about being overqualified for their jobs, it’s apparent that many job seekers are frustrated by the “overqualified” label – and many suspect that employers just use this term as an excuse for not hiring older workers. (If that’s true, it’s important to realize that mature workers “offer a wealth of knowledge and experience that has translated into a significant competitive advantage for employers,” according to Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.)
Am I assuming too much? It’s understandable that you might suspect that a worker with more experience than the minimum qualifications will ask for too much pay; however, posting the salary or salary range for the position in the job ad will help to screen out these applicants. While there’s still the risk that a more experienced worker may still push for a higher salary, that doesn’t mean they won’t ultimately – and happily – accept the salary you offer.
Perhaps you’re worried that a more experienced individualwill be more difficult to manage than someone “greener,” but you shouldn’t screen based on this assumption: wait until the interview process, where you can find out about the person’s personality, work ethic and cultural fit within the organization.
It’s also common to assume that an overqualified worker will be bored in his or her “lesser” role, and is simply waiting for the job market to open up to pursue better opportunities, which is, of course, a valid concern – but it’s a concern that should apply to all of your employees. A recent New York Times article addressed this topic, saying that while studies indicate that workers who perceive themselves as overqualified do tend to report lower job satisfaction and higher rates of turnover, various research shows that these workers tend to perform better – and that managers can mitigate many of the negatives that come with overqualified hires by giving their worker autonomy, treating them with respect, and making them feel valued.
Thoughts? Have you had experience hiring or managing what you’d consider overqualified workers?
It’s happening. Retail stores everywhere are stocking the shelves, folding the clothes, straightening the shoes, organizing the Trapper-Keepers, and bracing themselves for restless, sun-streaked kids to come and clutter it all up. Back-to-school shopping is now in season.
We’re not kids anymore, but as adults (employed or not), continuing to educate ourselves and hone our skills is one of the most important things we can do for our careers and ourselves. Aaaaand you’re in luck: July’s contest brings you a chance to give yourself (or your employees) the gift of education with a chance to win a CareerBuilder Institute class. We can’t promise your employees will express their immense thanks by bringing donuts in for breakfast, but we think there’s a strong possibility. Read on to find out how to win.
What’s CareerBuilder Institute?
CareerBuilder Institute, founded in 2008, offers e-learning content for businesses so that they can better assess, test, train, develop, and provide continued education to more effectively onboard and improve skills of existing talent. attract. CareerBuilder Institute has helped more than 1 million people reach their educational goals — and fill in current skill gaps. CareerBuilder Institute offers everything from computer and business skills, to language training, to licensing and certification, to sales training, to management and leadership skills.
Specifically? How about “Mastering Project Management,” “Operating Budgets for Non-Financial Managers,” “Understanding Personality Variables,” “Business Writing,” “Time Management,” “Exploring Adobe Creative Suite II,” “Real Estate Exchanges” or “Leadership Motivation”? CBI’s got you covered. Oh, and many of the courses, like 401(k), give a state-specific course option.
Expected versus teachable skills
In 2009, the average company investment in employee training was $1,200 per employee. It’s apparent that companies are investing a lot of time into their training — but on what, exactly? There are some skills that you expect candidates will have coming into a position — skills into which you’re not willing to invest time, money and resources. And then, there are others you expect to teach new employees on the job; either skills you don’t think can be taught outside of the position, or ones you’re willing to teach because a candidate is an otherwise great fit. You may be willing to teach project management skills, for instance, but expect a candidate to come into the job with superior people skills and ability to work within a team structure.
The July Contest Question
Sooo, we’re asking you: “In an interview situation, what skills do you expect candidates to have already, and what are you willing to teach on the job?”If you’re a current job seeker, just tell us what skills you expect employers expect you to have, and which skills you expect to be taught on the job.
By answering our question in the comments below, you will automatically be entered to winONE online class (five winners; $50 value each) from CareerBuilder Institute.
Using CareerBuilder Institute can not only help employees improve skills in certain areas, but also lower turnover, decrease training and hiring costs, increase accessibility to training content, and increase overall productivity. The skills you’re spending time to teach on the job can likely be taught by a CareerBuilder Institute class — freeing up other employees’ time and resources — and saving you a significant amount on training expenses.
CareerBuilder Institute — Did you know? (Don’t worry, there won’t be a test):
Learners can retake courses within the year at no additional cost.
CBI has the largest learning library in the nation, with more than 12,000 titles including videos, assessments, tests and courses.
More than 3,000 pre-license certification and continuing education courses are offered.
CBI is the only e-learning service to offer Predictive Job Fit Assessments, Hard and Soft Skill Courses, Microsoft Courses, Learning Videos, and Professional Certification and Continuing Education Courses.
Employee training has been shown to lead to greater employee productivity (26% higher revenue per employee) and reduced employee turnover (41% lower for high-performing employees; 17% overall).
HOW TO ENTER: Simply answer this question in the comments section below: ““In an interview situation, what skills do you expect candidates to have already, and what are you willing to teach on the job?””– and you’ll automatically be entered to win one online class from CareerBuilder Institute (five winners will be chosen at random; $50 value per class). Be sure to read the terms and conditions in full.
CONTEST DETAILS: Entries will be accepted from 12:00 a.m. CST on Monday, July 26, 2010 until 11:59 p.m. CST on Friday, July 30, 2010. Each account may only submit one answer for consideration; subsequent entries will not be considered. Spam responses will not be considered. The winner will be picked at random and notified via e-mail the week of August 2, 2010. Please read the full list of official contest rules and regulations.
You’ve probably heard the stats that say that body language accounts for somewhere between 55 and 90 percent of all communication…and when interviewing job candidates, you likely pay a lot of attention the nonverbal cues they give out that convey their interest, honesty, enthusiasm, confidence, etc. – or a lack thereof…
But how often do you think about how your own body language comes across? It’s likely you’re so focused on them that you forget to think about your own nonverbal cues: Do you unintentionally intimidate candidates? Do your hand gestures and facial expressions convey boredom, irritation or condescension?
Understanding the nonverbal signals you send can be just as important as reading your candidates’ body language – especially since, as the interviewer, you have a direct impact on the candidate’s impression of the company and the resulting decision to accept or reject a job offer.
Unfortunately, sometimes the biggest offenders are the seemingly harmless things we do – tics, if you will – that we don’t even think about – and the negative messages they send candidates. Below are seven messages your body language sends others, and how to correct them:
The Message: “I’m uncomfortable.” The Tip-Off: Sitting with legs crossed while shaking one leg or wiggling a foot. A lot of leg movement in general is both distracting and indicates nervousness. Sit with your legs crossed at the angles, or place both feet flat on the floor to convey confidence and relaxation.
The Message: “You’re annoying me.” The Tip-Off: You’re drumming your fingers on your desk. Rubbing your face can also indicate irritation. You can keep your hands in check by resting them, loosely clasped in your lap or on the table in front of you.
The Message: “I couldn’t be more bored by what you have to say.” The Tip-Off: Rubbing the back of your head or neck indicates boredom, as well as irritation. An innocent enough gesture (maybe you have a headache…or you accidentally wore black without the Blue), but now that you’re aware of the message it sends, try to keep it to a minimum, if not stop altogether.
The Message: “I’m better than you.” The Tip-Off: You’re leaning back in your chair and folding your arms across your chest, which can be seen as arrogant. The same goes for resting one leg or ankle on top of your other knee. Give the candidate your full attention and respect by sitting upright with your torso facing him or her.
The Message: “I’m not taking you seriously.” The Tip-Off: You’re smiling a little too much. You’re probably only trying to put the other person at ease, but be careful to not smile too much when talking about serious subjects, as your grin might suggest that you aren’t taking the discussion seriously enough.
The Message: “I’d rather be anywhere but here.” The Tip-Off: Pointing your feet toward the door – or leaning in that direction – tells the person you’re conversing with that you get heck out of there ASAP. Make sure that you are facing the other person squarely, with your feet flat on the floor or crossed at the ankles.
The Message: “I don’t care.” The Tip-Off: Leaning back in your chair, placing your hands in a “steeple” position, tends to show indifference on your end. Instead, show (or feign?) interest by leaning forward slightly in your chair, and lightly clasp your hands in your lap or placing them near your knees.
Even if you are bored, annoyed, disinterested, etc…It’s still important that you maintain a professional demeanor and treat your candidate with respect. After all, the interview is not the time to evaluate a candidate. Save the eye rolls and exasperated sighs for after the interview, when you have a chance to process everything.
In fact, now that you are aware of how others might be interpreting your nonverbal cues, be willing to forgive these gestures in others, as, your interview subject may not realize he or she is doing the same. While you want to ensure you hire someone who is comfortable within your company, you have to be willing to forgive some degree of nervousness.
Congratulations to all employees at Parallel HR for receiving the award as a “Top 25 Under 5″ Company at UVEF’s 2010 event! We are so proud and thankful for all the hard work and effort that has been put forth by our TEAM! We look forward to continuing to grow and provide the best Client Services in the Staffing Industry.
When it comes to finding the best employee for a position, many organizations are now turning to alternate routes. Our complex and competitive business landscape has created an imperative need for a well positioned employment brand. Businesses traditionally relied upon industry contacts, expertise, job boards, and third-party recruiters to uncover the best match, but today the majority of corporations are also embracing social media as a leading recruiting tool.
In order to successfully utilize social media as part of a recruiting strategy, it is first necessary to understand how your target audience is using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites to land jobs. The most obvious reason job seekers use social media is to source companies for open positions. For example, TwitJobSearch is a social media job search engine that candidates rely upon as a resource to find open positions that are not always posted on job boards or company sites. Moreover, job seekers use online media to verse themselves in the culture of a target company. Job seekers study company pages on social media sites to gather insight about the company’s culture via photos, videos, and information provided by the corporation. Companies such as MTV Networks have successfully built their presence on social media sites by encouraging users to ask questions, offer info, and seek advice. Through its Facebook page – MTV Networks Careers – the entertainment leader sparks engagement with users, responds to questions, and posts open positions.
Lured by news, rumors, and trends, people are drawn to online media sites by the appeal of industry chatter. Professionals with social media know-how realize that industry chatter is an extremely valuable resource for gaining new and important information that can make them better candidates in the interview process. Job seekers in search of firsthand user-to-user information can easily connect with current and ex-employees through social media outlets. A directory of people organized by area of expertise, profession, and hundreds of other categories is available to the public on Twellow, the yellow pages for Twitter. LinkedIn provides similar information. Candidates also use social media sites to scope out recruiters and hiring managers to determine if they are a compatible match, and to gain helpful information for potential interviews and conversations. To find excellent advice that is pertinent to a specific situation, job seekers follow and connect with job search experts in the social media sphere. Many such experts exist offering daily advice. Ideas, tips, leads, news, informative articles and best practices can be accessed at the touch of a finger by using Twellow’s job search to find people to follow who send out helpful information. The vast array of social media tools now makes it possible for bold job seekers to attempt to engineer their own opportunities instead of waiting to be uncovered by recruiters and hiring managers. Some follow employees at their target company until news of a fitting open position arises while others network their way into new positions by engaging in strategic conversations with potential leads.
By understanding why job seekers use social media to land jobs, companies can leverage their activity to more effectively and efficiently recruit new employees. When using social media as part of a recruiting strategy, it is important to create a consistent and automated method for uncovering the social identity of job seekers. Sites like TiVo makes job opportunities accessible across major social media platforms so that anyone can post, direct message or update their status. Corporations can benefit from the opportunity to build relationships with candidates in their target audiences by maintaining an official company presence on social media sites. By following relevant people and igniting conversations, organizations can begin to create a healthy level of influence over their brand – a clear best practices in the social media sphere. Moreover, companies can determine what type of information fuels the jobseekers’ interest by listening to the candidates and then provide that content on their social media platforms. In order to avoid an influx of irrelevant offers to their job posts, however, it is necessary for businesses to refine their searches by specifically targeting candidates by location, career interests, and other top candidate profile credentials.
Through social media platforms, companies can connect to talent anywhere in the world and access personal information about top industry leaders. Social media is as valuable resource for organizations of all kinds and sizes to build employment brands and make the right candidate connections. It is equally as productive for job seekers, creating a platform where companies and talent alike can connect directly with multiple stakeholders in their target audience.
Could this be a good sign? CareerBuilder’s latest nationwide survey, released today, shows that small businesses will be hiring in the second half of 2010. Considering small business is one of the major drivers for economic recovery and job growth, I think the answer’s a definite …hopefully?
Findings from the survey of more than 1,300 employers in businesses with 500 or fewer employees indicate that in the second half of the year, 32 percent of companies with 500 or fewer employees plan to add new employees. Twenty-four percent of companies with 50 or fewer employees said the same.
Seeing these plans for growth mean not only good things for small businesses, but should come as good news about the state of the economy overall. In a statement for the press release, Brent Rasmussen, President of CareerBuilder North America, said, “Historically, it has been the small business sector that has created the most jobs at the end of an economic downturn, allowing the overall job market to bounce back faster.”
And according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses employ just over half of all private sector employees, account for more than half of nonfarm private gross domestic product, and have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years.
“I woke up one morning and just said, ‘I…hate…my…job,’” workplace engagement expert Peter Stark told the audience of HR executives during his presentation during SHRM 2010 in San Diego last month. “The problem was, I owned the company.”
Laughter ensued, and I took the crowd’s immediate engagement with Stark as a good sign that I wouldn’t be wasting my time in a presentation titled “Engaged!” – about how top companies create a culture where employees love to come to work.
Turns out, I was right. Not only is Stark a dynamic speaker, but dude knows his stuff: Stark had studied 250 companies employing 100,000 people. And after narrowing them down to the top 25 percent in terms of employee engagement, he found 10 factors these top companies have in common, which I’ll share with you now…
Oh, but first, a quick side note: Before Stark shared his list, he did something interesting. He challenged the audience to tell him the difference between a leader and a manager…which turned out to be a deceptively difficult task. After listening to a few good (but apparently wrong) guesses from the crowd, Stark revealed the answer: A manager is just a title; whereas a leader is someone whose qualities lead people to follow them. “Followership is a conscious decision, with or without a title,” Stark said. (The more you know…) Anyway, without further ado…your recap of Stark’s list of…
10 Ways to Get Employees to Say, “I Love My Job”
Create a compelling, positive vision with clear goals. The top leaders have a very clear vision of where they’re heading. According to Stark, a great vision is composed of three key qualities: it must come from the heart, be unique to the organization, and be radical and compelling. People have to care about it.
Communicate the right stuff at the right time. Yes, even the “hard stuff”…Stark found that the best of the best companies were better at communicating the hard stuff to their employees.
Select the right people for the right job. Seems like a given, yet some companies are much better at this than others. Why is that? Stark says that what the best companies do differently is have more people involved in the hiring decision than the typical organization, and they have a thorough understanding of the competencies they need individuals to have in order to be successful at their organization. (Side note: Nancy Newell also spoke to the importance of this understanding in her SHRM panel on interviewing. Consistency!)
Facilitate cross-departmental teamwork. It’s important to remember that you all work for the same company – with the same goal. The best companies are better at cross-departmental teamwork.
Do “cool stuff.” When you’re working on cool stuff, Stark says, the rest of the organization has to respond to you; therefore, you become a leader. So practice continuous improvement and innovation. (Warning: The best companies are able to do this because they already have their day-to-day ducks in a row, so you might want to consider that first.)
Recognize and reward excellent performance. While some people aren’t crazy about rewards systems, it makes others work for it. (And, oh yeah, it seems to be working pretty well for top companies.)
Make accountability and performance count. “If I came in and reviewed your performance reviews, could I truly see a difference between employees? And could I see that the manager truly cares about the employee?” Stark asked the audience. Performance reviews are a window into how you treat your employees – and how engaged your employees are likely to be as a result. After all, a manager who can’t take time to write a performance review is unlikely to take the time to communicate clearly with employees on a consistent basis (see #2).
Make sure every employee has the opportunity to learn and grow. Giving employees a growth and development plan is essential, as it tells them, “I care about your success. I believe in you.”
Don’t let problems be any problem at all. The top companies foster a culture that allows for mistakes, because they know they can handle them.
Make it all about the customer. When you’re able to focus on the business side and the customer side, Stark says, it increases your credibility and value in the organization.
Anything you’d add to this list? Chances are you’ve heard several – if not all – of these concepts before; still, it’s always good to have a refresher, as it is probably easy to forget the crucial importance of keeping the very people you rely on to run your business motivated, and at the very least, not….hating…their…jobs.
This year, 54 percent of large U.S. businesses that laid off employees in the past year want to rebuild their work forces, but some will have trouble finding the skilled workers they are looking for, according to a recent study by Accenture. Because of this gap, many employers will likely consider an alternate option to gain skilled workers: rehiring former employees.
Employees may be rehired for very different reasons. Maybe they were laid off due to a company’s financial situation, but not because they weren’t a valued employee. Or perhaps they were let go unfairly and a company realized its mistake. Maybe, just maybe, they were fired but fixed whatever caused them to be fired in the first place. Regardless of the reason, the question remains: Is this a positive trend or a recipe for disaster? Let’s examine.
Firing — and rehiring
Firings and rehirings can have a major effect on the employees in question. Since George Steinbrenner’s passing last week, many have commented about his tendency as a coach to treat employees rudely and fire them, then reconsider and hire them back soon after. Most wouldn’t argue that many of his firings were impulsive. Steinbrenner, who reportedly made 20 managerial hirings and firings in 23 seasons, even admitted he was often unreasonable in his employee dealings.
Other organizations, like the Red Cross, recently rehired two fired employees who complained about the heat during a blood drive, amid union talks. And an ex-employee who worked for the City of Fort Worth for years alleges she was wrongly fired after whistleblowing — what would happen if she was hired back?
What about rehiring laid off employees?
While it’s true that the decision to lay off employees is generally not a hot-headed game time decision a la Steinbrenner, layoffs still create unrest with laid off employees as well as remaining staff — and can leave a lingering bitterness in both camps toward company leadership. So what happens when you rehire employees post-layoffs?
Pros of rehiring former employees
Aside from the obvious — that rehiring employees is giving someone a job who needs to support themselves or a family, rehiring employees can have many other benefits.
Employee morale – If employees see that their employer is actively working to bring back employees, it can have a positive effect on morale — and it can bring people back together who formerly worked well as a team.
Training – Rehired employees understand the company culture, and employers don’t have to retrain them. Even if company structure has changed somewhat since they left, you’re likely looking at a quick brush-up versus a training overhaul.
New perspective — Time may actually have not just healed all wounds — but may have enabled both the person or people who let an employee go, and that employee, get away from a negative situation, gain some perspective, and learn from mistakes made. Even if the situation ended on a neutral or positive note, time away in which a former employee has had a chance to pursue other interests, hobbies, and skills may benefit not only them and their place in the organization, but also their employer, once he or she is brought back into the fold.
The HIRE Act — What it Means to You
If you’re an employer rehiring currently unemployed former employees — or an employer hiring any unemployed worker in general — you could benefit from a new tax incentive. One of the major benefits to employers who hire unemployed workers comes in the form of two new tax benefits that are part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. The two major parts of the act state:
Employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers after March 18, 2010.
For each worker retained for at least a year, businesses may claim an additional general business tax credit, up to $1,000 per worker, when they file their 2011 income tax returns.
As much as rehiring a former employee can have positive effects, things can just as easily swing the other way — making a situation less than happy for rehired employees, employees who haven’t been let go, and companyleadership.
Resentment – If things ended on a sour note, rehiring former employees can be complicated — and may not work out well in the long run. Even if an employer did everything they could to ease the stress of the situation, an employee may harbor resentment and bitter feelings, and those feelings may have grown stronger since they left the organization.
Current employee backlash — Employees who watched someone else leave and then come back may become jealous because a rehired employee is now getting work they were handling and returning “without paying their dues” as a new employee would. After all, remaining employees are often the ones left picking up the extra work when a company downsizes.
Short-term success – It’s important to keep in mind that even if an employee is willing to come back, they may only be accepting the job because they really need one (and are still looking for something better). This is where “onboarding” a rehired employee may help (see below).
If you’re going to rehire
If you do choose to rehire laid off employees, there are some things you can do to avoid the potential pitfalls listed above and ensure it’s as smooth a transition as possible.
Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, senior adviser at global executive search firm Egon Zehnder International, offers employers a few tips; namely, to clearly communicate to the rest of the company the reasons for hiring back a former employee; sufficiently brief a former employee about the company’s current situation and present very clear expectations; and to follow up, at least quarterly, with the returning employee to make sure he or she is adjusting well.
Would you rehire a former employee? What pros or cons would you add?
Look at any “best places to work” list, and you’ll notice that most of the companies listed tend to share the same four employee benefit offerings, SHRM’s Steven Williams pointed out during his presentation on employee benefit programs for the organization’s annual conference in San Diego last month: 1) Health care; 2) Work/life balance; 3) Unique or unusual benefits; and 4) Leave.
It should come as no surprise that companies that offer these types of benefits would be considered great places to work. Unfortunately, with the economy the way it is, and health care being the most expensive benefit to offer, it should also come as no surprise that not every company has the luxury to offer employees health care…
…And not for lack of trying, either: According to 2010 SHRM internal research, despite rising health care costs, employers say the are unlikely to drop health care coverage at their organizations, for fear that doing so will: lower employee morale and satisfaction; hinder their ability to recruit new employees; and significantly increase employee turnover, among other concerns.
Five Ways Employers Can Reduce Health Care Costs
Fortunately, Williams had some advice for these companies, addressing the following five tips for reducing health care costs:
Design the health care premium around each employee’s base salary or tenure
Make available – and encourage the use of – wellness programs. If implemented correctly, employee wellness programs work: they effectively reduce healthcare costs; they help cut down on employee turnover; and they decrease instances of absenteeism. (See more about the benefits of implementing wellness benefits in 7 Habits of Highly Successful Corporate Wellness Programs.)
Emphasize the use of a mail-order prescription drug program on all maintenance prescription drugs.
Require working spouses to elect coverage from their employer, and charge extra to employees whose spouses do not elect such coverage.
Consider association-sponsored plans or partnering with other companies.
What about you? Does your company use any of the above methods to reduce health care costs? What else? Please share with ushow your company cuts back on health care costs in the comments section below!
The last thing you might expect to hear when walking into a presentation about how to inspire creativity from your employees is: “Tell your employees to think inside the box”…and yet, that’s pretty much the advice Disney’s business program consultant, Scott Milligan, had for the audience when he presented at SHRM 2010 in San Diego last month.
“We tell our cast members to think INSIDE the box,” Milligan boasted to the audience of HR professionals during his presentation, “Disney’s Approach to Inspiring Creativity”. (“Cast members,” by the way, is Disney’s term for employees.) After all, he reasoned, how creative is it, really, to tell people to “think outside the box” anymore? (Finally, someone said it!)
The other surprising thing about this idea of “thinking inside the box” is that it seems awfully practical and structured for a company that prides itself on the very idealistic notions of making magic happen and dreams come true, etc…And yet, this structured approach works for Disney.
Thinking inside the box, Milligan said, provides companies guidance and direction, helps them avoid wasting resources and keeps everyone focused. But what is the box? As Milligan explained it, the box is your company’s organizational identity – who you are or what you intend to be – and it encompasses four things:
Your Customers – Who are they? What do they need from you?
Your Vision – What do you want to be?
Your Mission – What do you want to do?
Your Essence – How do we want people to feel when they experience your product or service?
Find Your Essence
A lot of companies, Milligan believes, leave essence out of the equation – and that, he explained, is an unfortunate oversight, especially when it comes to recruiting: In order to find the best people, hiring managers and recruiters must understand their company’s essence in order to seek out and identify the very people who share that essence.
As an example, he cited how Disney makes it a goal to create happiness for people. Milligan then challenged the audience to find their own companies’ essence, and look to that when hiring employees.
(When considering your company’s essence, it might help of it to think of it in terms of how blogger Derrick Daye defines essence: ”…the heart and soul of a brand – a brand’s fundamental nature or quality. Usually stated in two or three words, a brand’s essence is the one constant across product categories and throughout the world.”)
Structure, Not Confinement
Again, while you might think that a company that tells its employees to think inside the box would be fostering a culture of confinement, discouraging creative thinking by setting up rules and restrictions, the box model actually serves the opposite purpose for Disney – and it can do the same for others as well.
“Within that box, companies can expand their identity,” Milligan said, explaining how the box model has enabled Disney to expand its brand identity - from being merely about cartoons to also encompassing live action features and then expanding to theme parks, hotels and resorts and then even on to cruise lines – all while staying focused on the mission to enable “magic” to happen.
What do you think? Does your company think “inside the box” as well? Is essence something that you talk about or communicate at your company? How does it play into attracting and engaging employees?
“The only way to measure a candidate is to measure every single candidate with the same yardstick,” Nancy Newell, principal at Nth Degree Consulting told an audience during her panel “Beyond Behavioral Interviewing: Asking the RIGHT Questions, Evaluating the Answers,” at he annual Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Conference in San Diego last month.
One of the major flaws with the interview process, Newell believes, is a lack of consistency. Every candidate needs to be asked the same question – or as Newell put it, be measured by the same yardstick – otherwise, the evaluation process is meaningless. You can’t expect to properly evaluate candidates if you’re not holding them up to the same set of standards. Not that maintaining consistency is easy, she admits. There’s no “magic bullet” to getting the right answers from candidates and ensuring the right hire, Newell says. (On the contrary, it takes a lot of discipline and hard work); however, there are steps hiring managers can take to create a better, more consistent process and minimize hiring mistakes – which I went ahead and broke down into a simple Do’s and Don’t's list. Check it out…
DO conduct Behavioral Interviews. Behavioral interviewing is key to hiring, Newell believes, because it helps predict future success on the job by looking into past behavior. Thus, questions should be shaped to look at previous behavior – not potential behavior. A question that begins with “Tell me about a time when…” for example, is much more predictive than “What would you do if…” which tends to lead candidates to say what they think you want to hear, rather than give a real-life example that provides insight into their skills, personality and work ethic.
DON’T go into the interview blind. It’s crucial that you have a clear idea of what you want your end result to look like. Before interviewing any candidate, consider the following questions:
Why am I filling the job? (Are we growing, or are we replacing someone?)
What’s missing on this team?
What do our customers need, require and expect?
Who’s the supervisor? What kind of person works best under this supervisor’s management style?
What sort of person will fit best within this organizational culture?
What skills am I willing to train on, and what skills do I need to hire for?
DO use the same measurement tool on the same candidate. Ask the same questions of every candidate. The minute you stop using the same yardstick, the yardstick doesn’t measure anything. You can’t find your rock star that way. (Follow up questions can be different.) Your candidates are smarter, they’re savvier, and they’re going to challenge your skills as a recruiter.
DON’T tip your hand. Ask the questions first, then talk about the job and the company. Don’t lead them. What you say and when you say it matters. Explain what the interview process is going to look like.
DO get over your own biases. The time for evaluation comes later. The interview process is the time for gathering data.“Get out of your own way,” Newell says. “Get over your own biases, your own assumptions…If the industry equivalent of Kobe Bryant applies to your organization, and there’s a typo on his resume and you screen him because of that typo…your screening process is flawed.” The same goes for writing someone off who doesn’t show up to an interview dressed in the way you might think is “proper.” “You never know where people are coming from…Maybe they’re coming from another job where the dress code is casual.” These minor details don’t necessarily reflect the type of employee this candidate will be.
DON’T be afraid to probe. Keep asking follow-up questions until you get a complete understanding of the situation. “Pull the thread,” Newell says. ”Make sure the behaviors they talk about are consistent.”
DO coach your candidate. Coach them to give you specifics on how they got those results. For example, ask something like, “I’m looking for a time when you demonstrated really good customer service.”
DON’T waste your time. Don’t ask questions candidates are going to lie to you about. Questions like, “Are you planning on staying in the area?” or “Can you do (blank)?” tell candidates what you want to hear. Asking big, broad questions will generate more telling, honest answers. For example, a question like, “Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult co-worker,” enables the candidate to tell you what they think a difficult co-worker looks like and how they handle adversity.
DO train everyone involved in the interview process. Not only is it important that everyone is on the same page, and they understand the reason behind the questions they’re asking, especially when it comes to asking follow-up questions.
DON’T be afraid to rephrase a question. When you really want to probe, Newell suggests taking a question and turning it negative, which can give added insight. For example, instead of asking, “Tell me about a time when you accomplished something,” ask, “When did something not go well?” You’ll see not only how people handle adversity but also what, to them, constitutes a problem.
DO create a score card by which to evaluate candidates. Incorporate the critical success factors of your ideal candidate. Think about what’s most important to success in that job, within the company, and then develop a score card based on that information. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to score it.”
Personified, a division of CareerBuilder, recently surveyed more than 2,500 active and passive job seekers nationwide across industries.
Here’s what we found:
Comments made on social media sites can impact how that company is viewed as a potential employer
Interacting with organizations on social media gives individuals a closer look at an organization as a potential employer
Information individuals would like to see on social media that they cannot find through other venues: Inside information about the company (e.g., how employees like working there, questions and answers, culture)
That was the message Steven Williams, Director of E-Media Innovations and Business Development at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), had for his audience during his presentation, “Employee Benefits: Just How Competitive Is Your Company?” at SHRM’s annual conference in San Diego last month.
It should come as no surprise that benefits are crucial to attracting and retaining top talent (especially with employers complaining about how good talent is still so hard to come by these days)…but where “HR drops the ball,” as Williams put it, was in communicating these benefits. “It’s very important that you communicate your employer brand,” Williams told the audience of HR managers. After all, he said, you may have a great brand, and that’s great, but it has little impact if no one communicates it.
Get the Word Out “This is not the time to be modest,” Williams told the audience. If companies want to stay competitive, they have to get the best talent, and in order to do that, they have to really step up their recruitment marketing efforts. This means not only offering something unique and desirable to employees, but ensuring prospective employees are well aware of those offerings.
Williams suggested taking a cue from employers with strong brands like Google, Zappos and Southwest Airlines – all of which enjoy various “Best Companies to Work For” honors (and aren’t shy about boasting it). Not only do these companies offer unique benefits (like free gourmet meals for Google employees or getting offered $2,000 to quit at Zappos), but they also make ample use of their resources to advertise these facts – including their own websites, blogs, Twitter and Facebook pages, and, not least of all, their employees: Zappos employees, for example, blog and tweet frequently about life at Zappos, and Southwest employees keep an active blog about their work life. Google includes employee testimonials on its website.
Williams also urged his audience to look for any and every opportunity to communicate their employer brand, including (but certainly not limited to) the following:
Company website(Side note: in addition to including info about your company’s mission and values, benefits, awards and recognition received, or job listings, think of ways you can incorporate various media, such as employee testimonial videos, virtual office tours, or photos from company events.)
“Best Places to Work” lists(Don’t wait around, hoping to be recognized: Submit your company for local, regional and national awards.)
Company lobby(You need a place to hang that “Best Place to Work” plaque, don’t you?
Industry magazines
Policy and procedures manual
Real-Life Benefits You Haven’t Tried One final thing to note: Employee benefits don’t have to be of Oprah-taking-her-entire-staff-on-a-cruise proportions (although that is nice…), so long as they’re meaningful to the employees and they differentiate a company and its employer brand.
Case in point: Throughout his presentation, Williams asked audience members to contribute the unique benefits their companies offered. Here are some of the ones they shared:
Self-funded sabbaticals where employees bank part of their income
Phased back-to-work for nursing moms following maternity leave
Employee concierge service that aids in personal care
Grocery services
Symphony and theater tickets are reimbursed 50%
Back up care hours for moms who must travel for business
All employees are given their birthdays off
A surprise all-expenses paid trip is organized for a long weekend every five years
Employees are encouraged to purchase new outfits and expense them
Free on-site yoga
“Free latte Fridays”
Free employee health screenings
First Fridays, in which employees are treated to lunch out
These perks may seem small, but they’re also the kinds of things employees remember and appreciate (because it shows they are appreciated) and that differentiate them from other employers – so consider those things that make your company unique and don’t be shy about promoting them.
Over the years, CareerBuilder has spoken with some of the industry’s most successful and influential leaders as part of our CareerBuilder Leadership Series to discuss the importance of attracting the right talent in order to maintain success. Time and again, these discussions reiterate the important role people play on every aspect of the business – from shaping the way these leaders lead to driving organizational growth, to increasing the bottom line.
We recently incorporated highlights from these conversations into CareerBuilder’s Mid-Year Hiring Forecast, but you can see them here, below:
“A company is its people. The other resources that are available – cash, inventory and fixed assets – aren’t really valuable unless they are properly deployed by people who have the best interests of the enterprise at heart, are motivated to do the right thing – both in terms of being honest and doing business with high integrity – and people who align themselves with the goals and mission of the enterprise. The people in a company are everything.” – Bob Carr, Chairman and CEO of Heartland Payment Systems, on the impact people have on organizational growth.
“As a company, it’s important to us to be viewed as a thought leader and organization that is both innovative as well as active in certain public policy debates. I think people want to join organizations that they think are leaders, that have good values, and that value diversity. I think one of the things that we do well as an organization is value diversity, both in the traditional senses of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, disability, et cetera, as well as diversity of ideas and approaches to solving problems. That makes us an attractive destination for talent.” – Ronald A. William, Chairman and CEO of Aetna, on the importance of employment branding to set yourself apart
“We made an acquisition in 2007, and the company that we acquired had a brand line: “Never settle for less.” We decided to adopt that brand line across the enterprise because, ultimately…that’s what the culture is – that’s what this company is – for people. It kind of plays like going to work anywhere else should be thought of as settling for less….The reality is that we’re in the people business. People are the core of what we do: They are the face to our customer, they are our brand, and in many cases, they are the extension of our customers’ brands. We have to care about them – we don’t have a choice. It’s that big of a deal.” – Tom Nightingale, Vice President, Communications and Chief Marketing Officer, Con-way, Inc., on the importance of fostering corporate culture.
“At the center of every leader comes a passion for people, because leaders never get to where they are by themselves. They always get there because they have people around them who can be inspired, who believe in the journey ahead and get the work done as you go forward. You have to have the ability to rally people and inspire people to believe. That’s part of it. The other part is you have to give people respect, have to give people their dignity and you have to be a good listener. You can’t ever demand respect along the way, and if you don’t give people their dignity, you’ll never get people to believe.” – Jon Luther, Executive Chairman of the Board, Dunkin’ Brands on how people influence his leadership philosophy
“People truly are the cornerstone of our ability to serve our clients – without them, our business would not exist. Every client relationship is formed from the talented individuals we place front and center to act as an extension of their business. Our employees are our greatest advantage, and the service we provide places our company’s integrity and reputation in the hands of our employees every day. We place a great deal of trust in them and believe they will deliver on Kelly’s promises to provide the highest quality service and solutions to our customers, employees, shareholders and communities.” – Carl Camden, CEO, President and Director of Kelly Services, on the role people play on day-to-day business
“It’s important to understand each of your employees’ gifts, goals and passions – both in- and outside of work – as those passions can be leveraged and further drive performance at work. We all work to live, and it’s important to understand the ‘live’ part and to tie people’s goals to that life or focus. It creates that leverage in performance….Our people are our most valuable asset. It’s important to give them the freedom and responsibility that will maximize their potential, and thus their impact on your company.” – Mary Delaney, President of Personified, a CareerBuilder company, on the importance of engaging your people.
“I don’t believe that [micro management] fosters creativity and excitement in the workplace. My personal philosophy is to hire the right people, give them their job description and what their key result areas are, and then let them go ahead and figure out how they are going to achieve those results…We believe that nobody’s perfect, and you’re going to make mistakes, and your mistake is like an education. We are here to guide you, but you’ve got some freedoms and some flexibility to make your own decisions on how you’re going to run your business.” – Martha O’Gorman, Chief Marketing Officer at Liberty Tax Service, on the importance of giving employees freedom to do their jobs
“Ensuring you have the highest quality of talent in place makes your job as a leader that much easier. When you have people in place who you can rely on and have confidence in, you don’t have to be concerned that the day-to-day basics won’t get done. Especially today, if you have people who are underperforming or fall short of expectations when you’re already tight on headcount…it really hurts your ability to move your business forward.” – Richard Castellini, Chief Marketing Officer of CareerBuilder, LLC, on the importance of having the right talent in today’s economy.
What is your leadership philosophy? Please share your own thoughts and insight in the comments section below…
Okay, not every professional eats the healthiest things imaginable (or is free of legal troubles, for that matter) — a la competitive hot dog eater Takeru Kobayashi. However, according to the results of a new CareerBuilder survey of more than 4,400 workers, many folks are reaching less for the potato chips and more for the straight-up potatoes; less for the cigarettes and more for the treadmill. What gives?
The economy has trickled down into many areas of our lives, and our eating habits may be one of the biggest — if somewhat overlooked — of them. While the negative effects of our economy may be a bitter pill to swallow, it looks like our health is getting a boost. Largely because of tightened funds, workers are making more healthy choices — including packing lunches, smoking less, and walking more.
Let’s break it down fast. (Get it? Breakfast?):
47 percent of workers report they are packing a lunch more often to save money or eat healthier.
44 percent of workers who smoke said they are more likely to quit smoking given the state of the economy.
One-in-five workers (21 percent) have already decreased the number of times they smoke during the workday — and 20 percent have quit altogether.
And while healthier habits may be fueled by economic hardship, it may have been the trigger many of us needed to start taking a closer look at our personal health habits — and make habit-forming changes.
“Economic stress over the last year has caused some workers to reflect on their habits, and many of them have turned to healthier routines,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.
“In addition to helping cut personal costs, employees who limit their smoking and lunching out habits are taking better care of their overall health. This type of ‘better-for-you’ behavior can be encouraged by companies who implement wellness programs, healthy living challenges or smoking cessation support.”
HOLD. THE. CHEESE PUFFS.
Like most feel-good stories, this one has a dark side, too. While it’s true that many workers are taking the higher healthier road, it’s also true that heavier workloads and added stress associated with a downsized place of employment may have other workers taking a different, more hermit-like, direction.
Lunch breaks — what are those?
If you ask a co-worker “What’s the weather like today?” because you haven’t seen the light of day since dawn and your body has been molded to your chair, you’ll probably relate to the following:
Nearly one-third (32 percent) of workers report they take less than a half hour for lunch, while 5 percent take less than 15 minutes.
One-in-ten never take a lunch break, and 16 percent report they work right through their lunch hour.
Nearly one-in-five (18 percent) typically don’t leave their desks during their lunch break and eat in their workspace 5 days a week.
So, where do employers weigh in?
Whether your employees are going for a carrot-eating world record or reaching for that candy bar (and eating it at the desk from which they don’t move all day), do you as an employer have a right — or a responsibility — to get involved and attempt to influence your employees’ decisions?
Poor employee health has been pointed to as one of the biggest challenges to maintaining affordable benefit coverage. And with new health care reform going into effect, many businesses, particularly smaller ones, will likely be affected, as they may be penalized for not providing health care benefits to their workers. With more businesses who don’t currently offer benefits soon be incentivized to provide them (or penalized if they don’t), what will the effect be on employees? Will there be more of a Big Brother-like trend of keeping employees healthy to keep costs down?
In the “YES” camp
Many of you appear to be promoting employee wellness for various reasons, from what you’ve recently told us. Many companies don’t hide the fact that they are deeply involved in employees’ health not only because it makes their employees healthier and happier, lowers stress, and promotes team spirit — but also because it benefits the company’s bottom line. And as a recent New York Times article points out, 50 to 70 percent of the nation’s health care costs are preventable — which means company wellness initiatives could in fact help prevent employees from costly medical procedures. All good things, right?
In the “NO” camp
Well, not so fast. Although corporate wellness programs help companies keep insurance costs down while assisting employees in getting more fit, many people argue that employees’ lifestyle choices shouldn’t be dictated by their employer — and that it’s really none of their business. In addition, by rewarding employees who choose to participate in wellness initiatives, “unhealthy” employees may in effect be punished. For example, although Whole Foods has quite a robust benefits program, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, in a since controversial move, decided to give his employees discounts on health insurance and Whole Foods products if they maintained lower readings for measurements like body mass index (which many people argue is a poor indication of health). While that’s great for employees who manage to stay within the company’s standard of health, what about those who don’t? Or is everyone motivated to get healthier on this type of plan?
So, which camp are you in?
It’s clear that this is a complicated issue, to say the least. There are pros and cons to both sides, but it’s helpful to everyone to keep the conversation going. If you are considering getting involved in wellness as an organization, we’ve rounded up seven habits of highly successful wellness programs to help. And if you’re not, well, we’d love to hear why.
Below are seven standout traits that a vast number of these wellness programs share, with examples of how – in our readers’ own words – companies’ employee wellness programs embody these traits.
1. They Don’t Focus Solely on Weight Loss
“Our approach to exercise is very ‘functional,’ meaning it’s not intended to help you ‘look’ a certain way but to help you feel better all the time and to do your job, at work or at home, with energy, full range of motion and injury-free.” – Dave Parmly
“Pressley Ridge believes wellness goes beyond the typical medical and stress concerns, but also into mental and personal growth as well. That is why Pressley Ridge offers Employee an Assistance Program at no cost to employees. This is a confidential assistance to employees and dependents 24 hours/day on a toll-free number and face-to-face professional counseling sessions and access to their website with a wide range of tools, resources and information. “ – Phillip Novak
“My organization promotes wellness through Farmer’s Markets, healthy competition (Like the Biggest Loser), smoking cessation programs which are no cost and they cover any cessation programs like the patch, gum and lozenge. Additionally, they promote a healthy mind through increased awareness and programs. There is an entire website through the company that is dedicated to healthy mind, body and habits.” – Raina
2. They Have Buy-In from Leadership
“Our company gives a very generous discount on the cost of our benefits for employees who participate in the wellness program…But perhaps the most important thing our company does to promote the wellness program is that is it embraced by our CEO and senior leaders within the company. Wellness is not viewed as an ‘HR initiative’ but as a core part of who we are as a company.” - Noreen
“We have partnered with a local gym and our Senior Leaders are on board. We are trying to get as much employee participation as possible, to let them know that we care about their healthy work environment!” – Tori Hinote
“Our CEO understands the importance of weight loss and healthy weight maintenance to offset the costs associated with healthcare – both now and in the future.” – Donna Cornwell
3. Employees Are Never Far From Resources
“We have an onsite fitness center with a trainer that provides continuous fitness challenges, boot camps, etc. We also have a physician’s assistant who works on site full time so we have immediate access to the seasonal ailments and we have our prescriptions delivered to the office.” – Janet J.
“Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider conducts voluntary annual blood draws onsite at our headquarters. They also arrange for branch associates to visit their local lab to have the screenings performed.” – Recruiter
“Our company provides free access to on-site exercise facilities. We also provide access to education on exercise, diet, cooking, lifestyle and behavior modification (including a stop smoking program).” – Mark
4. They Sweeten the Deal with Incentives
“We offer a Creating Wellness Program to employees…Those who participate for 6 months then receive $25/month in wellness bucks (for gym memberships, yoga, Pilates, etc.) as a reward for continued involvement.” – Rick Thompson
“Recently, we sponsored an 8 week fitness challenge and gave away an Ipod Touch for the winner… This year, our grand prize drawing will be for either a gym membership, Fitness equipment or a Nintendo WII with WII ACTIVE.” – Jenny
“Each quarter employees are asked to set a Health Improvement Goal. We pay them $50/Qtr for meeting their goal…We have had tremendous success with this approach.” – Kimberly
“Our company has a $300 wellness credit toward health insurance premiums for non-smokers andthen provides programs for employees to quit smoking.” - Ally
5. They’re Not Limited By Smaller Budgets
“We have researched local ‘healthy’ vendors such as local gyms, Jamba Juice, Whole Foods, etc. and invited them to come onsite to talk about their products. It’s been working out great and it’s no cost to the company!” – Stefan
“Although our wellness budget was reduced to ZERO this year, we continue to come up with new and interesting wellness initiatives… We are even offering cost-effective prizes, like jean days and premier parking!” – Holly
“Our company just started our official ‘Steps to Wellness’ Program… The employees complete a “scorecard” with several tasks and turn the completed card in for a chance at a “Day Off With Pay”. The more staff who enter, the more days off we will raffle.” – Sue K
“We have…raised funds to assist with our program by producing a cookbook that we sold.” – Mary Wicker
“One really fun wellness initiative that my company implemented is building an employee vegetable garden…We just started the garden project this year and participation has been huge. This is a really fun project and is relatively inexpensive!” – Kathryn
6. They Assign Measurement to Gauge Success
“We work with our insurance carrier to hold an annual health fair each year that consists of blood work for a variety of areas and each employee is given the results that day. The results are discussed with health coaches from our insurance carrier and given advice as to how to improve results in any areas that reflect a health issue. These statistics are used to determine where we need to concentrate our efforts to best improve the wellness of our employees…Since we have implemented the program our data from the health screenings have shown improvement each year which in turn helps to keep our health insurance cost down.” – Mary Wicker
“In the year 2009 our corporate headquarters developed a 3 component program to get the employees premium costs down and in the long run, help them develop healthy life habits… This year the Myers Lawn and Garden site is conducting their 2nd annual health fair since the first one in August of 2009 was so successful…Employee participation is growing and the savings are too for both the employee and the company.” – Lee Herman
“The goal is overall health of our employees. If we can prove that we have lowered healthcare costs and possibly insurance premiums for our employees, because of healthier lifestyles, we have been successful!” – Tori Hinote
7. They Empower Employees
“The company promoted wellness with the staff by also ‘promoting’ US…For example, I had always wanted to be a nutrition education writer, a secret desire of mine…The company decided to start putting out a monthly newsletter in the club for our members and not only was I asked to be a columnist, but I was asked to be the editor as well. Our whole staff took part in the newsletter, writing about their known specialty in the field. This tactic was most rewarding for me, as I had the chance to really reach a long time goal of mine. This made me feel like I was on top of the world, how do you get more ‘well’ than that?” – Renee S.
“List Innovative Solutions is extremely active in the community…and encourages its employees to do the same by sponsoring the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training Program…this allows our employees to be active and also give back at the same time.” – Jennifer Bonner
“We encourage all employees to offer ideas on the ‘Healthy Life’ bulletin board so everyone gets a chance to bring something to the table!” – Dustin Shay
As I stated in my earlier post on readers’ company wellness programs, it’s great to see how many organizations take an active interest in their employees’ health – not just for employees, but for the companies themselves, as wellness programs can help employers cut costs related to healthcare, turnover and lost production.
What do you think? Care to add an “8th habit” that makes your own company’s wellness program successful?
Below are seven standout traits that a vast number of these wellness programs share, with examples of how – in our readers’ own words – companies’ employee wellness programs embody these traits.
1. They Don’t Focus Solely on Weight Loss
“Our approach to exercise is very ‘functional,’ meaning it’s not intended to help you ‘look’ a certain way but to help you feel better all the time and to do your job, at work or at home, with energy, full range of motion and injury-free.” – Dave Parmly
“Pressley Ridge believes wellness goes beyond the typical medical and stress concerns, but also into mental and personal growth as well. That is why Pressley Ridge offers Employee an Assistance Program at no cost to employees. This is a confidential assistance to employees and dependents 24 hours/day on a toll-free number and face-to-face professional counseling sessions and access to their website with a wide range of tools, resources and information. “ – Phillip Novak
“My organization promotes wellness through Farmer’s Markets, healthy competition (Like the Biggest Loser), smoking cessation programs which are no cost and they cover any cessation programs like the patch, gum and lozenge. Additionally, they promote a healthy mind through increased awareness and programs. There is an entire website through the company that is dedicated to healthy mind, body and habits.” – Raina
2. They Have Buy-In from Leadership
“Our company gives a very generous discount on the cost of our benefits for employees who participate in the wellness program…But perhaps the most important thing our company does to promote the wellness program is that is it embraced by our CEO and senior leaders within the company. Wellness is not viewed as an ‘HR initiative’ but as a core part of who we are as a company.” - Noreen
“We have partnered with a local gym and our Senior Leaders are on board. We are trying to get as much employee participation as possible, to let them know that we care about their healthy work environment!” – Tori Hinote
“Our CEO understands the importance of weight loss and healthy weight maintenance to offset the costs associated with healthcare – both now and in the future.” – Donna Cornwell
3. Employees Are Never Far From Resources
“We have an onsite fitness center with a trainer that provides continuous fitness challenges, boot camps, etc. We also have a physician’s assistant who works on site full time so we have immediate access to the seasonal ailments and we have our prescriptions delivered to the office.” – Janet J.
“Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider conducts voluntary annual blood draws onsite at our headquarters. They also arrange for branch associates to visit their local lab to have the screenings performed.” – Recruiter
“Our company provides free access to on-site exercise facilities. We also provide access to education on exercise, diet, cooking, lifestyle and behavior modification (including a stop smoking program).” – Mark
4. They Sweeten the Deal with Incentives
“We offer a Creating Wellness Program to employees…Those who participate for 6 months then receive $25/month in wellness bucks (for gym memberships, yoga, Pilates, etc.) as a reward for continued involvement.” – Rick Thompson
“Recently, we sponsored an 8 week fitness challenge and gave away an Ipod Touch for the winner… This year, our grand prize drawing will be for either a gym membership, Fitness equipment or a Nintendo WII with WII ACTIVE.” – Jenny
“Each quarter employees are asked to set a Health Improvement Goal. We pay them $50/Qtr for meeting their goal…We have had tremendous success with this approach.” – Kimberly
“Our company has a $300 wellness credit toward health insurance premiums for non-smokers andthen provides programs for employees to quit smoking.” - Ally
5. They’re Not Limited By Smaller Budgets
“We have researched local ‘healthy’ vendors such as local gyms, Jamba Juice, Whole Foods, etc. and invited them to come onsite to talk about their products. It’s been working out great and it’s no cost to the company!” – Stefan
“Although our wellness budget was reduced to ZERO this year, we continue to come up with new and interesting wellness initiatives… We are even offering cost-effective prizes, like jean days and premier parking!” – Holly
“Our company just started our official ‘Steps to Wellness’ Program… The employees complete a “scorecard” with several tasks and turn the completed card in for a chance at a “Day Off With Pay”. The more staff who enter, the more days off we will raffle.” – Sue K
“We have…raised funds to assist with our program by producing a cookbook that we sold.” – Mary Wicker
“One really fun wellness initiative that my company implemented is building an employee vegetable garden…We just started the garden project this year and participation has been huge. This is a really fun project and is relatively inexpensive!” – Kathryn
6. They Assign Measurement to Gauge Success
“We work with our insurance carrier to hold an annual health fair each year that consists of blood work for a variety of areas and each employee is given the results that day. The results are discussed with health coaches from our insurance carrier and given advice as to how to improve results in any areas that reflect a health issue. These statistics are used to determine where we need to concentrate our efforts to best improve the wellness of our employees…Since we have implemented the program our data from the health screenings have shown improvement each year which in turn helps to keep our health insurance cost down.” – Mary Wicker
“In the year 2009 our corporate headquarters developed a 3 component program to get the employees premium costs down and in the long run, help them develop healthy life habits… This year the Myers Lawn and Garden site is conducting their 2nd annual health fair since the first one in August of 2009 was so successful…Employee participation is growing and the savings are too for both the employee and the company.” – Lee Herman
“The goal is overall health of our employees. If we can prove that we have lowered healthcare costs and possibly insurance premiums for our employees, because of healthier lifestyles, we have been successful!” – Tori Hinote
7. They Empower Employees
“The company promoted wellness with the staff by also ‘promoting’ US…For example, I had always wanted to be a nutrition education writer, a secret desire of mine…The company decided to start putting out a monthly newsletter in the club for our members and not only was I asked to be a columnist, but I was asked to be the editor as well. Our whole staff took part in the newsletter, writing about their known specialty in the field. This tactic was most rewarding for me, as I had the chance to really reach a long time goal of mine. This made me feel like I was on top of the world, how do you get more ‘well’ than that?” – Renee S.
“List Innovative Solutions is extremely active in the community…and encourages its employees to do the same by sponsoring the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training Program…this allows our employees to be active and also give back at the same time.” – Jennifer Bonner
“We encourage all employees to offer ideas on the ‘Healthy Life’ bulletin board so everyone gets a chance to bring something to the table!” – Dustin Shay
As I stated in my earlier post on readers’ company wellness programs, it’s great to see how many organizations take an active interest in their employees’ health – not just for employees, but for the companies themselves, as wellness programs can help employers cut costs related to healthcare, turnover and lost production.
What do you think? Care to add an “8th habit” that makes your own company’s wellness program successful?
“How isn’t it?” Is more like it…Two weeks ago, we asked you to share with us if and how your organization promoted employee health and wellness.Aside from giving you the chance to brag about how your organization could easily give Jillian Michaels a run for her money in the fitness coaching department, we also wanted to give you the chance to share with each other creative – and often cost-effective – ideas for promoting employee wellness.
As it turns out, many of you have not just one or two, but several initiatives in place to help employees focus on improving their health – an effort that is as much a benefit to your company as it is to your workers: If implemented correctly, company-sponsored wellness programs effectively reduce company healthcare costs, employee turnover and incidences of employee absenteeism, according to Dr. Steven Williams, Director of E-Media Innovations and Business Development at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), who recently presented on this topic during the Annual SHRM Conference in San Diego last month.
So what are you doing to promote employee wellness (and, in effect, cut costs)? Let’s take a look at the results…
READERS’ RESULTS: THE TOP 15 CORPORATE WELLNESS BENEFITS
With so much great feedback, it was nearly impossible to list all the initiatives individually, but several, listed below, were shared by a lot of you (see the full list of comments here):
Contests – most particularly, those inspired by TV’s “The Biggest Loser,” complete with some pretty lucrative awards (including iPods and hundreds of dollars in cash) – were among the most popular ways employers are motivating employees to get healthier.
In-house Weight Watchers programs offered for free or at a discount
Rewards systems where employees can exchange points earned through activity for “prizes” such as spa certificates, health club discounts, or gift cards toward sports apparel shops
Health living newsletters sent to employees on a weekly or monthly basis, complete with healthy living tips, exercises and recipes
Online tracking programs where employees can easily log and assess their progress toward a specified goal
Healthier snack alternatives to typical vending machine fare
On-site fitness facilities where employees can work out solo or participate in classes (often for free)
Organized sports teams or walking/running groups
Cash or discounts toward healthy purchases, including fitness gear, weight loss programs, smoking cessation programs, or participation in community run/walks
On-site health fairs that include health assessments, massages and free, in-person consultations with community health professionals
Smoking cessation programs
Partial to full-paid health club membership fees
Free health screenings and assessments, accompanied by professional advice for understanding and improving the results
Employee assistance programs to help employees better their work/life balance, and providing help with everything from legal consultation to financial planning to stress management to childcare referrals.
Regular “lunch-and-learn” sessions where local wellness professionals present on healthy lifestyle topics
THE BEST OF THE REST – Here, in your own words, some other interesting perks that stood out:
“We are getting rid of one of our coke machines and replacing it with a cooler that will hold 100% fruit juice.” - Sarah Benedum
“We have onsite showers for those who go out for a run during the day or bike to work.” - Kathy
“We’ve initiated walking groups, Weight Watchers, heart-healthy cooking demonstrations, team fitness challenges, and even a Salsa dancing class.” - Robert
“For the month of July we have a ‘submit a healthy recipe’ contest planned. At the end of the [company’s summer-long] walking challenge, the recipes will be compiled into a book and distributed to our employees.” - Raelene Neumann
“We have a Holiday Weigh In which runs from Thanksgiving week to the day after Super Bowl. The goal is to maintain or lose weight during the most challenging time of the year.” - Jane
“Our agency sponsors an annual Wellness Day complete with…a spa corner featuring makeovers and massage and free organic vegetable plants for all participants.” – Rachel S.
“One really fun wellness initiative that my company implemented is building an employee vegetable garden.” - Kathryn
“The company promotes healthy living by providing health conscious snacks such as granola bars, fresh fruit, nuts and more. Water, protein shakes, fruit juice and sports drinks are also readily available at no cost to employees.” - Melissa
“Our Fun Committee regularly organizes events for holidays, birthdays and, well, just for fun. Hat Day, High-Five Wednesday, Hula Hoop contests, Wii competitions -random, silly but fun and stress relieving.” - Carol
“The company donates 40% of the fundraising amounts for [community] events that their employees choose to participate in, this allows our employees to be active and also give back at the same time.” – Jennifer Bonner
“We…have drop-off and pick-up for our dry cleaning and a mechanic who comes on site to take care of things such as oil changes and other maintenance issues. Things like dry cleaning and auto care may not sound like a wellness issue, but when it keeps you from making additional errands with our already overloaded schedules, it reduces stress.” - Janet J.
Anyone else looking at the latest Employment Situation report, released this morning by the BLS, and feeling like the die hard fan of a pro sports team that just can’t seem to get it together? (Cubs fans, you know what I’m talking about…Ditto for Saints fans pre-Super Bowl XLIV.)
I’m referring to the news that U.S. payrolls declined in June – quite a setback after six months of job growth. And here, we thought we were doing so well! (Okay, well, maybe not so well, but at least the economy was gaining jobs…) But now here’s this huge blow, and it’s not only frustrating, but also a little scary to see the economy lose momentum like this. Am I right? And yet, despite these setbacks, we continue to watch and to root for economic recovery because it’s simply what we’ve always done. And we’re not just hoping it will recover, but we believe it will - one of these days - because it has to. It just has to. (Sound familiar, sports fans?)
Sappy sports analogies aside, here are the, ahem, highlights of today’s unemployment situation report:
Employers cut 125,000 jobs in June, the most since October 2009. (The loss was driven by the end of 225,000 temporary census jobs.
Businesses added a net total of 83,000 workers, representing an improvement over May, but below March and April totals.
The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent – mainly because 642,000 people gave up on their job force, and thus are no longer counted as unemployed.
The underemployment rate, however, is down to 16.5 percent (a modest improvement over the 16.6 percent in May
Despite the disappointing report, we’re not out of the game yet (seriously stopping with the sports references now, I swear). In fact, the results of CareerBuilder’s latest Hiring Forecast indicate that 41 percent of employers are planning to hire in the second half of the year. For more highlights from the forecast, watch this clip of CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson on Squawk Box this morning, as he discusses the hiring outlook for the next half of the year:
In Q2 2010, we saw improvements in the nation’s hiring outlook, and we cautiously cheered a little. But this time around, we may want to grab the nearest vuvuzela and blow it in excitement. (Or, uh, not.) Because while hiring in the second half of 2010 is likely to mirror the first half of the year in many ways, CareerBuilder and USA Today’s mid-year nationwide survey of more than 2,500 hiring and HR managers and more than 4,400 workers also shows that the economy is projected to trend upward in comparison to last year at this time — and is on par with last quarter’s positive changes.
How have things changed from one year ago?
All things considered, employer behaviors and mindsets have shifted considerably from last year at this time. Forty-one percent of employers say they plan to hire between the months of July – December 2010, and employers project that in Q3 2010 specifically, they:
Will add full-time, permanent headcount (21 percent)
Will not make changes in staff size (65 percent)
Will downsize staff (8 percent)
Are undecided on staffsize changes (6 percent)
One year ago, we saw that most employers expected their staff levels to remain the same as recruiting patterns held steady and job losses trended downward. Similar to this year’s numbers, 68 percent of employers didn’t anticipate any change in their full-time, permanent headcount, but in contrast, only 15 percent expected to increase staff levels (18 percent actually did). Fifteen percent decreased headcount, which is almost twice the percentage of hiring and HR managers who project a decrease in headcount in Q3 2010.
In Q3 2009, many employers were also reporting plans to postpone start dates for job offers, put mandatory furloughs into place, and institute pay cuts and hiring freezes. Today, although we’re still not completely out of the woods, we’re beginning to see a bit of daylight.
How have things changed from last quarter?
The number of employers who added full-time, permanent headcount in Q2 2010 was slightly ahead of what was originally forecasted in the survey, continuing a trend of actual hiring beating projected hiring.
In Q2 2010:
24 percent of employers reported they increased their full-time, permanent staff in the second quarter (up from 18 percent year over year and up 1 percent from Q1 2010).
11 percent decreased headcount (an improvement from 17 percent last year and 12 percent in Q1 2010).
64 percent reported no change in their number of full-time, permanent employees.
1 percent were undecided.
“The survey indicates that we’ll see sustainable new job growth through the remainder of the year, but it will be absent of any dramatic shifts,” said Matt Ferguson, CareerBuilder CEO.
Compensation Outlook
Fifteen percent of employers reported they instituted pay cuts at their organizations in the last 12 months. Of these employers, 28 percent were restoring pay levels in the first half of the year, 18 percent in the latter half and 25 percent in 2011 and 2012. Twenty-nine percent were unsure if and when pay would be restored to previous levels.
For Q3 2010 specifically:
42 percent of employers anticipate no change
37 percent expect there will be an increase of 1 to 3 percent
12 percent expect to see an increase of 4 to 10 percent
3 percent expect a decrease
1 percent anticipate an increase of 11 percent or more
Three trends to watch for in the second half of 2010
1. Emerging Jobs – Employers are looking to fill positions relatively new to the work force. Twenty-four percent of employers said they are recruiting for positions in social media, green energy, cyber security, global relations and health care reform.
2. Changing Jobs – Employers are implementing measures to retain top performers. This is good, because according to the forecast, 25 percent of all workers plan to leave their organizations in the next 12 months.
3. Shortage of Skilled Labor — One-in-five employers reported that, despite an abundant labor pool, they still have positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates.
Unhappy Employees
Many workers are re-evaluating their employment situations — and realizing they’re not too happy with their current employer.
Twenty-five percent of workers reported they have a worse opinion of their employer in the wake of the recession. Fourteen percent have a better opinion and 61 percent stayed the same.
Twenty-nine percent of workers plan to pursue new job opportunities when the economy shows more improvement. As mentioned earlier, a quarter of all workers plan to leave their jobs over the next 12 months.
Why the dissatisfaction?
Several factors influenced these decisions, but many appear related to the recession.
30 percent of workers reported feeling over-worked, feeling the climate changed in their work environment and harboring resentment over other workers being laid off.
One-third of workers (33 percent) reported they feel overqualified for their current jobs
23 percent stated that a lack of interesting work was one of the main motivators for changing employers.
What can you do as an employer to retain employees?
When asked what their employers could do to retain them as employees, workers cited the following:
Increased compensation is the No. 1 thing workers want.
If salary increases aren’t possible, workers point to employee recognition as the next best thing.
Third in line, workers want the company to set realistic performance expectations and manageable workloads, and to take the time to evaluate their potential and discuss career paths.
Investments in training and the company showing an ability to adapt were also mentioned.
To get in-depth survey results broken down by industry, region, and company size, as well as further predictions for Q3 2010, you can download the complete Q3 Forecast here.
Note: Totals may not equal 100 percent due to rounding.
Remember in Back to the Future II, when Marty travels to 2015 and sees that future Marty has the technology to video-conference in to his office from his very own living room and it was completely awesome? Funny how that technology is actually a reality now. (I can only hope this means good things for the hover board…) Sadly, video-conferencing is as far as Robert Zemeckis got in predicting what the workplace of the future would look like…
We here at The Hiring Site, however, wanted to explore what impact those changes will have on the employer. Read on, and then give us your thoughts below.
The Prediction: A More Diverse Workforce - “By 2020, the American workplace population will be more diverse: 63 percent white, 30 percent Latino, and 50 percent female. Four or even five generations, from Boomers to Generation 2020, will be working at once,” Meister and Willyerd say. What It Means for You: Certainly, a more diverse workforce means new challenges in recruiting and engaging these various groups, but if employers are up to the task, the payoffs will be significant. Employers can leverage the experiences and backgrounds of a diverse workforce for a broader exchange of ideas, knowledge and opportunities.
The Prediction: More Corporate Social Responsibility -“Companies that once only operated for profit will place new emphasis on the importance of its people, as well as the impact the company’s existence has on the planet. The new bottom line will incorporate profit, people and planet,” the authors say. What It Means for You:Not only will an increased focus on social responsibility benefit the community, but it will also help employers’ recruiting efforts: A recent Staffing Industry Review study found that job seekers gravitate to social responsible companies.
The Prediction:More Social Technology – “Vlogging, Twitter, intranet chat rooms, Skyping — even today, there’s a vast array of online communication tools, with more to come.” What It Means for You:More tools available by which to facilitate communication mean more ways to facilitate learning and collaboration – both within and across departments. Of course, there’s such a thing as too many choices, and companies that don’t take the time to find the social technology that fits within their culture may not fully realize these benefits.
The Prediction:Mobile Workplaces -“Increasingly powerful mobile phones are replacing laptops as the main work device.” What It Means for You: Ideally, a more mobile workforce means a more productive workforce – and more opportunities for flexible work arrangements; however, if employees feel as if they’re on call 24/7, it can blur the line between work and life altogether. In a recent CareerBuilder survey, 17 percent of workers said they feel like their work day never ends because of the technology connecting them to the office. As workplaces become increasingly mobile, employers will have to work that much harder to ensure their workers do not get burned out and allow themselves technology-free time when away from work.
The Prediction: More Work/Life Flexibility - “For younger generations, work is a significant part of their life, but they don’t compartmentalize it like older generations tend to. It isn’t about work-life ‘balance;’ it’s about work/life integration.” What It Means for You: While advancements in technology make it increasingly easy for employers to offer flexible schedules, flexible schedules may not work for every company culture. Employers who want to offer this benefit should take a good look at their company culture and see what may need to change first.
The Prediction: Serious Play as a Training Tool – “‘Sims’ (Simulated Games) is the new buzz word in training: online Sims allow employees to learn new jobs through low-risk direct practice.” What It Means for You: Some companies are already embracing “serious games” to train employees. As this type of technology becomes increasingly accessible to employers, virtual training programs could very well become standard. Employers would be wise to start looking into these types of training programs now to stay ahead of the curve.
The Prediction: A Different Kind of Mentoring –“One-on-one mentoring is still a powerful way to develop employees, but companies will also use reverse-, micro- and group-mentoring.”What It Means for You: Mentoring will become increasingly important as employers deal with the impending talent shortage (see #10). Employers shouldn’t wait until then, however, to create opportunities for colleagues to collaborate and teach one another.
The Prediction:The Democratization of Information -“Digital record keeping makes company information accessible to all.”What It Means for You:More transparency means more accountability on leadership’s end to ensure they’re putting the organization’s stated mission and values into practice. Good news for employers who already do this. Bad news for those who don’t. Where do you fall?
The Prediction: An Increase in Personal Branding – “Social technologies track personal ratings, referrals and reputations.” What It Means for You: Considering nearly half of employers already use social networking sites to recruit, it comes as little surprise that savvy candidates will also utilize these sites to build their personal brands. This could be a win/win.
The Prediction:Talent Shortage – “There’s a big gap between all the Boomers retiring and the number of Generation X’ers available to fill their shoes.” What It Means for You:Again, no surprises here as employers already complaining that, despite the plethora of job seekers out there, they still can’t find the right talent for their positions. This shortage places an even greater demand on employers to start providing training, development and mentoring programs now to build and retain their future leaders.
What’s your take? What changes (or challenges) do you foresee the 2020 workplace?
Commonalities between companies that make the list
Burchell started his presentation asking, “What is the difference between a good place and a great place to work?” following that up with, “It’s not about what you do, but how you do it.” Through his company’s 20-plus years of research on this topic, Burchell found the one thing all these companies have in common: TRUST. These companies are all places where employees “trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with.”
The Three Components of Trust:
The relationship between employees and management.
The relationship between employees and their jobs/company (pride).
The relationship between employees and other employees (camaraderie).
Building this kind of trust enables companies to reap positive business benefits and increased productivity through increased caliber of employees, increased quality of products and increased levels of risk taking and innovation. It’s an investment, but a worthwhile one.
Having this kind of trust also decreases costs by lowering turnover (best companies typically have a voluntary turnover of 9% or less) and lowering resistance to change. Surprisingly, it also lowers health care costs: Employees who feel trusted – and trust their companies in return – tend to have healthier lives outside of work because they leave work at work, leaving them with more to give to their personal life (family and community). This also means that when they are at work, they show up because they want to and are ready to contribute because they have the perception the company offers a special and unique culture where “we are not like others.”
Building Trust Trust between employee and company (and vice versa) begins during the pre-hire stage; although the treatment employees get on their first day of work really sets the stage for future trust. Employees who feel welcomed and appreciated generally foster a genuine level of trust much faster than those employees who are just shown to a desk to begin working right away. Makes sense, right? You’d be surprised how many companies overlook these little details. Burchell continued by saying that employees who have the opportunity to interact with senior leadership very close to their hire date are better informed and feel true value and connection immediately.
Best Companies to Work For also…
Motivate
Empower
Listen
Thank
Develop
Care
Celebrate
Share
Common Benefits that Best Companies to Work For Offer:
Job sharing
Telecommuting
Compressed work weeks
Flexible scheduling
Phased retirement
Paid sabbaticals
Child services
Dry cleaning
On-site mailing
Free beverages or snacks
Personal travel experience
And while this list of perks is impressive in and of itself, what truly makes the difference is how the company communicates these employee benefits, supports them and enables employees to take advantage of them. One example given was Goggle’s TGI Fridays – and yes, it does revolve around food, but not exactly in the way you might think. Each and every Friday employees are invited into cafeterias for an agenda-less meeting where employees get to talk with Google’s CEO and senior leadership team about anything. And as you’d expect, not all questions hold the same weight but all questions are valid and go back to the idea of trust. This practice also shows employees that they are valued as a part of the business, not merely people who work for the company. This is also a time for the leadership to reinforce the company values and make everyone feel connected. Google’s success is unquestioned, but did you know they have also created a pool of quality applicants that is so extensive, they may never have to actively recruit ever again?
The Hidden Benefit to Being a Best Place to Work Earlier, I mentioned the benefits a company gains by striving to be a best place to work – such as higher productivity and profitability - but there’s also this other (kind of huge) perk: Once word gets out that your company is a great place to work, you’ll really start to see more qualified applicants applying to your open positions. I’m talking about people who understand your company’s unique culture and want to be a part of it because they feel a connection to your values.
While much of this information may not seem new, it is wonderful to see so many companies really trying to step up their game to become a best place to work. Remember, employees are your greatest asset, and they leave every night. What are you doing to ensure they return? If you build around this model, everyone benefits. Hiring gets easier. Top talent is retained. Production increases. Profits grow. Build a best place to work and you build a foundation for ongoing success.
Explore our previous Building the Best Place to Work article series to gain insights on our five basic building blocks and other tips for creating the best working place. As always, we welcome your feedback in the comments section of this post. Tell us more about your own recruitment and employee engagement experiences as you try to build a company that your employees call a best place to work.
Well, while you were busy singing along to Hall and Oates’s “Maneater” at SHRM 2010, watching the longest tennis match in history, pacing in anxious anticipation of the premiere of “Eclipse,” or showing off your new bikini bod, lots of things were happening in the world of recruitment news and gossip this month. Let’s get right to it.
As Mashable has declared June 30 “Social Media Day,” it’s the perfect time to highlight why the risks of social media recruiting don’t negate the rewards. Employees everywhere were giving out rewards — of the rawhide type — as they showed off their Lassie lookalikes at the office this past Friday (or even all of last week) for Take Your Dog to Work Day. And while every dog had its day, we’re still waiting for better news from the Employment Situation report (but hey, a lot can change in a month!).
HR manager Dean Gualco had some interesting things to say about what it really means to be a good manager in today’s sometimes tumultuous workplace, and CareerBuilder’s Jason Ferrara gave the fathers out there some tips on being a good dad — despite more work and less time with the family. Speaking of work/life commitments, we asked you if a results-only work environment would work at your company — and you didn’t hold back.
We learned whydelivering happiness can lead to not-so-happy results. But we also delivered one lucky winner lots of happy with a brand new iPod Shuffle, and learned about some awesome ways your companies are promoting employee wellness — including “Biggest Loser” competitions, on-site fitness centers, and farmer’s markets.
I broke down CareerBuilder’s newhireINSIDER solution, and how it can help solve your candidate communication (or lack thereof) issues. Speaking of candidate issues, you shared with us some of your biggest candidate deal-breakers, and we also learned why some unusual candidate tactics may actually be a smart move.
Take Your Dog to Work Day, started by Pet Sitters International, was first celebrated in 1999 (with 300 companies participating) to celebrate the companionship of dogs and encourage people to adopt dogs from humane societies, animal shelters and breed rescue clubs. As we’ve discussed in the past, this annual event encourages employers to experience the value of pets in the workplace for one designated day, for the primary purpose of promoting pet adoptions and better the lives of shelter dogs.
And while bringing a four-legged friend to work isn’t practical for every kind of work environment, supporters claim having dogs around the office has many benefits, including lowering stress and boosting employee morale.
There are a lot of ways you can get involved in Take Your Dog to Work Day, including partnering with a local shelter to bring adoptable dogs into the office. And if bringing dogs into your work environment just isn’t possible, consider finding another way to give back to the canine community — like volunteering with The Humane Society. Some businesses, like Esser Vineyards, are getting creative with events like Take Your Dog to Dinner Night, in which they donate wine to be paired with cuisine to dog-friendly participating restaurants, while diners’ furry pals enjoy a free meal.
Those who sign up and participate in the day get celebration ideas, sucess tips, a sample “dogs at work” policy for the office, coupons, pet product offerings, and the comfort of knowing they are helping raise awareness of shelter dogs and pet adoption. Tomorrow too tight of a deadline? You can request info for next year’s event.
Steve Dale has some great tips to make the day a success (like “give your dog a job” by stuffing some food in its toys), and TakeYourDog.com offers some of their own:
Dogs should be kept on a leash, unless in the employee’s office or cubicle.
Employees should use a baby gate to prevent dogs from leaving their office unsupervised.
Specific areas, such as bathrooms or employee dining halls, can be designated as dog-free.
Have a back up plan for taking the dog home if he or she is not comfortable in the work environment.
Are you celebrating Take Your Dog to Work Day, or thinking about getting information to participate next year? Or are dogs in the office a no-go? Let us know!
I recently spoke with Dean Gualco, human resources manager and author of The Good Manager: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century Manager, a book that focuses on how managers have gone from being respected in society and trusted by their employees to the source of blame for many workplace problems today.
Gualco rallies against this new view of managers, and lays out six attributes that he thinks are essential to being a good manager: Like What You Do, Knowledgeable, Solid Organizational Skills, Work Hard, Make Work Fun, and Be a Good Person.
During our discussion, he also shared his thoughts on everything from why employees view managers’ jobs as less stressful than their own, to the growing tendency to blame managers when things go awry, to the role managers play in their employees’ development, to the one thing managers can start doing today to become better managers.
Below is the Q&A -- simply click the “Play” button within each to hear Gualco’s answer to my question.
Q: What is the most important aspect of being a manager?
Q: Do you think many managers today are unqualified?
Q: What do you think is the most commonly lacking managerial attribute?
Q: Do you have any suggestions for how managers could make work more fun?
Q: What’s one thing managers can start doing today to become better managers?
Q: Why do you think employees tend to view a manager’s job as less stressful than their own?
Q: How can employees and managers work together to understand each others’ roles?
Q: How can managers prevent themselves from becoming less effective due to boredom in their roles?
Q: You mention in your book that it baffles you that many people aren’t in jobs they love. People may argue that they can’t find a job they love in a tough market. What do you say to them?
Q: How can workers stay competitive in their jobs in such a competitive marketplace?
Q: How are managers responsible for their employees staying competitive and continuously learning in their roles?
Q: Have you seen a lot of change in the role of a manager over the last few years, with the recession and a changing market?
According to a Personified survey of 250,000 job seekers, nearly 60 percent of job applicants reported they never received a response from the last employer they applied to for a job.
With millions of job seekers applying to hundreds of thousands of jobs every day, it’s increasingly challenging for you, the employer or recruiter, to provide applicants with useful information about your hiring process. In fact, the “black hole” applicants enter once they apply to a job is considered by most to be the biggest challenge in recruitment today.
What are the consequences?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this absence of contact and communication leaves job seekers lost, frustrated, and lacking the information they need to manage their job search and career path. They don’t know who they’re up against, how they compare to other applicants or where the hiring process stands.
We’ve talked about this application black hole and the importance of communicating with applicants before, and while personal communication is ideal, it can be very time consuming to respond to candidates individually, particularly when the volume of applicants has increased in light of the recession.
But by not communicating with candidates, you are:
Tarnishing your employment brand — frustrated candidates will start to think of your company negatively, and will likely share their frustrations with others.
Disrespecting candidates and showing them you don’t care about their needs in the application process.
Making it difficult to maintain engagement with the talent pool into which you’ve invested so much money.
So, what can you do?
It’s apparent that employer/recruiter communication to candidates is very necessary — but often isn’t happening because of time or resource limitations. With this in mind, what can you do to protect your candidate relationships — and your company’s reputation?
Introducing hireINSIDER
hireINSIDER is working tosolve the No. 1 issue facing employers and recruiters today:How can I communicate with candidates during the application process, when the time and resources necessary often don’t exist in a tough economy?
CareerBuilder’s new hireINSIDER solution serves both sides of the “black hole” problem by letting candidates know how they stack up against other applicants for a job, while also reducing the burden on you to provide constant, relevant communication to those whom have applied.
By getting an inside peek into the qualifications of other candidates, job seekers are able to better assess if they are a viable candidate for your job and the likelihood of you contacting them.
How?
Currently, hireINSIDER includes four key products, two of which are for candidates, and two of which are for employers.
A quick breakdown:
Job Competition Report –
This report gives applicants a better understanding of who they are competing with for a job position.
The report aggregates user-generated information (like education level, years of experience, and average current salaries) from applicants for a particular job listing.
Hiring Status Report —
In exchange for sharing at which stage they are in the hiring process, job seekers receive an update on how many others in the aggregate applicant pool reported they were contacted by you, interviewed, hired or not contacted at all.
Candidates can see if an you have made any actions on the job posting and, from there, evaluate his or her chances of getting an interview.
AppView —
You, the employer or recruiter, can a deeper understanding of the type of talent applying to your open positions with AppView, a report that provides a real-time snapshot of the candidates whom have applied to your open positions.
Quickly compare applicants (through metrics like current and desired salary, employment status and education level), ensure you are attracting the right candidates and become aware of changes you can make to your live job posting to enhance results.
Branded Job Competition Report –
Get in front of job applicants with your company’s custom branding while they are using hireINSIDER data to evaluate their chances for a position.
Job applicants who use hireINSIDER will get the higher-detail premium version of Branded Job Competition Report, wrapped in your customized branding and full of helpful, contextual communication provided by you.
Let your applicants know what to expect from your hiring process, other roles that may be suitable for their profile, and more.
“hireINSIDER benefits employers who may not have the time or resources to respond to an increasing amount of applications in a tough economy. By providing the feedback that job seekers need, it helps to alleviate the negative impact that a lack of response can have on a company’s employment brand,” said Brent Rasmussen, President of CareerBuilder North America.
If you want to find out more about how hireINSIDER can help your company manage your application process, call 866-438-1485 or send an e-mail to hireINSIDER@careerbuilder.com.
Earlier this week, my colleague over at our job seeker blog, The Work Buzz, Kaitlin Madden, told me about an article she’s working on about what constitutes a deal breaker for hiring managers or recruiters. So I thought I’d help her out by asking for your feedback…
What do you consider a deal breaker…during an interview? On a resume or in a cover letter? During salary negotiations?
That is, what’s the one thing a candidate can do – or, rather, has done – to immediately take him or herself out of the running for consideration?
Got any stories to share? Maybe a few words of wisdom? (It could end up working out in your favor…After all, the more we educate job seekers on the behavior that they should avoid – or altogether abolish – the more head- and heartache it’ll save everyone in the end…)
Please give us your thoughts in the comments below! (Got something to say, but don’t want to leave it as a comment? Feel free to email me your stories instead!)
You know when people ask if you should read the book before you see the movie? Well, that’s kind of how I felt upon reading Tony Hsieh’s new book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, his personal account of helping develop and become CEO of successful online retailer Zappos.
The book is divided into three parts. The first is a look back at Hsieh’s childhood, wherein Hsieh shows signs of drive, business-savvy and entrepreneurship from a young age, setting the stage to become a successful business owner before turning 30. The second part of the book focuses on his life as CEO of Zappos and the inner workings of Zappos’ famous corporate culture. The third part of the book recounts Zappos’ Amazon buyout, bringing us to present day and Hsieh’s new role as a public speaker on the topics of culture and values. Hsieh concludes the book by driving home its central theme that, basically, as long as you do what you’re passionate about, everything else will fall into place.
Does It Deliver? I had the pleasure of seeing Hsieh give an incredible keynote at SXSW in 2009, so I was excited to read the “book version” of the speech – and learn even more about the inner workings of the company made famous for its unique culture, superior customer service, and innovative use of social media. In person, Hsieh is a dynamic speaker, with the ability to captivate audiences and clearly convey the passion he feels for running his business, giving his customers that “wow” feeling, engaging his employees and, of course, delivering happiness.
… And yet, something gets lost in the translation to paper.
The book falls flat in storytelling and short on expectations. Perhaps it’s his decision not to use a ghostwriter that works against his pursuit to truly convey the entire story to his audience. While his decision to do so is brave (he admits that he is not a writer, but makes no apologies for it) and consistent with his mission to maintain transparency, it is also distracting. He has a tendency to “tell” rather than “show” – a cardinal sin in any English writing course – and his overuse of cliché acts as filler to distract from the lack of any real emotions he might convey.
In fact, it is only through the employee anecdotes – placed throughout the section about core values to illustrate how employees incorporate these values into their lives – that the reader finally gets a true feel for the culture. At one point, Hsieh himself even mentions that his employees’ stories are among the biggest crowd-pleasers at his speaking engagements…which is why it’s disappointing that of the countless stories Hsieh claims his employees could tell about their experiences at Zappos, only a handful of these stories appear in the book. Sure, Hsieh tells plenty of his own stories, but he relies so heavily on hackneyed phrases to describe significant events that his stories lose any unique perspective and distract from the details that his audience truly craves.
We never find out, for example, what made him decide to create a formal set of core values, when he fought so long to stay away from something that once seemed “so corporate,” or how he came up with the unlikely decision to pay new employees $2,000 to quit. And it remains a mystery as to why some things with which so many other companies struggle – mainly, letting employees use social media as both a job seeker and customer engagement tool – comes so easily to Zappos. The whole concept of using Twitter to recruit and retain employees is all but glossed over – which is surprising in light of the fact that Zappos basically set the bar for using Twitter for business purposes.
The Verdict If you’re looking for a rags-to-riches memoir of a company that came into its own, you won’t find it here. (Compared with other companies, the obstacles Zappos has had to overcome seem relatively mild.) Nor will you find a comprehensive business book explaining how to better your corporate culture.
While Hsieh talks at length about the things that make Zappos such a unique culture, he says very little about how Zappos’ actually got to that point. What’s missing are the details of the growing pains the company went through to get to that point. Even for a company that seems to get everything about culture and internal communications right, it’s hard to believe some of those lessons weren’t learned the hard way. What you will get is an overview of life at Zappos and, in that, several tips and new ideas for creating or strengthening your own corporate culture (and possibly the urge to apply for a job at Zappos).
Ultimately, Hsieh seeks to inspire the reader to pursue his or her passion, and, were Hsieh a better writer, he might come close to achieveing that. But he falls short of of properly conveying the level of passion he so adeptly shows in person, and thus, fails to say anything on paper that truly resonates with audiences. My advice? Skip the book, look for Hsieh at a speaking event, and see the live version instead. You’ll get your money’s worth.
Disclosure: I received a free promotional copy of Delivering Happiness.
While you were busy figuring out what to spend today’s $59 on, suddenly thinking that having lactose intolerance wouldn’t be that bad, or (shameless plus alert) seeing all the free stuff you could get when you visit Booth #1419 during SHRM 2010 in San Diego!…here’s what was happening in the world of workforce management this week…
If you or someone you know abuses the “Reply all” button, you should read this.
This Sunday is Father’s Day, and while it’s a great excuse to spoil dads everywhere with the latest gadgets, grill supplies, or bacon of the month club memberships, a little extra quality time with Dad might be in order this year, in light of results from CareerBuilder’s annual Father’s Day survey.
Survey results among 800 working fathers who are employed full-time showed that a still-struggling economy is causing many working dads to experience more stress, more work — and, not surprisingly, less time spent with their families.
Why the stress?
One in ten working dads said their spouse or significant other has become unemployed in the last 12 months, with 50 percent of those dads indicating it’s causing stress at home.
Forty-two percent of working dads said they are the sole providers in their household
Nine percent of working fathers say they have taken on a second job in the last 12 months to provide for their family.
Office overtime on overdrive
As many of you know firsthand, leaner staffs have led to fewer people handling a higher volume of work. This has made it more difficult for working fathers to achieve a healthy work/life balance, as many are stuck at the office working longer hours — and less time with their kids.
But just how many hours?
Sixty-three percent of working dads said they work more than 40 hours per week.
Three in ten (31 percent) working dads who take work home reported they typically bring work home five days a week or more.
Thirty percent bring work home on the weekends.
And how much less time with their kids?
Close to four in ten (37 percent) of working dads said they spend two hours or less with their children each work day.
More than three in ten (35 percent) reported they missed two or more significant events in their child’s life due to work in the last year.
How to be a better juggler
These are bleak statistics, but as Mary Delaney, one of CareerBuilder’s own busy working mothers, has said, there are things you can do to better balance work and family. and now, Jason Ferrara, VP Corporate Marketing at CareerBuilder and a father of two, shares his tips for working dads everywhere to better manage the delicate balancing act of providing for one’s family — and being there as a partner and a father.
“Especially in tough times, working dads have to be more creative and strategic to successfully juggle both work and family commitments,” said Jason Ferrara, VP Corporate Marketing at CareerBuilder and father of two. “Employers understand the importance of working dads’ time away from the office and continue to place an emphasis on work/life balance through benefits that encourage employees to better manage their schedules. However, year over year, we find that nearly half of working dads do not take advantage of the flexible work arrangements offered to them.”
I’m not suggesting getting Dad a juggling set for Father’s Day (though I’m not not suggesting it, either), but the following tips are designed to help working Dads more effectively juggle their professional and personal lives. After all, although our multitudes of work and life commitments won’t necessarily go away, learning to prioritize them is a strong start.
Ferrara recommends the following tips for working dads navigating through difficult economic times:
Keep everyone in the mix. Remember that communication is a two-way street. Besides just listening to what is going on in your family’s lives, talk about what is going on in your office, so everyone understands why you are away or have to do some work when you are home.
Learn to say no. In addition to actual work, sometimes activities associated with your job can take a toll on your free time. Determine what additional activities you can turn down and which are necessary so that you can free up more of your time outside of the office.
Develop a master family calendar. Add every family member’s schedule to one master calendar so there are no surprises. Also, save vacation days for important events and talk to your supervisor about flexible work arrangements.
Play now, work later. Put down your Blackberry and avoid checking e-mails until after your children have gone to sleep.
Plan a family event in your office. Take advantage of the summer months when school is out and the office may be less hectic by scheduling a kid-friendly potluck or other event with co-workers and their families.
What’s worked for you?
Do you have a solution that’s helped you better manage your work and family lives to add? Let us know in comments — We’d love to hear about it!
Would you hire this guy? Would he think you would hire him because he’s wearing a funny hat and glasses and has the confidence of 1,000 vuvuzela-blowing fans at a World Cup game? He just might: As we’ve mentioned in the past, job seekers tend to do some unconventional things in hopes of getting a job — and although we’re starting to dig ourselves out of the recession, recent economic times have still led some job seekers to resort to, shall we say, unusual measures to try to stand out from the competition. And those unusual measures just may be working.
Unusual Job Tactics — Trend on the Rise?
Nearly one-quarter of hiring managers (22 percent) reported in a new CareerBuilder survey that they are seeing more job seekers try unusual tactics to capture their attention this year compared to last year. This is up from 18 percent of hiring managers who said the same in 2009 and 12 percent in 2008.
“While we are seeing positive signs in the job market as employers gradually add headcount, competition is still high for open positions,” said Jason Ferrara, senior career adviser at CareerBuilder.
“As a result, more candidates are turning to unconventional tactics to attract the attention of hiring managers. While these tactics may work occasionally, they still need to be done with professionalism. That way, candidates are remembered for what they can offer an organization and not just for an unusual antic.”
When Strange May Actually Be Smart
While doing strange things to get a job may have gotten a bad rap in the past, it’s not all “Thanks for your time; these gentlemen will escort you out” on the employer end. Some hiring managers look at candidates who think outside the interview walls and see an innovative new employee in their future; nearly one-in-ten (9 percent) said they have hired someone who used an unconventional tactic to get their attention.
But what really works and what flops? As Ferrara mentioned above, candidates are wise to show what they can offer to an organization when considering an unusual approach. Otherwise, it’s just an empty attention grabber — and employers will likely see through it right away.
When asked what unusual job tactics made them go from “Whaaaa?” to “You’re hired,” here are some incidents they shared:
Candidate brought in a DVD of his former boss giving him a recommendation.
Candidate applying for a casino table game position came into my office and started dealing on my desk while pretending to talk to players, which showed me her guest service skills.
Candidate sent in a letter that explained how to solve an issue our company was having with a certain type of technology.
Candidate who was a prospective teacher brought in a box of props to demonstrate her teaching style.
Candidate came prepared with unique business cards featuring our logo and a self-introduction brochure.
Candidate wrote a full business plan for one of our products with his resume submission.
Candidate created a full graphics portfolio on our brand.
Have you had a job seeker try to get your attention by doing or saying something out of the ordinary? Did it work?
There’s been growing evidence to suggest that not only do American workers need to better care of their health and wellness (recent studies show correlations between job stress and weight gain, and working overtime and heart health), but also that companies benefit from wellness programs, which help them cut back on costs related to healthcare and lost productivity.
Since this seems to be the latest trend and all, it got us wondering over here at The Hiring Site what else companies are doing to promote employee health and wellness. So now, we’re asking you, our readers, to share…
How is your company promoting employee health and wellness? Whatever your organization is doing to encourage employees to focus on their health – whether through something similar to the efforts mentioned above or some other initiative – we want to hear about it!
Aside from satisfying our own curiosity, we hope that this idea share will help you discover and think about new ways to promote employee wellness. You could discover new, inexpensive ways to offer a unique benefit that will not only help you cut costs at your own organization, but make you even more valuable in the eyes of current and future employees.
And just to (naturally) sweeten the deal, by participating in the comments section below – you’ll automatically be entered for the chance to win $200 worth of fitness gear – including a duffle bag, eco-friendly stainless steel water bottle, heart rate monitor, digital bathroom scale and an iPod Shuffle!
HOW TO ENTER: Simply answer this question – “How is your company promoting employee health and wellness?”– in the comments section below, and you’ll automatically be entered to win more than $200 worth of fitness gear – complete with a premium quality duffle bag, water bottle, heart rate monitor, digital bathroom scale, and iPod Shuffle. Just be sure to abide by the terms and conditions.
CONTEST DETAILS: Entries will be accepted from 12:00 a.m. CST on Monday, June 14, 2010 until 11:59 p.m. CST on Friday, June 18, 2010. Each account may only submit one answer for consideration; subsequent entries will not be considered. Spam responses will not be considered. The winner will be picked at random and notified via e-mail the week of June 21, 2010. Please read the full list of official contest rules and regulations.
To pick up your free report on talent compensation…which you have until June 18 to register for by going to www.careerbuilder.com/shrm2010/report. (Did we mention it’s worth $150? No? Well, it’s worth $150. Just a little fyi…)
To see presentations on topics that you get to pick. That’s right: You have from now until June 20 to visit www.careerbuilder.com/shrm2010/vote and select up to three topics that you’re most interested in learning about. CareerBuilder is creating its presentation schedule around your interests, and is choosing its presentation topics based on audience vote…Check back after the 21st to see the finalized schedule – or simply stop by booth 1419 during conference breaks.
We’re throwing a birthday party! On Monday, June 28, CareerBuilder celebrates the one year anniversary of our Applicant Experience service – and everyone’s invited to join us. Stop by the booth between noon and 2 p.m. for free food and drinks!
To speak with our recruitment experts about ways to better your recruitment process. Our recruitment experts will be on hand to answer questions and discuss ways to help you meet your recruitment related goals, solve your most baffling talent questions or simply make your life easier overall.
(More) free stuff. Who needs another conference T-shirt? You do! (But trust us..thesearen’t your mother’s conference T-shirts…) As a token of our appreciation for visiting us at booth 1419, we’re giving away some great door prizes – so don’t miss out!
Want to let others know you’ll be visiting us at SHRM? RSVP on Facebook.
Can’t Make It to SHRM This Year? Follow us on Twitter (#CBSHRM10) for real-time updates on all the conference action – and check back here for daily recaps from the conference room floor.
For more information on what we have in store for SHRM 2010, visit www.careerbuilder.com/shrm2010 or if you have specific questions, feel free to leave it in the comments section below!
Well, it’s the first Friday of June, and while it may just be a coincidence that there are free donuts available on the very same day the latest Employment Situation report is released, it is awfully convenient: After seeing these numbers, you might be in need of some comfort food.
Because while jobs did grow this month, they fell far short of analysts’ predictions. And while the unemployment rate did go down, it’s largely because many unemployed workers gave up their job searches. Here are the highlights:
Total nonfarm payroll employment grew by 431,000 in May (driven by the hiring of 411,000 temporary Census workers)
Private employers added just 41,000 jobs in May – down sharply from 218,000 in April and the fewest since January.
The unemployment rate decreased from 9.9 percent to 9.7 percent (which seems like good news until you realize that it reflects that people gave up searching for work.)
The underemployment rate (those who’ve given up looking for work and part-timers who would rather be working full time) fell from 17.1 percent in April to 16.6 percent in May.
All told, 15 million people were unemployed in May.
Understandably, this month’s report is being called “disappointing,” and, indeed, it is; however, I’m kind of trying to view this report like I did the ending of “Lost” (no spoilers here, I promise). While both fell short of my expectations and left a lot of unanswered questions, I also kind of saw this coming all along…That is to say, there’s nothing to me all that shocking in the report.
After all, the overall takeaways from the report remain are the same as they’ve been in previous months: Private employers are still hesitant to bring on full-time workers, jobs are still being added – but still at a frustratingly slow pace – and it still looks like it’s going to be a while before there is significant relief for the roughly 15 million unemployed Americans.
While you were busy snagging your free donut, snagging free ice cream, and gorging on both to numb the pain while watching a particularly bittersweet “Golden Girls” marathon, here’s what was happening in employment news this week…
Employers are attempting to cut down the fat – in more ways than one.
Leading up to tomorrow’s unemployment report, CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning to discuss regional job market trends based on CareerBuilder.com listings.
Regional Job Market Trends Among the highlights of Ferguson’s interview:
In terms of jobs opening up, there has been a continual, but moderate increase of job postings on CareerBuilder.com, indicating that employers are starting to hire again
Big cities, like New York and San Francisco, are seeing the most improvement in terms of the number of jobs available
General positions, such as those in the sales, marketing, healthcare and hospitality, are making the biggest comebacks right now
The Silicon Valley job market is also tightening up, with IT execs claiming they are having a hard time filling open positions
New Tool to Help Employers Ferguson also discussed the official launch of hireINSIDER, a new tool from CareerBuilder with benefits for both job seekers and employers. According to the press release:
hireINSIDER also benefits employers who may not have the time or resources to respond to an increasing amount of applications in a tough economy. By providing the feedback that job seekers need, it helps to alleviate the negative impact that a lack of response can have on a company’s employment brand. Employers can also utilize hireINSIDER’s technology to gain a better understanding of the demographics of their applicant pool.
Tomorrow, the BLS releases it’s monthly employment report. Check back here for highlights from the report.
More and more businesses are talking about the importance of workplace flexibility in today’s society – and the White House even dedicated a recent forum solely to the topic. As the forum stressed, we need a 21st century workplace to meet the demands of a 21st century work force. A report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisors found that more flexibility in the workplace leads to happier employees, more family time, and higher employee retention and productivity – as well as more competitive and profitable workplaces.
One of the more interesting discussions in The Hiring Site’s contest history recently unfolded around the very idea of workplace flexibility, as we asked all of you the following question for our May contest (and gave away some cool stuff — congrats to our winners!):
“Do you think a results-only work environment would work at your company? Why or why not?”
You were all more than a bit divided on the subject; opinions ranged from “This would NOT be a good environment at ANY company!” to “Yes! Thinking outside the box is what keeps America growing.” I’ve rounded up some of the highlights below (you can read the full list of comments here).
“I think ROWE is a fantastic way of boosting employee morale and engagement, and it can be used as a “perk” for some employees (it works for me!)” –PJ
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“It’s a good concept for companies without strict production deadlines.” –Donna
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“I think that the staff on my team would enjoy this freedom. I even believe some of them may produce the results in order to have the freedom. I do also believe that I need some one here 8-5 to take care of clients who have that expectation of us. It’s a great concept, but I’m not sure how I can make the logistics work in my 5 man team.” –Stacy
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“While I think this would be a great concept in several work environments; the concept would not work in our setting; we are in the business of providing 24/7 care to our patients. The level of staffing that is needed depends on the number of patient we have to take care and the level of the care that each patient requires.” –Lara
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“I think the best part of a ROWE would be the work life balance that it creates. As a working mom I can imagine how helpful and ideal a ROWE would be.” –Bernadette
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“In the field of corrections, this is not possible. You cannot monitor an inmate population from the grocery store. There is also no quantitative way to measure remote job performance… Most people are not able to handle the organizational issues and self-motivating actions this would require.” –KCI
“We treat all our colleagues as adults and they all manage their own time. We have no handbook. We have no time clock. All but one of our people work from a home office or on client sites. We do not track how much time is spent in either place (except for billing purposes.) Our turnover is basically zero in the last several years – not just in HR District Office, but in Higbee Associates as a whole.” –Lynn
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“I love the concept! Unfortunately, I don’t think it would work in our business, which is retail. We might be able to use it for back-office/administrative functions, but I believe there has to be some face time in order to foster teamwork.” –Lise
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“On the surface this appears to be a creative way to bridge the gap between generations and work place expectations.” –Kim
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“It is pretty hard to mentor someone that is not around on a consistent basis. This will undermine the relationship and make it harder to give feedback.” –Denise
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“Working set amounts of hours is really not about results, but about doing something because it is supposed to be done this way. If people could be more tied to the outcome of their work then more people would be happier with their careers. Its a great idea whose time may come down the road.” –Noelle
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“It sounds fantastic and I would love to be able to do it! But, I think that we (Americans) are used to a certain mindset in the workplace and that is the harder (usually more hours) you work the better employee you are. It would be hard to change that mindset in all of your employees and this could in turn create some resentment.” –Jen
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“Unfortunately adopting such a paradigm shift in culture would possibly cripple an organization who still follows workflows and corporate driven goal setting they built decades ago. Many newcomers are all for it and working smarter is. Not looked at as valuable as sitting at your desk looking busy from 9-5. Anyone else’s company still in a time warp?” –Steve
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“The flexibility to manage your time as you need would create less stress in a job and in life. In turn this makes you more productive. More productive means more money, and money is always the bottom line.” –Brad
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“The ROWE concept is a great one but measures would have to be in place to ensure excellent service. Customers want/need (pay) to have access to their vendors so making sure the correct results are delivered would be a challenge. It really requires drilling down to the specific results the organization wants to achieve and being able to understand what your customers want/need/are willing to accept. Companies would also need to have technology and communication (practices) infrastructures that would support the diversity of schedules and patterns brought on by this approach.” –Charles
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“I think more companies need to expand their thinking and rewards structure, sometimes money isn’t really the bottom line and quality of life is much more appealing.” –Gytahnna
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Your Biggest Concerns
From what I gathered in your comments, many of the concerns or challenges you expressed in your comments regarding ROWE boil down to physical presence and time elements — the need for employees to be physically in the office and during certain times, whether for meetings, teamwork building, customers, last-minute projects, ongoing deadlines, the ability to mentor, the desire to keep an eye on employees’ progress, or something else. The founders of ROWE have detailed answers to many of the same questions and concerns you have all expressed — you can determine whether or not their answers satisfy you.
ROWE — Who’s Doing It?
Some of you also asked at which companies ROWE was currently in place. Companies like Best Buy, Gap Outlet, Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council, and Fairview Health Services’ (their IT department) have adapted a results-only work environment. You can read about one employee’s ROWE experience here.
And as for the concern that with ROWE, employees won’t show up for meetings, answer calls, or meet deadlines, Eric Severson, VP of HR for Gap Inc., says, “That just doesn’t happen. People need feedback on projects and will come to meetings to get sign-offs. Some people still work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, and that’s fine. ROWE is your choice.”
ROWE or not, workplaces are constantly changing — and we enjoy discussing those changes with you. Any additional thoughts about ROWE?
While most of the discussions we’ve had here on The Hiring Site about social media recruitment focus on its benefits, I wanted to take the opportunity to address a recent whitepaper by talent management firm Taleo about social media recruitment’s potential risks. (The main risk being, according to the paper, that companies could, in theory, be accused of practicing discrimination by advertising their opportunities on sites whose user demographic disproportionately represents the workforce demographic.)
While it’s good to be aware of the potential risks Taleo mentions in the whitepaper, it is important to point out that these risks represent the exception, not the rule.
The biggest risk comes from when companies use only social networking sites to source candidates, which could put them at risk for discrimination, according to Taleo, because advertising on just one type of social networking site that attracts only a certain demographic could be seen as an intent to exclude others. (For instance, because the demographic of LinkedIn users disproportionately represents the demographic of the entire workforce, using LinkedIn to source candidates, it could be argued, excludes some groups from getting equal opportunities for employment at your organization.)
But smart companies already know better than to limit their recruiting efforts to just social media because they recognize that social media is just one part of an overallrecruitment mix, used to supplement other talent engagement and attraction efforts.
“Anyone who suggests social media be the sole source for any company’s recruiting, or recruiting for a specific position for that matter, is giving bad advice,” says Melissa Murray, Emerging Media Consultant at Personified.
For instance, used in conjunction with postings, hiring events, internal referrals, college tradeshows, etc., social media adds another channel to attracting the right talent to an organization. And while some companies use it for sourcing, it is best used for employmentbranding and attractingcandidatesto apply to jobs.
(This isn’t just good legal advice, by the way – it’s smart marketing. Using a variety of channels by which to advertise your open positions will ensure you get in front of a wider range of diverse candidates, each with different skills to offer and ideas to bring to the table.)
In fact, if anything, Taleo’s report is simply a reminder of what companies should be doing anyway (and, for the most part, already are) when it comes to recruitiment, namely:
Plan ahead. Discuss potential risks and contingencies with your legal team, PR department and human resources managers before getting involved in social media.
Train your recruiters – whether internally or with the aid of a third-party consultant – on the social networking tools that your company plans on using – in addition to general training on Affirmative Action, EEOC and your company’s own practices to improve its diversity and inclusion efforts.
Create social media guidelines for your company and make sure your employees – or whoever is representing your company in the social media space – are well-versed in these guidelines.
“Bottom line,” says Murray, “If a company’s application process is compliant, and they’re inviting candidates from a variety of platforms, they’re creating a diverse pool. It’s up to their sourcing team and hiring managers to select from this pool in a way that supports the company’s diversity initiatives.”
So long as you view social media as a complement to – and not a replacement for – your overall recruiting process, you can still reap the benefits of a social media recruitment strategy.
According to the survey of nearly 4,800 workers, 56 percent of workers say they are more in need of a vacation in 2010 than they have been in past years. With less anxiety over job stability and the economy, 36 percent say they feel more comfortable taking a vacation this year than they felt in 2009.
Not only are they more likely to take a vacation, but workers say they’re taking longer vacations, too, with 23 percent saying they plan to take a week off this year (up from 19 percent who said the same last year) and 12 percent will take off two weeks or more.
And while 21 percent of workers say they still can’t afford a vacation this year, that’s slightly less than 25 percent who said the same in 2009. (Hey, a slight decrease is still a decrease – we’ll take it!)
Beach BlackBerry Bingo While employees are a little more lax about taking time away from the office, many still plan – and are expected by their bosses – to check in while they’re away:
49 percent of employers say they expect employees to check in with the office while they are away (down slightly from 50 percent who said the same last year)
37 percent indicated that checking in would only be necessary only if they are working on a big project or there is a major issue going on with the company (down from 40 percent who said the same last year)
And where 28 percent of workers said they planned to contact the office during vacation regardless last year, slightly fewer workers – 25 percent – said the same this year.
Companies Need Employee Vacations, Too Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, says that it is to a company’s benefit when workers take advantage of their vacation benefits. “Utilizing time off to recharge batteries is even more important today as staffs have shrunk over the last 18 months and workers are dealing with added responsibilities and pressure,” she says.
Now that it’s prime time to schedule some days off, help ensure that your employees’ time off is a true break from the office:
Encourage your employees to take advantage of their vacation benefits. They’ll appreciate that you’re looking out for their best interests – and the time off…and that can only improve morale.
Encourage your employees to check in with one another – If you are operating with smaller staffs, having more than one person out of the office can negatively impact productivity. Ask that your employees be flexible with one another and work together to schedule vacation time before booking anything.
Encourage your employees to plan ahead – Give yourself – and your vacationing employees – peace of mind by planning for the unexpected. Before they leave, encourage your employees to start keeping a record of important information, key contacts and deadlines that will come up while they are gone and give it to a coworker they have trained to fill in for them while they are gone.
Lead by example – If you are a supervisor, you should go through all the steps of planning and executing a successful vacation away from the office. That way, your workers will be more comfortable doing the same.
Seeing more co-workers stuffing large quantities of cupcakes left after meetings into their purse, or frantically kicking the vending machine to try to trick it into giving them two candy bars? Hopefully not, because that would be messy and violent, respectively — but if you’re eating a little more and are seeing everyone around you do the same, you may be happy to know there’s a reason for all the eating madness: Work stress and economic pressure.
The combination of these two negative forces seems to be a factor in the U.S. labor force’s weight gain, according to a new CareerBuilder survey of more than 4,800 workers. But how much of a factor, really?
Here’s the skinny:
Forty-four percent of the roughly 4,800 workers surveyed say they have gained weight in their current jobs – and 32 percent of those workers attribute the weight gain to stress.
Do you celebrate every co-worker’s birthday with a big ol’ cake, which you eat at your desk, before going out to lunch to celebrate? You’re not alone. Workers’ other reasons for weight gain at work include:
Sitting at a desk most of the day (49 percent)
Eating out regularly (25 percent)
Workplace celebrations like potlucks and birthdays (16 percent)
Skipping meals because of time constraints (14 percent)
What do the scales say?
28 percent of employees report they have gained more than ten pounds, and 12 percent say they gained more than 20 pounds while in their present positions.
Comparing genders, women were more likely to put on weight — and more weight — than men.
Half of female workers (50 percent) say they have gained weight in their current position, compared to 39 percent of their male counterparts.
What can you do to help your employees — and should you?
Employers are divided as to how deeply they should get involved in employees’ personal fitness and health. However, it’s hard to deny that an abundance of stress at work isn’t good for employee morale — and can lead to weight gain in the workplace, unhappy employees, lower productivity, and health issues.
In contrast, company wellness programs have been shown to lower employees’ stress rates, improve health and quality of life, and also save companies money in the process.
“Especially in this economy, it is easier to pick up unhealthy eating habits in the office as workers spend more time on heavier workloads and less time on themselves,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.
“Employers know that employees who are healthier and have less stress are more productive and ultimately stay longer in their positions. Because of this, we continue to see employers taking a more proactive role in their staff’s health by offering perks such as gym passes, onsite workout facilities, wellness benefits and even contests that promote healthy living.”
Even if you don’t want to get too involved as an employer — or involved at all — it’s smart to have available resources for employees should they reach out to you. Haefner recommends the following tips for employees trying to workplace weight gain:
1. Set an eating schedule. Planning out all your meals and snacks will help control your hunger. Set up alerts through your work calendar — or even on your phone — when it is time for you to eat something (and then don’t forget to eat!).
2. Pack a lunch and snacks. You’re less likely to eat something unhealthy if you bring food from home, because you can control portions, take in less calories — and save money while you’re at it. Consider lower-calorie foods for the office such as lean lunch meats, fat-free or reduced calorie chips, celery and carrots, fruit, or low-fat yogurt.
3. Go the extra mile. Especially in this economic environment, every little bit of activity helps, so take the stairs to your floor, get up and walk around the office periodically, and get off the train or bus one stop further from your home or office to get a few extra minutes of exercise.
Read the full press release on workers gaining weight at the office.
While you were spending precious work hours your leisure time playing the best new party game EVER, opening a moral and ethical can of worms, or withdrawing $20 fast cash in solemn tribute to the inventor of the ATM, here’s what was happening in the world of workforce management this week…
Simply answer the question,“Do you think a results-only work environment would work at your company? Why or why not?” in the comments below — and you’ll automatically be entered to win!
What’s ROWE all about? Read on to find out — and then enter to win for your chance at free swag!
What’s ROWE?
At a SXSW Interactive panel this past March, I listened to the founders of the ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment) movement, Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, speak. After hearing more about ROWE and the well-known companies who had successfully adapted a results-only work environment, I was intrigued — and like many others, I had a lot of questions.
The concept of ROWE is, at its face, simple. People should have control of their own time — not the companies for which they work. In a results-only environment, the only thing that matters is results – not how many hours you’re at the office.
As an employee, you own your time 24/7.
Unlimited PTO as long as the work gets done.
Go to the grocery store on a Tuesday at 10 a.m. if you need to.
No more mandatory meetings.
No more permission-granting from your employer, but instead, performance guiding.
Employees are trusted with their time.
As Ressler and Thompson say, “Work isn’t a place you go — it’s a thing you do.” They are quick to stress that ROWE is not the same as flex time, telecommuting, job sharing, or employees to work from home a couple of days per week — those options, they say, are not enough.
From www.gorowe.com:
In a results-only company or department, employees can do whatever they want whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. You make the decisions about what you do and where you do it, every minute of every day.
Here’s a video explaining ROWE, featuring employers who have adapted it:
The CEO of Girl Scouts of San Gorgonia Council, who pioneered ROWE for the organization when she came on board as CEO, recently wrote an article about her take on ROWE and workplace flexibility.
The Benefits?
According to stats on Ressler and Thompson’s website:
ROWE teams report an average increase of 35% in productivity by eliminating waste from systems and processes, which increases employee capacity.
ROWE teams also experience up to a 90% decrease in voluntary turnover rates.
Other benefits:
Talent retention and attraction — Ressler and Thompson argue that companies in a results-only environment have a competitive advantage, as many candidates willing to be paid less money and have more freedom rather than work in a company with a traditional structure and more money.
Optimization of space — Employees are working remotely much of the time.
Elimination of wasteful processes — Employees will not be wasting a company’s time, money, and resources.
Challenges?
This may all sound too good to be true — so in our follow-up post, we’ll address some of the challenges companies who choose this route face, as well as some of your proposed challenges.
As employees of companies of all sizes (or as candidates looking for your next job), we at The Hiring Site want to get your thoughts. If nothing else, with work/life lines blurring more and more and more workers demanding (or at least requesting) flexibility and freedom in the workplace, it’s an interesting concept to start discussing.
How to Enter:
Simply answer this question in the comments below: “Do you think a results-only work environment would work at your company? Why or why not?”
Once you submit your answer, you’ll automatically be entered to win.
What Can you Win?
One of you will win a 3-month breakfast club subscription for your team
Two of you will win a 3-month Dunkin’ Donuts coffee subscription (that’s 2 lbs./month of regular or decaf, whole bean or ground, however you want it!)
Four of you will win a copy of “Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It” by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson.
Contest Details:
Entries will be accepted from 12:00 a.m. CST on Monday, May 17, 2010 until 11:59 p.m. CST on Friday, May 21, 2010. Each account may only submit one answer for consideration; subsequent entries will not be considered. Spam responses will not be considered. The winner will be picked at random and notified via e-mail the week of May 24, 2010.Please read the full list of official contest rules and regulations.
Just answer this question: “Do you think a results-only work environment would work at your company? Why or why not?”
Want to hear more about ROWE? Listen to Ressler and Thompson on NPR, in a three-part story about result-only work environments.
True story. According to a new CareerBuilder survey of more than 2,700 employers and 4,800 workers nationwide, 33 percent of workers said they are likely to start looking for a new job when the economy picks up.
(Could you imagine losing an entire third of your employee base? That would be like, say your staff was the Jonas Brothers, okay? And Joe Jonas suddenly up and leaves to join another band. Consider the toll that would take on the quality of…Okay, maybe that’s not the world’s greatest analogy, but the point is, it would be bad.)
Anyway, in the same survey, nearly the same amount of employers (32 percent) say theyare concerned about losing their high performing workers in the second quarter of this year (as, apparently, they should be).
What Makes Good Employees Stray? Dissatisfaction with pay (32 percent), career advancement opportunities (27 percent) and work/life balance (22 percent) were the top reasons employees gave for wanting to leave their current jobs, an increase from the 29 percent, 24 percent and 20 percent, respectively, who said the same in 2009.
The increased levels of dissatisfaction could be attributed that increased workloads, longer hours and fewer resources related to the recession may be contributing to higher job dissatisfaction.
What Makes Good Employees Stay? Understanding what you’re employees want is the first step to keeping them motivated and happy and retaining them. After competitive pay and benefits, the following incentives topped hospitality workers’ “most wanted” list of employer offerings:
Good career advancement opportunities (60 percent)
A good work culture (57 percent)
Company’s financial stability and growth potential (52 percent)
Training and learning opportunities (47 percent)
Less stressful work environment (45 percent)
Flexible work arrangements (43 percent)
Sense of ownership in their position, that they can make a difference (42 percent)
Camaraderie, more family-like work environment (34 percent)
Asked what they were doing to hold on to top talent and reduce turnover, employers listed the following:
Offering more flexible work arrangements
Investing more in employee training
Promising future raises or promotions
Offering more performance-based incentives, such as trips and bonuses
Providing a higher title without a higher salary
What is your company doing to keep Joe Jonas in the band retain workers?
Despite a recovering job market, there appears to be no year-over-year increase in employers’ summer hiring plans this year, according to CareerBuilder’s Annual Summer Hiring Forecast, released today.
According to the survey of more than 2,700 employers nationwide, 22 percent of employers plan to hire seasonal workers this summer, in line with estimates from 2009. Fifteen percent of employers say they are planning to hire the same amount of summer workers as last year, while 5 percent plan to add fewer.
“While companies have begun to take steps in the right direction toward rebuilding their workforces, their summer hiring plans clearly show that they are still waiting to see what the future brings before they move forward with recruitment,” said Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder’s vice president of human resources, in the press release.
Summer plans? Of those employers who say they plan to hire seasonal workers this summer,
71 percent will offer the same pay to seasonal workers this year as they did last year, while 14 percent will offer more…
…and 57 percent will consider bringing these employees on full-time in the fall.
What’s a seasonal worker worth? Here’s a breakdown of the compensation offerings from employers this summer:
43 percent of employers are offering $10 or more per hour
30 percent will offer between $8 and $10 per hour
9 percent will offer less than $7 per hour
6 percent will offer $20 or more per hour
Who’s hiring? Across all industries, those doing the most hiring include:
Retail – 40 percent
Hospitality – 33 percent
Office support – 28 percent
Customer service – 21 percent
Landscape/maintenance – 16 percent
Research – 13 percent
Sales – 12 percent
Restaurant/food service – 12 percent
While the moderate hiring forecast inevitably means more competition among job seekers, it doesn’t necessarily mean recruiting and hiring managers are going to have it any easier when it comes to finding qualified workers. If you’re in the market to hire, follow these tips from QSR Magazine:
Think “seasonal,” not “temporary”: The term temporary implies that workers aren’t really invested in the company when in fact you want employees who are sufficiently invested in the company and its future. (Workforce.com also has a great article about how to manage “nonstandard” work arrangements.)
Consider rehiring: Managers often keep track of former seasonal workers who are on breaks from school again and may be interested in coming back for work again. You also save money on training this way.
There’s no time like the present: Summer workers begin looking up to two months in advance…meaning employers would do well to start their candidate searches now in order to get their pick of the seasonal talent litter.
Set clear expectations from the start: To avoid confusion/trouble/plain-ol’-awkwardness later on, ensure your employees understand from the beginning that they are being hired as seasonal help, that their hours or a full-time position are not guaranteed, or anything else they need to understand about their contracts.
In case you missed the BLS’ employment report released Friday, check out a quick recap in the First Business video below, where Brent Rasmussen, President of North America at CareerBuilder, talks about the highlights of the report and what it means for the current and future state of the job market:
Among the highlights of the report:
Employment rose by 290,000 in April, surpassing the 185,000 predicted by economists
The unemployment rate, which hit 9.9 percent, increased due to the number of people who, previously discouraged from looking for jobs, have resumed their job searches (the unemployment rate only captures those who are actively looking for jobs)
Hourly wages increased slightly last month, to $22.47 from $22.46
The average work week increased to 34.1 hours from 34 hours in March
The manufacturing industry sector experienced the biggest boost in growth, adding 44,000 jobs; followed by temporary help services (26,000); health care (20,100); construction (14,000); retail (12,400); mining (7,000); computer systems design (7,000) and federal government (66,000 – due largely to temporary workers hired for the census)
The transportation and warehousing and information companies industry sectors all cut jobs last month
While recovery is well underway, its status as a slow one has yet to change. With the economy growing at just a 3.2 percent pace in the first quarter of this year, it has a long way to go to catch up for the 6 percent to 8 percent per quarter gains it needs in order for employers to start hiring significantly.
You may have a dozen reasons to celebrate Mother’s Day this Sunday, but here’s one you may not have thought of — a tough economy. A recent CareerBuilder survey of 604 women, employed full-time with children 18 and under living in the household, shows that working moms may be feeling more stressed — and less appreciated — in our current economic climate.
Working moms, many of them recently tasked with the responsibility of keeping their families afloat due to unemployed spouses or other financial issues, have had to become more resourceful than ever.
According to survey results:
Twelve percent of working moms said their spouse or significant other has become unemployed in the last 12 months, with two-thirds (67 percent) indicating that it is causing stress at home.
Thirty-six percent of working moms said they are the sole provider for their household.
Nearly one-in-ten (9 percent) have taken on a second job in the last 12 months to provide for their family.
Work/life balance — what’s that again?
As a result, achieving a work/life balance can be a lot of work in itself, as moms are working more hours — which often translates to less time at home with the family:
Forty-three percent of working moms work more than 40 hours per week.
More than one-third (34 percent) who take work home reported they typically bring work home three days a week or more.
Twenty-three percent bring work home on the weekends.
Nearly one-in-five (18 percent) of working moms said they spend two hours or less with their children each work day.
Nearly three-in-ten (29 percent) reported they missed two or more significant events in their child’s life due to work in the last year.
So what can working moms do to achieve more balance?
CareerBuilder’s Mary Delaney, a working mother herself, offers other working moms her thoughts and tips:
“The tough economy has taken its toll on family units and working moms are challenged with doing more with less time,” said Mary Delaney, President of Personified, CareerBuilder’s talent consulting division, and mother of three.
“What we’re seeing from these moms is a great deal of resourcefulness and resilience as they provide for their families. While they may not be able to spend as much time with their children as they would like, working moms are making the most of the time they do have and getting creative in work arrangements.”
Delaney recommends the following tips to help working moms navigate through difficult economic times:
Talk to other working moms. Many families are in the same boat as you and having a support network is essential to your personal and professional sanity. Getting tips from other working moms on how they juggle personal and professional commitments can be a big help.
Seek out flexible work arrangements. The vast majority of working moms who have taken advantage of flexible work arrangements said it hasn’t negatively impacted their careers. In fact, one-in-five (21 percent) said it has actually helped their careers.
Have a plan. Structure in your life will save you time, stress and mental energy. Keep one calendar for business and family commitments to avoid double-booking. Set up a schedule for chores, homework, family activities, playtime, etc.
Take advantage of work perks. Companies offer a variety of perks such as wellness benefits, company discounts on entertainment venues, etc. Talk to your HR department and see what is available to help save money on monthly expenses and fun family outings.
Make the most of your family time. When you’re home, it’s all about them. Wait until after the children go to bed before checking email or finishing up that presentation.
Schedule some “me time.” Working moms need to take care of themselves too. Put actual time on the calendar for an hour or more of doing something you enjoy such as going to the gym, taking a walk, reading, etc.
Working moms (or dads) — any tips to add that have helped your family get things back in order?
From the blunt (“What don’t you like about working for your company?”) to the bizarre (“If you walked into a room filled with jars and I was one of the jars, what would I have to contain to stand out from the others?”), the only thing more surprising than the actual questions our readers submitted were the surprisingly insightful lessons they gleaned from those questions.
So without further ado, I present The Hiring Site readers’ nominees for the most difficult-to-answer interview questions they ever received from job candidates…and what they took away from the experience:
“What is your company’s mission statement?” Seems like an innocent enough question, but Christina Thais was still relatively new to her company when a candidate asked her this during a phone interview, causing her to go blank. Another reader, Angie, had a similar experience when a candidate asked her to describe the company’s corporate culture. Since then, Angie writes, she has “taken the time to really think about how to communicate our corporate culture to future candidates.” Lesson learned: Both Christina and Angie’s experience highlight how important it is to ensure your employees understand the company vision, mission and values and constantly look for opportunities to communicate these things. Not only will the constant reminders keep you and your employees accountable for upholding these values and objectives, but the ability to recite these things off the bat is a sign to candidates that you actually “walk the walk.”
“What don’t you like about working for your company?” After being asked this question, reader Jessica writes, “I now prepare myself with potential similar difficult questions that may come up during the interview process.” Lesson learned: Alas, you can’t anticipate every difficult question that’s going to come your way, but you can anticipate that difficult questions will come up, and when they do, your best bet will be to simply tell the truth. After all,if you’re dishonest or bend the truth, you risk the chance of setting false expectations for the candidate. A sugar-coated answer might help you fill the position, but it won’t stay filled very long. [Side note: This is also a good attitude to have if you, like one reader, Bridget, ever get a question like: “If you walked into a room filled with jars and I was one of the jars, what would I have to contain to stand out from the others?” “I’m still not sure how to answer that question,” Bridget writes.]
“So what’s in it for me?” Another reader, NL, remembers being “appalled” when a potential candidate for an entry-level receptionist position asked this, the second in a line of questioning that began, “Why should I accept an offer to work for this company? Obviously, you’re not Google, with candidates sending you flowers, balloon telegrams or banging on your door to get it in.” Lesson learned: Not only did the candidate’s attitude reveal that she would not be a good fit for the company and that “phone screens are essential!” but it also seemed to confirm what NL already knew: It’s more than okay to not be Google. “Considering that every other candidate had heard about us prior to even applying…we are doing something right.”
“Will you be keeping in touch? WILL you?” It’s easy to forget how heavily candidates depend on that post-interview phone call from you…until one of them actually says so. Such is what happened to one commenter, J., who was met with bitter disbelief after promising to keep in touch with one candidate, who had apparently been (falsely) told one too many times by recruiters that she’d be called back. Lesson learned: The confrontation taught J. ”that a response to a candidate is not a courtesy, it’s an essential part of the process and should never, ever be overlooked or taken lightly. We are dealing with real people with real lives and very real concerns and challenges. Every one of them deserves respect, and a response.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
“How many healthy choices do you offer in your vending machine?” When Eileen Hershkowitz received this question as well as many others about various working conditions at her company that promoted a healthy lifestyle, she realized that the candidate was seeking affirmation that her company not only talked about employee wellness, but truly executed that in its culture. Lesson learned: Eileen writes, “The candidate really had a valid point in my mind and made me re-think how important areas such as break rooms, and choices in vending machines and/or cafeterias can affect how your employees view your organization in the commitment to its most valuable resource.” In other words, it’s in the every day things things companies do – not just through quarterly bonuses, annual awards or periodic celebrations – that communicate to your employees that you sincerely value their efforts, support them and want to ensure their success.
“What are the specific steps you as my manager take to ensure my success in this position, and what are your procedures for preparing for my termination if I’m not?” After getting this question at the end of a sales position interview, reader James was understandably thrown off guard. After all, not many people ask about the firing process; however, James wrote that it made him consider how his accountability practices play into his goals for his team’s performance. Lesson learned: “Interviews (especially for sales positions) need to include detailed expectations for success and ‘how’ the candidates will be held accountable for that success so that he/she knows exactly what will be expected of them should they get the job.”
“Why isn’t anybody that works at your company happy?” Sure, it’s not the most eloquently phrased question, and perhaps a tad on the presumptuous side, but when a candidate threw this question to one anonymous reader, rather than take offense and immediately dismiss the candidate, the interviewer instead took the opportunity to find out where the candidate had gotten such an impression and clarify any misconceptions about the company. Lesson learned: The interview process provides an opportunity to find out how well your company is executing its employment brand, and give insight into how to better execute it.
“What do you do if he (the owner) dies?” Despite its bluntness, reader Brett found this question to be smart once he realized that the candidate was thinking long term, and was concerned about the company’s viability should he be hired. Brett writes that this question “made me start to think – we prep for a lot of things like talking salary & benefits because we think about what we’d want to know… but you never know who’s sitting on the other side of the desk and what their wants/needs are…” Lesson learned: Brett brings up a good point about the importance of doing the right research to understand candidate attitudes, behaviors and perceptions when recruiting and trying to sell your company to candidates.
The overall lesson?
At the very least, questions like these can give you insight into how an individual thinks and his or her motives for taking a job, as well as a glimpse into their soft skills, what kind of employee they will make and how, if hired, they would potentially sell your company to others, to name just a few additional benefits.
At the most, these questions can help prepare you for future interviews and give you insight into something about your company that needs to be addressed (see “Why isn’t anybody who works at your company happy?” above) – whether it’s better communication about the company mission statement, or the fact that you need to better manage or build your external employment brand.
What about you? Any questions of your own to add to the list? And if so, did you learn from the experience?
If you can tear yourself away from KFC’s Double Down sandwich or the latest episode of Glee long enough, take a few minutes to check out what you’ve missed this past month in the wonderful and sometimes wacky world of recruitment.
We found reason to be optimistic with CareerBuilder and USA Today’s Q2 2010 hiring forecast results, and BLS released March’s Employment Situation report, which revealed that the economy saw its largest job gain in three years. And hey! Things are even looking up for college graduates in terms of the job outlook.
While we’re talking about better news in hiring, I should probably mention that we just released our new how-to-hire e-book, CareerBuilder’s Ultimate Recruitment Guide. Download a copy for yourself — or your team — now.
What are workers spending their tax refunds on this year? Is it that trip to see grandma in Wyoming? A new lifetime supply of bathroom tissue? You may be surprised. On that note, a new CareerBuilder survey found that the majority of employers are doing something to become more environmentally friendly, or “green” –investing in bathroom tissue made from recycled tissue, perhaps?
Jim Greenwood, CEO of Concentra, Inc. shared his thoughts on being a CEO — a Chief Encouragement Officer, that is — and talked about Concentra’s workplace culture, the importance of giving colleagues an opt out, and much more. Another leader, Martha O’Gorman, chief marketing officer at Liberty Tax Service, talked with us about why employees should be left to do their jobs, when humor’s appropriate in workplace culture, and why the company doesn’t believe in traditional national advertising.
Do you want colleagues — or ex-colleagues — rating you anonymously and gaining control over whether that next employer wants to hire you? A new social networking site, Unvarnished, thinks you do. Speaking of the power of employee referrals, we revealed how a personal phone call from George Lopez to Conan O’Brien helped Conan decide to sign on to Team TBS.
In yet another sign of a recovering job market, a new CareerBuilder survey released today shows that laid-off workers’ job searches are beginning to improve as well. According to the nationwide survey of 900 workers who were laid off in the past year, 51 percent of workers who were laid off in the last three months have found new full-time or part-time positions.
The percentage shows a marked increase from the 44 percent of workers who said the same in a November 2009 survey.
“As consumers and businesses grow more confident in the economic outlook in the U.S., hiring managers are beginning to add new staff at an improved, but cautious pace,” says Brent Rasmussen, President of CareerBuilder North America, in the press release.
Among the highlights of the survey:
40% of the newly employed workers surveyed reported they were able to negotiate comparable or higher pay for their new position, while 61% took a pay cut.
57% of workers laid off in the last six months have been re-hired by their former employer who laid them off from their jobs.
71% of workers who were laid off in the last six months and have not found jobs would be willing to work for their former employer, 22% of whom said they would only return if offered more money.
64% of workers who were laid off in the last six months and landed new jobs said they found work in a different field than where they were previously employed.
63% of workers who found new jobs in the last six months plan to stay with their current employers when the economy turns around
37% of workers who found new jobs in the last six months plan to look for new jobs as the economy improves.
46% of workers who were laid off in the last six months and found jobs relocated. Of those workers, 93% moved to another city versus another state.
What do these findings mean for you, the employer? A few thoughts…
While many job seekers are willing to negotiate a lower salary, this may be temporary, as indicated by the nearly 4 in 10 workers who’ve indicated that they plan to look for new jobs as the economy improves, making it crucial that you start thinking about a talent compensation strategy to ensure you’re offering the salary that is not only fair to your organization, but also competitive enough to attract new employees and compel your current ones to stay.
And while offering competitive compensation can go far in attracting and retaining talent, you also need to think about the intangible benefits employees crave, such as career growth opportunities and work/life balance. Learn more about ways to retain your best talent.
Perhaps you only want to consider local candidates, but if you’re having a tough time getting the right talent in your area, think about how 42 percent of workers report that they would consider relocating for a job opportunity, and consider expanding your geographic talent search.
Finally, as the need for talent increases, don’t discount former employees as talent sources. (Even if your open positions differ from those the former employees occupied, consider the 64 percent of workers who made use of their transferrable skills by taking jobs in a different field). After all, former employees are already familiar with the culture, have established relationships and may have an easier time making the transition to a new role in a familiar environment than someone completely new.
In the following excerpt from CareerBuilder’s recent interview with Martha O’Gorman, chief marketing officer of Liberty Tax Service, she discusses the importance of hiring the right people for the right jobs, the value of company culture and engaging brand advocates.
Liberty Tax Service has been the recipient of several awards in the past couple years – which of these are you most proud of and why?
We’re proud of all of them, but I think the one that we’re most proud of is one that we just received locally from Inside Businessmagazine, calling Liberty Tax Service “one of the best places to work in Hampton Roads” (which is the Tidewater Region of Virginia). To be named the best place to work in an entire metropolitan region was really special to us because we really embrace our culture, and we are proud to be recognized as a great place to work. Our rankings in Entrepreneur Magazine also stand out because that’s an industry-wide franchise publication that many people refer to when they’re looking to purchase a franchise opportunity. To be recognized by them as one of the fastest growing franchise opportunities – and one of the best out of 500 opportunities – is good for the franchise system in general.
The Liberty Tax Service franchise opportunity is #9 on the fastest growing franchises list of the 2010 Entrepreneur “Franchise 500.” To what do you attribute your growth?
I think the number one thing is the experience of the management team. Our CEO, John Hewitt, founded Jackson Hewitt Tax Service in 1982 and grew that to a very large franchise system, a system that today still bears his name. I, myself, am one of the founders of Liberty Tax Service, and I have over 20 years of experience in the income tax industry. When we decided to start another income tax company, we made a bunch of rules: to learn by our mistakes, to help foster the culture, and to promote people to jobs that they were good at. I think that the reason that we’ve been so successful is because we have been able to hire the right people, make them happy and then bring on great franchisees.
How would you describe your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?
I believe that people should be left to do their jobs. I don’t believe that [micro management] fosters creativity and excitement in the workplace. My personal philosophy is to hire the right people, give them their job description and what their key result areas are, and then let them go ahead and figure out how they are going to achieve those results. One of the principles of our company is, “Mistakes are a wise person’s education.” We believe that nobody’s perfect, and you’re going to make mistakes, and your mistake is like an education. We [as managers] are here to guide you, but you’ve got some freedoms and some flexibility to make your own decisions on how you’re going to run your business.
How do you engage and relate to your people? What experiences or lessons influence your leadership style?
Many folks who work with me have been with me for a long time, from the beginning of starting Liberty Tax Service. We are, as a group and as a department, very tight. There’s a lot of laughing that goes on, but when the work needs to get done, we push to be the best and to really get results because everybody is proud to be a part of the marketing department. If I attribute anything to my management style, it’s the fact that I let people do their jobs. I truly believe that you can have fun every single minute you’re at work if you enjoy what you’re doing.
How do people affect your business, particularly as it relates to your revenue stream?
We manage our employees though the position-results description method: Our employees set a goal for what their job is, and then there are key result areas that they agree with their manager are “the things that I am going to achieve this year.” We make sure that each key result area is measurable, but we also make sure that they are attainable. We work together throughout the year to make sure that everybody is on track. It’s a really good way to kind of put your goals down on paper and then track if you are achieving them.
Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people, yet you’ve made your overall talent strategy a priority in your role. Tell me about that.
I think our company operates quite a bit differently from some other large companies to attract good people. We have a referral program that motivates our employees and our franchisees to seek out good people. Our HR department is not a traditional HR department. They help us with issues, but when it comes to the actual hiring process, it is really left up to the managers to find and interview those people and make the hiring decision. We look for the right people, we bring them on, we test them in different positions, and we find the right job for them. It really boils down to this: you’ve got to hire for attitude and then train for skill. If somebody doesn’t have the right attitude, it doesn’t matter what job you put them in, they are not going to perform. We like to hire people who are happy, positive, and willing to stretch and to learn.
I understand that Liberty Tax Service doesn’t advertise nationally, and you’ve relied heavily on guerilla marketing with wavers and franchisees generating most of the buzz about your brand in the market. How have you used social media to extend your non-traditional marketing to reach a wider audience, centralize marketing efforts, and preserve your brand?
We’re new to social media. We knew that we needed to be involved in that, but we weren’t really sure how to do it. The first thing we did was hire an online brand manager who has experience in that environment. We’ve relied pretty heavily on the folks at CareerBuilder to help guide us through that and give us ideas on how we can better position ourselves on the web with social media.
We don’t believe in traditional national advertising. Television has lost a lot of its effectiveness. We continue have a very high percentage increase in business every year, and I attribute it to the fact that we’re doing non-traditional things, whereas our competitors are still acting very traditionally when it comes to media and to advertising.
We’ve developed a persona: We’ve developed a Facebook page that is dedicated to “Libby” and her adventures going across the United States and what she is going to encounter during tax season. We also have a traditional Facebook page where people can ask questions and we can post tax tips. Building the friend base has been very easy. People are interested, especially during tax time. Everybody has to file taxes, so you have a ready-made base of people who are seeking information, and we’ve found a fun way to do it through the interaction on the social media sites. And it has been very successful for us so far.
Tax preparation is a very personal service, and communicating on a one-on-one basis is far more meaningful to our customers than mass media advertising.
What lessons have you learning along the way in regards to social media?
One lesson we’ve learned is that you need to have a solid background in what your strategy is and how you’re going to implement it. I think you can hurt yourself very easily by going out onto Facebook or Twitter and not understanding what the rules of engagement are. You can kill your image as quickly as you can build your image if you don’t respect those parameters.
When we started, we were dabbling in it and didn’t really have a firm grasp of what we should be doing. I think we made some wise decisions by getting help from people who understood the space and could make some recommendations on how we should move forward. I feel really comfortable with where we are now with our social media presence, because we are moving through the environment in a way that is not only proper, but also fun and inviting for the people who are participating on our sites.
How have you leveraged your employment brand to grow your business? Why is this important to you?
It may sound cliché, but we have a group of advocates out in the marketplace, in virtually every DMA in the country who really love Liberty Tax Service, and who love working for Liberty Tax Service. So we’ve got this band of advocates who are out there singing our praises. Just last weekend I was at an office and there was a waver out on the street, and we had three separate people walk in and say, “How do I get that cool job? I’d like to have that job.” It’s rewarding and gratifying, but it also lets you know that people are noticing us and they understand what it means to be part of Liberty Tax Service. We’re just doing an outstanding job of recruiting the right people, showing them the right way to do business, and they in turn tell everybody they know.
Can you give me one or two examples of how one person had a major impact at Liberty Tax?
I would have to start with our CEO, John Hewitt. John is the consummate workaholic. He is constantly striving for betterment: both betterment of the company and giving the people who work within the company the opportunity to continue to grow and to achieve. His leadership, wisdom and vision are paramount to the success of our company. We like to call him the granddaddy of the industry. His wealth of experience and knowledge is unsurpassed in the income tax industry and in business circles in general.
Then I would have to use the franchisees, collectively, as our second group of people who propelled Liberty Tax Service to where we are today. We’ve got, I think, an unusual group of franchisees. Our franchisees are very entrepreneurial and are constantly bringing us all kinds of great ideas. And they bring them to the table with passion and understanding of what it’s like to be out in the field and on the front lines with the customers. They’re all just very, very motivated and really love what they are doing: They’re the kind of people that you want to hang out with.
What other advice would you share through this piece?
My advice to anyone who is looking to start a business or to re-engineer their business is to look outside of what you know. Just because this is the way that we’ve always done it doesn’t mean that’s the way that it always needs to be done. And that applies to virtually any business – whether it’s manufacturing, retail, science, or anything – because if you don’t look for a different way of doing things, you’re going to get the same results you’ve always gotten.
John likes to say, “If you do what you always did, then you’re going to get what you always got.” Another one of our principles is to break boundaries. You have to take those risks. You have to be able to steel yourself and say, “Okay, I’ve never done this before, but now I’m going to figure out how to do it and here’s the goal that we’re going after.”
Liberty Tax Service is the fastest growing retail tax preparation company in the industry’s history. Founded in 1997 by CEO John T. Hewitt, Liberty Tax Service has prepared over 7,000,000 individual income tax returns. Liberty Tax Service provides computerized income tax preparation, electronic filing and online filing through eSmart Tax. Each office offers customers audit assistance, a money back guarantee and free tax return checking. The Liberty Tax Service franchise opportunity is #9 on the fastest growing franchises list of the 2010 Entrepreneur “Franchise 500.” For more information on Liberty Tax visitwww.libertytax.com
If you’re not yet familiar with the government’s recently revised stipulations for hiring unpaid interns, might I suggest pouring yourself a nice glass of Merlot, perhaps turning down the lights and putting on some Al Green, while you sit back and get to know them a little bit better…?
