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Unemployment: Blessing or Burden for HR?

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Normally, when the economy is growing in a constant manner, unemployment extensions should disappear. However, a study done in 2016 by the National Bureau of Economic Research has discovered that even though the economy has been progressing, high unemployment rates remained persistent due to these extensions. Long-term benefits offer workers the option of either to seek employment or to extend their benefit period. Due to these choices, HR departments may end up being forced to raise wages to encourage people to start working again. Consequently, business profits drop and job creation is proactively discouraged. The obvious conclusion here is that unemployment benefits extensions have a long-term unfavourable impact on the workforce market and it also helps to develop an unending cycle of reduced demand for workers.  Inherently, Americans take pride in their work and they generally prefer to have a job rather than collecting benefits. But this issue should not be considered insignificant, because HR recruitment has become one of the most important activities in most companies.

Long-Term Unemployment Stigma

To be perfectly clear, there are people who desire to work but cannot find anything near their area. In this type of scenario, the extensions do serve their purpose. But as the economy continues to grow and the recruitment process has started to generate some speed, long-term unemployed people find it difficult to get a job. If a person is out of work for more than 26 weeks, then their chances of employment drop considerably due to the fact that organisations are more and more reluctant on hiring such individuals. This is another issue that the HR department has to address. In general, recruiters or hiring managers follow their instinct and have somewhat fixed ideas of what makes a good candidate. Most of them believe that if the candidate is good at what they do, they should not be dealing with unemployment and thus stigma instils. HR needs to recognise this issue and solve it as soon as possible. Given the fact that numerous long-term unemployed candidates have a strong will and desire to work and succeed, they could represent a perfect fit for many companies.

Unemployment Compensation Costs

Organisations with a high employee turnover have to pay annual compensation costs to the employees they lose. Many of these companies believe it is the price of doing business, but they could not be any more wrong. The unemployment tax varies due to the number of claims an organisation receives. In layman’s terms, fewer claims mean a lower tax rate. HR managers can make sure these claims are handled with care or even reduce these unemployment costs. If the unemployment extension continues, it can become a serious burden to companies in the future as they will struggle to reduce costs and make ends meet. Unfortunately, as long as the debate is still held up in Congress, many Americans will continue to fight hard in order to get a job.

Downside of Low Unemployment
On a national level, the Department of Labor has discovered that unemployment levels have reached a 9-year low of only 4.6%, but given America’s population the number is continuously problematic. As the US economy has grown, more jobs have become available, but, at the same time, many unemployed workers have opted to stop looking for work. Interestingly enough, this will only make the rates go even further down given the fact the unemployment rate is only taking into consideration people who are actively searching for a job. Historically, low unemployment levels have impacted companies in various ways. As mentioned earlier, low rates of unemployment are associated with a strong growing economy, but there are plenty of downsides to all of this.

1. Reduced loyalty when problems arise – even with short-term problems this may affect your company. When unemployment is low, people feel that they can find a new place to work almost instantly. This leads to a high turnover and to many employees leaving giving shorter notices as they feel pressured to hit the ground running at the new workplace.

2. Harder to find replacements – Given the fact that there are fewer applicants for your empty position, this means it will take your organisation a longer period of time to find the right person who meets all the requirements.

3. The inability to fill available roles leads to customer dissatisfaction – Organisations may end up losing valuable business if proper solutions cannot be found in the necessary time frame. Consequently, companies may eventually have to turn down new business opportunities because they won’t be able to keep up with the rising demands.

4. Growth will slow down over time – There is a possibility that the unemployment levels are only artificially low due to the simple fact that many workers opted for jobs with fewer hours and less pay. This affects the natural growth of wages and it can also incapacitate the economic growth since employees are also customers and they spend less and less.

5. Bigger training budgets – The skill gap will certainly become a problem resulting from candidates who lack the prerequisite skills in order to do their jobs. Obviously, the profit margins will suffer.

The decrease in numbers in the labour market is also due to retired Baby Boomers. Plus, the changing times that we are all experiencing. In the past, young people have already begun work, but now they are focused on finishing their degrees. Which is not necessarily a bad thing given the fact that this translates into a highly skilled workforce for the future. All in all, the unemployment level is very peculiar and problematic. The short-term figures are at a historic low, whilst HR departments are facing major difficulties in recruiting which suggests the labour market is strained. In order for companies to progress, HR specialists have to innovate in terms of their respective recruitment processes in order for the labour market to stabilise.

This is where Great People Inside comes to your aid. Our online platform offers the best solutions and tools for your company to thrive in every type of industry and any possible situation your organisation may find itself. In terms of lowering your employee turnover rates we recommend our GR8 Full Spectrum assessment for hiring and 360° Survey for retention. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation, can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

 

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Sources:

http://www.hraffiliates.com/unemployment-extensions-and-how-it-affects-hrs/

http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2017/01/12/downsides-low-unemployments/

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/low-unemployment-rate-high-underemployment.aspxs

https://www.forbes.com/sites/louisefron/2014/08/20/tackling-the-real-unemployment-rate-12-6/#47b42c7e2473

How to Build a Strong Employee Value Proposition

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Numerous managers, HR specialists and entrepreneurs struggle with the meaning of Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Most of them even confuse it with Employer Brand. Just to set the record straight EVP represents the salary, benefits and compensation that an employer gives to his employees in order to get the best out of their skills, productivity and experience, thus encouraging the continuous development of the company’s values, mission, purpose and business goals. An organisation’s Employee Value Proposition works alongside the Employer Brand and is a crucial factor when talking about attracting, retaining or losing talent within a company.

Whether they are aware of it or not, every existing organisation has an EVP and it may or may not thoroughly defined.

Traditionally, the Employer Value Proposition can be divided in 3 parts: salary, compensation and benefits. Things get even more interesting when talking about benefits. They can come in 3 forms as well:

  • Supplementary compensation – These benefits can consist of: health insurance, dental plan, company car, gym membership, flexible working hours, etc.
  • Values, mission and purpose – They definitely represent benefits for employees. If they can relate to them on a personal level, performance levels may go through the roof.
  • People and culture – Usually, it is an overlooked benefit. Great people want to work with great people. No one wants to be surrounded by incompetent colleagues. If the HR department is doing its job well, great people will definitely attract great people. Although the brand starts the culture, it can only be brought to life by its employees.

Due to a more and more tightening labour market, it has become extremely difficult to attract and retain top talent, thus the re-emergence of the Employee Value Proposition.

EVP puts pressure on the organisation, not the employee

 Due to its unique concept, EVP puts the company in the position of developing a ‘proposition of value’ to the people they want. Hence, the Employee Value Proposition may very well be the solution of fixing the problems revolving around employee engagement. The existing research done on engagement has revealed that most employees are “engageable” and very willing to cooperate.

People who have helpful managers, are well paid and their merits are being properly recognised, do not experience burnout due to exaggerated to-do lists, have the opportunity to advance professionally, they become devoted employees. If they are being deprived of these experiences, frustration instils and they leave at a moment’s notice.

Up until now, the term ‘employee engagement’ was used to criticise disgruntled employees, thus enabling the organisation to put the burden on their workers. They were expected to be ‘engaged’ and if that did not happen, instead of the company questioning itself, employees were deemed flawed.

EVP analyses the company through the eyes of possible and former employees

Current engagement programmes are tailored around surveys designed for current employees. Unfortunately, the results of these surveys do not help much because there is no outside perception from the people that might be hired or have left.

In the case of compensation, this topic tends to be terribly underestimated in the survey analysis. This happens due to the fact that the people who have chosen to remain within the organisation are being properly remunerated, whilst the top talent has left the company in search for higher wages and they do not partake in the surveys because they are former employees.

Interestingly enough, people working in marketing do not have this type of mentality. They are continuously preoccupied with what consumers think and feel about a brand, why they shop at their competitors, etc. Due to the fact that EVP has its roots from the marketing concept of customer value proposition, the Employee Value Proposition pays special attention to the ‘employer brand’ in a way general employee engagement programmes never had. This idea is especially essential now that websites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor offer people the possibility of getting information from former and current employees.

If done properly, EVP leads to a focused approach on employee happiness

According to the research conducted by BI Worldwide, what employees cherish the most is happiness. This is hardly a new concept in employee performance analysis, because if organisations take a closer look, they do not want to engage employees but to make them happy. EVP stands for a strategic framework in which the organisation creates experiences that will trigger happiness into their employees. In layman’s terms, happiness represents the ultimate EVP.

EVP ensures success due to its roots and the responsibility it places on companies. Furthermore, in many industries, the demand for workers is so high nowadays that businesses tend to ignore this concept. In light of the fact of people spend most of their time at their job and their egos get so tangled in their work, companies should take the necessary steps in adopting EVP. The target should be that when employees think fondly of their work, their contributions and breakthroughs, their wonderful colleagues, their reliable manager, their great leaders and all the other small perks that are being offered it should result in the perfect workplace. People do not like settling for second best and organisations need to become aware of this, otherwise, their demise will be swift.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and a keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roddwagner/2017/01/23/an-employee-value-proposition-mindset-just-might-fix-employee-engagement/#4854e36f4c3d

https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en/insights/2016/09/employers-look-to-modernize-the-employee-value-proposition

https://www.socialtalent.co/blog/employee-value-proposition-what-does-it-all-means

The Role of HR in Cyber Security

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In a 2012 article in The Washington Post, it was reported that both the public and private sector will require 50,000 cyber security jobs in the immediate future. For example, the Pentagon has plans to expand their cyber security workforce from 900 to 4,900 military and civilian personnel in the next few years. In recent times, there have been countless efforts in order to increase students’ desire and interest in the field, due to the simple fact that cyber threats won’t wait until companies, agencies and countries are ready. From a HR perspective, the recruitment process of a cyber-professional is of the utmost importance.

Reconsider the status quo

Organisations as a whole have to rethink their hiring and development strategies. Based on the 2013 IT salary survey report done by Information Week, HR specialists will have to continuously educate themselves on how to identify, attract and retain cyber security professionals. Unfortunately, at the moment, degrees and certifications still hinder highly qualified people from even being considered for an interview, let alone the actual position.

Given the fact that most cyber-attacks are done by people who do not have the diplomas to actually confirm their expertise, maybe it is time to re-evaluate the recruitment process. More and more sophisticated attacks are being launched week after week and it is highly unlikely they are all done by university graduates. HR managers and their teams may have been looking at this issue all wrong; perhaps a more liberal and progressive approach to selection and recruitment will allow companies to hire the most competent candidates for the required positions.

Even though education plays a crucial part in forming fantastic generations of IT-savvy individuals, it should be noted that there are gamers and hackers out there who are majoring in totally unrelated subjects. There is definitely talent, interest and ability in many of these people and perhaps all they require is the right incentive to switch fields. Companies should be encouraged by this thought and take advantage of these circumstances and try and engage these students for a future collaboration and mutual benefits. For example, there are various cyber competitions which are held every year in high schools and universities. These gatherings are a fantastic opportunity to identify possible future employees. Ordinary prizes could fall behind the opportunity of dealing with intricate security problems or learning and developing new skills and techniques.

The role of human resources

A considerate number of cyber security problems occur because of the actions performed by a company’s own workforce. The number of cyber-attacks could be reduced with the joint help and collaboration of HR and IT professionals within an organisation. Specifically, HR departments hold some of the most private, important and sensitive information of them all. An HR database holds information such as: bank details, dates of birth, social security numbers, home addresses and many more. It is crucial that in this day and age HR departments not only understand how to protect their own data, but the organisation’s as well.
HR managers could play a centre role in preserving the security of the company in cyberspace. This can be done through a couple of easy steps.

  1. Ethical and practical security measures

Regular check-ups may stop employees from putting the company in harm’s way, but it has to be morally consistent with the way in which employees think and behave. Randomly generated passwords have been tried and tested but, unfortunately, given the multitude of technology surrounding us nowadays, it is hard to keep up with all of them. Some organisations have tried monitoring their employees’ activity, which almost immediately led to questions revolving around trust and how this practice is crossing the boundaries between personal and professional life. This is where the HR team needs to analyse and advise which course of action is best.

  1. Risk management and employees

Inside an organisation with a strong risk management strategy, HR departments have the opportunity to mediate the impact of employee turnover through monitoring and prevention. When an employee is bound to leave the company, the HR team can manage that exit keeping in mind the security aspect as well, thus greatly contributing at stopping any leaks. For example, in the United Kingdom there already is a guideline on how organisations should manage people, physical and cyber risks.

Due to the nature of cyber-security, the IT department cannot be held solely responsible. Technology has become ever present and is instilled in almost every aspect of the office life, thus making organisations vulnerable to all sorts of attacks.

When companies make sure they have one of the best security programmes in place, they can be sure that both internal and external information is safely secured, which of course it is in the best interest of both HR and the company.

According to data gathered by Heimdal Security, cyber-crime is costing the global economy an astounding $100 billion each year and that nearly 60% of fired employees steal valuable organisational data when they leave a company.

Although this issue may seem highly complex and problematic, HR specialists must deal with this situation through innovative workforce and development strategies. There are solutions, but they require immense thinking and planning ahead. Bold people and ideas could very well arise with the necessary means of fighting back these attacks.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation, can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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Sources:

http://www.paconsulting.com/insights/putting-human-resources-at-the-heart-of-cyber-security/

http://www.hcamag.com/hr-news/why-hr-is-critical-in-cybersecurity-228188.aspx

https://hr.blr.com/whitepapers/HR-Administration/Employee-Privacy/Cybersecurity-threats-A-people-problem-HR-can-solv

http://www.ghrr.com/blog/2016/02/24/the-role-of-hr-in-mitigating-cyber-security-threatss/

The 5 Future Roles of HR

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It is clearly time for a massive change in the HR field, and industrial-organisational psychologists (I/O) working with HR professionals can help with the transition by tackling organisational problems and identifying ways through which to measure the value delivered by HR, whilst also running research related to human performance in the organisations of tomorrow. Nowadays, companies are focusing on being employee-centric in order to keep up with the changing times. As we all know, great people make a great company.

Because of these continuous changes, the HR department is under immense pressure and HR managers have probably already experienced it through budget cuts and internal processes being heavily criticised. Here are some harsh facts about the workforce. According to a Gallup Survey, a meagre 13% of worldwide employees happen to be engaged. In Europe, a study conducted by the European Working Conditions has discovered that 20% of employees claim to be experiencing poo mental wellbeing.

Moreover, talent has become increasingly difficult to attract and retain and have the power to actively change and influence the culture within a company. All these problems and changes can be solved only by a brand new and transformed HR team. This department is actively engaging with new technologies whilst also dealing with employee expectations and guaranteeing the company is productive. All in all there are five new roles that will help the HR department become as powerful as ever:

Employee Engagement Manager

Companies have already started shifting away from the outdated review processes that were used to measure and assess employee performance, happiness, and engagement. Organisations have also discovered that a proper conversation between leadership and teams is far more engaging and productive. As a result of proper existing employee engagement software, managers and teams can now benefit from a dynamic dialogue revolving around performance. Companies no longer have to wait for the 3, 6, or 12 month review sessions in order to assess performance and happiness around the workforce.

Just like in the case of social media which requires a manager, the HR team will depend upon a dedicated Employee Engagement Manager who will be responsible with creating a link between employees and their managers. His responsibilities will entail coming up with frequent surveys to gather feedback and analyse the health and happiness of the company’s workforce.
An Employee Engagement Manager will be responsible of both managing the technology needed to communicate across the company and designing the appropriate approach to internal engagement.

Learning Director

Competitive companies constantly train their workforce through various development programmes. We can all agree with the fact that technology will change, processes will change; and especially customers will change.
The Learning Director will be a crucial in organising and implementing constant education programmes for the workforce. The usual training programmes are infamously known for being disengaging, uninspiring, and a total waste of time for busy employees. The person who occupies this role will have to be knowledgeable in terms of the adult learning process, and will be essential for coming up with voluntary or mandatory training programmes.

Diversity Officer

Numerous studies have proved time and time again that a diverse workforce results in a prosperous company. Organisational success revolves around the cultivation of men and women of all backgrounds – whether we’re talking about gender, race and skillset.
The Diversity Officer will have to ensure that the staff contains talented people with various backgrounds. Just hiring candidates in order to ensure a diverse workforce won’t do because of the work that needs to be within the organisation post-hire. The Diversity Officer will have to work closely with both the Learning Director and Employee Engagement Manager to design the necessary inclusion training programmes that will promote a better understanding between different types of people and teams.
The role is aimed to encourage the benefits (both economic and psychological) of a workforce that’s made of diverse employees.

Talent Manager

Although talent recruitment is done by a hiring manager, a full-time dedicated Talent Manager will be the eyes and ears for specific industries. This particular manager will have to build great relationships with recruitment agencies and should also keep an eye on highly-rated business incubators and industry communities. The Talent Manager’s responsabilities also include following and analysing the latest trends that exist in the marketplace such as: new and fresh skillsets and salary expectations in order to offer the organisation they are working for the best possible competitive advantage through which top talents are attracted and retained.

Mindset Coach

An overworked workforce is definitely an unhappy one. Internal wellness programmes and policies within companies are powerful tools to keep employees healthy, focused and happy. The Mindset Coach will have to implement important programmes which will help individuals in creating good habits in their day-to-day activities. These habits go far beyond the sphere of everyday exercising and healthy eating.
Proper wellness programmes will entail work-life balance processes, stress management and therapy programmes, whilst also promoting an open dialogue policy around mental health in order to remove the stigma that usually appears in conversation and thought. Furthermore, the Mindset Coach will have to collaborate with the Employee Engagement Manager on how to craft the best programmes so that employees are encouraged to participate and create a general openness across members of staff.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation, can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kaviguppta/2016/06/30/5-roles-that-will-power-21st-century-human-resources-departments/#1dec737c51c2

http://www.siop.org/tip/backissues/tipjan98/may.aspx

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-future-roles-hr-david-ducheyne

Recruitment based on Organisational Culture

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Appointing leaders may seem to be easier said than done, but this is not the case at all. According to an academic research paper done by the American Psychological Association, the rate of successful hired leaders is around 30%. In the United States alone, 75% of employees have reported that their direct manager has been poorly chosen and it obstructs them from doing their work. Furthermore, 65% of them would accept lower salaries in order to change their manager with someone better equipped for the job.

There are numerous reasons why this situation occurs over and over again. Mostly, this is due to the over-reliance on intuition in the early stages of recruitment instead of using proper scientific validated selection tools. The problem that almost always arises when hiring new leaders is their incongruity with the organisation’s culture. Even though on paper the candidates may seem perfect and they tick all the boxes in terms of skills, leadership capabilities and expertise, organisations tend to overlook the congruence between their values and the candidate’s values. Consequently, leaders hired for their excellent skills and talents are often fired on the premise of poor cultural fit.

What Is Organisational Culture?

In layman’s terms, organisational culture revolves around the collective mindset and norms of employees, as well as palpable aspects revolving around the work environment which directly mirror these beliefs. The effectiveness of organisational culture relies upon the company’s workforce, business market and strategies. Moreover, given the fact that there are countless organisations around the world, organisational cultures are abundant and different altogether.

How Can Culture Be Related to Recruitment?

There is a close relation between the recruitment process and organisational culture due to their association to employee selection and retention. Attractiveness wise, culture represents everything ranging from brand image to company projects. There are organisations that hold culture in high regard and plan their recruiting accordingly. Due to this type of recruitment, only the right people are being targeted and attracted, whilst others are somewhat determined to look elsewhere for employment.

Primarily, experience and expertise are central characteristics to a leaders’ potential, but, unfortunately, they are unsatisfactory in determining leadership performance. To be more precise, personality traits such as: curiosity, self-awareness and integrity won’t help predict a proper leader to fit the role within the company. In order to properly evaluate how fit a leader is with an organisation, their motives and values should be analysed. These characteristics act as an inner compass, revealing how they would conduct activities, in what type of culture they would thrive and what kind of projects they will deem necessary or engaging.

For instance, if a leader truly values tradition he or she will have a strong opinion regarding right and wrong, will have an affinity for hierarchical companies and will exhibit a low tolerance for innovation. Simply put, these types of leaders would struggle in a creative environment. Leaders who value relationships will develop a strong bond with their staff and their focus will be on creating and maintaining collaborative work and social relations. If they are given a role within an individualistic organisational culture, which would isolate them, they will fail. Subsequently, we have altruistic leaders who focus on improving employees’ lives. If the organisations they work at are profit driven, their skills will be wasted.

Understanding the company’s organisational culture

It is absolutely essential for a company to know their own culture; otherwise knowing a leader’s motives and values becomes practically pointless. Regrettably, a vast majority of companies do not understand the importance of pinpointing their culture and generally tend to rely on clichés such as: ‘entrepreneurial’, ‘innovative’, ‘diverse’ and ‘results-oriented’. Of course, there is the off-chance a company hires a leader who can perform in any kind of environment. Unfortunately, these leaders are an exception, a rare breed, because in most cases potential in leadership depends greatly on context.

Although its significance, organisations don’t pay attention to culture, they just let it evolve from within. It is somewhat good news, due to the fact that if companies start recruiting with the idea of developing a proper organisational culture, it can vastly improve employee retention and performance which translates into growth and profits. Another argument for cultural-based recruitment is that while job demands may constantly change, culture will always be a constant within the company. Statistically, people being hired in part to their cultural fit are more likely to become a company asset.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation, can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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Sources:

https://hbr.org/2017/06/when-leaders-are-hired-for-talent-but-fired-for-not-fitting-in

https://www.forbes.com/sites/propointgraphics/2016/11/13/hiring-for-smart-talent-not-direct-experience/#37b671f42dcf

https://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/strategic-workforce-planning/hire-for-the-organization.aspx

Workplace Harassment

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Workplace harassment is something people experience on a daily basis, but are too afraid to speak out about it… By law, harassment is described as any unwanted verbal or physical behaviour which are based on ideas such as colour, race, sex, religion, nationality, age, either physical or mental disabilities, and last but not least, gender identity. A harassing behaviour can take many forms which include: slurs, offensive jokes, intimidation, ridicule, insults, name calling, physical threats or assaults, offensive pictures and many more.

Many people encounter harassment even during interviews. It is important to know what rules apply to the employers and what they can and cannot ask you. Moreover, recruiters cannot ask you about your religion, race, marital status, disabilities, ethnic background, country of origin, age or sexual preferences. Next time you’re going into an interview, pay attention at what and how they ask about information regarding yourself.

Unfortunately, anyone can be in a situation where he or she is the harasser or the person being harassed. The harasser can range from being your boss, a co-worker, a supervisor from a different department, or even a non-employee, whilst the victim of the harassment doesn’t necessarily have to be the one directly harassed, but it can be any person in the office who feels affected by the harassing behaviour.

How to Deal with Harassment at the Workplace

Usually, people who are dealing with workplace harassment have the intention of solving the incident internally. The first option would be to approach the offender personally and explain how his behaviour and language have offended you. If you feel uncomfortable with the direct approach, the other option would be to contact your manager or supervisor and ask him to handle the situation before it develops into something more problematic.

Of course, there are cases in which the offender is your manager or supervisor and your only course of action is to contact the HR department or your manager’s boss and request an analysis of the situation.

Types of Harassment

There are numerous ways in which harassment takes place in the workplace. Unfortunately, sexual harassment continues to be one of the primary courses of harassment, although that does not mean that non-sexual harassment must be treated lightly. It is essential that people understand that harassment at the office can affect them, whether they are victims or not. One way or another it could impact people’s state of mind and even their careers.

As mentioned above, harassment can take many forms at the office. It could vary from being both physical and sexual and ending up with it being based on religion or race.

In the United States, the definition of harassment ranges from state to state. For example, in Florida a court decided that ‘fat jokes’ are offensive, while in Wisconsin and New York harassing people based on their criminal record is against the law. It is obvious that this issue represents a tricky subject everywhere around the world.

Sexual Harassment

This type of harassment does not limit itself to just physical contact or words and just between co-workers of the opposite sex. All of the following examples classify as sexual harassment:

  • Staring in a provocative manner, or whistling.
  • Emails, letters or notes with provocative messages.
  • Obscene videos and images shared with colleagues during a break or at lunch.
  • Expose posters of inappropriate sexual imagery.
  • Sharing sexual anecdotes or lewd jokes with the co-workers.
  • Making offensive remarks about a person’s gender identity.

Non-Sexual Harassment

This type of harassment includes remarks ranging from a person’s physical appearance to his mental disabilities or cultural values. A co-worker can create a hostile work environment by continuously commenting that a person is too old, too stupid or too fat.

If you someone in the workplace is making either racist or negative comments regarding another person in the office is definitely harassment. In this category can also fall drawings, clothing or gestures that hurt or transform someone in a victim at the office. The following examples fall into the category of non-sexual harassment:

  • Making jokes and negative remarks about a co-worker’s religious beliefs, or enforcing one’s own religious views on a person.
  • Racist nicknames, slangs and phrases are all prohibited.
  • ‘Distinguishing’ people at the office by the colour of their skin or ethnic characteristics.
  • Talking about cultural or religious stereotypes in an offensive manner.

So, having read all this, next time you are a victim of sexual harassment or notice a colleague in this situation, you will know how to recognise it and take action.

The Great People Inside employee assessment solutions and technology can be tailored to your company’s specific needs and organisational culture and can help you to boost the levels of job-fit and skill-use in your employees, generating job satisfaction, improved motivation, health and happiness, and boost employee retention.

Try out our assessment in order to measure the level of wellbeing in your organisation and find out the best approach to improve it.

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Sources:
https://www.thebalance.com/types-of-harassment-in-the-workplace-2060886
https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-handle-harassment-at-work-2060887

 

How Transparent an Organisation Ought to Be?

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One of the most important aspects of any business nowadays revolves around customer service. It is still difficult to identify the exact moment a customer or a business decides to work with your company, but everyone can agree that in that moment the client has decided to trust your brand. In the age of social media and the added need for assurance; transparency and sincerity are critical to a good customer service. If this service is in tip-top shape, every company can expect long-term partnerships with their clients, and who doesn’t want that? In order to achieve such a good relationship with your customers, your company and employees must be adequately equipped to offer the best treatment to all clients. How can employees have this desire for great customer service? Here a few tips into how you can achieve this.

Transparency within the organisation

The culture that is within your company will greatly reflect on how your coworkers will interact with clients. It is very important managers and leaders instill transparency within teams in the organisation. In order for this to work, employees should find themselves in a work environment where part of the daily routine is to share information and knowledge valuable for the company’s activity. Doing so will create a good atmosphere and will lead to business growth, while also helping employees learn how to cooperate effectively in dealing with distributors, possible coworkers and most importantly, clients.

A great business is characterised by great customer service

Everyone enjoys a brand where they come back for the same top quality products or services over and over again. Loyalty can be easily won when the company manages to meet or even exceed clients’ expectations through an integrated system of customer service, with the option of personalisation. It makes the customer feel special and not just a number. An example of going the extra mile is remembering a client’s birthday and giving them a call, or sending them a small gesture of your appreciation for their business with you.

Customer feedback – best source for insight

Whether we are talking about a startup or a multinational company, direct customer feedback is quintessential for business development. It shows that the company listened to their suggestions and acted accordingly. Actively listening to the feedback you receive could represent the company’s competitive advantage, especially in an industry where the competition offers a product or service similar or slightly better than yours. The difference is in the little details; being the best just doesn’t cut it anymore. Companies that are able to listen to their customers are the ones that manage to expand on a global scale.

Although many companies claim transparency is part of their culture, in the majority of circumstances that is not the case. It is quite difficult to put this process into fruition straight away. People need to know that transparency represents the glue that keeps them together through good and bad times. Facilitating a transparent communication, not only with the clients, but also internally, leads to critical thinking in solving even the most difficult issues.

Clearly stated job functions and responsibilities

 Something that helps transparency in the beginning is having an established order in the workplace where everyone knows what their responsibilities are. Automatically, this will lead to a better and more direct communication process between workers. Awareness will also see a rise in numbers, due to the fact that employees know who to talk to in order to ensure tasks and deadlines are being completed on time. Just to be clear, transparency doesn’t mean every member of the staff requires information about everything the company does. Some examples in this area are: performance reviews, salaries, marital status and so on. Employees need information in order to perform to the best of their abilities, too much transparency and information may damage internal affairs.

Hiring the right people

Every manager and entrepreneur around the world knows that hiring people in accordance with the company’s culture is pretty much the Holy Grail. It is recommended that recruiters ask candidates early in the interview whether they resonate with open communication and transparency. If the candidate is right for the company he or she will become even more willing to join your ranks. A proper company mission and culture is imperative to attract talented candidates, besides the product or service the company offers to the general public.

The Great People Inside employee assessment solutions and technology can be tailored to your company’s specific needs and organisational culture and can help you to boost the levels of job-fit and skill-use in your employees, generating job satisfaction, improved motivation, health and happiness, and boost employee retention.

Try out our assessment in order to measure the level of wellbeing in your organisation and find out the best approach to improve it.

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Sources:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246567

http://fortune.com/2016/05/21/trust-employees-corporate-culture/

https://wavelength.asana.com/workstyle-transparency/#close

Hyperconnectivity – The New Imperative?

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Society has reached a stage in which it is impossible for people not to be connected to their devices all the time. Staying in touch has apparently become a social norm due to constant social media updates, imessaging, regular texting, especially for millennials. Maintaining relationships is easier as well with the help of technology such as Skype, Facetime, Google Handouts etc.

In terms of business, technology connectedness has helped people from around the world form companies and makes transactions around the clock. We are walking with powerful “PC’s” in our pockets, almost oblivious about the capabilities we have at our disposal. Large databases are now online through the cloud and that means wherever there is internet, you could access a huge amount of information. News nowadays are being broadcasted on social media as well, while television is slowly losing its credibility and fanbase. All these examples and much more lead to hyperconnectivity. This term not only encompasses the multitude of communication channels and interactions, but it also reveals the impact on a personal and organisational behaviour level.

This has helped create new opportunities and ways of working for companies; regular working hours and locations are now a thing of the past. In the 21st century, everything is digital so it’s absolutely imperative that organisations  stay as connected to technology as possible, because every day new techniques and tools are being released in order to improve everything from productivity to employee engagement.  HR plays an important role here. Learning about these tools and implement them as naturally and effectively as possible so that they create an advantage for the company.

Although the benefits of hyperconnectivity are more than obvious, HR directors and managers must be able to make employees cope better and better with the new levels of stress and pressure due to this “always on” environment. The best solution for this is the simplest solution, an Occam’s razor really: the real human contact. That is why large corporations always organise team activities and social events, in order to encourage face-to-face human interaction. Although very useful, these types of events fail to create a bond between co-workers from departments which are not directly linked together.

Hyperconnectivity also disrupted the usual flow of a company’s life-span. If back in the 1920s, an organisation had  on average 67 years “to live”, nowadays they are around for about 15. The social media industry is the perfect example: first there was Bebo which paved the way for MySpace which was ultimately dethroned by Facebook.

This type of business environment can allow businesses to grow fast and easily find customers, but at the same time, their competitors have access to the same information and ideas, which can prove to be tough to deal with.

It is pretty clear by now that hyperconnectivity is bringing both positives and negatives. Companies can go from rapid development and great productivity to people struggling to understand all these changes and not misuse the information they have acquired. As mentioned above, hyperconnectivity is not only changing the way us people communicate and interact, but also has a continuous involvement in our personal and professional lives.  Furthermore, hyperconnectivity has a strong impact on various industries, research foundations, academic organisations, neo-urbanisation, education and healthcare, so it is our duty to understand and make the best out of it.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation, can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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 Sources:
-HR Weekly
-nhrdnmumb.caiom
-www.itproportal.com

 

The Effectiveness of High-Potential Employee Programs

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High-potential (HIPO) employees find themselves in the top 5% within an organisation, based on their individual performances. They are considered the company’s most prized assets and are being tipped-off to go into leadership positions. But this is easier said than done. In most cases, organisations develop HIPO programs in order to train their best employees in becoming future leaders.

Although high-potential employee programs might seem like the perfect solution, over 40% of the people participating do not belong there, according to the data analysed by the Harvard Business Review (HBR). The information gathered by HBR consists of 1,964 high potential employees, from 3 distinct companies, who have measured their leadership abilities through 360° assessments. Feedback is immediate, with analysis reports being developed almost instantly. This type of assessment is done when organisations wish to measure capabilities such as low turnover, employee engagement and high productivity. Obviously, the better the score, the better the outcome.

When looking at the data gathered from the participants in the HIPO programs, the results were outlandish. 12% of them found themselves in the lowest quadrant in leadership effectiveness; resulting in an overall 42% below average. They’re not in the top 5% anymore, not by a mile.

What about the quality of the HIPO programs that are running in your company? There are a couple of mistakes that may come along the way in regards to these programs:

  1. Performance doesn’t equal potential: HIPO programs tend to focus too much on performance and that generally leads to problems in today’s ever changing business climate. First of all, most companies do not know how to measure performance given the fact that if subjective ratings are eliminated, there are very few metrics left to count on. Secondly, even if the right parameters are chosen to measure performance, most top performers cannot handle or are simply not prepared for the next level. The transition from being a simple employee to a manager, or from a manager to a leader, requires abilities most people haven’t been trained for before. Plus, there is always the possibility that HIPO employees focus on solving problems or an all-round team player. Unfortunately, this leads to people placed in jobs they are not able or do not want to perform. It is absolutely vital to understand that performance represents what you do and potential is simply what you COULD do. If you are really good at doing X this doesn’t mean you will be great at doing Y – X and Y here being two distinct activities.
  2. HIPO’s have their weaknesses: Here, the Pareto principle fits the bill quite perfectly. If you don’t know what the Pareto principle is, here is the explanation: 20% of employees make up for 80% of the company’s revenues and profits. Based on this idea, it is clear that 20% of employees cause 80% of the problems within an organisation. Coincidentally or not, they are most often than not, the same employees. HIPO personnel, who generally know their worth, are frequently more difficult to manage. Nevertheless, no matter how astute these people are, they tend to have a dark side as well. In this scenario, the HR department has to intervene. Unfortunately, when it does intervene, the focus is on improving their existing qualities which leaves out their other personality problems to roam free. Overworked strengths have a tendency to become weaknesses and that is not good news for any organisation.

It is a well-known fact that a top performer may start having difficulties at his job when he is placed in a leadership role. It is clear he may perform well in one company but he cannot have the same impact and results in another organisation. It all depends on his vision and leadership, and these qualities are not easy to find.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

We help you find the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. The GR8 360° tool is excellent at developing managerial competencies, skills and behaviours. When using this assessment, you will find over 50 dimensions that come along with suggestions for future improvement and development. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

 

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Sources:

www.hbr.org

www.dcebglobal.com

www.forbes.com

Preventing Burnout in 5 Easy Steps

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If you’ve been working in the past few years, you’ve probably heard about the term “burnout” and you should know that it is directly related to stress revolving around work. The general definition for burnout describes it as a combination of 3 factors: mental, emotional and physical fatigue combined with serious doubtfulness regarding your competence and value of work. Everyone has a couple of coworkers who stay for way too long at the office after the business hours have ended. Of course, this is understandable if they have an important contract to honour, a project deadline that cannot be pushed any further, or maybe they are just really dedicated. No harm, no foul until the stress from the actions mentioned above can transform itself into a serious case of burnout.

Entrepreneurs are flying into the face of danger due to their working program, which usually is 24/7/365. Given the fact that they are trying to build a serious company from the ground up and have to deal with issues left and right, the stress that is building up inside them can lead to a serious burnout.

Thankfully, nowadays there are many ways in which you can identify if you’re starting to experience burnout symptoms. They are pretty easy on the eye if you feel you are heading towards complete exhaustion. Here is a list of a few early signs of a potential burnout:

  • Huge amount of stress and anxiety
  • Low engagement or lack of it
  • You’re more cynical than usual
  • Not enough sleep
  • No breaks during the day
  • The feeling that there aren’t enough hours in a workday
  • Consistent physical illness

 

These are 5 easy steps you should follow in order to get back on track on your own terms:

 

  1. Take frequent breaks during office hours

People sometimes fail to understand that it is an art to accomplish top workplace performance. You cannot remain at 100% during all of your working hours, which is why it is important to give your brain a bit of a break; it needs a recharge, just like your smartphone does. If you have a more flexible work arrangement, go for a run or a walk in nearby park. Try and have lunch outside the office space, it will allow you to decompress and maybe see the bigger picture. Needless to say, you need to careful when taking a break as well. Avoid doing so when your brain activity is at its highest, more often than not, this happens in the morning.

  1. Distance yourself from digital devices

Before the era of smartphones, gadgets and various wearables, when you left the office that meant you were done for the day. Even if you wanted to work from home, that required a lot of planning and effort. Now, we never really leave the workplace, because we are physiologically and psychologically very much still connected. Although it may seem difficult to get rid of this problem, there actually is an easy solution for it. As soon as you arrive home, either leave your phone somewhere in the hallway or even turn it off after a certain hour. You must understand that whatever you want to do CAN wait until tomorrow.

  1. Plan something interesting right after work

Whether this activity involves playing football with your friends or cooking with your loved one, it will make you focus on that particular action rather than telling yourself you shouldn’t check your emails every 10 minutes. You may as well want to be transform yourself into a couch potato as soon as you get home, but engaging in something more meaningful like a jigsaw puzzle or studying a new language will give you a better feel factor.

  1. Take a longer weekend from time to time

If you start to feel weak both physically and mentally, maybe that’s your body’s way of telling you it’s time for a longer break. Instead of taking a long vacation, try and constantly give yourself 3 or 4-day weekends. It is vital you don’t interact with anything related to work. It ruins the whole concept of a mini-vacation.

  1. Focus on the meaningful work you wish to do

There are some times when you simply cannot get some time off work. It happens to everyone and there is no need to panic. Instead, try and find a deeper meaning for the task at hand. Maybe you can correlate it with a personal or professional goal of yours. The reasons may vary from: getting the job promotion you wanted or simply preventing yourself from procrastinating. But keep in mind that this is just a temporary fix to the problem. If you are really stressed and lack any sort of energy, take a real break.

 

We have an impressive assessment library with hundreds of dimensions that can be leveraged in creating a custom skills-based assessment that supports your organisation’s specific competencies and unique vision. Please contact us if you need to measure the engagement level in your company.

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Sources:

Forbes.com

Hbr.org