Don’t Overlook Your Top Talent!!

So How Many Times have you seen the SCARY scene in your Company? You know what scene I’m referring to? You get the dreaded call from one of your Top employees.…

HR Manager: Hello there Top Employee. How are you?

Top Employee:      I am GREAT!  Can I speak with you for a moment?

HR Manager:         Sure, come on down.  [There is a huge pit in the bottom of your  stomach]

Top Employee:      Okay, on my way.

HR Manager:           Hi Top Employee, have a seat.

Top Employee:      Thanks.

HR Manager:           What can I do for you?

Top Employee:      Well…..  I want to hand you this [top employee hands you a letter in  

an envelope and you know what it is]

HR Manager:           NOOOOOOO…….[You scream in your head!]

Top Employee:      I’ve found another position and I will be leaving.

HR Manager:         [As you congratulate one of your Top Employees] Well, congratulations on
your new position. We are so sorry to see you go, but wish you the best.

NOT ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!!!

Managers are looking for new top talent always. But what happens when you are so focused on acquiring new talent, while steadily losing the top talent you have. Why? What is going on? It is important to utilize and more importantly RECOGNIZE the Top Talent you have. Otherwise you will lose your top talent. 10 Ways to Show Appreciation http://humanresources.about.com/cs/rewardrecognition/a/appreciation.htm

Getting the best out your employees requires you investing in your employees. The Ole’ Adage “You Get out what you put in” reigns supreme if you want to grow your workforce. Making the best out of your workforce is not as difficult as you think. Imagine treating your employees the way you want to be treated! Taking the time to know your employees and appreciate their worth will make a huge difference in the dedication and responsibility given to the Company from your employees. Employee engagement is a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to the organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are able, at the same time, to enhance their own sense of well-being. 

More importantly, investing in the proper training for your employees to effectuate their jobs to the best of their ability is a big problem in the workplace. While employers want to get more for their money, lack of training boils does to ineffective, inefficient work-product. Simple! Utilizing 2 over-worked employees when clearly the process REQUIRES 3 employees. Some processes simply must be broken down in order to prevent work errors, overworked employees, unhappy employees, unhappy clients.... Do I need to go any further? You get my point.

Instilling a culture that encourages strong and authentic values, with clear evidence of trust and fairness based on mutual respect, where two way promises and commitments -- between employers and staff -- are understood, and are fulfilled. At the center of engagement is improved performance and productivity. Rest assured engagement cannot be achieved via mechanistic approach which attempts to extract discretionary effort by manipulating employees’ commitment and emotions.  

Today, we are not just speaking to engaging. We are speaking about respect and appreciation for the great gems your organization currently has! It is important to realize your current employees’ values and the talent they contribute to the organization. Don’t get caught up in the hype of never having enough employees. It is good dependable, dedicated employees that you want in your organization. Be careful, you may find yourself losing your top employees because you are too focused on getting new talent. 101 Ways to Reward Employees (Without Giving Them Cash) | OPEN Forum http://amex.co/1BUyKox. Do not confuse appreciation with rewards. We are talking about a culture where employees are respected given the opportunity to grow within the organization.  This is the a true Win-Win Situation.  It is a culture where employees are happy to come to work and tell others about the great company they work with. It is also a culture where employees are more than happy to join and give 150%.

The Time is Now to Appreciate Who is in your Corner! 

Thanks for visiting!! 
April D. Halliburton, CEO

From All-4-HR & Business Solutions

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NOW YOU KNOW BETTER – in HR……

How many times, as an HR professional, you've made a decision, knowing in the back of your mind, it was not the right decision? Hence the decision—yes—you paid the price for it too! I am speaking of mistakes The Business of HR that just simply should not be made. It’s called due diligence, right?

Let me give you an excellent example! I was working with a client building his workforce, as his virtual human resource manager. He met a young lady in the city where he lived and his company resided. So, he called me and says, “I met this lady…..”  He went on to say how “Fired up” the candidate was and wanted me to hurry up and interview her as he thought she would be excellent for one of the several positions we were attempting to fill. 

I scheduled a teleconference with the candidate and yes, interviewed her. Did I mention, my client’s words were she was “fired up” and perfect for the position? Let’s just say “Fired Up” is putting it mildly. While my client spoke of the woman being friendly, during our interview, the candidate was fired up, aggressive and to an extent combative. This was during the virtual interview. I prepared a memo to my client on my findings and my recommendations for NOT hiring the woman. While I am sure the woman could be nice, she just was not a good fit for the Company. In fact, she was too “fired up”. I took into consideration among the actual interview process, I was never, ever able to reach any of her references.

But guess what…..? My client hired the woman anyway! I can’t tell you how difficult the next year was for this client after he hired the candidate. Common mistakes include:

1.     Ignoring the Signs. Sometimes a candidate may be able to hide certain characteristics during the interview process and onboarding. However, when you see the signs, and ignore them, that’s different and totally avoidable. Do NOT ignore Red Flags!

2.     Illuminating Reference Checks. Check references! Do NOT illuminate reference checks. They are essential to making an informed decision during the hiring process.

3.     Carefully reviewing skills and qualifications. Do NOT ignore a candidate’s skills just to fill a position. Hind side is there is a difference between a candidate who is trainable and lacks certain skills and a candidate that has skills and is NOT trainable.

4.     Ignoring toxic situations in the workplace in hopes of them going away. Toxic situations will NOT go away by themselves. The earlier a situation is resolved, the better. Let me say it again. Toxic situations do not go away by themselves!

5.     Asking employees to make suggestions and not really being interested in what they have to say. As HR professionals, business owners, etc. we need the contributions of our employees. When employees know they have a voice in their workplace, it makes all the difference. Listen to your employees’ suggestions and utilize the suggestions that are applicable. It will enhance the organization BIG TIME! 

   As HR professionals, it is important to make informed decisions and be progressive in effectuating HR policies, procedures and practices in growing a workforce. Informed mistakes are not an option. As HR professionals, you must perform HR due diligence.

See you soon!

April D. Halliburton, CEO

All-4-HR & Business Solutions

Webhome: http://www.all4hr.net

HAVE YOU REVIEWED THE 2014 CHANGES IN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?

Changes took place March 24, 2014 was the effective rules from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) that required certain federal contractors to increase their affirmative action efforts, specifically rules applicable to veterans, individuals with disabilities.  Contractors were previously required to create affirmative action plans for these two groups, the success was not measured by quantifiable metrics. Federal contractors with 50 or more employees and at least $50,000 in federal contracts. Federal contractors with 50 or more employees and at least $100,000 in federal contract must develop affirmative action programs for veterans. While federal contractors with fewer than 50 employees and more than $10.000 in federal contracts are not required to develop a written affirmative action programs, they have certain other affirmative action obligations.

Changes apply to the self-identification category requiring employers to offer individuals to the opportunity to self-identify at both the pre-offer stage and post-offer stage.  At the pre-offer stage, applicants must be asked whether they believe they qualify as a veteran in any of the protected categories.  At the post-offer stage, individuals must be invited to identify which (if any) of the specific protected veteran categories they fit.

Veterans

New regulations require contractors to establish an annual “hiring benchmark” for veterans. The benchmark must be established as either 8 percent of the contractor’s workforce which represents the current national percentage of veterans in the workforce, or a figure established through other sources concerning veteran employment. The new regulations state the “benchmark is not a rigid and inflexible quota that must be met, as quotas are forbidden.  A contractor’s failure to meet the benchmark does not constitute a violation.

http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/289006/Government+Contracts+Procurement+PPP/Federal+Contractor+Affirmative+Action+Regulations+Take+Effect+March+24+2014

Individuals with Disabilities

Under the new regulations, the contractor must establish a 7 percent "workforce utilization goal" for employing individuals with disabilities in each job group. To measure its success against this goal, the contractor must calculate the percentage of individuals with disabilities in each job group and then compare that data with the 7 percent utilization goal. The OFCCP regulations allow contractors with fewer than 100 employees to apply the 7 percent goal to the entire workforce, as opposed to applying the 7 percent goal to each job group.

The regulations state that the utilization goal is not a quota, and that the failure to meet the goal does not automatically constitute a violation. But if a contractor fails to meet a goal, the contractor must take steps to assess whether impediments exist and develop action-oriented programs to correct any problem areas.

Self-Identification

The regulations impose new requirements concerning self-identification of applicants and employees. The new regulations addressing individuals with disabilities require that the contractor: (1) invite applicants to self-identify as an individual with a disability; (2) invite individuals, after an offer of employment is extended but before the employees begins the job, to voluntarily self-identify (this was an existing requirement under the previous regulations); (3) invite all employees to self-identify (within the first year that the contractor becomes subject to the new regulation addressing self-identification and at five-year intervals thereafter); and (4) remind employees, at least once during the intervening years of the employee self-identification process, that they may voluntary update their disability status. The regulations state that the contractor may not compel or coerce individuals to self-identify.

Equal Opportunity Clause

The new regulations require that contractors include an equal opportunity clause (EO Clause) in its covered contracts and subcontracts. The regulations provide that contractors may incorporate the EO Clause by reference, but only by citing to the relevant regulations and including specific language in the contract. The EO Clause for individuals with disabilities includes a new provision that requires a contractor to state in solicitations and advertisements that it is an equal opportunity employer of individuals with disabilities.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP_ http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/section503.htm

See you soon!

April D. Halliburton, Founder/President

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Is your Company Culture Desirable to Top Talent?

Often times when recruiting top talent, to no avail, it may be that your company has lost its “shine”.  When I refer to “shine”, I’m speaking to what attracts top talent to an organization. Perhaps it is time to perform an analysis of your company’s culture. After all, are you looking for new talent because your company has one or more open positions (due to losing employees) or is your company growing? If you are recruiting talent due to growth that is Excellent! You want to be appealing and desirable to top talent.

Again, if you are recruiting due to growth, you as a growing company want to be sure to retain the top talent you currently possess, as well as, hire more top talent. Remember your talent is in charge of executing your company’s deliverables to satisfied, happy clients.  You also want to take into to consideration you may be losing top talent due to inadequacies in your company’s “culture” or “environment”. Organizational culture is defined as the behavior of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people react to their actions. Company culture is the values and practices shared by the members of the group and therefore, is the shared values and practices of the company’s employees. Is your company culture toxic?

Toxic Company Culture

Toxic employees do not recognize a duty to the organization for which they work or their co-workers in terms of ethics or professional conduct toward others. A toxic workplace can result from increased workplace stress, potential layoffs, workplace bullying. If your company has a toxic workplace, be assured your employees are exhibiting toxic behavior internally and externally. It will most certainly remove top talent from your organization and keep top talent from joining your organization.  

Assessing Company Culture

In assessing your company culture, you must look around and take notice of your employees’ actions. What are your employees doing or saying? You as a company owner when assessing your culture, must listen to your employees, your suppliers and your customers. Pay attention and take notice to what is being written about your company in print and online. These are tools for you to assess your Company’s culture.  Finally, when receiving the messages, feedback, etc. take immediate action to rectify and improve your company’s culture. Do NOT ignore! Toxic workplace environments do NOT go away on their own.

Appealing to Top Talent

Be Flexible with Recruiters. When recruiting top talent, be sure to be flexible with top recruiters and allow them to do their job. No need for a hawk eye overseeing their every move. You must have confidence in your recruiters you are working with to acquire top talent. If you do not have confidence in your recruiter(s), get a recruiter(s) that you have confidence in.

Allow employees to be a part of the process.  Allow your employees that will be working directly with the new hire to be a part of the interviewing and decision-making process. This assures your employees they have a voice and they are valuable to your organization and not simply just a job. Employees feel appreciated and respected when they know their opinion is valued.

Be sure your company exhibits a place of enjoyment and fun. This is simpler than you think. Remember, your employees spend more time with you “at work” other than at home with family. You do not want unhappy employees coming to work full of stress and unhappiness. Paul Spiegelman, founder and CEO of Beryl Co, has built a unique, people-centric culture. Eight Tips to Building Corporate Culture http://www.inc.com/ss/8-tips-for-building-corporate-culture#3. A great company to go to every morning is critical to retaining and acquiring top talent. Because the article says “corporate” does not mean these techniques or just for Corporate. A great company culture is critical to small and large corporations.

Other questions you should ask when assessing your company’s culture are: (1) Is your company customer-focused? (2) Is your company employee-focused (3) Does your company value emotional intelligence? (4) Does your company have a vision and is this vision shared with and by each and every employee in your organization? (5) How important is technology and innovation in your organization? (6) Are your company’s values easily exhibited and transcend throughout your organization?

Is Your Company Culture Desirable to Top Talent? Click here for a free cultural assessment checklist.

Thanks for Joining Us!

April D. Halliburton, Founder/President

Office: (313) 573-6677

Web home: http://www.all4hr.net

Email: all4hrbiz@gmail.com

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Workforce Planning is Essential to Company Growth!!

Workforce planning is critical to Growing a workforce and having satisfied customers/clients. You must have the correct amount staff to prepare and serve a great product and/or service.  Planning calculates the correct number of business and appropriate skill sets to meet company goals. Workforce planning is a continuous process that must be monitored and evaluated to be prepared for change.

Workforce planning coincides with the business and final plans a fundamental took I realizing the goals of an organization. Workforce planning is a process that exposes talent deficiencies and needs, identifies recruiting issues, important aspect of proper workforce planning is that the information gleaned can be used to allot resources, i.e., time and money.

Workforce planning is an essential variable to executing a HR Model and growing an organization. There are four phases of workforce planning:  conduct an organizational overview; determine the current workforce profile; determine the future workforce profile; and conduct a gap analysis.

1. Conduct an organizational overview—Example:  The company is launching a new product within six months. This step is the starting point that determines the organization’s current position and forecasts where the company needs to be in the future. 
2. Determine the current workforce profile— Example: The company currently employees 250 salesforce employees. This step provides the baseline demographics that are needed to determine the organization’s current position. 
3. Determine the future workforce profile—Example: The organization needs 300 salesforce employees to operate at the existing level and to staff the new product launch. Combine the organizational overview and the current workforce profile; then look ahead to where you need to be in future.
4. Conduct a gap analysis—Example: The Company is short 50 salesforce employees. 
5. Subtracting the current workforce number from the future workforce total and you will determine the shortfall or gap in number of employees. (Note: For other positions, you may need to determine any skills gap —Example: if you anticipate you will need 20 employees with a certain type of expertise on particular machinery or with a particular computer program, and you currently have ten, you can determine you will need to add ten employees with that particular expertise.)

Example:  Action Plan—Fill 50 new sales positions.

Now that you have determined the gap in where you are and where you need to be, you prepared to plot your course of action.

Workforce planning defines job roles and responsibilities; identifies staffing levels; increases efficiency in human resources; and improves resource allocation. All of which are essential to achieving improving company growth. After all, a company cannot grow if unprepared. The steps involved in executing a workforce plan are:

Ø  Document the results of your gap analysis and highlight the workforce issues that will impact on your organization’s ability to achieve its goals.

Ø  Assess the risk of not resolving the identified workforce issues.

Ø  Develop initiatives aimed at improving attraction and retention  

Ø  Establish an action plan with timeframes.

Ø  Establish how and when you will evaluate the effectiveness of your initiatives.

The bottom line is preparation is the key to growing a successful workforce and achieving organizational growth. One of the main goals in human resources, HR professionals must increase and sustain its workforce.  This includes identifying the skills and education in employees that can be utilized to grow the employees within the organization.  

Click here to receive a free Workforce Planning Profile.  Also, look for All-4-HR & Business Solutions’ upcoming webinar “Preparing for Workforce Growth: Workforce Planning.”

All-4-HR & Business Solutions is Committed to Growing Small Business’ HR.

See You Soon!

April D. Halliburton, President

Email: all4hrbiz@gmail.com

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What Employers Should Know About Medical Marijuana Usage in the Workplace

As labor/employment laws and other laws continue to change, along with adding laws, HR professionals have to be ready for these changes guess what – before they even take place. Sixteen states and D.C. have medical marijuana laws in place: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.  Despite these laws being in place on a state level, medical marijuana is illegal on the federal level.

Medical marijuana laws are designed to provide an alternative therapeutic option to people with chronic or debilitating conditions, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, major depression, or severe back pain. Employees suffering from these conditions are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act and provided appropriate accommodations not involving medical marijuana use, such as providing leave to seek treatment.

While medical marijuana is utilized in the workplace, the employer also has to be conscious of Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), by providing a safe work place for all its employees. Studies have shown that marijuana-using employees are more prone to accidents, injuries, and absenteeism. If an employee is in a safety-sensitive position, marijuana use is likely not a reasonable option. When an employer is notified by an employee that he/she has obtained a medical marijuana recommendation, (generally, not called a “prescription” as the drug is FDA-approved), the employer should consider if the employer should otherwise be considered disabled under the ADA (American’s Disability Act) and further explore if there is reasonable accommodation other than marijuana use is available.  If an employee must be licensed in accordance with federal law to perform duties such as commercial driving, marijuana use is not an option at all.

Only a handful of cases have resulted in decisions to provide guidance to employers regarding their potential liability in these situations. Almost all cases have supported employers who have attempted to keep medical marijuana out of the workplace.

Court Ruling

One such case is a 2011 Washington Supreme Court case held that the Washington Medical Use of Marijuana Act does not create a private cause of action for discharge of an employee who uses medical marijuana, either expressly or impliedly. Further, the Court found the act did not create a clear public policy to support a wrongful discharge in violation of a public policy claim and further noted “Nothing in this chapter required any accommodation of any on-site medical use of marijuana in any place of employment… “.  Roe v. TeleTech Customer Care Mgmt. (Colo.) LLC, 2011 Wash. LEXIS 393, No. 83768-6 (Wash. June 9, 2011)

Some state have written protections for medical marijuana users directly in their statutes:

Example:  Arizona statue states that “Unless failure to do so would cause an employer to lose a monetary or licensing related benefit under federal law or regulations, an employer may not discriminate against a person in hiring, termination or imposing any term or condition of employment or otherwise penalize a person based upon either: (1) the person's status as a cardholder [or] (2) a registered qualifying patient's positive test for marijuana components or metabolites, unless the patient used, possessed or was impaired by marijuana on the premises of the place of employment or during the hours of employment." Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 36-2813 (2011).

Because the issue of medical marijuana in the workplace is still in its infancy, employers and those who advise them should keep their eyes on court and legislative developments in their respective states. Employers, for now, appear to have plenty of defenses for maintaining the status quo in their drug testing programs or drug-free workplace policies.

Check us out on Wednesday to see what All-4-HR & Business Solutions is Blogging.

Now How Can We Help You….?

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What Entrepreneurs Need to Know about SMB Benefits?

Benefits are one of the greatest challenges facing human resource (HR) Professionals. Benefit regulations are an ever-changing industry concern. HR professionals should stay well-informed of government and state regulation changes and be sure to keep employees up-to-date through newsletter communication, workshops and briefings. HR Professionals should review packages offered by other companies in the industry. While reviewing other competitive packages is informative, be aware in this day, there is no one size fits all answers regarding benefits or HR for that matter. If considering making changes to your companies’ benefits package, be thorough and consider all variables before making changes.

As you know in March 2010, the federal government passed health care insurance reform, which included the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) signed into law on March 23. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 signed into law on March 30. These bills, together, are referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  

As an employer, it is effective to adopt the approach of keeping healthcare cost under control in a number of ways. This approach includes increasing the share of premiums that employees pay, increasing deductibles and co-pays, and implement various managed care strategies. 

Periodically review your current plan and establish whether the plan your company has in place is the best choice for your employees. Indemnity and managed care plans are:

·       Indemnity Plan

·       HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations)

·       PPO (Preferred Provider Organization)

·       POS (Point-of-Service Plans)

·       Consumer Directed Plans

SBA has a great new small business healthcare assessment tool located at http://www.sba.gov/healthcare. Excellent Tool!

Click here to receive any of the below small business healthcare insurance Checklists to assess your current health care position. Healthcare Checklist Request.

Email or call me with any HR or Business related questions. All4hrbiz@gmail.com  

Stay tuned for HR Lunch Café coming very soon. Name a Topic You would like us to research! All4hrbiz.gmail.com

April D. Halliburton, President

All-4-HR & Business Solutions, LLC