New Year’s Resolutions or Not: It’s Never Too Late to Improve Relationships with Employees
Lee Vikre, SVP of Organizational Development, BestCompaniesAZ
By Lee Vikre, SVP Organizational Development and Consulting
The more people believe you have their best interests at heart, the more direct you can be with them.
Coaching conversations become so much easier when there is a relationship of trust. In a “best company” culture, the needs of the employees and the company are in alignment.
A good new year’s resolution for managers is to build that level of trust with all their team members.
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11 Ways to Build a Better Business Brand by Marketing to Your Employees
Marketing to your own employees is part of a strong employer brand. In most companies marketing and HR departments don’t work together. That’s a mistake. Tear that silo down. HR people need to be marketers. Marketing principles can help create and sustain a great company culture.
Your company culture is a product. Most companies don’t sell that product, although some like Zappos and Disney do. Most great organizations, like Catholic Healthcare West and McMurry, simply reap the rewards of that product in the form of higher productivity, client loyalty, and profitability.
As an employer, you are always selling the value of working at your company to your employees, and you want them to not only buy in, but sell the culture to others. If you don’t market the value of your company to your employees, you can bet recruiters will be selling them on the value of someone else’s.
Marketers all understand the “know-like-trust” factor; that people buy from those they know, like, and trust. How does that apply to building your employer brand?
Know
- As a senior leader, be as transparent as possible. Share some things about yourself. Add a human touch. Make yourself approachable.
- Develop a clear picture of what it’s like to work at your company and promote that vision.
- Let people know about your commitment to being a great place.
Like
- Develop a friendly “voice” for your company communications that reflects your culture. Is your culture warm and friendly? Powerful and professional? Innovative? Fun?
- Evoke positive emotions about working at your company.
- Communicate frequently to build respect.
- Show appreciation for good work.
Trust
- Be honest and share news openly. Employees don’t complain about over-communication from management.
- Give employees a say in decision-making. People don’t always have to have a vote, but they always have to have a voice.
- Communicate results, and celebrate successes.
- Demonstrate that you have the best interests of the employees in mind.
De Anne Russell, Employment Brand Manager for Catholic Healthcare West Arizona, emphasizes the value of honesty and frequency in communication. “Our leaders communicate good news and bad, and interact with employees in their workplace on their shift”. In a hospital, that means CHW leaders interact with staff on three shifts and weekends. It’s no wonder CHW found a direct correlation between staff satisfaction and patient satisfaction.
Is there any better reason to market to your staff? Know-trust-like can help you turn your employees into brand ambassadors. What do you think? We would love to have your feedback on employer branding.
Heads Up; Your Top Performer is Looking for Another Job
Heads up; your top performer is looking for another job.
Is your top performer looking for another job?
Does that thought scare you? It should. Depending on what survey you read, it’s estimated that between 30 – 85% of employees are ready to jump ship. Despite sluggish job growth, in the US last year more people voluntarily quit their jobs than were laid off. On the other hand, only 14% of employers fear losing key players. There’s obviously some disconnect.
People are worn out from the recession and its lingering effects on their families. If someone feels stagnant and trapped, changing jobs can feel like a way to take control. Top performers aren’t complainers, though, and they often won’t tell you they’re unhappy till they’re out the door.
How do you know if your top people are eyeing new opportunities? Here’s a hint; if you’ve caught yourself saying “they should just be grateful to have jobs”, your company is at risk.
The positive side to this is that companies with great cultures can cherry-pick the best employees. What can you do to attract the best, and make sure they stick around? Here are four areas to consider.
Show your employees you care about them as people. Build camaraderie. Take them to lunch, or bring lunch in. Create opportunities for teams to get to know each other. Show sincere care and concern. Express your appreciation for their good work. For example, award-winning healthcare organization CHW Arizona teams hold “huddles” on a regular basis to discuss concerns.
Create opportunities for employees to learn and develop. If training isn’t in the budget, arrange for mentoring, peer training or cross-training. Give them feedback and coaching. Give them what they need to feel accomplished.
Provide flexibility and freedom. Hire the best people, and trust them to make decisions. Top performers need to have a sense of ownership.
Flexibility in scheduling is fast becoming an expectation. It doesn’t cost the company, but is worth a lot to employees. Insisting on “face time” in the name of productivity is likely to cause a loss of productivity down the road – and from what we’re observing, “down the road” is right now.
Have fun. You can take your work seriously without taking yourself too seriously. People are more productive and engaged when they’re having fun.
Are you seeing turnover in your company, and what are you doing to retain your best people?
Lasting Lessons from the Culture Crawl
Three of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies – Goodmans Interior Structures, Dunn Transportation/Ollie the Trolley, and McMurry – shared their secrets at the fall BCAZ Culture crawl. They all had a few things in common.
All three companies showed a deep commitment to a greater good. As Adam Goodman said, “You could look at it as just moving furniture out the door, but for us it’s far more than that. We want to change our community.” Dunn Transportation/Ollie the Trolley employees are proud to be considered ambassadors forScottsdale. During the trolley ride, Cricket, the driver, returned waves from pedestrians. “Everyone loves the trolley”, she beamed. “I love my job, I get to meet people from all over the world.” McMurry’s mission focuses on making other companies, as well as theirs, profitable – and then sharing the wealth with the staff (through profit sharing) and community (through McMurry Charities). People love working for a cause that’s larger than a paycheck. What elevates your company’s work to the level of a cause?
All three companies hold employee events, finding creative ways to hold down costs. Dunn/Ollie the Trolley holds barbeques at different times of the day and night, to accommodate all shifts. The VP of Operations, Jerry Durwin, cooks the food himself, at an estimated cost of $125. McMurry’s annual Celebr8ion features a staff talent show – less expensive and more fun than hiring entertainers. The cost of events is not important, but appreciation and camaraderie is priceless.
While you don’t have to offer lavish benefits in order to be a great company, one or two extraordinary benefits can help your company stand out. Dunn/Ollie the Trolley offers fully paid gym memberships. McMurry pays $3000 for successful staff referrals, and a $1000 bonus to those who give ten Toastmasters’ speeches. The companies ultimately benefit from those investments.
Longevity, as well as financial performance, is built into great companies. Goodmans is in its third generation, McMurry its second; Dunn was founded in 1986. What are you doing to build your company into a strong employer brand?
How to Become One of the Top 50 Businesses in the US
By Lee Vikre
Lee Vikre, SVP of Organizational Development, BestCompaniesAZ
How would you like for your company to be in the top 50 of 6,000,000 businesses in the US? Three Arizona companies enjoy that honor.
Three Arizona small businesses were recently named in The Great Place to Work® Rankings:The Best Small & Medium Workplaces presented by Entrepreneur®. Congratulations to #8 McMurry, a content marketing firm that has placed in the top 10 nationally for seven years; #12 Heinfield, Meech & Co., a Tucson based five time winner; and #15 Infusionsoft, an internet services company that has won many local awards before making its debut on the national list.
What’s so special about these organizations? Quite a lot, actually. The best practices from these three companies could give us enough to write about for the rest of the year. Like McMurry’s personalized logos and 64 benefits, or Infusionsoft’s unique workspace that includes massage chairs and a smoothie machine. It’s not all about wowing employees with glitzy facilities and benefits, though.
These companies have enjoyed business success from building such strong work cultures. Said McMurry CEO Chris McMurry, “We’re often asked how a company becomes a great place to work. The answer is not an easy one, but it begins with hiring truly exceptional, like-minded people interested in an unrelenting commitment to mutual fulfillment. That’s where it starts. Where it ends is in business growth, which may surprise some who confuse being a great place with being altruistic. Our staff and company both seek growth, personally and corporately.”
Does this sound like what you want? Any company can be a nationally recognized great organization, with the right commitment and focus. I strongly recommend that all companies aspiring to greatness apply for The Great Place to Work® Rankings: The Best Small & Medium Workplaces presented by Entrepreneur®. Registrations for 2012 are now open. Even if you don’t make the list the first time you apply, you’ll gain lots of valuable data and insight that will help you build your business.
At BestCompaniesAZ, we’d love to help you reach out for national recognition in 2012. We’ve been there and we know how to do it. You’ll need to get on it immediately – the time to plan is right now.
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Seven Tips for Creating an Admired Employer Brand
Lee Vikre is SVP of Organizational Development, BestCompaniesAZ
By Lee Vikre
Employer branding mystifies many leaders. In a recent TLNT post, the president of Career Builder North America said “half of companies don’t have an employer brand”. I disagree – I think all companies have an employer brand, whether they know it or not.
Your employer brand, or how your culture is perceived by prospective and current employees, either helps or hurts your company’s bottom line. Without brand recognition you will attract primarily desperate job seekers, and if you want top talent you’ll probably have to bribe them with supersized salaries. Your best people may jump ship when they become highly valuable.
Research shows that starting salary is less important to job seekers than their perception of the organization. 70% of job seekers said they would accept less than their minimum salary for an employer they believe is a great place to work.
Here are seven tips for building an admired employer brand.
- Make internal branding a collaborative effort between HR, PR, and marketing. You’ll need all those skill sets.
- Conduct internal opinion surveys and focus groups. What is it like to work at your company? What are your strengths and weaknesses as an employer?
- Ask your employees what words and phrases describe working at your company.
- Consider your company values. How can you bring them alive through branding?
- Think of employees as customers. What do they want? Consider the demographics and preferences of professionals in your industry and adjust the employment experience accordingly.
- If you have a strong external brand, let that guide your internal branding efforts. This may seem easier for large organizations, but Phoenix-based Arizona’s Most Admired Company winner Goodmans Interior Structures is a perfect example of a small business with consistency in external marketing and employer branding. It’s hard to look at their website and not want to work there, and their turnover is nil.
- Submit nominations to “Best Companies” lists, and when you win, make sure everyone knows about it! This is one of the most effective ways to build your brand in an authentic way.
Please share your ideas.
Career Connectors Celebrates 2nd Anniversary Free Event for Unemployed Professionals
Event includes free coaching for resumes, interviews, social media
Career Connectors will celebrate its second anniversary by focusing on the industries and businesses headquartered in the Phoenix market. This event includes representatives from career transition experts, job search resources and hiring companies Sept. 21, 9:00-noon at 5757 N. Central Avenue in Phoenix.
Career Connectors
Career Connectors is a volunteer organization that helps put professionals back to work by hosting six networking meetings per month at three Valley locations (Phoenix, Gilbert, and Mesa). The events bring in actively-hiring companies, keynote speakers, and career transition coaches who provide free services to professional job seekers, including resume and interview coaching, free head shot photos, social media training, and financial counseling.
The second anniversary meeting theme is designed to “take the current mindset of being an employee to thinking like an entrepreneur. This can be a life-changing perspective on how professionals should be handling our job search,” said Jessica Pierce, founder of Career Connectors. Speakers will be Kimber Lanning, Director of Local First Arizona, a coalition of 1,800 locally-owned businesses, and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council’s Mitchell Allen, whose title is Business Attraction Associate. Allen will give an overview of which industries are growing and where to find professional jobs locally. Cartel Coffee Lab, a local Phoenix coffee shop, will be catering the event with croissants, bagels and muffins.
Two companies will discuss their current job openings: Avnet, named by Fortune Magazine as one of the “Most-Admired Companies” for the past three years, and LifeLock, a Business Journal “Best Places to Work” winner. Personal time with these companies will be offered.
“We wanted to do something extra special for this anniversary event, so we’re bringing in more career coaching volunteers – a service that is absolutely free to job seekers,” says Jessica Pierce, founder of Career Connectors and a former professional recruiter. “I’m looking forward to that moment where people will have a true understanding that the local Phoenix market is full of opportunity, a great place to live, work and play.”
About Career Connectors: Career Connectors brings together business, non-profits, government, and faith-based organizations to connect Real People with Real Careers.
As Arizona’s fastest growing job seeker program, the organization hosts six free job seeker events per month in Mesa, Gilbert and Phoenix. In each networking event, Career Connectors showcases hiring companies, and offers free services including education workshops, DiSC profile assessments, networking tips, interview and resume coaching, community resources, and job leads.
Founded in 2009 by Jessica Pierce, the first Career Connectors event hosted 30 attendees. In less than 2 years Career Connectors has successfully served over 4200 job seekers in the Phoenix area and there are plans for a larger expansion in 2012. Career Connectors has been supported by Power-One, Computer Skills Institute, International Cruise & Excursions, Inc. (ICE) and most recently The Superior Group, an international work force and business solutions provider.
Career Connectors is currently pending nonprofit status. For more information or to register for an upcoming event, visithttp://www.careerconnectors.net. For more information about becoming a corporate sponsor, email jessica@careerconnectors.net.
BestCompaniesAZ and AZ Business Magazine Honor 60 Arizona’s Most Admired Companies
BestCompaniesAZ and Arizona Business Magazine honored 60 companies at the 2011 Arizona’s Most Admired Companies award reception on Wednesday, Sept. 7th, 2011 at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, AZ.
Arizona’s Most Admired Companies are selected based on how a company has performed in the following areas: Workplace Culture (as voted by employees), Leadership Excellence, Corporate and Social Responsibility (community and environment), and Customer Opinion (as assessed by customers). Four companies were recognized with a Spotlight Award for each of the four categories:
Customer Opinion: International Cruise & Excursions
Quality Leadership: The Arizona Diamondbacks
Social Responsibility: ScriptSave
Workplace Culture: Catholic Healthcare West of Arizona
“This is the most comprehensive and prestigious corporate awards program in Arizona because it recognizes the contributions and impact these “most admired companies” bring to our state”, says Denise Gredler, co-founder of the Most Admired Companies Program.
This year’s Presenting Sponsors included Catholic Healthcare West of Arizona, American Express and Ogletree Deakins.
To view the complete list of 60 winners and spotlight award finalists, and to pre-register your company for 2012 Arizona’s Most Admired Companies visit www.BestcompaniesAZ.com. To become a sponsor for the 2012 program, or for more information, contact Denise Gredler at 480-545-5151.
Make the Most of Your Workplace Award – Celebrate It!
“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” – Tom Peters
Great organizations create greater success by celebrating. Recognizing achievements and milestones boosts pride, camaraderie, and leadership credibility.
Once I was at a national conference at which 50 companies were being recognized with a prestigious award. I asked the CEOs and HR leaders, “So what do you plan to do to celebrate your award?” and was amazed at how many of them said “I don’t know, we haven’t thought about that yet.” Some didn’t plan to do anything beyond an announcement and a press release. What a missed opportunity!
Receiving a workplace award at an event such as Arizona’s Most Admired Companies is exciting, but not everyone from your organization will be there to hear the applause. Maximize the impact of your award by bringing the excitement back to the organization.
People love to work for great companies. A celebration will cement the awareness in their minds that they work for a “Most Admired” company. Leaders can inspire by thanking employees for their role.
What can you do to celebrate a workplace award?
- Create banners announcing the award. Advertising agency EB Lane’s outdoor banner proclaiming “EveryBody Loves Working Here” not only built pride, it attracted TV coverage.
- Give all employees a T-shirt highlighting the company as a best place to work.
- Hold an employee appreciation day with a “We Admire You” theme.
- Food is always a great way to celebrate. Content marketing firm and national winner McMurry had wood-fired pizza ovens brought on site for a special happy hour.
- Have a champagne toast.
- Take a mobile ice cream cart through the office and pass out treats, with thank-you messages attached.
- Draw for gift baskets or prizes.
- Decorate people’s desks after hours, including “we admire you” or “thank you” notes.
- Give employees an extra day off, or a half day off on Friday.
How does your company celebrate workplace awards or other successes, large or small? Let us know! If you comment by September 14, you’ll be entered in a prize drawing.
Part four of an HR: Focus on Hiring series of articles.
Companies strive to find the most effective ways in which to measure a potential candidate’s “fit” for an open position. Each test, each assessment, each interview is calculatedly given in order to determine the probability that the particular applicant will be a) successful and b) long-term. One factor in evaluating a long-term fit is assessing whether or not an employee will be happy in a certain position (if they are happy, they are more likely to stick around). Happiness in this case would be defined as having a personality or behavioral tendencies that are in line with the duties of the position. For example, if the job were an Accountant, you would want someone with a personality that fits an ideal employee in that position – i.e. highly-detailed, reserved and by-the-book. It doesn’t mean that a highly energetic, unorganized person couldn’t be a successful accountant, just that the probability of success is increased when certain factors are considered.
Image via Rocky Mountain Neuropsychology
Personality assessments should not be the only deciding factor when evaluating an applicant. Possessing the ideal characteristics for a certain position is only one piece to the puzzle. Experience, intelligence/ability and motivation all play equally important parts in determining the odds of hiring a future star performer. Tests for personality fit should be done in conjunction with other pre-employment assessments.
Before we look at different types of personality testing, what exactly constitutes personality for the purpose of job placement? Characteristics that impact the level of performance and attitude required to achieve high productivity in a certain role would be definitive of “personality” in these instances. There are a variety of these traits that a potential employer can reliably measure to determine position to candidate compatibility. Examples of these would be temperament, creativity, adaptability and sociability.
Each of these traits contributes to a factor that is related to job performance. Recruiters or hiring managers assess how each trait positively or negatively impacts the performance feature taking into considerations job duties and parameters. For example, when assessing a candidate’s determination and strength of mind, you are essentially looking at their leadership skills, whether or not they are goal-oriented, and what their long-term potential for advancement might be in this role or in the future for your company. Other examples of this type of deductive reasoning:
- Ideal work environment and position duties: By assessing under what conditions the candidate works best and what job duties best suit their personality you will be able to determine the likelihood the candidate will be highly detailed, process oriented, adaptable to change or perhaps whether some micromanaging may be necessary.
- Attitude and overall outlook: You can deduce from this how a candidate may deal with stressful situations or by their introversion/extroversion how well they might work with others. Insight can also be drawn into whether they are empathetic, adaptable, resistant to leadership or overly emotional.
- Intelligence and thought processes: The type of “thinker” a candidate is will be important when making a candidate to job match. Assess on levels of creativity, ability to think outside the box, analytical skills, etc. The way a candidate solves a problem can also be another way to tell how they deal with pressure.
Take note that with the ability to identify these traits and tendencies, there are disadvantages associated with this kind of testing. Explore all pros and cons prior to inserting any new steps into current recruitment practices.
- Time consuming: If you already have a lengthy recruitment process, these assessments can become time consuming. Choose wisely the length of evaluation you will have time for, as well as at what stage in the candidate selection process you will implement this testing.
- Costly: If your organization is in a major budget crunch, analyze the overall need for adding this step to your screening process. Certain desired results may outweigh the cost of implementation (i.e. high turnover, low employee job satisfaction).
- Training: A combination of cost and time, training is needed on most personality assessments. Recruiters/hiring managers will need to be trained on administering tests, analyzing results and giving advice on hiring decisions based on testing results. If used for employee development, understanding how one type can conflict or work cohesively with another type is essential. Depending on the complexity of the system or program, training can be extensive and costly.
- Interviewing: Consider the idea that the personality best-suited for your open position may not be the best interviewer. A position requiring someone that is reserved, meek and administrative will not have candidates matching the profile who come into an interview outgoing and ready to sell themselves. When using these types of evaluations as a disqualifier in recruitment, be sure to keep in mind these variations during the face-to-face interview portion of the hiring process.
- Improperly Disqualifying: Disqualifying high quality candidates can be a consequence of misreading or misunderstanding test results. Utilizing results as an ultimate disqualifier without weighing other test results or factors can also contribute to this. Be aware that extensive research should be taken to ensure that any test you implement will not have an adverse impact on candidate selection. Adverse impact is defined as a substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion or other employment decision which works to the disadvantage of members of a race, sex or ethnic group.
With pros and cons weighed, if you decide personality testing is for your company, you will find yourself next looking for the right assessment tool to use. Though there are hundreds, if not thousands, of testing options, five widely known assessments are listed below with excerpts from their respective websites.
Pre-Employment Personality Assessment Short List
Predictive Index: The Predictive Index® System is a powerful process that combines behavioral assessment with world-class training and consulting. At the core of the process is the Predictive Index® (PI®) assessment tool. Developed in 1955, PI helps managers identify the motivations and drives of their people. This insight provides managers with invaluable information for improved employee retention, coaching, leadership development, talent management, team performance and more. The Performance Requirement Options™ (PRO) profiles the behavioral requirements needed for optimal job performance. Working together, these tools ensure a strong job fit.
Myers-Briggs: The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people’s lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.
Kolbe: Kolbe makes finding the right person for the job easier and far less expensive than traditional selection methods. We provide “the missing link” in the hiring process: the rating of candidates based on their natural instincts.
DiSC: DiSC® is a personal assessment tool used by over 40 million people to improve work productivity, teamwork and communication. DiSC is non-judgmental and helps people discuss their behavioral differences.
Benziger: The Benziger Thinking Styles Assessment (BTSA) is a powerful state-of-the-art tool which has proved itself to be highly effective in a wide range of areas which involve assisting people to improve their self-management skills, general effectiveness and collaborative capabilities. In the world of business and in the world of therapy or counseling, professional trainers, managers and counselors are excited about the results they have been getting.
The value of utilizing personality assessments is not limited to the pre-employment process. This kind of testing also applies to post-hire employee development, affording insight into job satisfaction, development potential and other metrics affected by personality type. Whether pre-employment, post-employment or both, be sure to do your research before implementing new testing procedures. Make sure the type of personality testing is right for your company and the types of positions that you hire. If you feel you are able to self-criticize fairly objectively, try a few free tests to see how close they come to analyzing you and a few other colleagues, using that feedback to aid in selecting the proper assessment tool.
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Nominations being sought for Top 25 Workplaces for Women in Arizona. Deadline is January 12, 2011.
Awards Program sponsored by AZ Magazine and BestCompaniesAZ recognizes Arizona’s best workplaces for women that empower leadership, diversity and innovation.
AZ Magazine, a publication of Republic Media, and BestCompaniesAZ, announces the “Top 25 Workplaces for Woman in Arizona” Award, with winners to be published in the March issue of AZ Magazine. The deadline to apply is January 12th, 2011.
Arizona businesses with at least 25 or more employees and have been in business for at least three years are eligible to submit a nomination application. Companies do not have to be woman-owned but should be able to provide statistics on the number of woman that make up the workforce. Small businesses with less than 25 employees may be featured in a separate list.
“By spotlighting Arizona’s Top 25 workplaces for woman we can raise awareness of issues woman face in the workplace and encourage Arizona companies to implement many of the best practices of the top 25,” says Denise Gredler, President of BestCompaniesAZ.
Kaiser also says, “As the competition for employees begins to intensify in 2011, being named one of Arizona’s Top 25 Workplaces for Women can serve as a great recruiting and retention tool.”
Candidates for AZ Magazine 2011 Top 25 Best Workplaces for Woman are self-nominated or nominated by the general public. An independent panel of judges will select nominees based on their commitment to women in the workplace.
Winners will be notified by the end of January with a letter from AZ Magazine and BestCompaniesAZ. Winners will be published in the March issue of AZ Magazine.
Complete program details, FAQ’s and application forms can be found at www.bestcompaniesaz.com.
About AZ Magazine:
AZ Magazine is a product of Republic Media, an innovative, multi-platform media company that helps businesses navigate the advertising world. Encompassing an array of products including The Arizona Republic, azcentral.com and lifestyle magazines, Republic Media reaches more than 1.7 million Phoenix area adults each week and provides comprehensive marketing strategies that get results. To subscribe to AZ magazine, visit www.azmagazine.azcentral.com.
About BestCompaniesAZ
BestCompaniesAZ is dedicated to identifying, developing and promoting great companies and workplaces in Arizona. Services include employee opinion surveys, best practice
benchmarking, human resource assessments, employment branding and recruitment advertising/marketing services for Arizona’s Best Companies. To learn more about BestCompaniesAZ statewide programs and events, visit www.bestcompaniesaz.com or call 480-545-5151.
A Defined Corporate Culture Leads Toward Success
By Denise Gredler, President, BestCompaniesAZ
Having a clearly defined corporate culture is a trait that successful Arizona companies share. Those companies work closely with their management team and employees to establish a set of corporate values and a shared vision. By doing so, they create a positive corporate culture that drives the company’s direction.
“At the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, we have a list of core values that all of our employees have agreed to uphold,” says Rachel Sacco, president and CEO of the Scottsdale, Ariz. Bureau. “These values not only give us a standard by which to measure employee performance, they’ve also fostered a feeling of ownership among our staff and created a supportive, nurturing environment in which to accomplish our shared goals.”
Action steps to take toward enhancing your corporate culture:
- Work closely with your management team to establish a set of core values
- Share these values and your desired culture with all employees
- Include your core values in your employee handbook, discuss them with your new hires, post them visibly throughout the company and revisit them regularly
- Link your company’s core values to your hiring, training, performance management and compensation programs
- Structure key interview questions around your core values to help determine if a potential employee is a good fit with your culture
- Ensure that all employees understand how the core values will be integrated into the performance appraisal process
Having a good understanding of your corporate culture and communicating that to your employees can have a positive impact on the company’s bottom line. The impact of culture on the bottom line is substantial and companies can no longer treat this as a soft cost.
Money Saving Recruiting Tips for Employers
By Denise Gredler, President, BestCompaniesAZ
Rising recruitment costs and the need to watch the budget in all areas of business operations, leave human resource professionals wondering how to go about
recruiting top talent without breaking the bank.
One of the best ways to save recruitment advertising dollars is to keep the staff you currently employ, but that is the simple answer to a complex question.
There are three inexpensive ways to start the recruitment process:
- Get added to the “Best Company” list and immediately increase your media exposure
- Spread the word that ‘this’ is the best place to work through marketing materials and social media campaigns.
- Highlight the Most Admired Company status everywhere – email signature blocks, website, and social media to name a few.
Hiring new employees is costlier than retaining the current employee base. It’s more than base pay. If unable to retain current talent, consider the costs of a new employee such as taxes, benefits and worker’s compensation. Plus there are soft costs to consider such as training, new equipment and resources. A new employee can cost a company an additional 30% from the day they set foot inside the door.
Understanding the relationship between retaining employees and the bottom line is simple. Less costs to recruit, hire and train new employees means more money for the bottom line.
Tips to Retain Employees:
- Are current employees satisfied? How can you find this out? Ask! Money is not the only motivating factor. Consider no or low cost programs that are proven to increase employee engagement and satisfaction such as an employee recognition program, ability to telecommute or flex-time schedules, casual dress days to name a few.
- Promote from within the company. Communicate open positions within the company. Encourage suitable employees to apply for these positions. Create a talent database where employees and managers can see who might be suitable for backfill or new positions.
- Be Innovative. Create interdepartmental work groups who can share ideas and create new products or services. Use the talent you have and recognize innovators for the contributions.
- Implement a Referral Program. Internal recruitment is the most cost-effective method of recruitment. Current employees recommend friends for suitable positions. The company then offers movie passes or a floating holiday or other incentive for helping recruit new employees.
- Use Social Media rather than traditional advertising. Social media is low or no cost and paperless recruiting. LinkedIn is a great resource for recruiters and will eliminate becoming inundated with piles of resumes.
As before any project, research the true need for additional help before beginning a recruitment campaign. You may have the talent in the organization already which means the cost of recruitment is zero.
Can employee engagement surveys increase employment satisfaction?
By Denise Gredler, President, BestCompaniesAZ
Quick! What are your employee’s most pressing concerns, values and needs? Are they engaged in the mission, vision and values of the company? Do they have ideas that can help improve the bottom line?
If you hesitated in answering any of these questions, it might be time to implement a strategic and proven system – an employee engagement survey. Many managers find surveys a beneficial way to gauge the temperature of the climate of your company’s culture.
Companies who have a high level of employee engagement retain employees and the converse is also true. Surveying employee engagement helps managers understand the expectations of employees and create an environment in which they can be successful. Satisfied employees leads to satisfied customer base and thereby a more productive and profitable organization.
Most executives and managers know when employee dissatisfaction is peaking. While they may know action is needed, they miss the mark on exactly what to do. Creating an environment to increase customer and employee satisfaction and ultimately the bottom line is elusive for many companies. Satisfaction or engagement surveys like the Gallup Q12 can help managers gain an understanding of the scope of dissatisfaction.
Here are a few questions to consider:
- Why did the employee join the organization?
- Which attributes are valued in leaders and employees?
- Do employees consider leaving the organization?
- What is the level of satisfaction with employee compensation?
- How can employee satisfaction be enhanced? Ask if options such as flextime, telecommuting, employee recognition programs, etc. are important.
- What can be done to increase your company’s customer service levels? Customer satisfaction? Customer loyalty, productivity, quality or profit.
- What can be done to make the organization more competitive? Is it increasing employee satisfaction or engagement? Level of customer service? Productivity? Change in management?
It is important to not only distribute and collect surveys but to implement ideas and suggestions. Creating a more engaged workforce is not a new idea; it is an old idea gaining traction. Engaging and retaining the best and brightest employees is important to the bottom line which is why employers are asking for feedback via surveys.
By Denise Gredler, President, BestCompaniesAZ
In the past, sweaty palms during a job interview typically existed only on one side of the table – with the job seeker. In today’s competitive marketplace, however, job interviews are a two way street with equal emphasis being placed on the company’s people practices, including staff morale, benefits packages and the company’s overall corporate culture. Companies that excel in these areas not only attract the best and the brightest workers, they also help boost the company’s bottom line, saving time and money by increasing employee retention rates.
Research shows a positive correlation between progressive people practices and a company’s financial performance. The same correlation can be found among regional companies. BestCompaniesAZ looked at a sample of 15 publicly-held companies from the Metro Phoenix area compared their performance to the S&P 500. These Phoenix companies showed a return of almost double the S&P 12 month-return.
Companies that are considered among the best places to work also realize that increased employee retention rates and higher morale. The benefits of a people-oriented workplace are clear, but how does the average company make the transformation from good to great? Research conducted by BestCompaniesAZ over the past five years, which was inclusive of both local and national “best places to work” list winners and “employer of choice” companies shows that the companies possess all the following attributes.
The benefits of a people-oriented workplace are clear, but how does the average company make the transformation from good to great? The best way is to start by establishing a solid foundation. We offer these five key steps:
- Develop Dynamic Leaders: Great leaders train, motivate and empower their employees and this leads to increased productivity, employee satisfaction and overall financial performance.
- Define Your Corporate Culture: Work with your employees to establish a clear set of corporate values and a shared vision. Doing so creates a positive corporate culture that drives the direction of your company and creates a feeling of ownership among employees.
- Build Progressive Human Resource Programs: Progressive HR programs and comprehensive benefits packages attract and retain employees and assist them in achieving their professional and personal goals.
- Support Community Involvement: Give back to the community and offer employees time off for volunteer work or to sponsor charitable events. It’s a great way to share your company’s success.
- Communicate With Your Employees Openly and Often: Fostering frequent two-way communication between management and support staff is the sign of a great company. This keeps everyone connected and moving in the same direction, striving toward the same goals.
Implementing these steps could lead to a more productive workforce and enhance employee retention rates.
Originally published in BusinessWeek Magazine.
Don’t miss out on a fun and exciting day at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Feb 23rd!
Harrah’s Ak-Chin is hiring! Join us in the ballroom on February 23rd 10AM – 2PM.
- Sous Chef
- Beverage Supervisor
- Bartenders
- Cooks
- Cook/Cashier
- Food/Beverage Servers
Interested in attending the fair? Please complete an application prior to the event. Visit our employment site www.harrahsjobs.com and select the position titled Culinary and F&B Job Fair.
St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center Shines as one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies
How many companies can say that their employees: “believe that it is an honor to work there”? We know one for certain that can lay claim to that high praise — St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center. It was that endorsement by employees and other criteria that brought it the honor of being named one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies for 2010.
The hospital wrote, “It brings personal pride to everyone to serve the sickest patients in our community and it’s because of our employees, who are committed to the values of our organization, that we have earned a reputation for quality care.”
St. Joseph’s is a mission-based organization with a culture built around the organization’s values of excellence, collaboration, dignity, justice and stewardship. The hospital strives to be an employer of choice and does so for its more than 5,000 employees. In 2009, it was one of only 100 hospitals in the nation to be named a Best Place to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare. In fact, the hospital was one of only 15 organizations with more than 5,000 employees to make the Top 100 list.
The hospital was named the #1 Best Place to Work (in the extra-large company category) by the Phoenix Business Journal for the second year in a row. St. Joseph’s is the only Valley hospital to be named a Best Place to Work by the newspaper for seven consecutive years. Both honors are based, in part, on employee feedback.
Because of its commitment to employees, St. Joseph’s encourages work/life balance and offers a generous benefits plan. Employee benefits include:
- Pension Plan
- Savings Plan
- Retirement Medical Reimbursement Program (RMRP)
- Annual Tax Preparation
- Tuition Reimbursement Program
- Adoption Reimbursement Program
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP
- Discounts on Products/Services
In addition, St. Joseph’s offers its employees flexible work schedules, a wide range of professional and personal development opportunities, free concierge services, and discounts to the on-campus cafeteria, gift shop and Starbucks.
As a way to gauge employee satisfaction, St. Joseph’s surveys staff members to measure both satisfaction and how well the organization is living its values. This past year, the “average percent favorable” score was 94%.
Like most hospitals, St. Joseph’s has a traditional leadership structure. Unlike most hospitals, employees find inspiration in the leadership philosophy. This unique philosophy gives more empowerment to employees. It is based on the belief that employees have the best solutions to the hospital’s problems and are the keepers of the mission.
Individually, many of St. Joseph’s leaders have received local and national honors. In 2009, St. Joseph’s President Linda Hunt was recognized as one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare and as one of the 25 Most Admired CEOs by the Phoenix Business Journal. In addition, she received the Horace Steele Child Advocacy Award from Children’s Action Alliance in 2009 and the Healthcare Leadership Award from Arizona Business Magazine in 2008. Throughout the year, St. Joseph’s staff receives a wide range of honors.
St. Joseph’s is a mission-driven organization dedicated to serving the community. In 2009, the hospital provided $92 million in healthcare services and programs for the benefit of our community. This included charity care, unpaid cost of Medicaid, medical education, community service, public programs, research and donations made by the hospital.
The hospital works with approximately 100 community partners to bring needed services and education to individuals throughout the Valley.
In an effort to be a good steward of the environment, St. Joseph’s:
- Has several recycling programs
- Has a Commuter Options program that encourages and offers incentives to employees who ride the bus/light rail, vanpool, carpool, walk, or ride their bike to work
- Donates hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical equipment and supplies to PROJECT C.U.R.E.
- Uses environmentally friendly materials in several areas in the hospital.
The hospital is dedicated to patient satisfaction and has several initiatives in place to make the hospital a place of outstanding care and comfort for patients and their families.
Other best practices the hospital has implemented include: hourly nurse rounding on all patients, use of white boards in patient rooms to effectively communicate with patients and families, engaging patients in the bedside shift report and making follow-up calls after a patient is discharged to home.
The hospital implemented an initiative called Transformational Care to help improve the patient experience. Transformational Care encourages employees and physicians at the grassroots level to identify barriers to great patient care, implement solutions, and lead sustainable changes. The initiative has led to huge improvements in patient satisfaction at St. Joseph’s sister hospitals, and early data shows the initiative is doing the same at St. Joseph’s.
Along with the traditional medical services for which hospitals are known, St. Joseph’s strives to provide “extras” for its patients. The hospital offers a concierge service to all patients and their family members. This service can help individuals with everything from securing lodging to planning parties to pet care.
It’s the dedication to providing high quality services that go above and beyond the typical hospital fare that sets St. Joseph’s Hospital & Medical Center apart. An employer that cares about the community as well as its employees is what made St. Joseph a Spotlight Award Winner in the Social Responsibility category as one of the Most Admired Companies in Arizona.
Resume Screening: Titles and Tenure
Part one of an HR: Focus on Hiring series of articles.
Job titles and tenure are two crucially important pieces of information for each position listed on a resume. What was the rank and how long was it held? With each role and list of responsibilities provided, the resume screener has an obligation not to take what they are seeing at face value. Failing to properly investigate and delve into the duties the candidate actually performed or how much experience they truly have risks hiring an individual not qualified to do the job.
Let’s say you are looking to hire a Human Resource Manager for your organization. This position is part of a department with 15 personnel and reports to the Director of HR. You need someone tenured to support the Director in her role and as busy as your organization is, they need to be able to come in with little training required and manage the staff and daily activities. A resume is submitted showcasing Mr. A, a candidate with a solid history of HR Management experience with ABC Landscape Company – 20 years to be exact. It sounds like Mr. A handled all HR-related responsibilities while in his role (as HR Manager of course) and would be a perfect fit for your organization. You decide to check references and find out a little bit more about the company before you bring Mr. A in for an interview. Now for the shocking truth: ABC Landscape Company is comprised of Mr. A, Mrs. A and a lawnmower. How does 15 years of HR Manager experience sound now? He handled all employee relations, workers’ compensation and other HR-related issues. Of course he did; there were no issues to handle. Take a little extra time and find out if a candidate held a title befitting their job duties or just held a title in name only.
That brings up a side note on job responsibility inflation as well. I would go so far as to say that most resumes are at least slightly inflated. Any candidate savvy enough to search the internet can find a plethora (yes, plethora – maybe that’s one) of buzzwords to make even the most mundane or mindless tasks seem like duties that are imperative to running the organization.
Learn to read between the lines:
| Resume Responsibility Description | Basic Responsibility Description |
| Implemented document organization process | Filed |
| Maintained a direct and positive impact on the profitability at my location | Worked the register |
| Referred customers to the appropriate management when necessary | Front desk greeter/answered phones…sometimes |
| Comprised statistical information and converted into presentation materials | Data entry, chart wizard, copy/paste into PowerPoint |
Any responsibility can sound important if the right wording is utilized. Watch for buzzwords that are repeated throughout the resume. Some descriptors are typically legitimate: trained, edited, coached, created, performed, increased/decreased. Others can be red flags, especially if the position being described is not an analyst of some kind or at an executive level: overhauled, empowered, implemented, analyzed, single-handedly, guided, streamlined, diagnosed. Resume Help provides endless action and keywords to use on resumes. If certain curriculum vitae look as though they were run through Inflator 2.0, sort through the strategic descriptions to find out what duties the candidates were truly accountable for.
Tenure can be another grey area on a resume. This is especially true when candidates have something to hide. Employment gaps should always be red flags to employers. Instead of explaining the circumstances, candidates get tricky when listing employment dates. The most common is not listing day and month, just the year during which the position was held. John Doe could list three positions he’s held, one from 2000-2003, one from 2003-2008, and one from 2008-2011. That would be three years, five years, three years – not bad tenure. In reality, if he left job one in January 2003 and didn’t start job two until November 2003, that’s an 11 month gap in employment that you aren’t seeing because of how this information is listed. Other candidates may simply fudge their employment dates hoping that you won’t check into specific start and end dates. Don’t let falsifications on resumes slip through the cracks.
Background and reference checks are always a good idea. When employment is verified, many companies, even if they will only give the job title and dates of employment, may go further to clarify the length of time each job title was held at their corporation. Another strategy is to contact a previous manager/supervisor to try and verify prior compensation. This will provide further insight into the true corporate rank of the candidate for past positions.
Sifting through those not qualified to find that diamond in the rough can be a tedious process. Spending extra man hours to find out what an applicant can actually provide to your company will be well worth the effort. However you decide to work the screening process, ensure you are doing what you can to avoid being fooled by resume exaggerators.
Image via Adviatech
When you hear the words “executive-level professional”, several things come to mind: career-driven, motivated, intelligent, strategic thinker. These are all characteristics of a model employee in upper management and, as well, these are all definitive of someone you want working for your organization. Hard-working employees such as these aren’t necessarily looking for other positions and, therefore, are passive candidates. Similarly, when in a position of such stature, it’s probable they wouldn’t want anyone to know they are looking.
As you think about these descriptors of an executive-level professional, ask yourself what behaviors this type of person will logically exhibit during a new career search. Will they entertain referrals from colleagues? Sure. Will they talk to similar-level executives at other organizations? Probably. Will they reach out to executive placement firms? Maybe. Will they troll traditional job boards? Probably not.
Not only is it unlikely they will search job boards for open positions, it’s doubtful they would have time to check their Facebook page on a daily basis or update their Myspace profile. Simple social media recruiting efforts like those explained in the previous post, Utilizing Social Media to Source Passive Candidates, aren’t going to be as successful with the exec-level crowd. Taking all of that into consideration, when you have an opening to fill, how do you identify and connect with upper echelon executive talent?
The key to utilizing social media for connections at this level lies in identifying the proper networking sites. Let’s walk through a few websites with reputations for executive level and business networking (as opposed media sites for the masses such as Facebook).
Monster showcases eight such sites:
- Admin Secret: not for executives exactly, but for executive level administrative assistants – this site is part of Monster (wonder how it made this list?)
- Perfect Business: for entrepreneurs
- Plaxo: address book and contacts resource for businesses of all shapes and sizes
- Ryze: general business networking
- GoBigNetwork: for startups
- Biznik: for entrepreneurs
- Cofoundr: for entrepreneurs
- Ecademy: for small business owners and entrepreneurs
A simple Google search can bring up executive-level networking sites by industry or field. Examples such as FENG – Financial Executives Network Group, TENG – Technical Executives Network Group (recognize a theme here?), and yes, MENG – Marketing Executives Network Group all tout themselves as resources for high-level networking and collaboration (I love that last one – collaboration. They have to find any way they can to make the description of their services stand out more – brilliant!). Also try doing a search, whether general executive-level or within a specific industry, for the state you are in. Many states have online networking resources expressly for those residing in certain locations. For instance, Pennsylvania has the Business Executives Networking Group, or BENG. If you have difficulty identifying a relevant networking site, apparently all you need to do is take the first letter of your field and add “ENG”. Whether .org, .net or .com, you’re bound to stumble upon something.
Outside of social media efforts, finding the right places to post your position is highly important. Infamous executive and high level job boards include 6 Figure Jobs and The Ladders. Instead of utilizing banner ads or marketing techniques on generic sites like Twitter or Facebook, look to the websites of professional associations ideal executives in your industry would belong to. Seek out associations outside of the industry that executives would likely sit on the board for. Use their websites, seminars, etc. to your advantage, posting openings wherever you are able, on their careers or even home pages.
In the end, it all depends on the exact position and type of candidate you are looking for. Whatever your efforts may be, keep in mind that a diversified recruiting campaign will net a more diversified applicant pool while a specialized campaign, utilizing the suggestions listed above will result in a specialized, more specifically qualified set of talent. If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, you may want to try generalized tactics. However, executives like to feel elite. If you narrow your search fields, they will know you aren’t willing to entertain just any candidate off the street – and that will definitely spark their interest in working for you.
Utilizing Social Media to Source Passive Candidates
Image via Nuance Marketing
Emily is a highly-skilled, hard-working Accountant. At this very moment, somewhere out there, she’s sitting behind a desk. She’s moderately happy – decent pay, decent benefits, decent work environment. The problem is that she’s outgrown her role and there’s no advancement opportunities available to her. Her job is satisfying enough, so she’s not actively looking for something else. She recognizes, however, that her skills might be better utilized in a different role.
What luck! Your company has an opening for someone with her exact skill set! She could have a great career path with your organization and become one of your star performers. The hitch in that plan is that you don’t know her name, the company she works for, or anything else about her. She’s not looking, remember?
In order to increase your applicant pool to include Emily and other candidates like her, conventional processes should be supplemented by more nontraditional methods. You have to find a way to get your company, and possibly information about your open position, in front of candidates that are otherwise not searching. Fortunately, we are living in an age of instant connections. Where Hollywood cinema has the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, the real world has the six degrees of Facebook. Everyone is connected to everyone else through a series of connections. The rise of social media has created endless opportunities for those that handle organizational recruitment and hiring.
This is especially true for Generation Y talent. According to the Pew Research Center, 75 percent of Gen Yers have created a social networking profile. 75 percent of those with profiles visit social networking sites a minimum of once every few days. By comparison, 50 percent of Generation X and 30 percent of Boomers have profiles. For both generations, just over 60 percent visit a social networking site at least once every few days. That’s a lot of statistics to throw out, but the bottom line resonates: establishing your organization in the world of social media can give you the exposure to stand out from your competitors.
The first step is to become educated on what kind of social media is available. Facebook is a no-brainer. They are the top dog. They are the end all, be all of social media sites. Highly informal as it may be, Facebook has a following of over 400 million users (30 percent of those are located in the US according to Facebook), a number more than twice that of its nearest competitor. Then there’s MySpace, Twitter, and so on and so forth. Many of these sites are connected. When you post a video on YouTube, you can set it up so that an automatic feed is sent to Facebook, Twitter, etc. Think about what that means.
From a marketing and recruiting standpoint, one advertisement or one promotion that you put out there is pushed to numerous sites instantaneously. As what you’ve posted is viewed, it will be forwarded, tweeted, and linked to. In a matter of minutes, your reach could be hundreds, if not thousands of people. This is one reason why selling ad space on certain websites is such a lucrative market. It’s not just companies selling their products anymore, it’s companies selling their jobs. Careerbuilder has jumped on this bandwagon, teaming with Facebook to promote positions via banner ads.
Getting started, try a few of these quick ideas that corporations such as Starbucks have employed (and all are at little to no cost!):
- Obviously, create employer pages on various social media sites. Facebook and LinkedIn are two fail-safe sites to begin with.
- Start a blog on your company website if you don’t already have one. Link your company profiles to it and encourage employees to link to it.
- Strike up conversations online or tweet about your company to encourage online discussions of things that are going on at your organization and positions that are open.
- Add social networking initiatives to your employee referral program. Sites like LinkedIn allow you to send out open positions to different groups and elicit referrals from others on the site.
- Post advertisements or marketing pieces on YouTube or similar sites and push them out to followers and friends on other networking sites.
- Make sure information is getting out there about how great your company is to work for. Seeing a post or a conversation about someone that loves working for you or a customer that had a great experience might prompt a candidate to look at your careers page to see what is available.
- Make your careers page and online application process simple. The harder it is to fill out an application, the fewer the number that will follow through on completing it.
Incorporating social media into your current procedures can be a giant undertaking if you are not familiar with it. Try and streamline your processes before jumping in head first. Research different types of social networking sites to find the right fit for your organization. To get started, CIO (an IT executive analysis and news site) has compiled 8 Sites To Help You Network. Many are fantastic supplements to existing efforts on more popular sites like LinkedIn. Half of the sites listed are geared towards overall business networking: AP Sense, Marzar, Xing and Fast Pitch Networking. The other half are similar, but specifically revolve around entrepreneurs and startups: Biznik, Entrepreneur Connect, Go Big Network and Konnects.
The idea is to build a recruitment strategy based upon job advertisements and marketing as a joint front. Design your campaign to represent what appeals about your company and its employees. Setting up a social networking presence for your organization is initially time consuming, but the ROE (not equity – Starbucks uses this to mean Return on Effort) is worth it. After becoming familiar with the basics, you will be able to branch out on a larger scale, utilizing more business-oriented social networking sites and sophisticated strategies to integrate your social media knowledge with current executive-level recruiting methods.
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Part two of an HR: Focus on Hiring series of articles.
Image via Affordable Resume Service
Two resumes are identical except one candidate graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the local state university and a 3.0 GPA, the other graduated from Never Heard of It University with a Master’s degree and a 3.9 GPA. Consider two more identical resumes, one with a few recognitions by the local chapter for their industry, the other with 20 acknowledgements in various compilations of Who’s Who for their field. In both scenarios, how to you go about deciding which experience, education, training or certifications are superior?
If you’ve been recruiting for a while, the first red flag will be anything from an institution you’ve never heard of. There is usually a reason you’ve never heard of it (barring perhaps the occasion that a candidate is from out of state and you aren’t familiar with area schools). The second red flag is going to be anything from an institution you see way too often. Accolades that are handed over to anyone with a checkbook are pretty much void. I don’t care that you were listed among the Who’s Who of Finance Managers with less than 10 years of experience that own a pet and are located within the southwestern portion of Arizona (please note that this is not an actual group recognized by Who’s Who). Certain certifications and training can be irrelevant additions to fatten a resume. It’s your job to figure out the worthy from the not-so-worthy.
Part of this deciphering process comes down to the nature of your industry and the position in question. If you are selling [insert random product here] to [insert random consumer here], a course at Sales Trainers R’ Us, might not be the worst credential to have. However, if you are selling a niche product to a specific target group, that training may be useless. You need to pay attention to the type of training as well as the institution as they relate to the job description you are trying to find a match for. Should it matter to me if you majored in Basket Weaving at Harvard? Just because it’s Harvard, doesn’t make it relevant.
The next step is to determine, for lack of simpler terms, what is legit and what is bogus. Not having heard of an establishment doesn’t make it unworthy. To find a good fit, you may need to do your homework. Utilize Google. Search for the organization’s website (another red flag if there is no mailing address listed on the website). For high level positions you may want to send certificate, transcript, or diploma copies to a company specializing in accrediting these types of documents. I’ve used Morningside Evaluations in the past, though mostly for accrediting diplomas for immigration purposes. They are a great resource either way.
Many affiliations and memberships can also be inflated. What difference does it make if you sit on the board for A Greener Phoenix if the only members are you and one other person (if that’s the case, hopefully you are at least Board President) and no contributions or differences have been made as a result of this endeavor? Again, I’m talking to you soon-to-be-college-graduate: if you only joined the ASU Water Analysis Association because every other Tuesday of the month you get a free pizza lunch during meetings or if you and your friends started a fishing club with the claim to fame being that one time you took a trip to Canada, do every recruiter who looks at your resume a favor and leave it off your final version.
As for training, there are more companies out there offering “training” than you can shake your fist at. Many organizations send their employees in droves to these classes and seminars in the hopes of improving upon their human capital. Companies like Dale Carnegie, American Management Association, SkillPath and Fred Pryor all offer various development courses. Some of them are worth the time, cost and education (Microsoft Office software training classes for example) and others are waste of time courses filled with common sense information along with an expensive price tag. Look for online reviews and assessments to find out what others thought of the course or seminar. Look at the outline for the classes listed on the resume and see if the topics listed include information helpful to the position the candidate is applying for. Find A Seminar lists seminars in the United States and links to the companies providing them. For college education, US News provides a helpful site, ranking institutions across the nation in various categories.
A high-detail, in-depth look at anything listed under the Accomplishments section of a resume will help you sort the good stuff from the fluff. With the unlimited options provided online, fake degrees, meaningless credentials, or out and out resume fraud are all very real sand traps in the resume screening process. Put in the effort, dig your way out, and hopefully hire a legitimately experienced individual.
Part three of an HR: Focus on Hiring series of articles.
Image via HRM Report
Performing background checks on potential new hires should already be part of your hiring process. According to The Society for Human Resource Management, 80% of employers run background checks prior to hiring. The advantages of attaining this information far outweigh the cost that is paid to obtain it. Though the pros of these checks are plentiful, a few of the most significant reasons are:
- Trustworthiness: Applicants who are dishonest about something on their resume may carryover that lack of integrity to the workplace.
- Credentials: Applicants that overemphasize or blatantly lie about their education may not have the proper credentials, training or certifications to perform the duties of the job.
- Liability: Applicants with criminal records containing varying degrees of violence can be a liability in certain professions, especially those dealing with children. If another employee or individual gets hurt, the company could be held liable.
- Money: Applicants who will be handling cash should have good credit records (or good explanations for tarnished ones). Applicants in dire straits for money will be more likely to take from the corporate cookie jar. As well, if an applicant cannot manage their own finances, how well will they be able to control those of the company?
- Substance Abuse: Applicants who are substance abusers are obviously a risk. Policies should be in place regarding the adherence to prescreening substance abuse procedures.
Whether you are currently performing background checks or in need of implementing such methods, be sure you are fully informed on your rights within the law. Each state has different laws with respect to searches for personal information. Look into the regulations in your state or consult a lawyer before starting this process. Many states have placed limitations on credit checking and the EEOC has taken an interest in determining any discrimination related to these pre-employment searches. In certain states as well, you are not allowed to ask up front for an applicant’s criminal record. If these “Ban the Box” laws apply in your state, be sure to take that request for information off of your initial employment application. Properly analyze each position and determine the types of checks necessary for potential candidates. For more information on the legal implications of background checks, see a recent article posted on SHRM here.
Once you have determined your process, first things first, you must obtain a disclosure form from the applicant, allowing you to perform the desired searches. If you deny an applicant based on the information found in their background check, you must let them know this, allowing them to obtain a copy of the check you received and refute any information that may be wrongly included. Second, find a background search company. The website Finder Mind lists the background search companies in their top 5, providing Better Business Bureau ratings and a short summary of each company. These search companies are People Finders, US Search, Intelius, Info Cubic and Identity PI. Verity Screening Solutions is also a great tool for small to medium-size organizations as they have fairly quick turnarounds and low fees.
If your organization is not in a financial situation to be able to afford background checks, do a little research on your own. You will be surprised to find what information you can find out about a candidate by an online search or by calling a few references or previous employers. Many states even have criminal records published online, though a word of caution accompanies that suggestion. When doing an online search, make sure you are looking at information for the right person. No matter how unique the name, you would be surprised how many times someone’s bad record is mistaken for another person of the same name. In running preliminary checks (before spending the money on our search service), I’ve had that happen to me a few times.
The bottom line is that background checks are worthwhile to perform. The time, effort and money spent could potentially save your organization from hiring an employee that is untrustworthy or a possible liability.
Side bar: when background check companies are calling your corporation for information on previous employees, keep it short and sweet. Dates and titles need be the only thing verified. Trashing an ex-employee could land you on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
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What makes a company the Most Admired in Arizona? When it comes to McMurry, a 2010 award-winner, it stands out because it operates on the principles of ethics, excellence, innovation, leadership, service, social responsibility and teamwork. They believe they cannot have a great company without having employees who are happy and thrive in the work environment.
McMurry operates on a unique culture of hiring “8s.” What does this mean and what is the rationale behind hiring 8s? “We hire 8s – because an ‘8’ is a star.” Their reasoning is that a “10” is perfect and a “9” is someone who comes along once in a generation—like Michael Jordan. “8s” are star players who work according to McMurry’s 8 values, which are the foundation of the culture and what many staff members say is the best thing about working there.
The values under which the company operates create a culture in which people are a part of something bigger than their individual jobs:
- Part of a family
- On the cutting edge of technology and communications
- Decisions that impact people, organizations and industries
- Have fun while contributing to the company
The 8 McMurry Company Values are:
1. Do the Right Thing
2. Help One Another
3. Deliver Raving Service
4. Produce Quality Always
5. Exceed Expectations
6. Embrace Change
7. Accept Social Responsibility
8. Earn a Reasonable Profit
Employees at McMurry – who average five years longevity – can take advantage of up to 64 unique benefits, including: flextime, telecommuting, profit-sharing, $3,000 staff referral bonuses and on-site services and amenities such as a car wash, dry cleaning, shoe and purse repair, UPS shipping station, an ATM, showers and a gym.
The goal for every one of the close to 170 staff members at McMurry is to help keep it the best place to work. To ensure this, the Best/Worst Survey is conducted each year. It quantifies satisfaction on a 1-5 scale and asks a variety of questions. Questions include asking if McMurry is the best job of their career. What do they like most and least about working at McMurry? This provides management qualitative feedback.
Consistently, the top favorite things are the people, values and culture. The top “worsts” are not consistent, and management addresses those items within one week of the survey results being publicized. The survey has led to many improvements, ranging from a $4.5 million office renovation, to improved health insurance, to the company’s logo, to more healthy food being available, and everything in between. The survey helps staff trust the leaders because, big or small, McMurry always addresses the “worsts.”
The company’s founder, Preston McMurry Jr. has a background in hospital marketing (he wrote the nations’ first healthcare ad campaign in 1972). He boasts illustrious and awe-inspiring work in fundraising for domestic violence nonprofits and founded and leads one of the top U.S. marketing communications companies.
Preston’s son, Chris McMurry, joined the company in 1990 as its first salesperson and the father and son duo grew the business exponentially. The company has received many accolades including: The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year. Preston was named Man of the Year by East Valley Child Crisis Center, an Honored Entrepreneurial Fellow from the Entrepreneurial Fellows – University of Arizona and given the Souls Afire, 83rd Congress Community Service Award. In 2002, he was named the Greater Arizona AFP Philanthropist of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
To keep staff motivated, Preston speaks with each new group of staff members about the company’s values four times a year. This helps new staff understand why McMurry operates on a values-based system, where the values came from, how they’ve evolved and how they’ve changed staff members’ lives.
Chris has maintained the values and “best place to work culture” at McMurry. Practices like employee engagement surveys and the Teamwork Survey and asking questions through his internal blog named “Conversations with Chris.” He understands the success of McMurry lies in its people.
McMurry has been rewarded for this understanding with yearly awards from the Great Place to Work Institute, consistent No. 1 rankings on the Phoenix Business Journal lists and ambitious, committed, talented staff (the average tenure at McMurry is nearly five years).
McMurry also has two charitable arms, Theresa’s Fund and McMurry Charities. In 2007, the company established a five-year goal to give $1 million to charities. At the end of 2009, they’d given $850,915. At the five-year mark, it appears the company will exceed $1.3 million.
As part of its commitment to community service, McMurry undertook two high-profile in-kind gifts. They created a 376-page hardcover coffee table book for the 50th anniversary of Phoenix Art Museum and an award-winning marketing campaign for UMOM New Day Centers that played an important role in its $18 million capital campaign and relocation of 403 homeless Valley families into a new shelter.
In addition to taking care of its employees, McMurry also takes care of the environment through its Big Green program. Its mission is to become a recognized leader in financially sustainable environmental stewardship. To achieve this goal, the company pioneers meaningful initiatives that reduce waste and energy consumption, protects biodiversity and conserves precious resources—and encourages our staff, partners, peer groups and customers to do the same.
Through Big Green programs McMurry saved 418,034 pounds of greenhouse gases in 2009 and has recycled 96,220 pounds of paper since the Green programs inception. Go Green encourages clients to print content marketing materials on recycled paper. Carbon Challenge awards staff members who track their individual green activities. Trackable green activities include purchasing an energy friendly appliance or regularly carpooling.
One of the 8 Values is Deliver Raving Customer Service. Customers include customers, co-workers, colleagues, vendors and the community. It’s one of the things McMurry staff does best. McMurry believes that happy staff will produce happy clients.
To gauge the raving service delivery rates, McMurry surveys clients. At McMurry, it’s said that, “What gets measured, gets done,” so if a client’s satisfaction level is measured, it’s likely the client will continue to be extremely satisfied.
Applications are being accepted for the 2011 AZ Most Admired Companies through June 15. If you’d like your company to be considered, check out the application process and let us know what sets your company apart from others in Arizona.
Employee Engagement Key to Economic Recovery
By Marcia Rhodes, PR Manager, WorldatWork
Courtesy of WorldatWork
What is employee engagement? It’s often confused with employee satisfaction; it isn’t just low turnover, nor is it simply high employee productivity. Employee engagement is larger and deeper than all that. It’s the employer-employee exchange relationship at its best. This exchange relationship used to be based primarily on pay but it has evolved to encompass other elements of rewards including benefits, work-life balance, recognition, and career development – a management approach often referred to as “total rewards.”
One of the many challenges employers face as the economy recovers is how to re-engage employees when morale is low, budgets are tight and financial rewards are limited. According to WorldatWork, a global human resources association based in Scottsdale, Ariz., businesses must think in terms of total rewards and not just financial rewards if they are to enhance employee engagement, i.e., workers’ psychological investment in their organizations evidenced by high levels of employee involvement, commitment to the organization and discretionary effort.
Why should employers be concerned about employee engagement or lack thereof? It turns out that employees don’t just work for a paycheck anymore – they want to work on cool and interesting projects, learn from smart people, have fun while at work, engage in social networks, volunteer for a cause they believe in, receive praise and recognition, and enjoy work-life balance at home and at work. To be able to do all these, employees are looking for more time off, autonomy, flexibility and support. Studies have also confirmed that quality of leadership has an especially profound impact on employee engagement and motivation.
Let’s face it: no matter what the state of the economy, employers have to develop competitive and effective reward packages. And what is considered competitive and effective changes over time. Enlightened employers skillfully adapt, reflect and respond to the changing needs of their workers.
The new employment deal is quite simple: Organizations invest in creating the conditions that make work meaningful and rewarding for employees. In the absence of monetary incentives, they explore non-cash and intangible incentives that employees value in order to retain and motivate them. In exchange, employees invest more effort in their work and deliver superior performance. This optimal give-and-take relationship creates a highly desirable ingredient necessary for sustainable economic recovery: employee engagement.
About the author:
Marcia Rhodes is Manager of Public Relations for WorldatWork. She is a member of the judging committee for Arizona’s Most Admired Companies awards program as well as Top Workplaces for Women in the Valley.
