Are your employees conforming to your rules?

For many HR managers and departments, noncompliance is unavoidable at some point or another. This is, after all, a human science – that means that a certain amount of ‘human’ errors are par for the course.

But within that rather vague lumped category of noncompliance, a number of possible offences might be found. There are the minor issues that could come as a result of certain procedures not being understood properly. There are more damaging mistakes that are done through insufficient training and guidance. Even the worst of the worst – the deliberate or serious type offences and non-conformances – may happen in your organisation.

This is why it is so important to understand not just the types of non-conformances that could (and probably will) arise eventually, but also to understand which type of corrective action is best for each of these offence types.

Corrective versus Preventative Actions

In order to understand the best way to determine a suitable response, let’s first take a look at the two actions that govern that response.

1. Corrective Actions – this is correcting a non-conformance that has already occurred. Depending on the level of the offence, the cause for the offence and whether or not the offender has a history of similar issues, these actions can range from further training to possible changes in roles and responsibilities, warnings, suspension and many other appropriate responses.
2. Preventative Actions – on the other hand, preventative actions focus on preventing issues from arising in the first place. Very often, there are warning signs that highlight problem areas – catching these early before they transgress into actual offences is essential. Actions of this sort could include further training or skills boosting, management changes, increased supervision on specified tasks or a number of other responses that aim to avoid issues down the line.

Best Practices for Resolving Non-Conformances

The first step to improving your CAPA approach is to invest in a good quality tool that automates the requests, escalation and tracking of non-conformances. This makes a huge difference in keeping the system consistent and easy to manage, with various features that further simplify things.

For larger companies, and especially those in industries where mistakes cannot be made without huge risks (aviation, medical sciences, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, food processing and many others), regulation of CAPA systems are mandatory as part of meeting overall quality standards.

With an automated programme in place for the handling of all noncompliance reports that happen company-wide, there is also far less room for errors through complicated paperwork, invalid routing to the appropriate departments or managers, no tracking or reporting abilities and no consistency. In the event of any actions being appealed, closed before they were fully resolved or even left open for too long a period, making adjustments is far easier with a dedicated software platform.

And for busy HR teams that seldom have time to spare over the course of a busy month, achieving best practices, streamlining your systems and saving time (and costs too) is never a bad thing.

About the Author

Christopher Stainow is actively involved in the streamlining of business quality processes and procedures through the use of quality management tools & document control software. Learn more at lennoxhill.co.uk.

 License: Creative Commons image source

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Hiring can be tricky business.

In a global market, it’s possible to find the talent your business needs on the side of the world. However, there are some pitfalls of expanding your HR net outside of your country. Cultural differences, immigration laws, and international background checks can make the process difficult but not impossible. Here are some tips to get through it.

Avoid Cultural Misunderstandings

It is often easy to forget that cultural cues are a little different outside of your country. Depending on where you are searching for international candidates, you may have to be careful about the way you approach the situation. What might be considered business as usual in one country might be considered rude in another.

Do your research on country you’re trying to recruit from. What are the workers there looking for from employers? Where is the best source for new talent? What is the most effective way to approach them? Once you understand these things, it will be easier for you to avoid saying or doing something that might offend the very people you’re trying to attract.

Know the Laws

The biggest obstacles to hiring someone from abroad to work for your company are the labor laws in your country. Usually there are laws that govern whether non-citizens can work in your country and if so, under what conditions. Check with your federal government about the legal limitations and requirements for hiring from abroad. Remember, if you’re hiring an independent contractor or a telecommuter, the rules regarding employing them may be a little more lax.

In most cases, if you offer employment to a foreigner, they will expect you to at least sponsor them in their attempts to obtain a work visa. If you’re not willing to do so, be sure to specify that you want someone with rights to work in the country you’re hiring for.

Get Help with Due Diligence

Performing due diligence is a necessary part of vetting potential employees. But doing so on an international platform can take time and resources that you may not have. Consider using a recruitment company that specializes in international candidates. They’ll perform background checks and the initial interview for you. By the time you’re in contact with potential employees, you know they have all of the qualifications you’re looking for.

But don’t forget to vet the company you’re hiring to vet your candidates. Check their references with former clients. Read through all of the terms of their contract carefully to make sure you understand the difference between your responsibilities and theirs. For example, it’s important to know whether you pay them a retainer or per each appropriate candidate they present to you or a flat fee once you hire one of the candidates they suggested.

About the Author

Eric Thomas is author and Brand Manager for BrandMe.com.au. He enjoys sharing business and marketing tips.

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Learn from success.

When considering the branding for your company you can do a lot worse than study the big boys that have nailed it. We all need a little inspiration from time to time to get the creative juices flowing and it’s always a great idea to keep an eye on the businesses that you think are ahead of the game with their marketing. Sure they have unlimited budgets that normal business can only dream of but they must have had some vision in the branding game in order to get where they are today.

Branding is essential in the modern commercial world – we all know that. Here we take a look at some of the leading players in the bid for world domination. What ideas do they give you about your business?

McDonalds

McDonalds are all over their advertising. The ‘golden arches’ logo is ubiquitous and is recognised in just about every country in the world. Notice how they choose two main colours – red and yellow – and these are echoed across all of their business from their website to their correspondence. McDonalds adhere to the ‘4 Ps’ of marketing – product, placement, price and promotion. They take their advertising and marketing extremely seriously and a lot of thought goes into their advertisements – they are always listening to their customers to see what they want.

One of the world’s most well recognized brands

Coca Cola

Another company with a huge marketing budget is Coca Cola. Their logo is easy recognised and has been in use for a long time. Think about it – it’s only a fizzy drink. How have they made it into such a huge commodity? It’s all about their advertising. Who can fail to feel Christmassy when they see the Coca Cola lorry on their TV screens? Coca Cola could arguably be the most successful and recognised brand in the world. They use red and white as their brand colours and always stamp their logo on everything, along with their slogan ‘the real thing’.

American Express

Another example of great branding and marketing is

American express’ branding

American Express. Their colour scheme is blue and white and they have a very obvious logo which is emblazoned in just about every shop you see. American Express wants to be known for a number of things such as their credit cards, currency conversion and travel so they have to work hard to bring these relatively unrelated things together. They do this by making sure that their online presence is second to none and their website clearly sets out all their services.

So if you take just one thing from this article what is it to be? You may have noticed that all three companies above use the same thing for their logo – two bold colours. Have a look at yours – could it be improved using this technique? Colour is really important in branding and it’s a good place to start when you are rethinking your branding. Make sure these two colours are echoed across all of your communications for a cohesive presence – it will show your customers that you know what you are doing.

About the Author

Anne Frank is a graphic designer and works with leading brand developers, Liquid Creativity. When not working on a logo or a banner for clients, Anne likes to share design and marketing tips through her articles.

•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Creative Commons image source 
•  License: Creative Commons image source

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Maximize your opportunities.

Each year companies spend enormous amounts of money to attend and display their products and services at trade shows and other events. When venues are wisely selected those can be highly effective tools for selling and spreading the word about your products or services. Unfortunately, what often begins as a promising buyer often fizzles to wasted effort when there is no method of tracking attendees.

Who Was That Masked Prospect?

There probably isn’t a marketing person anywhere who would use any other word to describe the purpose of events than “sales.” It’s true. But without a method of not only making sales at an event or following up with the contacts that are made at an event to turn them into cold hard sales, it’s all wasted money, time, and effort.

In most cases, the primary reason for this failure to track attendees and follow up on what could be promising leads is a matter of sheer quantity. Face the facts, an event often has hundreds of attendees over the course of just a few days, and sometimes it feels as if you have spoken to each one of them. And if physical exhaustion doesn’t wear you down, the moment you get back home you have a fistful, or more, of business cards, each representing a phone call, brochure, or other promise made.

When Two Hands Are Not Enough

In the past few years a number of excellent products have been introduced on the market that can be of tremendous value in tracking attendees. These take the form of computer programs, apps, online programs, and many more. What has not changed, despite the technology, is the ability on the part of those responsible for follow up on attendees. Without the human contact is is all pointless.

Who Did You Say You Are?

One of the most critical problems that faces people in reaching out to attendees after an event is the fallibility of the human memory.

After an event is over, nearly everyone takes time to unwind. This goes for attendees too. Unfortunately, this combined with the numbers of others each attendee speaks to at an event and you have a Perfect Storm of memory. Unless you make contact with attendees in a timely manner of an event, you will probably be forgotten. This situation necessitates a good system for tracking attendees

Who, What, Where…

Just as is the case with any intelligence situation, the more information you are able to gather about attendees that you speak with at an event the better. Not only does this allow you to remember them better but it also help them to remember you when you can recall specific information about them, their company, situation, etc. Ideally, this information would be added to a lead database for future reference.

Regardless of its application, tracking attendees at an event can be critical to the success of your mission at events. It doesn’t matter what your mission would be, whether sales, awareness, or others, attendee tracking is a key ability.

About the Author

Eric Blair is a trade show expert and avid business blogger. Eric recommends using Certain for event management when coordinating a trade show.  

 License: Creative Commons image source

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Better to be safe than sorry, as the saying goes.

When you leave the house every day you want to know you will be safe at work. Unless you are in the circus and you have to stick your head into a lion’s mouth every night you shouldn’t be afraid. When you feel safe you work a lot harder and you don’t get so stressed. Sometimes it’s not like this and accidents occur on a constant basis. If you end up on the receiving end of a nasty injury through no fault of your own your life could be turned upside down.

Sure, you might get compensated for your losses, but it’s better if nothing hurts you in the first place. Your employer should be trying their absolute hardest to protect you. If they are not, you can and should say something to them. At the minute you could be blissfully unaware of the things they should be doing, so we’re going to take a look at them right now. If none of these things are being enforced in your workplace something needs to be done about it.

Safe working areas

The area you work in should be safe to walk around in. The layout should ensure you don’t accidentally bang into something when you are concentrating on using another machine in the immediate area. Everything should be spaced out so it’s easy for you to pull out plugs or flick switches without having to squeeze between two fixed objects. Not only will you be safer, but life will become much easier.

Maintaining cleanliness

You can’t expect your place of work to be kept clean at all times because it would be impossible. You can’t stop a machine every 2 minutes to clean up any mess it makes before continuing. That doesn’t mean to say any work area should be allowed to remain unclean because it could get dangerous. Whenever there are any hazards they should be cleaned up as soon as possible.

Do you have a plan?

If something was to go wrong there should be procedures to follow that will stop you from getting hurt. Do you know where you must go when there is a fire? Do you need to have a medical when you accidentally ingest certain fumes? Getting checked out quickly could stop any real problems from occurring. Make sure your employer tells you how to deal with any emergency.

Learning from past mistakes

When something eventually happens your employer should learn from it and turn the place into an even safer place to work. You should be worried if they do nothing because it means they are not learning. If you can see that it’s only a matter of time before the same kind of accident happens again you should point it out to anyone who will listen.

Good working order

If you use any machinery at work you will know how dangerous it can be. One little slip and your finger could be sliced right off, but it’s not only accidents you need to watch out for. The machines need to be kept in good working order and if they’re not maintained properly they automatically become a hazard. You must make sure you don’t work on any machine that isn’t regularly examined.

Do your job properly

Sometimes it’s not the employers fault if you hurt yourself because you were maybe doing the job incorrectly. When you try and cut corners the job might get finished quicker, but that is how you end up in the emergency room. Make sure you always do what you’re told because if you get hurt and it’s your fault you might not be compensated.

Are you going to stay safe?

I know it’s a nuisance following all these safety guidelines, but it’s for your own good. Are you going to try your hardest to stay safe from now on? Let us know in the comments below if you’ve ever injured yourself at work and tell us what caused it.

About the Author

Chris Finch is a personal injury lawyer in Atlanta. He tackles cases related to accidents at work places and is pretty adept in his job. He likes writing articles on various topics and is regular on many blogging sites.

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Team building can help your team perform better.

As you and countless others converge on a corporate event, no doubt the primary focus will be on work. But even large corporations with an eye on success realize that a little fun and levity can promote productivity and boost morale. If you’re involved in the planning of a corporate convention, you have an even greater awareness of how important it is to intersperse a little fun into a long week of work. These ideas can help you plan stress-busters, team-builders and fancy evenings to entertain your corporate event attendees, and help them enjoy a memorable and productive week.

Lighten Up: Fun Activities and Ideas for Corporate Event Entertainment

• Game Night. Whether it’s cards, sports or your own version of a favorite TV game show, playing games together can help workers leave stress behind. Try to keep the emphasis off of competition and on fun so people can just relax, laugh and enjoy themselves.

• Team Activities. Team-building activities can help employees return to their office environment feeling like they’re part of a cohesive force working toward a common goal. Many corporate event planners have a variety of team-building activities ideas, ranging from outward bound survival-type activities to something simpler and less adventurous, like a scavenger hunt.

• Field Trip. Sometimes, the best kind of break from work is one that involves a change of scenery. Rent a motor coach, get the team aboard and take them to enjoy some of the local sights. Encourage everyone to participate in the event planning so they can enjoy a day or afternoon being a tourist on vacation, instead of toiling away the entire time.

• Community Volunteering. Many corporations give back to their local community through employee volunteer programs. Those attending a corporate event or convention can wind down from work and enjoy interacting with the surrounding community by participating in a company-wide volunteering opportunity. Collecting food for a local food bank, building homes for Habitats for Humanity or other ideas that facilitate team work can give attendees a sense of gratification that no other activity can give.

• Comedy Event. Laughter has a way of dissipating stress and breaking up the monotony. Many corporate event planners have connections with local or big name comedians who can come in and do a show that fits the theme of the event.

• Inspiration. Motivational speakers can play an instrumental role in inspiring a corporate team toward the achievement of success. Plan to have a motivational speaker talk on one of the first days to set the tone for the entire event.

• Awards Night. Everyone likes to be acknowledged and what better way to do it than with an awards night. Model yours after the Academy Awards and encourage employees to don fancy attire. Splurge on a champagne toast, hire a band or play big band music so people can get up and dance after the awards ceremony and dinner.

All Work and No Play

A corporate event, especially those that last for more than one day, are like intense work sessions where the employees never really get to go home. For this reason, it’s important for event planners to break up the work sessions with time for fun and relaxation. All work and no playtime at a corporate event can result in burned out employees who leave at the end of the week feeling exhausted instead of rejuvenated and enthused.

Careful planning and a balanced schedule can help you avoid returning to the office to face workers that are too tired or unmotivated to work. Use these ideas for your next corporate event to ensure attendees get to enjoy a mixture of productivity and vacation throughout the week.

Contributed by Abigail Peters from Props-n-frocks.co.uk. Visit the website for our corporate fancy dress options.

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Learn and grow your employees.

“In a world that is constantly changing, there is not one subject or set of subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn.” – Josh Naisbitt

Learning doesn’t have to be regimented. Use informal teaching to create a workplace where everyone learns, all the time.

A Learning Atmosphere

While formalized training programs usually dominate workplace learning, individuals learn better informally, through daily activities, than they do in a formal classroom. To encourage your employees to learn more, promote everyday learning. A few key concepts should shape the way people learn at work:

1. Learners should be responsible for self-directed learning.
2. Self-knowledge provides a beginning point for further learning. Use tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to learn about yourself and how you relate to others.
3. A flexible setting will promote your effort to create opportunities for people to learn.
4. Learning can occur through reading, reflecting, experimenting or engaging in activities. Often unusual activities are very educational.
5. You can’t know all the issues that may come up in a rapidly changing environment.
6. Employees should be able to apply their current tools to be able to devise solutions in unfamiliar situations.
7. Learning should be conscious. Accidental learning is inefficient.
8. People learn better when they are aware of the learning process and actively choose to participate.
9. Integrate learning into daily activities and let it happen as employees work.
10. To experience new learning, people sometimes must “unlearn” what they already know to look at things in new ways.
11. You may find that a past axiom no longer holds true. For instance, a directive management style, which was the old standard, might not work as well in a learning environment as encouraging people to ask questions and be independent.

Spontaneous Learning

Individualized spontaneous learning offers your company many benefits, including:

1. Increased productivity and quality – Employees who know more can do better work.
2. Increased innovation – Employees who are in the process of learning are more responsive to the needs of other people, including your customers.
3. Increased adaptability to change – Learning is virtually synonymous with personal change, so it makes employees more flexible.
4. A competitive advantage – You have more knowledgeable people in your workforce.
5. Fewer communication barriers – Managers can act more like mentors as they help employees understand what they are learning and how it contributes to their performance.
6. Increased employee motivation, attraction and retention – Employees who are in the midst of learning usually like their jobs. This makes your firm a better place to work and it draws new talent. Your employees feel motivated to do their best and to stay with your company.
7. Lower costs – Informal teaching is cheaper than traditional educational methods.

The organizational advantages of increased learning are clear, but you will need to show your employees that they also reap benefits. Whether they are goal-oriented, activity oriented or learning-oriented, individuals who are adding to their education find that their work becomes more interesting. They have a strong sense of their own value and they obtain more satisfaction and joy from their achievements. Knowledgeable workers are more employable; more secure and better paid, since they know how to do superior work. Your HR staffers also will enjoy filling a new, positive role as they help their co-workers by facilitating their learning.

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Given the grilling that Google has gotten this week in Parliament, you might think that Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of the company, would be persona non grata in London these days.

Not so, it appears. Mr. Schmidt is one of 16 high-level corporate executives who have been invited to meet with Prime Minister David Cameron next week. They are members of the Business Advisory Group, which regularly gathers at Mr. Cameron’s office to bat around economic issues. Read More at nytimes

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Information technology needs to be managed appropriately.

A general description of asset management could be a reference to any system that monitors and maintains things a business deems valuable. By narrowing down the category of assets, we can better track a company’s resources.

For example, one crucial area of asset management is information technology asset management. This practice joins financial, contractual and inventory functions to support the management and decision making process of all IT necessities.

What Does ITAM Consist Of?

IT asset management (sometimes called IT inventory management) keeps track of two main things: hardware and software.

Keeping tabs of all of the business’s software is fairly straightforward. Management applies to all licenses, versions, and installed endpoints.

Managing hardware, on the other hand, tends to be a bit more challenging. Difficulty arises because of the fact that hardware rarely stays in one spot. It is more difficult to know the whereabouts of every component in the company. For that reason, IT asset management is extra important.

Tracking the business’s hardware involves the physical components of computers and computer networks. IT asset management follows items from procurement through disposal.

How is ITAM Executed?

The process of IT asset management is fairly invasive. It usually involves workers at every level of the company’s infrastructure.

For example:

• Technology users need to be educated on compliance.
• Budget analysts need to consider redeployment as an option.
• The IT department needs to have information about warranties.
• Finance managers need to reconcile invoices.

IT asset management usually involves quite a bit of automation. Many businesses prefer to use RFID tags (radio-frequency identification). This makes it easier to track the location of items. Also, it is easy to integrate with other systems.

How Will My Business Benefit from ITAM?

By creating a detailed inventory of your company’s hardware and software, you’ll be able to:

• Make informed decisions about purchases and redistribution.
• Manage your equipment more efficiently.
• Save time and money.
• Eliminate unnecessary purchases.
• Discover areas to save money.
• Enhance the performance of assets.
• Hold people accountable for the condition of various pieces of equipment.
• Develop and uphold policies, standards, and processes for IT.
• Analyze the overall risk, cost, control, compliance, and performance of your IT department and supplies.

These days, our businesses revolve around the IT department. If there is a disturbance in our technology – even a minor one – our productivity is severely crippled. Use information technology asset management practices to cut back on costly mistakes.

If you have already implemented ITAM, share some tips and tricks with the community. If you are new to ITAM, it is defiantly time to get a system in place.

About the Author

Ron Barraza is a freelance writer who specializes in providing advice to small businesses. He often contributes to various online resources and business blogs. If you would like to get in touch with him, find him on Facebook.

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Cold calling doesn’t have to freeze your business.

The idea of cold calling for sales is one that doesn’t appeal to many people. You are likely to be given short shrift and people can be very rude to you. However, it has been shown that it does work and for every handful of rejections you’ll get at least one good sales lead, so it’s worth doing. Here are some tips to help you get a better success rate (and fewer insults in the process!).

Manners Matter

First and foremost, when you ring somebody out of the blue you must understand that you are encroaching on their time. Greet them warmly (but don’t be too over-familiar) and explain the reason for your call. Don’t waffle on for ages – be clear and concise. A little bit of small talk is great but don’t overdo it. Get down to business as soon as you can, but if they sound busy or harassed ask them if there is a better time that you could call them back. Most people will be a lot more interested in what you’ve got to say if it is at a time that suits them, so it’ll work in your favour to be patient.

Understand Their Motivation

Think about what you are selling and how you could make it most appealing to people. Are you offering a great service or product at a really good rate? If so make the most of the fact that the price is really competitive. You need to understand that the person on the phone will be thinking ‘what’s in it for me?’ so keep the sales spiel short and snappy and give them good reason to bite.

Don’t Use Jargon

Remember you are speaking to someone who might not have the same level of knowledge about your product or service as you, so keep technical terms to a minimum and explain anything that they might need to know.

The Follow Up

If you get a good lead then it’s really important that you follow it up quickly and efficiently. Do what you promise to do, and in the time agreed. Make the customer know that you value their interest and strike while the iron is hot to secure the sale. If a person is really busy they may ask you to put your pitch in an email instead, so make sure you have a note of their correct email address.

A Good Attitude

A positive, smiley voice on the end of the line will impress any customer so make sure you stay upbeat when you are on the phone. It may be the 100th call you’ve made that day but the customer doesn’t know that so make sure you don’t sound like you are just going through the motions. Listen carefully to what they are saying – don’t talk all over them. Ask them questions to really engage them in conversations, and answer any of their questions clearly.

Good luck with your calls and we hope that you manage to seal that crucial deal!

About the Author

This post was submitted by guest author Derek Grant from TelephonesOnline Pty Ltd, a business phone systems company based in Australia. A sales veteran, Derek likes spending his free time reading crime & mystery novels.

 License: Creative Commons image source

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