Hiring Top Performers

Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #276 to #280.

2005-08-15T21:13:00.000-04:00

Presenteeism isn't about pretending to be ill to avoid work or surfing the Internet when you should be preparing a report. Presenteeism is productivity loss resulting from real health problems.

Fact #276: Depression set U.S. employers back $35 billion a year. (Source: JADA)

Fact #277: Arthritis, headaches, and back problems cost U.S employers nearly $47 billion a year. (Source: JADA)

Fact #278: The total cost of presenteeism in the United States is more than $105 billion a year. (Source: American Productivity Audit)

Fact #279: On-the-job productivity loss resulting from depression and pain is roughly 3X greater than absence-related productivity loss attributed to these conditions. (Source: American Productivity Audit)

Fact #280: Allergies, which affect rougly 25% of the U.S. population during the spring and fall seasons cause a productivity loss of 7 percent among workers.

Who Will Cover The Cost of Keeping Aging Workers Healthy?

2005-07-19T17:53:00.000-04:00

A 1995 survey conducted by Eckerd College Human Resource Institute predicted that in 2005 the top five concerns for human resources staff will be the skill level of the available work force, managing change, information technology, an aging work force, and management issues. With the exception of rising health care costs, this forecast is nothing short of remarkably accurate. How is it that a problem predicted 10 years ago still leaves business employers with their collective back against the wall? Were such obvious signs ignored or just poorly managed?

The answer is buried in this demographic reality: aging baby boomers represent a greater segment of the general population than has ever been recorded and it is still growing.

The statistics are stunning. Twenty percent of the population, 71 million people, will be 65 or older in 2030. This means healthcare will be an even bigger challenge than a lack of skilled workers for employers in the 21st century workforce. Traditionally, lifelong healthcare and retirement for older Americans has been funded through taxes and increasing worker productivity.

Again, statistics illuminate the problem. Since 1900, the number of older adults has increased eleven-fold, from 3.1 million in 1900 to 35 million in 2000. Four of every 10 people in the work force will be older than 45 in two years. By 2010, one of every five employees will be aged 55 or older. By the middle 21st century, there will be more seniors than children. That statistical milestone is less than 50 years away. Who will pick up the tab for a growing population of dependent seniors? Can we expect that of a shrinking workforce?

Let's look at social security. When social security legislation was enacted in 1945, the ratio of contributing workers to each beneficiary was 41.9:1. That ratio dropped to 16.5:1 in 1950. The current ratio is 3.4:1. Social security trustees predict the ratio will drop to 2:1 in 2040. These numbers reduce the issue to this: how will we afford to keep an aging population healthy?

Then, there is the issue of “replacement workers.” The ratio of entry-level wage earners to retirees has dropped from 9:1 in 1955 to 4:1 in 1995, with projections that the ratio will further decline to 2:1 by 2020. The labor market, which grew at approximately 1.2 percent a year in the 1990s, is expected to decrease to 0.8 percent from 2000 to 2010, and 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent in subsequent decades. Are you beginning to get the picture?

The buzz from “Perfect Labor Storm” detractors, who call the impending crisis more hype than fact, is baby boomers won't retire. That's true. Many boomers strive to stay active and, frankly, many of them aren't financially able to retire. But, boomers will continue to work only if they receive ample compensation and benefits including flexible schedules to allow for leisure activities such as traveling and visiting grandchildren. For employers, it means dishing out mucho bucks for compensation and insurance coverage for the graying workforce. Employers who think health care costs are high now ain't seen nothin' yet.

Effective and efficient business management has never been so important. All inefficiencies will be magnified on the bottom line. That means zero tolerance for poor performing employees. This means only the “best places to work” will survive. As for health care costs, my advice is to build higher costs in the budget until there is a societal solution to caring for an unprecedented aging population.

Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #271 to #275.

2005-06-19T22:50:00.000-04:00

Many people believe education is the cure for the impending (and even current) skilled worker shortages. Few however are willing to address how serious the situation really is.

Fact #271: Fewer than one in four high school graduates who took the ACT test have taken the coursework necessary to succeed in college. (Source: ACT, Inc)

Fact #272: Only 22 percent of the 1.2 million high school graduates who took the exam this year (2004) were ready for college coursework in math, English and science. (Source: ACT, Inc)

Fact #273: Skills that employers are increasingly demanding are ability to work in a team, solve complex problems, and communicate clearly in print and in person. (Source: Coplin, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College)

Fact #274: Skills that will keep workers marketable in the near term are self-motivation, time management, strong oral and written communication, relationship building, salesmanship, problem solving, information evaluation and leadership. (Source: Futurist Update, Feb 2004)

Fact #275: In the future, even more emphasis will be placed on skills that cannot be automated - caring, judgment, intuition, ethics, inspiration, friendliness, and imagination. (Source: Futurist, Sep-Oct 2004)

This knowledge gap was confirmed recently when nearly 50 percent of the 564 jobseekers at the 2004 Lancaster (PA) Chamber Job Fair rated their problem solving and business knowledge skills as average or lower. To receive a copy of these results and more, send a blank email to jobsurvey@chrysaliscorporation.com with the words "I Want a New Job" in the subject line.

Ten Excuses Employees Might Give When They're Caught Sleeping at their Desks.

2005-06-01T00:16:00.000-04:00

Any of these sounds familiar. . .

1 -- "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."
2 -- "This is just a 15-minute power nap like they raved about in that time management course you sent me to."
3 -- "Whew! Guess I left the top off the liquid paper. You probably got here just in time."
4 -- "This is in exchange for the six hours last night when I dreamed about work."
5 -- "It's okay ... I'm still billing the client."
6 -- "I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement."
7 -- "I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance."
8 -- "I was doing a yoga exercise to relieve work-related stress."
9 -- "Rats! Why did you interrupt me? I almost had figured out a solution to our biggest company problem."
10 -- "Someone must have put decaf in the wrong pot."

Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #266 to #270

2005-05-26T23:31:00.000-04:00

Fact #266: Sixty-one percent of the human resource (HR) professionals surveyed said they find inaccuracies in resumes after carrying out background checks. (Source: SHRM Background Checks/Resume Inaccuracies online survey, 2004)

Fact #267: 80 percent of HR professionals reported that their companies did at least some criminal background checks on prospective employees in 2003, up from 51 percent in 1996.
(Source: Society of Human Resource Management, 2004)

Fact #268: And 35 percent looked at candidates' credit records, compared with 19 percent seven years earlier. (Source: Society of Human Resource Management, 2004)

Fact #269: The rate of unscheduled absenteeism has climbed to a five-year high of 2.4 percent, according to the findings of the 14th annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey, conducted by CCH INCORPORATED..

Fact #270: Last-minute no-shows are costing organizations an average of $610 per employee, adding up to more than a million dollars annually for large companies. (Source: CCH)

U.S. Losing $105 Billion a Year to Poor Hiring and Management Practices.

2005-05-23T00:41:00.000-04:00

Companies talk about people being their biggest asset yet they fail to match the right people to the right jobs.

Failure to match the right people to the right jobs is widespread. Currently, one out of eight US employees leaves their job before becoming competent. With an average 8 months necessary to attain the required performance level, a mismatch proves costly for the employee as well as the company.

Last year The 2004 Recruiting Metrics and Performance Benchmark Report, published by Staffing.org, reported that cost-per-hire in 2004 was $4,262, an increase of over $260 since 2001. On a broader scale, the cost to hire employees in 2003 ranged from 14 to 29 percent of total employee compensation, a 2.5 increase over the two previous years. And this occurred during a period supposedly where the competition for employees was down!

Add to this cost-to-hire, training costs, lost opportunities, mistakes, morale problems and hiring the wrong people is costing companies a big chunk of change.

Yet these figures are only the tip of the iceberg. According to the report, nearly a quarter (23 percent) of US workers believe their colleagues are incompetent. More worrying still, while they may be critical of their co-worker's performance, US employees also admit that 68 percent of the mistakes they personally make never come to their manager s attention.

Looking for a way to ensure that you get the right fit between an applicant and job? The TotalView Assessment System allows you to take the guesswork out of predicting if a person will successful in a position.

To learn more about the TotalView pre-employment assessment, click on this link.

Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #261 to #265

2005-05-20T11:39:00.000-04:00

Suffering from excessive workloads and stress on the job, health services workers ready to jump ship.

Fact #261: One-fourth of health services workers plan to change jobs by February 2005.
(Source: careerbuilders.com survey)

Fact #262: Sixteen percent of health services workers search for a new job on a weekly basis.
(Source: careerbuilders.com survey)

Fact #263: Thirty-three percent of health care workers are looking for stability in their next job, followed by fairness at 12 percent. (Source: careerbuilders.com survey)

Fact #264: The top three factors motivating job changes for health services workers are better compensation, more career advancement opportunities and improved work-life balance.
(Source: careerbuilders.com survey)

Fact #265: 11 percent of health services workers stay at their current employer for benefits while 10 percent say it is due to the fear of the unknown. (Source: careerbuilders.com survey)

Jobseekers Create "Resu-mess" for Employers

2005-05-15T16:48:00.000-04:00

A massive influx of resumes is creating an administrative nightmare, a "resu-mess" in human resource.

In addition, just like the neighbor attending an open house just to get a peak about how the people on the other side of the street live, an increasing number of job candidates are just "shopping".

But more candidates isn't necessarily better. Sifting through the resumes takes time. Few managers, human resource profressionals and assistants have the time to screen the applications, call the candidates, fight the voice mail tag, complete phone interviews, schedule face-to-face interviews and so on.

Successful recruiting strategies to select-in more of the right candidates are being derailed by a voluminous response of applicants. While attempting to disqualify the unqualified or disinterested applicants, high-demand qualified candidates are overlooked and turned off by slow response times, cumbersome hiring hurdles, or inexperienced, and sometimes inept, interviewers.

To further complicate matters, 44 percent of 2.6 million resumes reportedly contained at least some lies. (Source: Avert Inc)

A survey from the Society of Human Resource Management reports human resource professionals are uncovering lies in these categories:

--Length of employment, 53 percent.
--Past salaries, 51 percent.
--Criminal records, 45 percent.
--Former job tales, 44 percent.
--Former employers, 35 percent.
--Driving records, 33 percent.
--College degrees, 30 percent.
--Credit, 24 percent.
--Schools attended, 22 percent.
--Social Security number, 14 percent.

Lying isn't just a problem at the hourly level either. "At least 23 percent of 7,000 resumes submitted for president, V.P. and board of director positions had been a little cooked." (Source: Christian & Timbers)

The problem doesn't stop there. Forty million drug tests are conducted each year on job candidates and employees. But employees learn "the ropes".

But the prevalence of screening and the reach of the Internet has fostered a thriving cottage industry of entrepreneurs who promise to help workers beat the tests. Products like Urine Luck to counteract urine tests, Get Clean Shampoo intended to counteract hair tests and Quick Fizz tablets for saliva tests are readily available. Businesses are at a crossroads. Business just wasn't always as complex as it is today. Everything has changed. Streamlining recruitment, hiring quickly, and selecting the right people are no longer options but key growth strategies.

Click Here to Learn How To Stop "Resu-Mess".

Can a Person Be Too Competitive? An Audio Commentary on The Amazing Race.

2005-05-10T23:17:00.000-04:00

Churning Employees, Burning Profits

2005-05-09T17:35:00.000-04:00

While preparing revenue projections for the upcoming fiscal year, Les pushes back from his original 12 percent goal proposed just a few months ago to a more realistic 8 percent, based on industry and government forecasts.

Les and his management team have exceeded projections in each of the past seven years. The business has nearly doubled in size during that time and increased profitability - until this past year. They contributed the break-even year to a general economic slowdown and increasing turnover in their hourly labor force.

While stopping short of a recruitment and retention overhaul, they did offer signing bonuses and more competitive wages in an attempt to stop no-shows, change bad attitudes, and boost morale. These changes met with moderate success and helped retain a few more employees for nearly a year.

Employee churn for new hires nevertheless increased by 33 percent for the third straight year. At a cost of nearly $6,000 for recruiting, hiring and training every new employee, Les was watching his profits go up min smoke. Likewise he was puzzled and frustrated by the attitudes and ethics of the new workers.

Unfortunately Les and his team have fallen prey to the "industry-average syndrome". By virtue of the latest industry survey, they deemed their turnover rate acceptable compared to their industry cohorts.

That thinking may be acceptable as long if you believe it is okay to be the last ship to sink, but it's unacceptable if you want to stay afloat in today's competitive markets.

A fatal flaw in Les' team strategies is ignoring the hard cold facts that every churned employee is a loss right off the bottom line. Without controlling churnover, (turnover of twelve months or less - six months may be acceptable in some industries) most if not all of the revenue projections will be offset by rising costs to recruit and replace workers without any increase in productivity.

Churn-over, not turnover, is grinding up the profits of businesses unwilling to stop the turnstile of employees who come and go. Turnover is inevitable. Churn-over is unacceptable. The costs of mis-hiring are staggering. The effort and sales needed to pay for these costs and still make a profit are crushing.

Case Study:The High Cost of Churnover

Les's business generated revenues of $6.6 million in 2003. Profit margins were 14%. His 2004 projected increase in revenues (an eight percent increase) is $528,000.

Last year, Les's company produced sixty-four W- 2's for 35 positions. Essentially they hired 64 new employees for twenty positions; 15 employees were employed more than 12 months.

On the surface, turnover appears to be 83 percent, less than the 92 percent industry average. Churn-over, the number of employees hired and gone in less than one-year, was a whopping 320 percent (64 attempts at hiring for 20 positions)!

At the cost of $6,000 per employee, these 64 employees cost the company $384,000. Even at the same clip this year, churn-over will eat up nearly seventy-two percent of the projected revenue gains.

What's worse - much worse - is how much revenue has to increase to sustain the 14 percent profit margin. At fourteen percent profit margin, nearly $2,743,000 in additional revenues need to be brought in just to keep pace with the lost costs of churn-over.

Increasing revenues shouldn't be Les' primary focus unless he likes to just work harder and harder with not a lot to show for it. If Les and his team would only put a plan in motion to reduce annual hourly turnover to 25%, they would find it much less painful to grow the business at the top line and the bottom line.

The cost of 16 churned employees would be $96,000, a savings of $288,000 in the human resource line item. Re-funneling a portion of the savings for wages, benefits and training back to the remaining employees would certainly be a good idea too as the return on retaining employees is clearly much greater than recruiting new ones.

Of even greater importance will be the increased profit margin from revenue growth. Although the revenues required to foot the bill for even 25 percent turnover is still over $600,000, Les's company will increase profits due to increased productivity and quality from a more experienced workforce, lower administrative and training costs for new hires, and less stress on supervisors, managers and co-workers.

Click Here to learn more about the Whole Person Approach to Selecting and Retaining Top Performers.

Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #256 to #260.

2005-05-07T00:28:00.000-04:00

Eventually there will be fewer unmarried or single heads of households workers in the workforce than single workers. Is your company prepared to offer benefits that fits these life styles?

Fact #256: Nearly 26 percent of Americans now live alone.
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Fact #257: Unmarried adults now head half of all households.
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Fact #258: Almost half of the nation's employees are unmarried.
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Fact #259: In 2000, 3.8 million couples were living together.
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Fact #260: 22 percent of children in the U.S. were living with their mother only.
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

Secrets of Motivation, Work Ethics and Counter-Productive Behaviors.

2005-05-05T17:12:00.000-04:00

Are bad attitudes, lack of commitment or low morale cutting into your bottom line? Are you frustrated with hiring star employees who only give you attitude and poor performance? Well, believe it or not, these employees are motivated. Unfortunately they invest their energy in the wrong places - in fighting change, complaining, and disrupting the workplace.

Studies have suggested that 70 percent of employees today are less motivated than they used to be, 80 percent could perform better if they wanted to, and 50 percent put forth enough effort each day to keep their jobs.

I'll go one step further. All employees are motivated. But based on extensive research, the Quality of Motivation (QM) Theory identifies sources of motivation as having both positive and negative influences. How can motivated employees produce negative results?

Motivation can be derived from both pleasure and pain. You might ask why anyone would be motivated by pain.

Have you ever heard the phrase "no pain, no gain" or "nothing comes easy'? These beliefs drive people toward pain, believing a little pain now will reap pleasure down the road. Think about the marathon runner or the professional athlete. Despite the risk of chronic pain due to the constant pounding of their joints and extreme stress to body systems, these athletes are relentless in their drive to reach the finish line at any cost, even long-term crippling and incapacitating injury.

Self-punishment is also rewarded in the today's workplace. It's what we call workaholism. While doing more with less is driving American productivity and admired as good old work ethic by managers, it is also driving the rates of chronic disease sky-high. "A little pain never hurt anyone" isn't necessarily true. Getting workers to "tough it out" may have the short-term benefit of increased productivity but long-term negative consequence of burnout, injury and even premature death.

What can employers do to avoid motivating these counter-productive behaviors and ensuring they create a positively motivated workplace? Managers must first recognize that enthusiasm, drive and high-paced activity alone are ineffective measures of motivation. People employed in your business bring their own unique motivational sources and skills to the workplace. That explains why some people seem to run and run….and run - just like the Energizer Bunny. Think about it. Watching Robin Williams perform can make you tired. So can hyperactive, pencil-tapping, knee shaking employees. Their activity and busy-ness uses lots of energy but their results aren't always productive; their work habits are not necessarily efficient.

Rewarding hard work and a strong work ethic is one thing but when it inadvertently rewards self-punishment, the cost to the bottom line is devastating.

Self-punishment is just one of four maladaptive behaviors that motivate employees and shape a company's culture. Motivation is more complex than just pumping up spirits and getting people to work harder. By understanding that motivation has both positive and counter-productive effects, employers can create work environments and employee incentives that get the business results they want and avoid the long-term debilitating consequences of encouraging the wrong behaviors.

How do you measure motivation? How do you know if an employee is motivated enough or too much? Which motivational sources positively affect performance, safety, and stress? For more information on assessing motivation in your workplace, check at the Personal Interests, Attitudes, and Values(tm) assessment here:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/piav.htm

The ROI of Effective Communication.

2005-05-03T00:50:00.000-04:00

Companies with the most effective employee- communication programs provided a 26 percent total return to shareholders from 1998 to 2002, compared to a minus 15 percent return by firms that communicate least effectively, according to a new Watson Wyatt study of 267 U.S. companies.

Follow the link below to learn about Dynamic Communication, a no-nonsense, fluff-free behavioral communication program that is guaranteed to improve the communication within your organization and produce measurable, observable, and long lasting results.

Click Here to Learn More about the ROI of Effective Communication.

Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #251 to #255

2005-04-30T15:15:00.000-04:00

Fact #251: Although 41 million people are expected to enter the American workforce by 2010, 46 million college-educated baby boomers will retire in the next 20 years. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Fact #252: A serious lack of skilled workers will begin in 2005 and grow to 5.3 million by 2010, and to 14 million by 2015. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Fact #253: Employers estimate that 39 percent of their current workforce and 26 percent of new hires will have basic skills deficiencies. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Fact #254: Sixty-five percent of all American employment now requires specific skills. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Fact #255: Seventy-five percent of the American workforce will need to be re-trained merely to retain their jobs. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Generational Styles at Work

2005-04-26T19:57:00.000-04:00

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end -- it will blow you away.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born, before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill. There was no radar, credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens. Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man hadn't yet walked on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first-and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother. Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, 'Sir'- and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir.' We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege. We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent. Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins. Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started. Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings. We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey. If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk. The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam. Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 & 10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600 but who could afford one? Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon. In my day, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was something your mother cooked in, and "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby. "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office," chip" meant a piece of wood, "hardware" was found in a hardware store, and "software" wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.....and how old do you think I am ?

I bet you have this old lady in mind...you are in for a shock! Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.

This woman would be only 58 years old!

Special thanks and credit for this week's column go to my 81-year-young mother who forwarded this story to me using her laptop. I find this ironic when the workplace is filled with 45 and 50 year old employees who claim to be too old to learn to use technology!

To read the complete issue of The Total View, follow this link:
Generation Styles At Work