Oceans of Opportunities

Surprise Applicants With Out of the Ordinary Interview Questions

2014-07-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

We all have our favorite interview questions, but it doesn't take long for word to get out and applicants can prepare better by practicing answers to tried and true interview questions. Here are some fresh ideas for new questions that will give you some great new information about your candidates.

OLD:     Tell me about yourself.
NEW:     What is the most exciting thing that ever happened to you?

OLD:     Where do you see yourself in five years?
NEW:    What do you want your job title to be when you retire?

OLD:     Tell me about a time when you had to overcome an obstacle.
NEW:     Let me describe a problem you might encounter while working here. (Describe a real problem of the job.) How would you solve the problem?

Putting a fresh look on the traditional approach will always yield better results. Try these questions during your next interview. I think you will be surprised at the results.

National Labor Relations Act - Not Just for Unionized Employers!

2014-06-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

At a recent Employment Law Update seminar I attended, I was reminded again of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) that guides the Board's work. The thing that the attorney said that stuck with me was that most small and mid-sized employers believe the myth that the NLRB's rules only apply to unionized employers. What many managers and business owners don't realize is that any employee unionized or not can bring a claim before the NLRB. He went on to say that the trap most employers fall into is thinking that it is ok to prohibit and therefore discipline employees who talk about wages and benefits with other employees.

The NLRA (the act itself) makes it an unfair labor practice for any and all employer's to prohibit conversation between employees about wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

Most recently the NLRB has sought to file unfair labor practices against those employers who prohibit salary conversations between employees on social media outlets or chat rooms, just like they would if you fired two employees for talking bout their wages in the company break room.

A learning opportunity for a new client of mine came when the results of an employee file audit revealed they had disciplined an employee for sharing salary information with a co-worker. I told him what I'm telling you here - DON'T DO IT! Don't prohibit salary conversations in your employee handbook, policy manual or during new employee orientation or staff meetings. Don't discipline employees when it happens. In this age of transparency, those who have fair and consistent salary practices in place shouldn't fear their employees who choose to share this information. If your salary practices aren't consistent or fair - call me, so we can get it fixed and you have nothing to fear.

Social Media! I'm Sick of Hearing About It

2014-04-13T12:05:00.001-07:00

You can't go anywhere these days without seeing or hearing about social media. But what does it mean to a business owner? The marketing people will tell you it is a "must have" and is really a "BFF" in order to reach your customers. Lawyers will tell you it is something that could virtually kill your company. As I have found in similar situations, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Yes, the old days of newspaper, TV and radio advertising - if not dead have a drastically new face and you should consult a web or social media expert to help you get up to speed to attract customers. But your current, "ex" or potential employees as well as customers being able to post information about you is cause for alarm if it doesn't show the value of having a good strategy. In the past, if I wanted to say something bad about my ex-employer I could take out a newspaper, TV or radio ad but it would cost me money and the media outlet would censor my comments to protect themselves from libel. Today, on social media I can post anything I want about an employer on FaceBook or LinkedIn and there is limited censorship, if any. I have 797 contacts on LinkedIn, who are connected toanother 157,861 contacts. That is a pretty big reach for free if you ask me.

If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say. . .

The old Bonnie Raitt song called "Let's Give'em Something to Talk About", isn't a good idea these days. The best offense in this case is doing things in a positive and above board manner. Developing strong relationships and creating and maintaining a positive work environment will help ensure the comments your employees make about you on social media are nothing but glowing.

Getting Results with S.M.A.R.T. Goals

2014-03-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

I’m sure most of you have heard have about S.M.A.R.T. goals, especially if you’re in any type of management field. The adage is that in order to reach your goals, whether personal or business, they need to be S.M.A.R.T - meaning Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely.

Since learning about them twenty years ago, I have had the opportunity to create, assist in creating or review a LOT of S.M.A.R.T. goals for many different types of organizations. Some goals were very well written and others were quite honestly terrible. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when I was reading "Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It" by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson and discovered that they included a chapter on S.M.A.R.T. goals.

I call them my new HR gurus and they believe that while the S.M.A.R.T. goal methodology is sound, it lacks a clear outcome piece that is important to getting the results you want as a company. The book talks about their ROWE concept - ROWE standing for Results Only Work Environment.

Their premise is that in order to be successful nothing else matters except results.

It doesn't matter if employees work 20 hours or 60 hours. It doesn’t matter if they work at home, a coffee shop or at the office. In fact, it doesn’t matter when, where or how long they work—the only thing that matters is results.

They believe if you instill in your employees a crystal clear picture of the outcome (or the results) you are expecting they will achieve those results…IF they are responsible and self motivated and IF you don't let management get in the way. They feel that a lot of things companies do actually waste time, disengage employees and take the focus off results - therefore making them ineffective or financially off the mark.

Things like mandatory meetings, sitting in traffic when you could be working (at home or the coffee shop down the street), meeting core office hour requirements and fielding constant interruptions because you have to be in the office and working with people who aren't held accountable and end up slowing down the process for others should be eliminated in order to make employees more productive and focused on results.

Holding everyone accountable especially for the results (notice I said "holding accountable," not blaming) and taking appropriate action when the employee doesn't achieve the expected results is crucial.

One other thing they suggest is taking your wordy, paragraph long mission statement and asking "IF we actually do what our mission statement says, then what?" The example they give on page 121 is eye opening. I will let you read it for yourself. It really makes a company's outcome crystal clear and I believe them when they say if a company embraces a results-only work environment, higher success just happens.

So keep writing those S.M.A.R.T. goals but I am going to get clear on the ultimate outcome and results I want as a company and add it to my goals.

Maybe you should, too. If you do, let me know how it turns out.

Bad Behavior in the Computer Age

2014-03-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

A colleague and good friend of mine, Rob Joseph of FastTeks On-site Computer Services, recently shared an article with me that made me think. The article was entitled "Bad Behavior, Not Maleware, Puts More of Your Corporate Data at Risk", written by Ken Hess.

The article reveals:

63% of employees use remote storage devices to transfer confidential work files

45% of employees use consumer sites like DropBox and Box.net

30% of employees use cloud storage services

60% of employees use personal email to transfer work info

Nearly 75% think IT approves of this behavior

To top it all off "almost one third of the employees who use their personal e-mail to transfer work information know their computers have been hacked."

In other words, without meaning to, your employees are opening the door to potential threats.

In my opinion, this is a case of not supplying your "first most precious asset"—your employees—with the right tool to protect your "second most precious asset"—your company data. My friend Rob would say I have the first and second mixed up, but he is an IT guy and entitled to his opinion.

From an HR perspective it should go like this:

Provide employees the tools, processes and procedures to protect company data the safest way.
Train ALL employees on how to properly transfer files from one company location to another without using personal cloud services, USB sticks or SD cards.
Occasionally monitor or spot check for compliance.
Provide more training on a routine basis as a reminder or whenever technology changes.

My friend Rob can answer any technical questions and even provide training. I can help you with writing an air-tight policy and help you enforce it. Thanks Rob - it is great to have a colleague like you! You can contact Rob at: 480-802-4007 or rjoseph@fastteks.com.

Putting “Heart” into Your Interviews Part 2

2014-02-20T14:47:00.000-08:00

As a review from the last post…from a management stand point, during the course of employment, there can be all kinds of interviews like applicant interviews, performance interviews, employee satisfaction interviews, exit interview and others. There is one final component to consider.

All interviews require you to be clear on the outcome and the follow up or follow through on each situation. In applicant interviews you are deciding whether to hire or not. In investigative interviews you may be deciding whether to fire or not. Either way the third step that is often overlooked is the follow up (or fall out) that needs to take place to bring closure to the situation. Say you interview three great candidates for a position, decide on one, call her up and offer her the job. She accepts – done deal. What about the two you didn’t offer a job to? Who breaks the “bad news?" Or do you just wait until they call or email you and you can choose not to respond. In this day and age, is that something you want to risk? Did you consider that one of the applicants could be a close relative to your biggest customer?

We don’t know what we don’t know, so why risk hard feelings when we can look at this situation as an opportunity rather than a curse? Being proactive with applicants can bring more good will to your company. I can’t tell you the number of times I have called applicants who weren’t offered a job who thanked me at the end of the call because I was professional, yet personable, gave them a true and straight forward reason for their non-selection and offered other alternatives for their job search. That’s what I call showing “heart” in the selection process.

Again, if you want to find out how much “heart” your organization has in interview situations, give me a call.

Putting “Heart” into Your Interviews Part 1

2014-02-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

Most of the time when I talk about interviews I am referring to hiring interviews but from a management stand point, during the course of employment, there can be all kinds.

Examples are:

Applicant Interviews (sometimes 2nd and 3rd ones)
Job analysis interviews
Performance interviews
Investigative interviews
Disciplinary interviews
Employee Satisfaction interview
Succession planning interviews
Exit interviews

Depending on the size of your organization you may not have cause to use all of these, but there are some common themes among them all. Today in part one, we’ll be talking about asking the right questions and doing more listening than talking.

All interviews require good, open ended questions. Remember, the goal of any interview is to gather information and you can’t get the information you need if the questions you are asking are irrelevant or even stupid. I will never forget the time early on in my career when I was asked if I squeezed the toothpaste from the middle or the top. What that had to do with my computer or accounting skills I still haven’t figured out. For applicant interviews, questions need to focus on the job requirements. For disciplinary interviews they need to focus on what occurred and how it relates to your policies, procedures and expectations. For exit interview questions, they should focus on what the company can change and improve upon for the current employees and future ones.

All interviews require a good amount of listening. I lost count of the number of different types of interviews I have sat in on with managers and supervisors that controlled the conversation by doing the majority of the talking. In each of these situations, the true goal is to solicit enough information to make a decision. You don’t get good information if you are the one doing all the talking. Listening to what the person is telling you and taking it to heart while equally weighing the facts adds up to a good employment decision.

Look for Part 2 next week about being clear on the outcome and follow-up with your interviews.

If you want to find out how much “heart” your organization has in interview situations, give me a call.

Jimmy Buffet and Employee Record Retention

2014-02-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Buffet, the most popular song-writing pirate that ever lived, coined two phrases that can be applied to employee record retention requirements:

“What we keep is what we can’t let go”

“Indecision may or may not be my problem”

When it comes to employee files and other employment related documents, “what we keep is what we shouldn’t let go” until we don’t need it any more. Federal agencies have established requirements that say how long you need to keep certain documents and records to stay in compliance with employment laws, so “indecision doesn’t have to be a problem.”

Generally, you should establish the following retention periods for both electronic and paper-based records:

Employee Files	7 years after termination
Medical/Benefits	6 years after plan year
I-9 Forms	Not more than 3 years after termination
Hiring Records	1 year after the hiring decision (unless you are a federal contractor – then you need to retain for 2 years)
Payroll Records/Time Sheets, etc.	3 years
Withholding Tax Records	4 years from date tax is due or paid
Family Medical Leave Records (for those employers over 50 employees)	3 years
Healthcare Continuation	There are no recordkeeping requirements under COBRA, however experts agree that records should be retained for 6 years to stay consistent with ERISA requirements
Drug Test Records	1 year from date of test (up to 5 years for records pertaining to DOT drug testing requirements)

If you have an ongoing dispute or claim with an employee, it is a good idea to retain ALL documents relating to the employee until the dispute or claim is completely resolved. I advise erring on the safe side and hanging on to it for another year just in case.

The important thing is to keep these documents in a safe and secure location during the retention period. If at all possible, I recommend keeping old records off site. It is somewhat inconvenient but affords the best security and protection. Knowing what you have and what you don’t have is also important. A simple Excel spread sheet can tell you what you have and when it is time to let it go. Destroy records by shredding them to ensure that no confidential information gets in the hands of anyone who shouldn’t have it.

Being decisive about keeping (then letting go of) old employee files can be easy if you remember the words of wisdom from a singing pirate. Happy Shredding!

What a one Hour Consultation Can Do For You!

2014-01-23T22:47:00.001-08:00

I offer a free one-hour consultation and I have a hunch that some business owners don’t take me up on it for one simple reason: they are afraid of what I might find out. They think it will be as painful as going to the dentist but instead of me asking “How often do you floss?” I will ask “How often do you check references or backgrounds on your new hires?”

Of course, when the dentist asks his or her question we usually wince and weakly say “I don’t.” The sad truth is that oftentimes, the answer would be the same for my question, too. The dentist then goes into all the benefits of flossing and gives us instructions and free floss before we leave. Then we have the freedom to take his or her advice and start a new healthier habit that will help prevent tooth decay. That is exactly what I do during my one hour consultation—give you instruction (and in many cases, the tools) to use to start a new healthier HR practice which will possibly prevent the “decay” of your workforce.

The main areas I examine during a consultation are:

Hiring Practices

Looking at your turnover and the reasons for it, making sure your job descriptions are up to date and truly reflect the job duties and qualifications needed for the job, having a legally compliant employment application, having proper screening questions, having behavior based interview questions, ensuring you are meeting equal opportunity requirements and retaining appropriate documentation on applications and much, much more.

Policies and Procedures

Depending on the size and type of your organization, policies and procedures help ensure a safe and productive work environment. They also spell out your expectations. By reviewing your handbook or talking about how you handle such things as absences, employee conduct, safety, customer service, break time, overtime, holidays and vacations, I can offer solutions to keep you and your employees happy and productive.

Compliance with federal and state laws

Again, depending on the size of your organization, there are federal and state laws concerning employees that you are required to comply with. I review the laws that apply to your business and give you cost effective and streamlined ways to comply. After our consultation it is up to you to decide if the value of having me as your virtual HR advisor is beneficial to your organization. One hour with me—while seemingly scary at first—is much easier than an hour in the dentist chair and much less costly!

Stop putting it off – call today to schedule your free one hour consultation!

Are you working to prevent employee walk-outs?

2014-01-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

In 2013 more than seven cities saw groups of workers go on strike demanding a "living wage" of $15 per hour. While these strikes were short lived, it makes me wonder what 2014 will bring. In Arizona our minimum wage increased to $7.90 on January 1, 2014. Would your business survive if it rose to $15 an hour in 2015?

Are you at risk for employees walking out?

The majority of striking employees last year were in the fast food, retail and home healthcare industries. These jobs were once considered temporary or transitional as they used to primarily employ inexperienced or new to the work force workers. Over the last two years a full 43% of net employment growth came from these industries. It appears these jobs once considered "temporary or transitional" jobs are now becoming careers for a lot of people nationwide. Representatives for the food service industry argue that raising wages would ultimately hurt workers since increasing wages would lead to a scaling back of hours, and less hiring in our yo-yo economy. Based on what my clients are telling me, I would have to agree. If your company is at risk there are other less expensive and more cost effective ways to keep employees happy and productive.

The key to happy employees? Knock their socks off.

Here are a few tips from an article from Entrepreneur.com.

Family Days – When kids have a half day of school, family days allow employees to take a day off without having to use up vacation or sick days.
Yoga classes or chair massages – Bring in a yoga instructor or massage therapist once a week.Either one is inexpensive and will help relax your employees and lower stress levels.
Movie days – A group movie outing or free movie passes can be a pleasant perk.For the sake of variety, you might also consider an outing to see a community theater group.
Free car washes – The latest in “express exterior” car washes costs around $5 per wash, meaning for $100, you could give 20 employees a shiny car every few months.
Fun and games – One Minnesota e-business has both foosball table and pool table in their break room. Ping pong or pinball machines are also good possibilities.
Pass the perks – Companies often accrue perks by using corporate credit cards, such as airline miles or tickets to events.Pass these free perks along to your employees.

While an increase in wages is always at the top of an employee’s wish list, implementing some ideas like these may keep your employees off the picket line while protecting your bottom line at the same time.

Employee Relations: Is there an "app" for that?

2014-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today’s technology

Phones can do a lot of things – we can stay in constant communication with friends and family, pay our bills, translate our words into a foreign language, navigate around an unfamiliar city, read a book or play a game. Phones aren’t just phones any more – they are cameras, audio recorders, car starters, metal detectors, leveling tools and much, much more.

In business, phones are spell checkers and research tools, calculators and typewriters, calendars and schedulers, PowerPoint remotes and laser pointers. There are even applications that help you hire and staff, track production or sales and even market your products and services.

We’ve become so enmeshed in technological applications that we don’t do much without our phones.

Employee relations: is there an “app” for that?

With technological advances, you may wonder, “Will there ever be an ‘app’ for employee relations?” I define employee relations as face to face, honest, open communication and performance feedback between an employee and their manager/supervisor. Employee relations also involves the synergy (or lack of) a company’s whole workforce and their understanding and adherence to rules, regulations, policies and procedures and actual work practices within an organization.

Recently I worked with two organizations that were struggling with employee relations issues.Their situations are similar in that the employees of both organizations are looking for consistency, fairness and a good place to work. The heads of each organization are too focused on reducing expenses, remaining profitable and just surviving, ignoring employees’ concerns or how reductions or recent change may have wreaked havoc on the workplace. Employee relations boil down to one thing: communication, communication, communication.

Improving employee relations the old-fashioned way

How can an employer improve employee relations? First, periodically solicit (anonymously and without fear of retribution) employee opinions on the working environment of the organization. Ask specific questions about the benefits you offer, policies, processes and supervisory relationships. There are a variety of services you can use, but customizing an electronic survey using Survey Monkey is quite cost effective. Using the information you gather from the survey, own up to areas of needed improvement, then develop an action plan and follow through with those plans to address employee concerns.

The communication process involves trust. If you don’t follow through on your word, you’ll never have your employees’ trust.

Secondly, meet regularly with your employees to announce changes, show appreciation and provide reminders of important issues and processes. This is like spending quality time with your kids. By publically agreeing to hold each other accountable for needed change, it solidifies the relationship and encourages a deeper level of commitment that leads to higher levels of productivity.

Finally, you or your managers (depending on how large your organization is) should also meet individually with employees and give them feedback on their individual performance and contribution to the organization. These talks should also reinforce job expectations and performance levels, as well as give employees an opportunity to ask specific and direct questions of you or their supervisor.

Use technology wisely

In instances when you can’t meet face to face, use technology and send well thought out e-mails or use Face Time (for I-phone users), or Skype, Tango or Fring (for Android smart-phone users) to give specific, encouraging organizational information.

Technology is great and I never thought I’d hear myself saying “I love my phone,” but I do. Time will tell if an “app” will ever take the place of face to face, honest, open communication between an employee and their employer. In a way, I hope it never does. After all – it’s just a phone.

Let's Ring In the New Year

2014-01-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

It’s my first post of the new year and—surprise!—I’m not going to talk about procrastination (which is clearly one of my favorite blog topics). I actually want to talk about the second-most popular topic for the New Year: CHANGE.

I’m not talking about changes you want to see in the economy, government laws or practices. I’m referring to changes that may be going on in your workplace that you may not yet be aware of.

Do you know your employees?

While the people in your workplace may seem to be mostly happy and productive employees, keep in mind that the pool of applicants we draw from for hiring is changing. That means that employee needs, goals and desires are changing.

Statistics show that:

Since 2011 about 8,000 people are turning 65 every DAY and this trend will continue until 2029.
Young people are transitioning into the workforce and earning money at a much later age than young adults 30 years ago.
The age at which young adults are hitting median wage earnings has increased from 26 to 30 between 1980 and 2012.
Government projects suggest that Immigrants will account for as much as half of the net population growth over the next few decades.
The number of women in the workforce with children under 6 rose from 63% in 2005 to 68% in 2011.
Employee longevity is staying fairly flat within the private sector with the median years of tenure at 4.2 years.

Your employees are changing—are you?

This means that in order to stay with you as an employer, your happy and productive workers need and want more flexible schedules and time off due to health issues, family commitments or other outside interests. Retirement, health savings accounts or other long term savings plans may be important to people as they move to different jobs for various reasons.

The fact is, workers feel more valued and tend to stay longer with employers who offer benefits that better fit their needs.

Give me a ring

As I mentioned earlier, I want to “talk” about these changes. That’s “HR speak” for “I don’t have all the answers.” But I am a creative HR consultant that can help look at your company’s situation and give you some creative solutions. So let’s talk. Email me or give me a ring in the new year.

Be Aware of Fake Mailers

2013-11-27T09:48:00.001-08:00

I am reposting a recent press release from Attorney General Tom Horne to Small Businesses and Consumers in Arizona. Here it is:

Phoenix, AZ (November 26, 2013) -- Attorney General Tom Horne is today warning Arizona consumers and small businesses to be wary of solicitations that appear to be an official notification from a government agency.

There is currently an official looking mailer being sent out by the “Labor Standards Compliance Office” requesting a fee (generally $295) from consumers in return for providing up-to-date notices for businesses to post to comply with the State of Arizona and the Federal Government. This sender is not affiliated in any way with the government, but is instead a private non-governmental business. Small businesses are not required to purchase these posters and should be wary of the “FINAL NOTICE” and “DUE NOW” claims stated on the mailer.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office advises consumers to read all fine print, do research on companies that are listed on mailers, and be cautious about the authenticity of mailings that appear to be from a government agency.

If you believe you have been a victim of consumer fraud, please contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at 602-542-5763, in Tucson at 520-628-6504, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro area at 1-800-352-8431. Consumers can also file complaints online by visiting the Attorney General’s Office Web site at www.azag.gov.

What to do with ALL those applications!

2013-11-20T05:47:00.000-08:00

A new manager recently asked me after he interviews someone if they aren't going to be hired, what should they do with the applications and what if anything should he communicate to them. My response was: First of all you need to keep the application on file for one year. I recommend making a hanging file for each month and file them by month. Then each month you shred last year’s from that month and have an empty file to start filing them in for this month. This also helps if you have someone you didn’t hire call up and say I put in an application last month – you can quickly find their application and see if you would consider them or not. A better suggestion is to have a file folder for “Strong Possibilities” these are applicants that you didn’t hire but WOULD consider them in the future. That way when you have another opening you can quickly find a person that looked pretty good.

For the second part of your question – if you have interviewed them – I say definitely communicate back to them “yes” or “no”. If you don’t hire them, a quick e-mail or postcard that says:

Thank you for your interest in working at our store and meeting with me last week. We enjoyed meeting you and we appreciate your time. We had many applicants with varying experiences, skills and schedule availability. We have offered the position to someone that more closely fits our ideal candidate. We do keep applications on file for one year so we may contact you in the future if the need arises.

Best of luck in your job search and we truly appreciate your interest.

It is important to keep applications in an organized fashion for future recruiting and to stay compliant with the law.

Happy Hiring!

Applican't's Past Behavior - Better Than a Crystal Ball

2013-10-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

When hiring employees there is no crystal ball to confirm whether you have hired the best candidate. There is a process you can use that will increase your odds of doing so the next time you hire an employee.

I’m frequently asked “What are the best questions to ask during an interview to ensure I get the best candidate for the job?”

My answer is simple: Behavioral based questions aimed at the main competencies of the job. I know that sounds like a bunch of HR techno babble. Behavioral based interview questions are questions that ask the candidate to relate a previous work related behavior from their past experience. Scientists agree with HR professionals in that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. Hypothetical questions only get you the answer the applicant thinks you want to hear, whether it’s true or not. Behavioral based questions get to the heart of tasks, duties and activities the candidate has actually performed in the past and when structured correctly can even divulge a level of quantity and/or quality of their performance. If followed with more probing questions behavioral based questions can reveal much about the candidate’s work experiences, skills and motivations. Using behavioral based interview questions relating to the competencies of the job really is the best predictor of an applicant’s qualifications.

Three common job competencies are customer focus, dependability and initiative. Using the behavior based interview process here are some generic questions with follow up probing questions for the three competencies.

Customer Focus:

Explain a time when you were not able to respond to a customer as quickly as promised. How did you handle the situation? What if anything would you do differently?

Tell me about a time when you received feedback either positive or negative from a customer. Why does this example stick out in your mind? What did you do with that feedback?

Dependability:

We all have to work very hard at times. Tell me about a time you started early or stayed late to accommodate your employer? What specifically did you do?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 high, how dependable are you? Why do you say that? Give me an example that illustrates your dependability.

Initiative:

Tell me about a time when none of your supervisors were available to guide or direct you on a particular project or problem. How did you approach the situation so that you could complete your work?

Describe a situation when you identified a problem and took action to correct it rather than wait for someone else to do so. How did it turn out? What did you learn from it?

Besides using behavioral based questions, the other key to making the best hiring decision is accurately assessing the answers applicants supply. Stay tuned for a future post when I share some thoughts on that part of the hiring process.

It Has Been A Long Hot Summer For Employees - Part 2

2013-10-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

It has been a long hot summer for employees and employers alike. Everyone is looking for some "coolness" this fall.

One "cool" thing coming soon to Oceans of Opportunities is an Employer's App for smart phones. Wouldn't it be great to have your company's employee handbook, new hire forms, orientation video and a management toolkit for your managers and supervisors all on your PHONE?

You have got to LOVE technology. Stay tuned for future updates and the official roll out of this exciting new way to manage your human resources and stay compliant with federal and state employment laws.

It Has Been A Long Hot Summer For Employees

2013-10-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Whew - the temperatures are finally down

Applicant's Past Performance - Closest Thing to a Crystal Ball for Hiring Decisions

2011-06-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

I’m frequently asked “What are the best questions to ask during an interview to ensure I get the best candidate for the job?”

Customer Focus:

Explain a time when you were not able to respond to a customer as quickly as promised. How did you handle the situation? What if anything would you do differently?

Tell me about a time when you received feedback either positive or negative from a customer. Why does this example stick out in your mind? What did you do with that feedback?

Dependability:

We all have to work very hard at times. Tell me about a time you started early or stayed late to accommodate your employer? What specifically did you do?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 high, how dependable are you? Why do you say that? Give me an example that illustrates your dependability.

Initiative:

Tell me about a time when none of your supervisors were available to guide or direct you on a particular project or problem. How did you approach the situation so that you could complete your work?

Describe a situation when you identified a problem and took action to correct it rather than wait for someone else to do so. How did it turn out? What did you learn from it?

You Missed Out on Great Information!

2011-05-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

You missed a great presentation at this month’s Chandler Chamber’s Employers’ Seminar Series.

Presentation highlights from Josh Woodard of Snell & Wilmer include:

· The Department of Labor (DOL) believes 70% of all employers have some or all of their employees miss-classified and are therefore not paying and/or calculating overtime pay correctly. Which means you may be paying too much or too little.

· If you have outside salespeople you are required to comply with the Arizona Minimum Pay Act and make sure they are receiving at least minimum wage—EVEN IF they are commission only.

· There is a way to save money on overtime if you have employees that have fluctuating work weeks.

· Paying a non-discretionary bonus to non-exempt employees may cause you to have to re-calculate overtime for previous pay periods.

· Your independent contractors may not really be independent contractors and can cost you BIG money. If the independent contractors you have are true independent contractors but not paying taxes, the business owner or corporate officers can be personally liable.

· If you do not provide Workers Compensation, not only can you be fined, but you can be charged with a criminal offense.

Highlights from Patricia Kempthorne of Twiga Foundation/When Work Works include:

· Today’s worker wants a flexible work environment just as much as they want a good salary.

· Studies show that workers with flexible work arrangements are more productive.

· Studies show that companies that offer flexible work arrangements have lower turnover, spending less money on recruitment and retention.

· You don’t have to be a large company to offer a flexible work environment.

· The best way to develop a flexible work environment is to ask employees what they need .

· Creativity and cooperation between the employer and employee makes work “work”.

This might seem like an odd combination but Patricia was in town from Idaho to finish up the last of the nominations for the When Work Works annual awards. There are still a few more days to go - so call or e-mail for more information.

Are Weeds Destroying Your Employee Garden?

2011-04-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I noticed the first weed of the season in my yard about 10 weeks ago. And that's all I did - I just noticed it. I would like to think that if I had gone and pulled it out right then; I would not have had another patch in another area of my yard a few days later.

Weeds are like that, one pops up and if left untreated your whole yard is quickly over taken by other weeds. Next the home owners association sends a "friendly reminder" to get rid of your weeds or it will cost you. Then the neighbors drive by and think "Those people just don't care about their yard!"

From a human resource standpoint weeds are like poor performing employees. They get noticed more than your good employees. They stick out as ugly and menacing to your customers, vendors and other employees. If left untreated, like the weeds in my yard, they soon spread and start affecting other areas of your operation. In the end they will cost you one way or the other.

As any good landscaper will tell you, the best way to prevent a yard full of weeds is a regular and professional grade treatment program, BEFORE the situation gets out of hand. The same is true with your employees - you need to have a plan to address potential "weeds" in your workplace. You need a treatment program to keep your employees from turning ugly and menacing and eventually choking out the good employees.

Your landscaper has a variety of tools and materials he uses to prevent and eliminate weeds in your yard. Besides just pulling out the weeds, he/she uses chemicals that are effective on the types of weeds you have and uses the right amount so it doesn't harm the various other types of plants nearby. I bet the really good landscapers even make periodic inspections to make sure the treatment works.

Your human resource treatment program should be thorough and effective as well. Some things you will want to include are:

Hiring procedures that effectively screen out potential "weeds"
Standards and expectations of employees' conduct that are shared with all employees starting on Day 1
Fair and consistent disciplinary procedures
Regular performance feedback sessions; AND
Training for you, your supervisors and employees on all of the above.

Noticing a weed is the first step in having a beautiful yard - taking action to prevent and eliminate weeds is the most important step. I wish you a lush and attractive yard and a successful and motivated workplace.

And You Wonder Why Employees Can't Support Their CEOs

2011-04-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

The CEO of a well known company (GoDaddy) has pushed some limits in the past and recently irked PETA and others. Seems this popular "leader" was enjoying a much needed vacation in Africa when his "help the masses" spirit kicked in. He decided to help the local tribes people by killing an elephant that was destroying crops.

In part of his interview he seemed satisfied that he had provided a valuable service to the people by providing them with food and saving their struggling crops.

The old story of "give a man a fish" immediately came to mind. In my opinion he fell short of providing a truly valuable service to the tribe by not spending a little more and providing them with tools that would provide a more permanent solution. I can't help but wonder if he treats his employees the same way. It's important that a company leader provide tools to their employees that offer more longer lasting solutions to their work problems. This is the best way to empower and engage employees.

Another thing I wonder about is if he even considered that some of his thousands of employees may be PETA supporters. While he may try cloaking his love of hunting behind a curtain of supposedly helpfulness, his employees can see right through it. PETA awarded Bob Parsons the "scummiest CEO" of the year award - I'll just give him the most arrogant CEO of the year award for not considering his employees before boasting about his exploits.

And All Other Duties As Assigned

2011-03-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

And all other duties as assigned” – how many times have you seen that phrase on a job description? It’s a wonderful catch all item many organizations use on a job description as a “free pass” to allow them to assign whatever duties they want to, to various jobs.

These days every organization is downsizing and right sizing and trying to be as lean as possible. One of the ways they are doing this is by restructuring jobs which may include adding duties, merging responsibilities or changing employee driven processes. This means that the duties and responsibilities listed on position “x’s” current job description may not be an accurate description of the actual work they are doing.

There are a lot of reasons to have job descriptions. Job descriptions help in recruiting and retaining qualified and competent employees, they help in performance management and evaluating the work of your employees, and they assist you in treating employees fairly and consistently. Finally, if you are ever misfortunate enough to have a Department of Labor audit or a law suit filed against you – a detailed, up to date job description may just keep you out of hot water.

I recently had a client tell me “we don’t need job descriptions; we’re not a big corporation.” No matter how large or small your company is, I say “oh yes you do.” There is no specific law that requires job descriptions, but I believe in the rule of “if it’s not documented, it wasn’t done.” So if you don’t have the essential job functions and responsibilities of each job position written down, how do you know for sure it gets done? If you don’t have a written job description and want to re-assign duties, how do you know that the new duties are something the people in the position getting the new duties have the knowledge or skill to accomplish? And can they do it at an acceptable level of performance? And by changing the job duties, does that change the title, the exempt or non-exempt status, or the salary range for that job? There are lots of things to consider when trying to go “lean”.

The Chamber recently added some links to various HR tools that make it easier to write a job description. (You can find all the tools by clicking on the “Doing Business” section then selecting Business Tools, then Employer Relations on the Chamber’s website.) One link will take you to the Department of Labor’s Career One stop site that can help you develop a new job description or revise an out of date one. It’s free and is a fairly easy tool to use. Before you get started, you will want to have a general idea of the job tasks, work activities and experience and skill required for each job. When you are finished you can save it as a Word document so that you can have the manager or supervisor and/or your HR expert review to make sure all essential items were included and the knowledge, skill and abilities as well as educational and experience requirements are listed as minimum requirements and not embellished. When it is finalized, be sure to review it with the effected employees.

Because one person’s definition of “other duties as assigned” can vary, make your job descriptions as specific as is practical. Get the employees doing the job involved either through a questionnaire or face to face meeting, so you get a true picture of the work tasks that are performed by that job class. Don’t go overboard with a 5 page job description, but do more than just scribble a couple of bullet points on the back of a napkin.

Add reviewing or developing job descriptions on your HR Spring Cleaning list today.

Fun Times With Medical Marijuana

2011-03-24T14:09:00.001-07:00

April 13th is fast approaching. This will be the day when Medical Marijuana will become legal in the state of Arizona. Why should an employer care?

Arizona will be the first state enacting a Medical Marijuana law that provides an element of protection for employees, thereby limiting an employer's options to enforce their own policies and practices in the workplace. Currently an Arizona employer who has a policy against drug use in the workplace and who also tests applicants post-offer and wants to deny employment if there is a positive result is well within their right to do so.

After April 13th, if the applicant is certified as a Medical Marijuana user or a caregiver of a Medical Marijuana user - or also works at a Medical Marijuana dispensary, this will no longer be the case. You can't deny them employment just based on a positive drug test if they meet the above criteria.

Also in the near future, those certified as Medical Marijuana users, caregivers or dispensary employees can only be terminated if they violate other provisions of your drug policy - not simply if they fail a drug test.

That is why it is even more important than ever that employers have policies against possession of drugs in the workplace or the use of drugs during working hours. Only if you can prove serious impairment will you be safe to do so. I'm predicting that proving impairment is going to be challenged in the courts for many months to come.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

First, make sure your policies are worded specifically and communicated well to all employees. Be sure to include the right to inspect any possessions brought into the workplace by employees. If you emphasize your right to inspect possessions and put employees on notice, you'll have some protection and be more likely to prevail if taken to court. Second, train your employees and supervisors on the requirements of this new law. Finally, be ready to enforce your policies to ensure a safe workpalce for all - you, your employees and your customers.

Have fun! It should be interesting!

Will You Be Hiring in 2011?

2011-01-17T08:05:00.000-08:00

With the onset of the new year a lot of "experts" are forecasting that hiring will increase, helping the economy by getting people back to work. In these first 17 days of the new year, I've talked with several organizations that have already hired or are planning to hire in the near future. That's good news. But I go a little crazy when they tell me how they did it or are planning to do it.

Getting referrals from friends and family is by far the easiest and cheapest way to source candidates. But beware of friends giving glowing references. Could it be they are just trying to get rid of their own deadwood? Think about it, passing off poor performers to someone else is easier than firing that employee. In fact it makes you look like a hero. But not what I'd recommend.

CraigsList is the second easiest and cheapest way to source candidates. Where else can you get hundreds of resumes in your inbox for $25 in a matter of hours? A better alternative than strict referrals.

Whatever your source of candidates its important that you take the time and energy and follow these steps:

1) Know the job requirements, knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to be successful in the job. Don't just think about what you as the manager or business owner needs - think about what your customers need in the person that is going to be waiting on them, providing a service and generally interacting with them. Write down the key job duties, knowledge and skills needed to perform the job.

2) Put the applicant to the test. Be sure the applicants have the knowledge and skills they say they do by asking behavioral based questions - questions that draw on their previous performance, not hypothical situations. Consider using assessments to test their aptitude for customer service, sales, or other job requirements. Don't forget to check references.

3) Get a second opinion. Bring another employee, manager or HR professional into the final decision making process. A fresh set of eyes brings a new perspective into the process and can help you find any holes in your decision making - before you fall into it and are trapped with an employee who turns out not to be the best fit for your organization.

For a complete Hiring Process Flow Chart, give me a call or drop me an e-mail.

Happy Hiring in 2011!

Take Another Look At Misfit Employees

2010-12-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

My all-time favorite Christmas story is Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer I first heard the song sung by Gene Autry on my mom's "hillybilly" radio station The story airing on TV, narrated by Burl Ives playing the part of Sam, the talking snowman is one I still watch every year to this day.

The characters I identify with most, are the Misfits. Rudolf, the reindeer and Hermie, the elf are both told they don't fit in because they have skills and abilities that are a little different than their co-wrkers. Rudolf's nose glows and is seen as a distraction to the other reindeer. Hermie has skills as a dentist and since most people don't know what a dentist is, the Head Elf says "we don't need any chewing dolls." Both Rudolf and Hermie leave their employer and strike out on their own trying to find a place where they do fit in. They make their way to the Island of Misfit Toys, where they find out that even among misfits, they are misfits.

In the end, they return to the North Pole and Rudolf's special ability keeps Santa's deliveries on track during a blizzard. At the same time, the Head Elf realizes that innovation in toy making such as "chewing dolls" is a valuable commodity.

Are you overlooking the special skills and abilities your "misfit" employees have that could save your company during an emergency situation or bring new innovation to your operation? Are some of your employee's laughing and calling misfit employees names and causing them to strike out on their own - taking their special skills and abilities with them? We can never know when we might need an employee's special skills or abilities, but in this day and age of faster than the speed of light change, if we found ourselves in need of a miracle, wouldn't you want to know who to call on within your organization?

In 2011, vow to take a closer look at each employee by identifying their strengths and weaknesses through a performance management review - with the goal of discovering the unique skills and abilities of your "misfit" employees. You just might go down in history!