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But for new team managers, turnover and growth can mean a lot of new responsibilities. Even if you don’t provide full training for temporary roles, pass along these 7 tips so that your managers know what will be expected of them:

1. Be Prepared!

In order to succeed in your new role, it’s essential that you understand every team member’s job description and goals. Some employees may have special needs that you’re not aware of. Connect with the previous manager to clarify, and plan for any foreseeable incidents that may need attention.

2. Set Expectations

Flickr/halfwaytoconcord

Now that you’re familiar with every employee’s goals, be sure to establish expectations with respect to performance. This can be as easy as pointing out that “I want you to be at least as successful as you were before I was in this role.”

Setting clear goals is important, but your role is now to communicate to the team why these targets were created in the first place, connecting them to other goals, and aligning them with your company values. Make it clear that you’re available to help if any roadblocks come up. Finally, make sure that all objectives remain attainable. If circumstances change and the team has no chance of hitting their targets, they may lose motivation.

3. Meet Regularly

Weekly team meetings not only benefit the team, they also allow you to keep up to speed as a manager. Make team meetings a welcoming environment. When everyone shares their projects, successes, and obstacles openly, then others are encouraged by the dialogue and recognition, or can get support from a colleague with the right skills.

4. Friendliness Is Progress

Just because you are head honcho now doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be amiable. Employees are most productive when they feel comfortable and safe. Connect with your team on a personal level, and leverage those relationships to help them become better workers. When managers are approachable, employees will be more upfront about their abilities/inabilities, allowing you to develop solutions before problems get more serious.

5. Be An Active Listener

Having an open dialogue with staff is essential. Communication breakdowns often lead to dissatisfaction at work and can even lead to failure of a business in the long run. When an employee comes to you with an issue or for advice, engage with the conversation. Take away action items for both parties, and act on them.

6. Flexibility Is A-Okay!

Remind yourself that you are managing a team of individuals. Everyone has a life outside of work and things come up unexpectedly. If you reward your team and accommodate their schedules, they’ll perform better during the times that they are working, since they’ll be 100% focused on the task at hand.

7. Be Yourself

Nobody wants to be managed by a robot, demon, or butterfly. Employees can tell when you take on a new persona as a manager, and may not be able to deal with the new you.

Recognize your teams and manage employee performance with TribeHR. Start a free 30-day trial today, or contact us for more information.

Amid retractions, corrections, denials, international concern, non-comments, and accusations galore, parsing through the implications of what exactly has been going on in both the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court system and the NSA’s “PRISM” program is an important and ongoing conversation for civil society.

For businesses, data vulnerabilities—whether via government security programs or corporate espionage by foreign nations—are a real and constant threat. But what’s to be done?

You could reject the cloud, unplug your computers, cancel your phone lines, and insist on only meeting people face-to-face in secure facilities. For the more practical among us, instead it makes more sense to simply take a few moments to consider in a very realistic way how government spying impacts your competitive position, and what new liabilities these revelations introduce for your business.

How it works

The technical specifics of the PRISM program have not yet been fully revealed. What is clear is that over the last few years 9 major consumer Internet companies (including Facebook, Microsoft, and Google) have begun, either willingly or via court order, to provide user data to American security officials.

The fact that PRISM is a U.S. government program is significant. Over 85 percent of worldwide Internet traffic flows through the United States. Efforts over the last few years to decouple global Internet administration (including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN) from affiliations with the U.S. government, and reassign them to United Nations management, have failed.

So corporate compliance, technical abilities, and budget allocations aside, the United States is the one and only country that hosts so much of the Internet’s infrastructure that it can collect meaningful data on a truly global scale. In short, you can’t avoid it.

Your competitive position

The question now becomes how government surveillance programs impact your competitive position. And the news here is good.

When it comes to HR data, there’s nothing that government security services don’t already know and would care to know, which could also put you at a competitive disadvantage.

Is the government reading your email to learn more about some potential security threat? Maybe. Will they be forwarding your emails to the CEO of your top competitor? Of course not.

This is not to undermine the threat of corporate espionage. Just because the NSA doesn’t care about you compensation programs, your top performers, your applicant pool, or your policies and procedures, it doesn’t mean your competitors don’t.

That’s one reason why it’s so important to make sure that the HR systems you choose are following security best practices — data encryption, secure sessions, separate databases, certified data centers, etc.

Your liabilities

The other reason to ensure your systems are secure is to minimize your liabilities. When security flaws introduced by a vendor or government interference puts your data at risk, it distracts from your core business purpose, and your employees or partners may even come looking for compensation (such as in the case of identify theft or broken non-disclosure agreements).

Fortunately, once again PRISM does not introduce a significant risk in this case, for three different reasons:

1. Few of the known participant organizations are major business service providers. Skype and Google are affected, but no major server farm or B2B SaaS system appears to be involved.
2. Your business isn’t knowingly, deliberately, or even negligently compromising this information. No court could find you liable for the world’s most powerful intelligence administration managing to gain access to vital data.
3. There isn’t an environment of litigation around employee data. And when it’s compared to something like online piracy, where there’s also a very large and very well funded lobbying effort, it doesn’t look like such an environment is likely to arise any time soon either.

Allegations of widespread and possibly even illegal government surveillance are extremely serious and merit careful attention. Businesses can take a leading roll in pushing for reform, improving security, and spreading awareness.

In the case of data risk and privacy loss, however, PRISM is no big change. Your board of directors can sleep easy.

This article originally appeared on TLNT as Does the Government’s Tracking Program Put Your HR Data at Risk?.

Joseph Fung is co-founder and CEO of TribeHR, pioneer of the industry’s first social HR platform. Try it today.

Pillars of Stability

Our friends at OpenView have a culture of collaboration based on three principles, which are discussed in a new article on their blog. Adopting the scrum methodology, addressing the “five dysfunctions of a team,” and encouraging employees to bring their “best self” to the table, all help them focus on what matters to them as a company.

Businesses that stress their shared values, team dynamics, and positive outlooks are better able to work together to solve problems. That’s news that never gets old.

Hiring Bright

The staff you hire determine the culture of your team. Hiring is a complex art, and that’s why many businesses look just as much for “soft skills” as raw technical ability.

When an applicant does fit both bills, it’s essential to have communicated your company culture effectively. Otherwise, your new employees will be in for a very rude awakening. Be prepared. Tips for interviewees to analyze the potential workplace are given in an article on the Daily Muse.

Rewards Determine Production

How you reward your team plays a big part in the vibe of the office. Playing golf together, going for team lunches, and even basic things like compensation will play a big part in determining who stays long-term.

The job satisfaction of veteran staff affects the engagement of the whole team. Keep your old pros happy, and the rest will follow suit. As Reese Haydon touches on in an article for DecisionWise, losing staff is costly.

People-Pleasing Productivity Plans

When the goals of your company align with the goals of the employees, both parties win. This week Forbes highlighted the importance of keeping your employees aligned with the mission and work of the organization.

Leaders need to focus on keeping their employees engaged with the brand and motivated to represent it to the best of their abilities. Enabling, reassuring, and enhancing employee skills is easier when they feel like they’re part of creating change.

Change Can Be Good

To maintain your company culture is crucial, but with so many influences, it will inevitably change. And that’s not a bad thing. As an HR manager, the key is to understand the changes and be prepared to deal with any repercussions.

Adam Richardson suggests breaking habits and constraints in an article for the Harvard Business Review. Being prepared for change is the hardest part!

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Nice Enough

For new graduates, the competition to find a dream job straight out of college is fierce. Many seek the perfect role while they get by via a retail or entry-level position in the meantime. This week Fast Company discussed the importance of balancing a great cover letter and resume with “soft skills.”

With the increasing focus on company culture, for many businesses it makes sense to hire someone based on personality fit, then provide more in-depth training to fill in specific skill gaps. Volunteer or internship experiences, along with the ability to relate to the interviewer, are often larger indicators of fit than what is listed in bullet points on a candidate profile.

Gen Y and how?

“Millennials are the future of the work force,” says an article in Toronto’s Globe and Mail. An adaptive nature and thirst for development does indeed bring a lot to the table.

But there’s heavy competition for top talent: Flexibility, opportunities to grow within the company, and the ability to create a healthy work-life balance are expectations millennials will have if you want to attract, engage, and retain them.

“Girly” is good

Intrinsic self-motivation is the name of the game. If that’s what you’re looking for in your team, look for individuals with leadership characteristics. Leigh Buchanan this week touches on 7 “feminine” qualities that each leader needs in her article for Inc..

Empathy, vulnerability, humility, inclusiveness, generosity, balance and patience all help managers to get the best work out of their staff. Behaviors that open communications between employees help to improve productivity and prevent roadblocks.

Why aren't I like that?

When hiring is an activity isolated to the HR department, new additions may not always meet other employees’ expectations for the role. Forbes suggests getting the whole team involved in the hiring process. This entrusts current staff with determining what a good co-worker looks like, and even encourages a little bit of self-evaluation. A more compatible team means a better-aligned workplace.

Is staff retention a thing of the past?

With a fluctuating interconnected world, how can we expect employees to settle down? Loyalty is already a bit of an archaic concept; is retention next on the chopping block?

An article in the Harvard Business Review considers encouraging entrepreneurial employees to be creative. Like everything else, this has both benefits and drawbacks: it may help advance the company, but could also foster a culture of independence and empower strong staff to move on and start their own business. But then, is that really a drawback?

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Aging HR systems that don't accommodate emerging social media, provide real-time recognition and responsiveness for employees, or track the vital data that businesses need to suceed, not only fail in their obligations to their customers, but also fail generally as human capital solution providers. Sure, there's always a place for annual performance appraisals, but as our customers always tell us, fast-paced businesses in the internet age need to monitor and empower their employees in real-time.

Employees aren't the only ones who need real-time performance feedback. In the cloud, online software updates are immediate, giving you the freedom to start implementing powerful new processes quickly and seamlessly. Plus access controls provide instantaneous information based on individual peoples' needs, whether it's a quick report, a new hire, or a planned policy change. With social HR solutions like TribeHR in the cloud, HR managers and other HR professionals can access employee information from any location on any device.

As Josh Bersin explains, time and again user interface and design are huge determinants for HR software selection. This is the core of what we do at TribeHR. Employees need to be able to interact with software easily and intuitively, keeping them engaged not only in their own performances, but in the performances of their colleagues and the culture of your company. Whether it's reviewing a goal, tracking time, or booking it off, you need to come away from the process feeling motivated, not crushed by broken workflows.

Having a complete all-in-one HR software solution keeps costs low and prevents unnecessary complexity (or even loss) of employee information. Point solutions and integrated platforms have their places, but nothing beats a system that has been designed to work as a unit, whether it's pulling core data into a performance review, referencing engagement before launching a new hire, or instantly creating a complete employee profile from a job candidate's application package. From hired, to trained, to promoted and beyond, a unified solution keeps all of your data where and when you need it.

HR isn't always seen as a profit-creation center. But that's changing. Nothing increases your revenues like engaged employees, nothing decreases your expenses like low turnover, and nothing shows the value of these opportunities more than a modern HR system. That's why HR technology providers are hotter than July in Arizona (or India, or Algeria...).

Cloud-based technology is quick and easy to implement, especially when compared to the long drawn-out processes of traditional vendors. Configure your settings, add your data, and you're off. No downloads, no data centers, no headaches.

Finding and keeping qualified workers is what HR and the human capital function do best. Now more than ever, HR technology is helping to make that happen. 

Improving your HR processes and employee experiences are a no-brainer. Book a demo today to see how TribeHR is building HR technology for the future!

As employers rely on summer hires more than ever, over the next few months recruiters and other hiring professionals face mounting pressure to enlist the best new workers for their teams.

There’s an endless amount of recruiting tools and processes that help businesses select top talent. But when you’ve got hundreds of application packages to sort through, it’s often easier to start by identifying who you do not want to hire.

As Matt Ferguson, the CEO of CareerBuilder, modestly puts it, “making a wrong decision regarding a hire can have several adverse consequences across an organization.” So try not to screw it up.

Of course, if you do make a mistake, you’re not alone. A survey mentioned in The New York Times notes that nearly one in five U.S. employers report having made a bad hire that cost the organization over $50,000.

So while you might not look twice at someone who would take a bath in your company sink, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some duds in your candidate pool. To make things easier, here are four of the most common types of bad hires, and some simple strategies you can use to keep them from spoiling your summer.

1. The Bad Apple

Bad apples often seem like great choices during the selection process, but as soon as pressure starts to mount, their skin peels back and bruises start to show.

While often initially charismatic and engaging, bad apples spread negativity and toxicity at every opportunity.

It’s so easy to focus on the skills, expertise, and overall value that someone brings to the table, that we tend to forget about their potential negative impact. The toxicity of a bad apple will usually outweigh its benefits, and the organization ultimately suffers.

Bad Apples are experts at being charming during interviews since they’ve developed strategies to hide their bad habits. A great way to sniff out and avoid these candidates is with role play.

Create realistic environments for your candidates to demonstrate their problem solving and interpersonal skills. When faced with a challenge outside of a traditional interview, bad apples will show more of their true cores.

2. The Complacent Hire

Right next to the bad apple is the complacent hire. Complacency breeds laziness, which neuters creativity and innovation.

The problem with identifying complacency is the resume effect: On paper, a candidate looks like a champion, but in practice they rely on others and use clever language to divert your attention.

To identify a complacent hire, identify whether the candidate is resourceful and hungry to solve problems. The best way to do this is to creatively test candidates. This is what the famous strange interview questions used by companies like Google are often searching for.

Whether you use 10 questions or a few riddles, present interesting content that’s relevant to the job. As the candidate responds, watch for resourcefulness: Do they use technology to do research? Do they ask pointed questions? Do they give up entirely?

Seeing how each candidate behaves in this environment will provide you with a good indication of how well they’ll perform day-to-day, so you can avoid complacent hires and instead choose creative and ambitious candidates.

3. The Perpetually Unfulfilled

Saying that cultural fit is important is like saying that grass is green — we’ve all seen it before and accept that it’s true. What we don’t always consider is how strong personalities can actually shape and change your company culture.

Every year as the weather warms up and summer rolls around, a subset of workers gets tired of their present roles and starts a new job search. If this is your candidate, consider that their tenure might only last a few short months. How will that departure affect the rest of your team?

Of course, leaving a job in the spring doesn’t make a person perpetually unfulfilled. Dig in deep to their past employment and see if the circumstances that led to their departure might repeat themselves in your company.

Better still, collect references and call them. Take the time to speak with each reference, asking clear and direct questions about the employee’s departure. The best references should be able to provide specific anecdotes about an employee’s reactions in various situations.

The best way to make sure your candidates will be fulfilled by your business is to be very upfront and honest about your company culture. Some people thrive in an unstructured environment; others hate it.

4. The Hand Holder

Increased summer hiring is often designed to cope with repeated extended employee vacations. Your summer hires need to provide high value quickly and shouldn’t need to rely on a support network who might be away at the beach or the cottage.

The final hire to avoid this summer is the hand holder. The hand holder seems like a great fit, but can’t actually perform without regular explicit prompting.

With an influx of new talent, you don’t have the time to provide constant guidance or training — you need someone who understands what’s required, can execute quickly and professionally, and really hit the ground running.

To identify a hand holder, ask questions that explore what the candidate believes is required of them to succeed in the role. Provide creative scenarios for them to navigate. Hand holders’ responses to your questions typically fall flat, or may fail to explain how their skillset and experience can be applied to this new function.

As you work to identify and avoid bad summer hires, remember that it’s still your responsibility to provide candidates with the information they need to be able to answer your questions. If you don’t describe the job, they won’t be able to interpret it.

Most importantly, be balanced in your approach to hiring. If you rely on your intuition and the evidence from the selection process, you just might have the best summer hiring season ever.

This article originally appeared on TLNT as The 4 Kinds of Candidates You Shouldn’t Hire This Summer.

Joseph Fung is co-founder and CEO of TribeHR, pioneer of the industry’s first social HR platform. Try it today.

Summertime Distractions

With summer looming and the prospect of many employees’ scheduled vacations, distractions are on the rise too. The sun is shining and the office may not seem as rewarding of an environment in comparison. To keep your employees focused during this time of year, executives and managers need to stay on task as well. Forbes touches on the habits of company leaders and how they affect the work ethic of their employees.

If managers have a laid back attitude during the summer, or lower their own expectations of themselves, then employees pick up on it and expect less of themselves as well. In many workplaces this can be the norm this time of year, so it's important to communicate to your managers what their summer goals are, and encourage them to exemplify those standard to their teams.

Does Generation Y Ever Actually Work?

Millennials are consistently stereotyped as being lazy and hard to manage. In an article about bridging the intergenerational gap in the Harvard Business Review, the group is referred to as “smartphone addicts.” This be distracting to those employees themselves, but seeing a fellow employee surfing websites on their phone can also be discouraging for their colleagues.

Establishing boundaries for work-life balance is essential when hiring on new employees of any age group. Just because a baby boomer isn’t using their mobile device to waste away the afternoon, doesn’t mean they aren't preoccupied with other interruptions.

Multitasking is the Norm

We all do it, whether we're aware of it or not. Multitasking is not as productive as we think, and we shouldn’t expect it from our employees. Quality of performance and the efficiency of task completion is often sacrificed because we do too much at once.

This week Inc. reporter Issie Lapowski discussed the inability for the brain to focus on more than two tasks at a time, and why we should compartmentalize sections of time for certain tasks. Having slots of time dedicated to things like checking email prevents distractions while completing other important duties.

Give back with Team-Building

Richard Branson discusses volunteering as a company (and its benefits) in an article for Entrepreneur. Not only does volunteering assist the community at large while representing your brand, it also helps establish friendships and cooperation within the team. Activities like charity triathlons, bike races, or marathons encourage coworkers to train together ahead of time, as then to celebrate together on race day. More active lifestyles have even been shown to lead to better work performances, as your brain receives more of the oxygen that helps it function.

Give Everyone a Voice

Also on Inc., Fashion Designer Eileen Fisher talks about the importance of each team members’ input. Employees are more invested in the organization if they believe that their ideas can make an impact. Not everyone is comfortable with speaking up in a team meeting, so finding ways to give everyone an opportunity to provide feedback is essential.

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