Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision. -Peter Drucker
HR Professionals can make a positive contribution to the success of the company by promoting a “worth place” mindset. Developing and establishing of HR practices and programs that are focused on the success of the company and team members accomplish this feat. HR practices and programs influence team productivity, development of team member loyalty, establishing value-added-benefits and services, enhancing team member input and contribution, and the list goes on. There a five (5) operation philosophies that must be practiced in order to develop a worth place environment. They are as follows: Take the time! Make the effort! Be consistent! Lead by example! Have fun and enjoy the moments! Employer perspective-goal-Why am I in business (not government entity)? I am in business to make money. What will I require in order to meet my goal? Market for my product or service at a fee that covers my costs and produces excess dollars for my pocket. Optimize available resources in order to produce, service, sell, and deliver my product or service. Exploit opportunities that promote and produce product and/or service diversification and/or differentiation (competitive advantage), influx of capital dollars (lending, investors, go public stock exchange), etc. Eliminate financial waste and reduce financial liabilities. Be the best: leadership; innovator; A-Team (team members); learn from mistakes. Employee perspective-goal Why do I want to work here? What contribution can I make to the company? Will I be rewarded and compensated for my efforts? Imagine a company as a puzzle. The puzzle is comprised of many pieces of various shapes and sizes. Each and every aspect of a company’s operation makes up a puzzle piece. Small companies may consist of 250 puzzle pieces while a larger company consists of 10,000 or more. Each puzzle is different and the company is in itself unique to no other company. It is the responsibility of an HR professional to assist in the design and development of a company’s puzzle. Yes, I understand that the owner(s), Board of Directors, shareholders and stakeholders have implicit input as to the company’s direction, vision, goals and objectives, but the company cannot succeed without team member resources! The “right” blend of team member talents and professional support act together to stabilize the infrastructure from which a company is built, i.e. the puzzle pieces. HR practices play a significant role in this stabilization process. What can an HR Professional do in order to optimize their delivery of services and become more effective? • Standardize practices via policies and procedures. • Quantify measurement and performance indicators. • Get out of the office (look and listen). • Team member manuals, newsletters, bulletin board posting: team member related articles; achievements; accomplishments; recent events; company news; awards and recognitions, etc. • Create incentives, morale boosters, compensation benchmarks. • Recruitment: team member qualifications; duties, tasks, and responsibilities; team and personal philosophies, company fit (culture, attitude, aptitude) skill sets, schedule requirements, personal and professional commitments, professional presentation and appearance, etc. • Participate in teams or committees. • Maintain an open-door policy. Take the time! Make the effort! Be consistent! Lead by example! Have fun and enjoy the moments! To be responsible is to be accountable, trustworthy, and dependable! What are some observed outcomes of a quality HR Program? • Team member retention; • Reduced or minimized risk management exposure; • Increased productivity via o Increased efficiency; o Proven effectiveness of programs; o Input from members; o Resource allocation; o Leadership/management direction; o Value-added-benefits; o Value-added-programs and services; o Compensation increase via profit sharing or performance based programs; o Professional growth via aptitude and experience advancement; o Inter and intra department communications and sharing of information; o Happy faces! • Pitfalls of an inadequate HR Program: o Distrust of team members; o Lack of team member input and communication; o Poor productivity; o Loss of incentive based compensation; o Team member turnover, reduction in retention; o Reduction of benefits; o Increased errors and company risk; o Stigma associated with company as being a failure, poor place to work, mismanaged, troubled; o Working environment that permeates stress; o Lack of teamwork; o Excuse laden environment; o Etc., etc. How can you determine if you are developing a worth place? Quantify the measurement or benchmarks: Team retention; Complaints, issues, team member visits and content for the visit; Team developments; Risk management: accountability, policies and procedures, risk aversion programs, reduction of dollars spent due to team error or reconciliations, safety and security adherence, etc.; Revenues vs. expenses; Value-added-benefits and or value-added-services vs. status quo; You just know of your success by the behaviors of others! Treat the workplace and team members like they are your family. The workplace is your family away from home! What are the criteria for finding the right person for the right job? In reality, there are no risk-free hires! Each team member that interacts with the candidate must establish their own methodology of developing questions and observations in order to determine a level of comfortable feel or confidence with the candidate. It is common practice for a recruiter or an assigned HR professional to screen a candidate prior to affording the candidate a second visit. Screening may entail a background check, a question and answer session pertaining to past and present employment (i.e., job responsibilities, education, accomplishments, duration of employment, personal and professional philosophies, attitude, aptitude, personal strengths and weaknesses, etc., etc.). Keep in mind, a phone interview does not allow the observation of a candidate’s body language, nor candidate appearance (dress, grooming, etc.), but a phone interview can produce comparative information that can be evaluated and ranked (scored) for the following: Speech: clarity, word pronunciation, tone inflection, grammar, etc.; Candidate’s response to questions: content of information, thoroughness of answer (explanation may incite other questions of interest); Candidate’s representation of their qualifications, skills, philosophies, expectations, concerns, goals, history of accomplishments, education, awards received, licenses and certifications earned, expected compensation, special needs requirements, etc.; Candidate questions: provide an opportunity for the candidate to ask questions about the company, the position applied for, benefits, growth opportunities, skills development, compensation and bonus plans, provision of special needs requirements, etc. Group interviews allow selected team members the opportunity to meet and ask candidates a variety of department or job specific questions and thus, best able to determine a candidate’s knowledge, experience, achievements, failures, philosophies, and “fit” for the position, as well as team. Of course, there is a myriad of other information that can be gained, but a determination of candidate “fit” and qualifications can best identify a quality candidate. It behooves the HR professional and group members to be as thorough and concise in their questions and representation of the company, culture, job requirements, objectives of department or team, support and resources available and/or allocated, opportunity for professional growth, compensation assignment and performance review process, etc., in order for the candidate to best understand the employment provisions and expectations and whether the candidate is comfortable with the team members and company, as it is represented. Often times, there is such a thing as a “gut” feeling that a candidate is the “right” hire. A good rule to follow is to limit the amount of subjective influence and to weigh heavily the objective findings produced during the investigatory and interview process. Also, attempt to confirm and verify a candidate’s qualifications and represented expertise. This confirmation process may entail testing (behavioral/personality, skills, etc.), hypothetical scenarios, role-playing, or create your own methodology of verifying the experience and expertise of a candidate. Take the time! Make the effort! Be consistent! Lead by example! Have fun and enjoy the moments! Employees should look forward to getting up and going to work. A quality HR Program can contribute to this feat. A “worth place” philosophy is something that is developed over time. Pride, respect, team beliefs and philosophies, team member commitments, loyalties, peer integration and information sharing, personal and professional growth opportunities, benefits and rewards, compensations, risk reduction, and leadership, all comprise a worth place workplace. Remember, in a realistic operation environment, what you do to today will affect who you are tomorrow!
“I’d rather be a failure at something I love rather than a success at something I hate.” George Burns
To learn how we may assist you, contact The Burda Group .
