Month: November 2015

Categories
Human Resources

Limitless Leave Leads to Limitless Complications for Small Businesses

limitless leave

Have you heard of the new trend for companies offering their employees an unlimited amount of annual leave? Are you wondering if maybe, you should give it a try?  If so, I have some important advice for you.

Even though articles such as- 3 reasons companies like LinkedIn, Virgin, and Netflix are giving their employees ‘unlimited’ vacation, from the Business Insider Australia, emphasize the benefits of promoting a limitless policy, it is best to not let yourself get distracted by all of the talk. It is best for small businesses to stay clear of promoting these types of incentives because in order for policies like this to be successful, they must be managed properly. 

This can sidetrack a small business owner who already has enough to deal with without the added stressors of trying out a new policy that may, or may not, benefit their business. Plus, the benefits for promoting unlimited leave for a large company is not the same for how it would impact a small business. 


unlimited-holiday

On paper, this policy looks ideal because employees carry a zero balance regarding annual leave, which could save businesses a lot of money because upon exiting, the business wouldn’t have to worry about pay outs for accrued leave. What this fails to consider are the potential losses in profitability the policy may cause. Smaller businesses have fewer employees so it is important to consider the fact that with fewer workers, generally comes positions with more responsibility and involvement in the day-to-day operations for a business. For this reason, it is important that employees plan for taking leave because they usually have to find someone to cover for them. As you can imagine if they don’t prearrange for their absence, it can directly impact the profitability of the business and not, in a good way. So my point is that even though, it may seem like adopting this policy would be beneficial, it probably wouldn’t be and it is risky because you would also be assuming that your new hire wouldn’t take it upon themselves to abuse the privilege you are so graciously, providing them with.

It is also important to think about whether you are you comfortable promoting a policy that isn’t the most conducive to promoting a healthy work environment. I say this because when it comes to annual leave, it is important retain structure because as the employer, you want to help your employees maintain a proper work-life balance and promote a healthy workplace culture for all. Remember, happy employees are generally productive employees so, why in the world would you want to promote an environment where employees are overworked, tired and not happy?

To be honest, I am even wondering if these new policies are bordering on some type of psychological bullying because as the article mentions, the language used to describe the new “limitless” policies is vague and tends to exude a social pressure to actually, work more. Again, is this really the type of environment you want to be promoting?

As a business owner, I can confidently advise you that you have bigger fish to fry than this so, forget about the idea of limitless. My final advice to small business owners is to have a clear policy on annual leave so that people aren’t taking it at the wrong times and to also make sure, people take their leave regularly.

Categories
Small Business Recruitment

Should I Be Using Recruitment Agencies?

small business recruitment
First let me get this out of the way up front: we are not a recruitment agency.  You might be confused by that statement, so let me explain.  We are an outsourced human resource management company.   Many people believe that HR and recruitment are two separate functions and yes, this is often the case.  As someone who has worked extensively in both fields, I can tell you that they are inextricably linked.  HR is essentially all about building a high performing team, whilst also managing your risk.  Many people believe HR and recruitment though are different because you need different skills (to an extent) for each.  But this is the case in most HR functions.  Look at remuneration!  This is mostly spreadsheets, using VLOOKUPs, HLOOKUPs and IF-AND-OR funky combos of formulas.  It just so happens there is a massive industry dedicated to recruitment and it is something that businesses constantly need.   So, let’s look at whether or not you should be using an recruitment agency.

The Case For Using Agencies

It makes sense to have specialists focusing on tasks that you don’t perform all the time. Why? Because they are dedicated to the task, have experience and save you a lot time. What many people thinking of hiring a recruiter ask is if the fee is worth it. Interestingly, in my experience when you’re spending someone else’s money (i.e. a manager in a large corporate) it becomes a lot easier to justify as opposed to when it is your own cash (i.e. a small business owner). There is of course the attractive part of the fee structure whereby you don’t pay anything if you don’t hire anyone and if the person leaves for any reason other than redundancy, then they will replace the person free of charge (usually once only).  I think there is a place for this sort of model for sure.  There are specialist recruiters I know who spend 80% of their time simply maintaining their network of talent.  The fields are usually highly sought after, specialised and reasonably senior (therefore most likely being placed in large companies).  But they are the exception.

The Case For Not Using Agencies

There is the dark side of recruitment agencies and believe me, I have experienced it as a client before. I don’t blame the players, I blame the game.  You have large amounts of money being paid to someone if they find someone that you decide to hire.  Is it any wonder some of them are calling you every week, sending you unsolicited resumes and “selling” how good their candidates are?  Most performance management approaches are sub-par, meaning that very often the manager determines the person is not right after 3 months.  Also, if I served you a bad meal, do you really want me to cook your steak again? I am painting a grim picture and it is not always like that – but it often is.  These are just people doing their job within a system that is designed to drive that sort of behaviour.  Again, I must stress that not all recruiters do this.

So, What’s the Answer?

The obvious answer is to definitely use specialists for the hiring process. It shouldn’t come as a shock that I would of course, promote recruitment services (considering I am a consultant and all…) To be honest, I would recommend these services to business owners even if I wasn’t in this field. This is because recruiters simply charge for the work performed and this ends up being much cheaper than the alternative. Plus, experts will get you a significantly better result than if you were to do the hiring yourself. So although a recruiter doesn’t work for free, you won’t be paying for hiring mistakes. Add to this, the fact that we will also look after the rest of your HR so we help your business set the new employee up for success. Ok, so enough of the sell…so what should you do if you aren’t in a market that can use our services?  If you are going to use a recruiter, you need to be clear on what value they are actually providing.  If they have an extensive network that they can tap into, ask them to give you a list of names tomorrow – or even today.  Otherwise, chances are they are advertising.  If it is about the fact that you don’t have the time to focus on it, consider an outsourced recruitment partner who charges for the work performed and who conduct a robust process.  There are freelancers out there who do this or even companies who are set up for it. Final word of advice: In anything that you decide to do, whether it is working with an outsourced partner or a contractor or employee, if you work with the right people and invest in that relationship- you will always get a better result.
Categories
Business Strategy

31 Flavours of HR Risk Management

construction recruitment agencies

There was an article I saw the other day that was titled “31 things you need to do before having a baby”. Gees, as if we didn’t have enough things on our to-do list already! What happened to the good old days when your wife got pregnant and you dealt with how it all worked later? Oh well, better not fight the tide of how things are going…

So we live in a world where risk management is becoming more and more prominent. Insurance premiums are costly, people are behaving badly and now, directors can go to jail. So in the same light as the 31 things we need to do before bringing a new person into the world, I have listed a set of 31 questions you need to ask yourself in relation to your HR Risk Management.

Please note- This list may not be comprehensive for your organisation, but it is a good starting place. It is not really designed to help you, but to create anxiety and stress, as well as increasing in the sale of wine, beer, chocolate and ice-cream…oh, and scotch too 🙂

Questions to Ask in Relation to Risk Management

Compensation and Benefits

  1. Are your rates of pay determined an updated in a consistent manner and in line with legislation (modern awards, executive pay where relevant)?
  2. Do you have pay practices that encourage behaviours that create a significant risk for the business (e.g. big incentives that promote bad behaviour)?
  3. What sort of fraud prevention processes and policies do you have in place?

Recruitment

  1. What practices take place at the hiring stage that reduce the risk of an unsuitable person being hired?
  2. Is there a discrimination prevention plan in place that looks at everything from advertising practices to manager training?
  3. What sort of documentation is kept on file in the instance a candidate brings a case forward?

OH&S (Occupational Health and Safety)

  1. What sort of training is provided to new entrants to reduce workplace accidents?
  2. How are people recruited and selected into roles that require a high level of safety consciousness?
  3. Are you compliant with the relevant legislation regarding OH&S?
  4. How effective is your incident and near-miss reporting?
  5. Do you have a culture of raising and dealing with safety matters or are they left to linger?
  6. What sort of prevention programs do you have to reduce the incidence of physical and mental health and safety issues?
  7. Do you have a formal return-to-work process, supported by the appropriate RTW experts?
  8. Who conducts workplace assessments for hazards (e.g. ergonomics) and how often does this take place?

Fair Work Australia

  1. Are your policies, procedures and contracts in line with Fair Work Australia and WorkCover legislation, including the NES?
  2. Do you know which modern award applies to our employees and which employees they apply to?
  3. Within those modern awards, have you reviewed those requirements against our current practices?

Employee Conduct and Performance

  1. Where have you stated our expectations (and consequences where relevant) regarding employee conduct and performance?
  2. What sort of communication, training and feedback takes place during induction and the probation period to identify issues early?
  3. What has been your custom and practice with regard to dealing with employee misconduct and underperformance and is this consistent with our written policies?
  4. What is your communication process for when an employee is terminated?
  5. What external support is in place for employees and managers who are going through disciplinary procedures?
  6. What is your mediation process and is the person conducting the mediation qualified to do so?

Employee Information

  1. Where is employee information stored?
  2. Who has access to what employee information?
  3. Do you have different levels of access?
  4. Do you have a back-up in place?

Employee Exits

  1. Is there an exit checklist in place and who conducts this?
  2. Do you conduct exit interviews?
  3. Do you have in place a release document for situations that warrant it?
  4. Do your contracts have sufficient restraint of trade clauses to mitigate against customer and employee losses via departed employees?

So, there you have it! 31 questions that hopefully you have a very good answer to or at least a bottle of Shiraz to combat. Rather than tackling this headache for yourself, it can be worthwhile bringing in an external party to conduct an audit to save you some work and keep an objective viewpoint. You need to be mindful though that it may create additional work and so this needs to be factored into your plans. But it does mean you can move forward with a clear conscious and perhaps sleep better at night. Alternatively, Baskin and Robbins has 31 of something else that might do the trick too.

Categories
Business Strategy

Why is Creating the Right Workplace Culture Important?

temporary recruitment agencies melbourne

After reading an article written by Stephen Bartos of The Canberra Times titled,  – “Gen Y and Millennial managers: serving the nation requires more truth, less praise” I find myself compelled to write about the importance of communication in the workplace for creating healthy work environments.

This article brings up an excellent point. While I am both in agreement and disagreement with certain points of this article, I don’t feel as though the issues presented are directly related to personality types but more to, workplace culture. While the author does reference examples where culture is playing a role, much of the focus is placed on the personalities of Millennials and those from Generation Y.

Promoting a Healthy Workplace Environment

To look at this scenario from an HR perspective, one could take the stance that the issue being faced with workers from this generation could be exacerbated by employers. For instance if businesses fail to create an environment that promotes growth and development through implementing various learning strategies, employees may fail to recognize the fact that there is always room for improvement. It is important to teach staff members that there are benefits of constructive criticism and that giving feedback in the workplace in this manner is only meant to learn and grow from.

Constructive vs Destructive Criticism

With that being said, it is important that all staff members whether contractors, employees, managers or even owners, know how to provide constructive and not, destructive criticism. Providing effective criticism is sometimes difficult for those in managerial positions while handling any type of criticism, is generally difficult for the one on the receiving end (whether from generation y, or not).

Stop Reacting and Start Responding

Businesses should replace the word ccriticism altogether and instead, replace it with feedback. Instead of reacting instantly to situations, where criticism can often be given, take some time and respond with constructive feedback. This may help employees on the receiving end because criticism involves passing judgement while feedback, refers more to the results of certain behaviors, which can positively or negatively influence further performance. It is important to also note that the focus should always be on both positive and negative because without critiques, how would companies work towards improvement? 

Comments that are referred to, or perceived, as criticism can often be responded to in a defensive manner. This often leads those involved down a path of total miscommunication, which begs to question why people bother with engaging in this type of potentially, toxic communication?

Why All of the Miscommunication?

To be truthful, the majority of businesses don’t have staff members that intentionally engage in this type of miscommunication. In most instances, the reason for miscommunication within an office happens because the company neglects to have a solid business plan that promotes a healthy workplace culture. Many companies actually fail to directly address workplace culture because they incorrectly assume that all existing staff and/or future employees come to the table with the skills needed for things like effectively communicating.

As mentioned in the initial article that sparked this post, employers can’t assume that people have previously learned the communication skills necessary for creating the workplace culture envisioned for their business. This point only stresses the importance of a company enforcing proper staff training that teaches employees successful communication strategies that equip them to provide feedback and even, handle criticism when present.

Remember, Happy Employees are Productive Employees!

It is vital to promote healthy work environments with effective communication because without it, staff members and teams within the workplace will fail to work to their full potential. This is why it is smart for new startup companies or existing small to medium sized businesses, to hire HR consultants to help establish a healthy company culture that promotes effective communication.