Good to Know

Best Practices, LLC performed a benchmark study specifically on time-to-start performance. The top staffing organizations reported 65 days or less as their time-to-start performance. Time-top-start positions are best improved by advanced forecasting, internal client management tools, and process automation and outsourcing. More than 106 companies, from a variety of industries participated in the research of the “Achieving Superior Staffing Performance” study. The research revealed that companies with more than 1,000 open requisitions have consistently achieved these following performance and staffing rates; (a) 36% achieved a time-to-start rate of 65 days, (b) 24% achieved a time-to-fill rate of 30 days, and (c) Benchmarked companies average 61 FTEs per 1000 open requisitions.

Staffing organizations that have the lowest time-to-start rates employ the following tactics; (a) Create a consistent forecasting process to assess staffing needs accurately, (b) Ensure flexibility in the staffing structure that allows tasks to be completed virtually and accommodate local or business unit needs, (c) Use of external and internal data to develop an accurate forecasting model, (d) Develop service level agreement (SLA) templates to define expectations, responsibilities and timetables, (e) Employ automated systems and outsourcing to reduce time to fill open positions, and (f) To establish requisition review schedules to assess activity levels and determine whether to close requisitions.

Several benchmark metrics were detailed throughout the study, they are as follows; (a) Staffing levels, (b) The number of open requisitions handled in a year, (c) Average time required to fill an open position, (d) The average offer acceptance rate, (e) Average number of requisitions handled by each recruiter, (f) Percentage of positions filled by the date needed, and (g) Average cost to fill a position.

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HR still not aligned at the top, is outsourcing the answer? Deloitte asked this question in a recent study called Aligned at the Top. Approximately 531 HR and non-HR executives were surveyed globally and throughout various industries. Of those 531 people, 85% believe that people are vital to performance, 3% describe their organization as “world-class” in HR, and 23% believe that HR plays a critical role in company strategy and operations.

Several senior business leaders recognize that HR is more focused on the transactional activities, for example benefits and performance evaluations. As well as HR operating efficiencies instead of high-level strategic people issues, such as leadership development. Surprisingly, senior executives don’t mention HR when they are discussing people issues. In fact, more than 52% don’t have a Chief Human Resources Officer or a comparable C-level executive that is dedicated to people issues. Many HR organizations know the challenges they face to become more strategic and many have begun to shift their administrative transactions to shared services or outsourcing partners. HR is expected to be viewed as a strategic, value-adding function within the next three to five years, instead of a cost center.

To obtain survey results, click here http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0%2C1002%2Ccid%25253D158252%2C00.html

A national survey conducted by the Hazelden Foundation focused on the substance abuse and addiction problems that many companies face today and how employer policies and practices are not fully addressing these problems. Many companies offer employee assistant programs, however many of these companies don’t openly and proactively help employees with their substance abuse issues. Unfortunately many companies don’t refer employees to treatment programs and this creates barriers that prevent such employees from seeking the appropriate treatment. The survey concentrated on more than 1,000 senior human resource professionals, who provided an in-depth look at what HR professionals know about substance abuse and addiction in the workplace. It also concentrated on the roles that HR professionals play in helping the employers and employees identify and address these issues. Jill Wiedemann-West, the Senior Vice President of Clinical and Recovery Services at the Hazelden Foundation had this to say about the issues. “Addiction is this country’s number one public health problem,” “We know that treating drug and alcohol addiction results in more people finding their path to recovery, it results in more resilient families, more productive work places and healthier and safer communities.”

More than 67% of HR professionals believe that substance abuse and addiction are one of the most significant problems their companies face. Some of the resulting factors of substance abuse and addiction include absenteeism, reduced productivity, and a lack of trust. These factors can play a part in a company’s success and efficiency. Even though many companies are adopting new policies and programs to handle these serious issues, fewer than 22% are openly referring employees to treatment programs. “Hazelden is committed to seeking out ways to help companies across the country address the serious issue of substance abuse and addiction in the workplace,” said Wiedemann-West. “We believe that by sharing these survey results we can reinforce the importance and urgency of treatment which will provide the best opportunity for lifelong recovery for those in need.”

Various key barriers and personal limitations can prevent HR professionals from helping employees receive treatment. A few of these barriers and limitations are as follows:

• 54% of HR professionals feel that getting employees to discuss their issue is the toughest challenge.
• Many HR professionals feel personal hurdles prevent employers from helping their employees. Personal hurdles include a lack of experience in identifying substance abuse and addiction, a lack of information regarding treatment options, personal discomfort in discussing these issues with employees, and not having the time to handle the situation appropriately.
• HR professionals feel they would benefit from having information on how to identify substance abuse and addiction in the workplace, information on hoe to discuss the issues with their employees and how to choose the most effective treatments options.

These results continue to discuss the negative challenges a business faces, the various troubles with drug testing in the workplace and the interest a company would have in hiring a person in the recovering process. Substance abuse and addiction is a problem that can go undetected in a company if people are not properly trained to notice the signs. For more information on this article, go to http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-16-2007/0004626172&EDATE=. To view full survey results and to find other information on substance abuse in the workplace, visit http://www.Hazelden.org.

Candidates feel strong negativity towards potential employers when there is no further contact after an in-person interview. In an article from CNN.com and Careerbuilder.com many job seekers have become frustrated and even humiliated after having an in-person interview, to find out several weeks later from an outside source that the position was filled. Human Resource departments attribute this “silence” to being overworked and short staffed, that they are unable to respond to the rejected candidates. Some companies hiring processes come to a halt and HR personnel don’t know what to tell these candidates, so they choose not to contact them at all. Careerbuilder.com offers some tips for HR professionals to ease the process:

• Be specific about how the company plans on following up with candidates after an in-person interview.
• Explain that the hiring process could take several weeks and ask that the candidate be patient to receive a response.
• Encourage candidates to check back with the company after a set time period has passed, for example if the employer tells a candidate they should have a decision within three weeks, the candidate should call after four weeks to check the status of the hiring process.

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In a survey developed by OfficeTeam, more than 300 administrative professionals and over 400 HR managers have admitted to misreading the work environment and the candidates fit for a specific role. When administrative professionals where asked whether they disagreed or agreed with “I’ve misjudged work in environments in the past” 32% somewhat agreed with the statement. HR managers were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with “I’ve misjudged a candidate’s fit for my company in the past” 46% somewhat agreed that they misread the candidate. HR managers were also asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statement “My company has lost a staff member because he/she wasn’t a good fit with the company’s work environment” 38% strongly agreed and 47% somewhat agreed with this statement.

Diane Domeyer, the executive director of OfficeTeam, points out that the interview is a prime opportunity for job seekers to assess whether the organization is a fit, and vice versa. “The interview is a two-way street,” “Employers are looking for clues to an applicant’s work ethic and personality, and job seekers want to learn more about the company culture.” OfficeTeam suggests the job applicants and hiring managers ask the following questions during the interview to determine an appropriate fit with the company.

Job Seekers

• What is it like to work at your company?
• What skills and attributes are needed to be successful in this role?
• What characteristics does your company value the most in its employees?
• How do you define success at your company?
• How is good performance measured and rewarded?

Hiring Managers

• What type of work environment brings out your best performance?
• What type of work environment are you lest likely to thrive in?
• What did you like best/least about your last job and why?
• Considering your greatest accomplishments in previous roles, what were the factors that allowed you to be successful?

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The Society for Human Resource Management recently performed a study about new HR recruitment techniques. The study focuses on the 2007 advances in e-recruiting and how companies are using the internet as the primary method for recruiting. In an article by PRNewswire, there are three reported techniques/strategies that are most commonly used to engage job candidates. These techniques and strategies are as follows: (1) viewing membership directories for associations and trade groups, (2) scanning social networking sites; and (3) mining industry-specific blogs, discussion forums, newsgroups, and listservs. SHRM President and CEO Susan R. Meisinger said, “The internet has opened up a whole new set of opportunities through which HR recruiters can and are creatively sifting.” She added, “Who would have thought, for example, that social networking sites like MySpace—often used as social hubs by so many young people—would become a rich source of background information for job recruiters?”

Based on results of the survey the most reliable sources for good job candidates are: employee referrals, national online job boards like careerbuilder.com, Monster.com, HotJobs.com; and internal job postings. Other results from the survey included;
Organizations using a “.jobs” domain have reported better outcomes in terms of recruiting and were more likely to use tracking software to manage the organizations recruiting efforts.
Some HR professionals that don’t use a “.jobs” domain have reported five of their greatest challenges being, (1) difficulty in attracting high quality candidates (67 percent), (2) limited staff resources (39 percent), (3) difficulty in attracting diverse candidates (30 percent), (4) difficulty attracting enough candidates (30 percent), and (5) difficulty in managing volumes of resumes (27 percent).
The 2007 E-recruiting survey was developed to gain insight into the experiences that HR professionals have had with Internet recruiting with their organizations. A complete copy of this survey is available at: http://www.shrm.org/surverys

Quotes

"Eighty percent of success is showing up."

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."

—Henry David Thoreau