Contribution-Oriented These companies are more performance driven. They put greater emphasis on job performance and the contributions of individual employees. They focus on results but not so much on how the results are achieved. A company that instructs its sales…
Entitlement-Oriented These companies promote a caring, protective feeling and want employees to feel they are part of the family. Sometimes called a fairness orientation, or emphasis on people, these companies place a high value on how their decisions affect the…
Organizational Culture Regardless of the other factors, a compensation system must fit the organization’s culture. By “organizational culture,” we mean a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that governs how people behave in organizations. Every organization has a distinct…
All organizations need to have their compensation and benefits systems support their organization’s mission and strategy. Although the degree of sophistication may vary, a good total rewards strategy should hold to some basic principles. That is, in the face of…
Here is SHRM’s definition: “Total Rewards refers to the design and implementation of compensation systems and benefit packages, which employers use to attract and retain employees.” Total rewards Includes six elements (compensation, benefits, work-life effectiveness, recognition, performance management, and talent…
Role of HR in Employee Recognition In the 2016 SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, the following findings were reported by HR professionals: • Organizations that had strategic recognition programs reported less frustrated and more engaged employees. • Programs tied to the…
Here is SHRM’s definition: “Employee Engagement and Retention refers to activities aimed at retaining high-performing talent, solidifying and improving the relationship between employees and the organization, creating a thriving and energized workforce, and developing effective strategies to address appropriate performance…
PEST, i.e., political, economic, social, and technological factors, must be considered when conducting an environmental scan, strategic planning, or being engaged in other forecasting efforts in talent acquisition. World events often drive, or at least influence, environmental scans conducted by…
Conflict-Resolution Modes When a direct supervisor is unable to resolve the conflict, HR is normally brought in as an intervention and mediator. Clear and open communication is the cornerstone of successful conflict resolution, and thus HR professionals must be skilled…
Action-Centered Leadership Action-centered leadership is a model created by John Adair and states that effective leaders accomplish goals and tasks through the efforts of the team they lead. To do so, they must do three things in their leadership of…
Contingency or Situational School The well-known theories for contingency and situational leadership are the ones that accept differing leadership styles and adapt to the situations or people involved. Widely referred to as the Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership theory: there is no single…
5 Leadership Theories In this section on leadership theories, we recognize that your formal education most likely went into great depth about each of the theories. What follows is a refresher on the basics of the leadership theories that will…
In Marshall Goldsmith’s work, he identifies the 21 habits of behavior that derail a leader’s effectiveness and holds them back. These behaviors have to change and adapt to the level of leadership a person’s career grows into. The 21 bad…
Daniel Goleman’s research report about emotional intelligence focused on psychology and neuroscience offers insight into our “two minds,” the rational and the emotional. Goleman delineates the five crucial skills of emotional intelligence for leaders and shows how they determine leaders’…
Leadership Characteristics The key characteristics and skills for leadership have been written about for decades by many well-known and publicized authors. The skill set that began as hierarchical in design where coercion and intimidation were the main factors has clearly…
Henry Mintzberg said, “Leaders don’t do most of the things that their organizations get done; they do not even make them get done. Rather, they help to establish the structures, conditions, and attitudes through which things get done. And that…
Effective Performance Measurement Key to successfully using performance management are the following touchstones: • Focus on results. • Develop a culture of accountability. • Align all organizational activities with overall organizational goals. • Provide a common language for success.…
Suffice it to say that managing change is the largest driving force behind employee relations. Change is a process that people and organizations undergo as a response; it is a transformation toward flexibility. HR is involved in managing the people…
Drivers of Retention According to Robert Half, the following are some of the contributors to retention success: • Onboarding and orientation • Mentorship programs • Employee compensation • Recognition and reward systems • Work-life balance • Training and development •…
Once hired, the best business outcome is for the new hire to stick around for a while. Depending on the level of the job in your organization’s structure, you can determine how long it will take for you to reach…
• Keep the message simple but deep in meaning. Most organizations have a deeper meaning as to why they exist. This tends to influence strategy, decision-making, and behaviors at executive levels but often isn’t well articulated for employees. What you…
Cost of Hire This measurement uses external costs and internal costs to determine the overall cost per person hired during any given time period. This formula looks at the number of hires and the costs to obtain them. It enables…
Measurers of Recruitment Effectiveness There are two general areas of interest when measuring recruiting efforts. • Speed and efficiency • Time between opening the requisition and presenting a qualified candidate slate • Time for feedback from the hiring manager to…
We all have heard “Job Description,” but what is it? Job descriptions follow a general template for content. The same template can be used in constructing a CEO’s job description as for an airline pilot. It is the content that…
SWOT stands for the following: • Strengths What are the strengths of your HR organization? What do you do really well? What do you want to continue doing in the future? It could be HRIS, sexual harassment prevention, or onboarding.…
One technique for sorting out the important from the unimportant is PESTEL analysis. PESTEL stands for: P—Political E—Economic S—Social T—Technological E—Environmental L—Legal Develop ways that you can gather information in each of these categories, and you will be well out…
Recruitment Cost and Yield Ratios Ratios are the numerical representation of comparisons. They are normally stated as a percentage. The Recruiting Cost Ratio (RCR) is one of those measurements. It looks at the cost per hire based on compensation rather…
Attrition happens when employees retire, resign, or simply aren’t replaced. There are several analyses that could prove helpful when looking at attrition. Consider these: • Number of employees leaving before the first service anniversary • Number of employees leaving before the…
An employee value proposition (EVP) is the unique set of benefits that an employee receives in return for the skills, capabilities, and experience they bring to a company.
According to Chris Mossevelde, “Employer branding is the process of promoting a company, or an organization, as the employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company needs and wants to recruit and retain.” Building a…
There are four generally recognized phases to the lifecycle of a business or industry. • Introduction This is the beginning of the organization. It’s the entrepreneurial phase where everything is new. Policies and systems are being created as they are…
Industry analysis is a tool that facilitates a company’s understanding of its position relative to other companies that produce similar products or services. Understanding the forces at work in the overall industry is an important component of effective strategic planning.…
Orientation and onboarding are two activities that will set the tone for the balance of an employee’s line on the job with this employer. It is a common belief that the first 90 days of a worker’s experience on a…
Special Considerations: Reasonable Accommodation. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) “A reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are usually done that enables an individual with…
Employment Offer An employment offer should include a start date, wage, or salary (in weekly or monthly amount62), benefits, job title, work location, name of supervisor, restatement that the offer is made under an “employment at will” understanding, and any…
This is SHRM’s definition: “Talent Acquisition encompasses the activities involved in building and maintaining a workforce that meets the needs of the organization.” Talent acquisition involves all the HR strategies and processes that are involved in attracting, recruiting, and selecting…
Each employer organization has pressures from both internal and external sources. Those pressures impact the competitiveness the organization will be able to apply to the world in which it operates. Porter first published his suggestion that these five forces are…
Here is SHRM’s BoCK definition: “HR Strategic Planning involves the activities necessary for developing, implementing, and managing the strategic direction required to achieve organizational success and to create value for stakeholders.” All career levels of HR are expected to support…
During the Civil War, people were selling defective food and arms to the Union military. This law, sometimes referred to as the Lincoln Law, prohibits such dishonest transactions. It prohibits making and using false records to get those claims paid.…
SMART goal setting stands for the following: • Specific Know exactly what you want to accomplish. Goals must be well-defined. They must be clear and unambiguous. • Measurable Have a yardstick to measure the specific intention. • Attainable Make the…