Dear Workforce:

What are the steps to developing a competency framework for human resources?

—Building a Foundation for Recruiting, HR consultant, financial services, Lagos, Nigeria

Dear Not Negotiable:

Dear Building:

Developing an HR competency framework—often called a competency model—should be done thoughtfully, but the process needn't be complicated. In fact, helping leaders build a basic competency framework as a foundation for selecting talent, developing leaders and reinforcing a successful culture ought to be in the tool kit of every HR professional.

For example, when you ask a hiring manager which characteristics future candidates should possess, you are talking about competencies. Let's start with a basic definition: Competencies include the skills, knowledge and attributes essential for success. ...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Competency Models — Culture

Dear Workforce:

Which appraisal system is best suited to our use of SMART goals, in which the exercises vary from project to project?

—Trying to Get Smarter, human resource officer, construction, Kuwait

 Dear Smarter:

The first step in your appraisal system should be to establish goals, and to make them “SMART.” The acronym stands for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

In construction, the organizational structure is typically based upon projects. Therefore, a company’s performance management system usually follows the project framework. Because each project has its own goals—including revenue, budget and timelines—you will likely want to develop goals on a project-by-project basis. It is the job of management to align the overall project goals, the manager goals and the individual goals to bring the project home on time and on budget.

Your company should make the overall project-based goals clearly visible to the members of each project team. Within the project, individuals should then be assigned specific responsibility to do their part to achieve the overall project goals.
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Tags: Dear Workforce — SMART Goals — Performance Reviews — Performance

Dear Workforce:

When counseling poor performers, what steps could we take to persuade them to adopt new ways of doing things that will improve their on-the-job performance?

—Salvage Job, manager, finance/insurance/real estate, Lagos, Nigeria

Dear Salvage Job:

Most organizations have a process called “corrective action” that guides managers on the proper steps to take when addressing an employee’s poor performance. To persuade the employee to improve, however, focus on the coaching aspects of performance improvement. It positions you to address the root causes of performance difficulties and inspires employees to take ownership of the issues.

Coaching is designed to improve the work of the employee, the team and departments. The idea is to engage employees to take accountability for improved performance, relying on your support to make it happen.

Persuasion is about getting people to want to do what you want them to do. It’s how you tap into their values and needs, and link your goals to the realization of their dreams.

To be persuasive, three key ingredients must be mixed in the proper proportions:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Coaching — Performance Reviews — Performance

Dear Workforce:

We are in the process of setting up some metrics for our HR group. Naturally we would like to achieve a 100 percent customer-satisfaction rating from our customers, but we also want to be realistic. Is there an industry standard that you would recommend as a starting point?

—Shooting High, senior analyst, government, Seattle

Dear Shooting High:

Setting up metrics for human resources is a big step toward becoming a high-performing organization. Research shows that companies using talent management metrics are far more likely to perform well in the marketplace.

But what things do you measure? It depends on your company’s size, its ability to capture meaningful data, and the goals established both for HR and the organization as a whole. Finding out from your internal customers where you stand, and then setting goals to strengthen the perception of HR as a service provider, is a logical place to start.

It also pays to think more broadly about measuring your company’s overall talent management. You can learn a lot by looking at your hiring process. How quickly positions are filled is only one way to look at hiring. Take it up a level and examine how well you fill open positions. To determine this, check the performance ratings of newly hired workers at 12 months. Then set a goal to improve the performance of new employees through more effective hiring processes, and measure new-hire ratings periodically to see how the company is faring. This takes the perspective off HR as a business partner, and gets the rest of the organization to “own” the process and align itself behind talent management.

Or you could look at turnover rate. It is easy enough to see changes in this number over time, but tracking “regrettable” turnover—employees who left whom you longed to retain—and setting goals to reduce that number through better management of talent will produce better organizational results.

To use metrics to become a top-performing company, keep in mind a few guidelines:
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Tags: Dear Workforce — Metrics

Dear Workforce:

I've heard a lot about finding the right “organizational fit” when hiring new employees. My question is a little different. Specifically, how do we develop good interview questions/hiring criteria to ensure a good match as we search for a prospective new HR director?

—Criteria-Challenged, HR assistant, telecommunications, Seattle

Dear Criteria-Challenged:

Hiring a new HR director is one of the most important decisions your company will make. In addition to being a strong “culture fit,” your HR director must bring the technical know-how and specific leadership competencies that will be needed in the future.

Your top HR exec plays a critical role in coaching employees at all levels, driving organizational change, shaping performance expectations and building people programs, as well as leading by example. Does your CEO know what changes will be needed from employees in the future? Your HR director must be able to demonstrate these new expectations while also coaching and influencing others to adopt them.

In addition to up-to-date technical competencies—such as knowledge and experience with best-practice recruiting strategies, compensation and benefit plan design, employee relations programs, leadership, and technical training and development—the HR exec needs to be a good manager of budgets and of the people who work as internal consultants to the organizations.

The ability to help organizations find their way through change is an advanced competency, and may not be as easy to find in a candidate as a good cultural fit or technical know-how.

As you prepare for candidate interviews, aim to get double value from interview questions such as these:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Competency Models — Interviewing

In today's economy, finding new ways to cut costs and work smarter has become a matter of survival. By outsourcing all or part of your HR activities, you can focus more effectively on your core business objectives while gaining as-needed access to HR experts who can provide an immediate impact. It's a winning strategy.

Since 1994, The Chatfield Group has been providing outsourced HR services to large and small organizations alike. These engagements have ranged from national training roll-outs to full outsourcing of HR functions.

By working with our HR, OD and communications experts, you can:

• Align talent with business needs and identify resource gaps or duplications
• Rethink your compensation strategies to address today's economic realities
• Reorganize your operations to reduce costs and retain valued talent
• Develop new strategies to engage and retain surviving employees
• Engage employees to improve work processes and productivity
• Realign goals and reporting structures to satisfy stakeholder needs
• Streamline hiring by using online assessments
• Develop clear, consistent change messaging
• Measure the effectiveness and strategic value of your HR programs

If your management is in transition, we can also step in to manage your HR function. In recent years, our consultants have worn a number of interim hats - from "Acting" Director of HR to Director of Compensation and Benefits, Director of Staffing and Development, and Manager of Employment. Typically, such assignments range from 1-2 days per week to a full-time commitment extending 3-6 months. In addition, we can provide "SWAT" teams to help you deal with mergers or downsizing.

Give us a call today!

Tags: Chatfield News — Outsourcing

Dear Workforce:

New employees in our company undergo a six-month probationary period. During this period, some employees may decide to discontinue working for us. How do we determine an "acceptable" rate of attrition for new hires? If they leave after only three months, should we assume this is because of faulty recruiting? Conversely, if they depart after four/five months, should we evaluate our training? Finally, what if they leave after six months: Is that a reflection on their direct supervisor?
Please help us understand how to interpret the meaning of our rapid turnover.

—Can’t Keep Them, senior team leader for talent acquisition, finance/insurance/real estate, New York

Dear Can’t Keep Them:

Let’s face it: Sooner or later, everyone terminates their employment. But companies cannot afford to be cavalier about turnover, especially when it occurs before the employee has had a chance to be productive.

With early turnover, the recruiting process, your training program and the manager’s coaching generally share the responsibility. The investment you make in filling a position—simply the recruiting and training costs—goes down the drain when a new hire leaves. So understanding and addressing the causes of early turnover will have a definite impact on your bottom line.

Here are three steps HR should put in place to improve retention of new hires:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Employee Retention — Exit Interviews — Recruiting — New Hire Onboarding

Dear Workforce:

Should our performance appraisals reduce subjectivity? Despite the fact that we use objectives, I am convinced the subjective view of employees by their managers affects the outcome.

—Subject to Objectivity, HR specialist, finance/insurance/real estate, Budapest, Hungary

Dear Subject to Objectivity:

You're absolutely right. Performance experts try to reduce subjectivity in performance reviews, but as long as reviews are rated by humans and are based on human behavior, they will be somewhat subjective. Taking out subjectivity—making reviews more objective—is a continuous challenge.

Why do we really care about making performance reviews objective? It's because employees want to be treated fairly. For example, two employees may process the exact same number of orders, but orders for standard products are likely much easier to handle than the orders for complex, customized solutions. Or, all things considered, it's usually a lot easier to generate revenue from a territory that is thriving than from an area that is economically depressed.

Naturally, the employee handling the more difficult orders or the more challenging territory wants to be acknowledged and rewarded for the extra challenge involved. Determining how to factor in the difficulty of the sale or the quality of the service makes performance harder to measure.

So how can you create performance appraisals that are perceived as fair to both the employee and the manager? Here are some suggestions:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Performance Reviews — SMART Goals — Performance

Dear Workforce:

We have an HR director who appears to be ushering our people out the door. One employee recently notified her that he was beginning a job search. Not knowing how many interviews the employee might be attending, the HR director called a meeting and the two sides agreed to a voluntary separation, with a specific end date.

Now, a similar situation has surfaced with another employee who is having personality clashes with a supervisor. Our HR director wants to tell the employee to start looking, and also give her an end-of-employment date.

I'm concerned about the long-range effects on our retention, as well as our ability to recruit. What could you recommend to help us best handle this situation?

—Driving Them Away, HR manager, advertising, Long Beach, California

Dear Driving Them Away:

Have you considered speaking candidly to your HR director about your concerns? By raising your questions tactfully and in good faith, you might learn more about your company's approach to employee retention and your feedback might make a positive difference.

Don't be surprised if the HR director tells you there are reasons behind her actions that she is not free to discuss with you. If the employees involved were already subject to disciplinary action—such as for excessive absenteeism or tardiness—that might explain why she is encouraging their departure. For example, did you know that company policies generally prohibit employees from taking sick days to attend job interviews? In most cases, doing so is considered a serious breach warranting corrective action on the part of a company. So although voluntary separation might seem harsh, it could in fact be an effective and considerate company strategy that allows an employee to leave before being terminated.

Similarly, when an employee is having personality clashes with a manager, there is an expectation that both the manager and the employee will strive to establish positive communications. If, for example, the employee is not responding effectively to coaching, your HR director may be serving both the employee and the company well by encouraging the employee to move on in search of a better match.

Most HR professionals try to give employees every chance to be successful. While your HR director could be among the relative few who might be described as mean-hearted and shortsighted, I would guard against such a presumption. Rather than challenging her, consider sharing some HR best practices about retaining talent and coaching employees. If need be, demonstrate your courage by respectfully stating that you are not comfortable with her approach to a specific situation.

To safely open such a discussion, you could bring along a couple of current books on the subject. Here are just a few of my favorites for your consideration:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Employee Retention — Coaching — Performance

Dear Workforce:

How do we ramp up a major recruiting drive without antagonizing existing employees? We want to prepare employees for this influx of new staff, but we aren't sure how to manage the cultural change that is sure to take place in the workforce.

-- Culture Clash, principal human resources officer, publishing/communication/ advertising, Harare, Zimbabwe

Dear Culture Clash:

The change you are facing--workforce expansion--may sound like all good news to employees whose companies are facing layoffs and downsizing. However, growth does bring its own concerns for employees who must deal with the pressures of expansion.

More people coming into an existing workspace can create crowding. The conference room that was once a great place for impromptu meetings is now the office of a new employee. Relocating to larger quarters can be a hassle for employees who must pack up and reorganize their workspaces. Requests for computers can lag behind the hiring process and create frustrations for the information technology department forced to install equipment under pressure.

On top of all that, supervisors can be tied up in interviews, so current employees wait longer to get their questions answered. Job opportunities and promotions desired by your current employees may have been offered to new hires, creating jealousy and resentment. Current employees sometimes find themselves in the uncomfortable role of teaching new hires how to do the jobs they applied for themselves.

To address workforce expansion effectively, develop a plan for growth that takes into account the concerns your employees are likely to experience. Communicate about the expansion in positive terms, but be frank about the possible downsides. Let employees know you are aware that growth can also bring growing pains.

Think through your selection process, and consider some of the following strategies:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Culture — Recruiting — Employee Retention

Dear Workforce:

What specific interview questions should we ask in order to gauge whether a person is committed to and passionate about his work, and prompt in his dealings?

--Enthusiasts Only Need Apply, human resources, software/services, India

Dear Enthusiast:

The characteristics you mention--passion, commitment and promptness--would be desirable in just about anyone, so your question may be on the minds of many employers.

While the three terms have something in common, it is possible for someone to be prompt but not passionate, passionate but not committed, and committed but not prompt. Let’s look at behavioral questions that focus on each of the characteristics individually.
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Interviewing

Dear Workforce:

One of our employees is under a new manager, who has given the employee a negative review. This is out of sync with previous appraisals. As part of human resources, how should I handle this? Question the review or butt out?

— Quizzical, human resources, nonprofit, Greensboro, North Carolina

Dear Quizzical:

You are right to ask a few questions, and you are likely to find one of the following answers:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Performance Reviews — Performance — Coaching

Dear Workforce:

How exactly do we perform a gap analysis during workforce planning? It’s easy to analyze the current situation, but getting a handle on our future needs is the challenge for me. What analytical model should I use?

--Bridging the Gap

Dear Bridging the Gap:

A gap analysis, typically done as part of workforce planning, helps you decide what steps are needed to address workforce shortages or excess capacity. You start by establishing a future date for the gap analysis, such as 12, 24 or 36 months. Then determine the gap between the workforce you expect to have and the workforce you will need as of that date, based on your assumptions about the future, such as:

• We expect our turnover rate to hold steady for the next 24 months.
• Our workload will increase significantly during the next 24 months, so we will need to increase our nonexempt workforce by 20 percent.
• With 35 percent of our senior executives eligible for retirement, we expect to have a serious shortage of managers ready to assume senior leadership roles.

Since nobody can predict the future with complete accuracy, the quality of your assumptions is a key element in creating a useful gap analysis. Depending on what your analysis shows, you will want to take action to address the needs: typically either strengthening your recruitment and development activities to meet an expected talent shortage or identifying ways to absorb or redeploy excess head count through attrition, retraining or outplacement.

The typical gap analysis incorporates the following key information:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Workforce Planning

Dear Workforce:

We have a couple of employees who will be returning from a leave of absence. Neither was meeting the mark regarding performance when they left. In their absence, other employees have stepped up to fill in where needed, and we are quite impressed with their good work. We understand the need to be compassionate to those returning from leave, but this episode exposed a problem for us: getting managers to document performance expectations. This was not done in the past, and now new supervisors are forced to deal with it. How do we address this? What should we do?

-- Happy/Sad in Government, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Dear Happy/Sad:

From your description, it appears that the former supervisors tolerated mediocre performance, while your new supervisors have higher standards. Now that the employees are back from leave, you must address the gap in performance. That’s both good and bad news.

The bad news is that you cannot do much to make up for past performance, so you must look to the future to correct things. It could require a lot of supervisory stamina to straighten things out.
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Performance Reviews — Coaching — Performance

Dear Workforce:

Because we don’t have a performance-development plan in place, individual workers never get feedback on their performance and have few development and training opportunities. How do we ensure the long-term profitability of our company, especially since many employees will soon retire and those remaining lack the necessary skills/training to succeed them?

-- Bedeviled bureaucrat, government, Pretoria, South Africa

Dear Bedeviled Bureaucrat:

Employees everywhere value performance feedback. Without training and development opportunities, they get frustrated and bored. Making matters worse, the workforce changes that are coming in the next decade--with baby boomers retiring in droves--will create a brain drain like none we’ve ever seen. Unless you get a handle on your talent requirements, it will be hard for your company to remain profitable over the long term.

It’s time to implement a sound talent-management process. Think about taking the following key steps:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Performance Reviews — Training — Performance — Employee Retention

Dear Workforce:

I work for a staffing firm and have been given a list of “acceptable terms” to use to describe applicants in interview notes. As one might imagine, this list is very short. Our biggest dilemma is conveying in an appropriate way whether an applicant is unfit for certain jobs because of age, physical ability, etc. Another problem is zeroing in on an applicant’s ability to lift and to what capacity. Our current rundown isn’t much help. It includes: articulate, assertive, bright, conscientious, pleasant, well-mannered, abrasive, aloof, withdrawn, poorly groomed, neat, conservative. What are some precise terms for us to consider?

-- Lacking Definition, staffing industry, Moline, Illinois

Dear Lacking Definition:

Having done a lot of recruiting myself, I can think of a few “precise terms” for some of the people I’ve interviewed. But you’re really looking for terms that refer to job-related competencies--the skills, knowledge and attributes that qualify a candidate for a specific job. Let’s focus on that subject for now.
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Interviewing — Recruiting

Dear Workforce:

I’m concerned about the validity of assessment tests during the pre-employment stage. The answers could be interpreted quite subjectively, depending on the different experience or education level of the person reviewing them. How do we avoid this?

—Getting a Grip on Assessments, district trainer, retail trade, Mukwonago, Wisconsin

Dear Getting a Grip:

You are wise to think carefully about the pre-employment tests you use. There’s a risk, if they are badly designed, of discriminating--or being perceived as discriminating--against a culture or gender. There’s an equally great risk of wasting valuable time and resources if the test does not help predict who would be able to perform the job.

All too often, tests are used because "we’ve always done that," or because a hiring manager took an assessment at a workshop and now wants to know the same information about everyone in the department. While assessments can be useful for understanding others’ style, hiring in the style of such a nosy manager may not be the best choice, and could in fact lead to biased decisions.

To avoid running into problems with your pre-hire testing process, do the following:
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Assessments — Recruiting

Dear Workforce:

I recently hired 11 new people, and unlike previous new hires, I used a different set of trainers to get the new employees up to speed. My new employees are doing great now; however, I’d like to assess the performance of my trainers from the perspective of a new hire. What resources are available (such as a survey) that I could use to measure the effectiveness of the training provided?

--Happy Hiring Manager, telecommunications, Newark, New Jersey

Dear Happy Hiring Manager:

Assessing your training programs could help you determine its value and may give your trainers helpful feedback regarding their facilitation skills. The new employees’ reaction to the trainer can affect their mindset about the company. When evaluating training programs, keep in mind the following question: What is the goal of the training, and to what extent is this goal being met? You may discover a need to assess training on multiple levels, ranging from the reactions of trainees to the impact of the training on business results. Consider using the four-level structure outlined by Donald Kirkpatrick in his book Evaluating Training Programs.
...Read More...

Tags: Dear Workforce — Metrics — Training