Category: HR That Makes a Difference

This month, HR That Makes a Difference™, looks at strategies from Paul Sarvadi in Take Care of Your People related to employee performance improvement.

“The total performance of a company is the sum of the performance of the individuals who work within it. An effective human capital strategy should include a game plan for continuously cultivating each employee’s personal talent and skills.”

Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

The two main areas of an effective performance improvement strategy include performance management and training and development. Whether you’re starting from scratch or  eager to improve an established performance improvement plan, Insperity is here to help with tools and resources available to you through the HR RESOURCE CENTER.

Managing performance with employee assessments/reviews

• Training on-demand:
  • PERFORMANCE REVIEWS – Educate yourself on the basics of developing and conducting performance reviews.
  • HR 101: PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS – Listen to an HR pro discuss what performance evaluations are with some tips on administering them.
• Guides:
  • PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT GUIDE
  • PERFORMANCE REVIEW QUESTIONS – This document contains sample performance review questions that you may tailor or edit to fit your specific industry or company values.
  • INFORMAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT INSTRUCTIONS – The basis of this program is to make sure there is continuous feedback without the formality of an annual review.
• Articles:
  •  Motivating Employees with the Performance Review
  • Seven Steps to Improve Employee Performance through Performance Reviews

Improving performance with training and development

• Training on-demand:
  • How to Create a Training Program – Educate yourself on the basics of creating and implementing a training program.
• 2-minute HR:
  • Time in Training: Paid or Unpaid? – Employers often wonder if employees need to be paid for time spent in training, particularly if it’s offsite. Thankfully, there’s a simple checklist to answer that question.
• Articles:
  • Why Training Your Employees Is Good for Retention
  • The Advantages of Skill-Based Training
• Guides:
  • Basics of Creating a Training Program – Training is crucial to the success of your employees—and your organization! This in-depth guide covers the basics behind building and administering your own training program.
  • Workplace Coaching Guide and Sample Questions – This guide is an introduction to adopting a coaching management style and includes sample coaching questions at the end.

The easiest way to access the HR Resource Center’s tools and resources is through the Quick Links on your Client Landing Page in iSolved®, as seen below. You also may contact your dedicated HR specialist for assistance.

Our HUB series HR That Makes a Difference™, summarizes topics covered by Insperity Chairman and CEO Paul Sarvadi in his book, Take Care of Your People. This month we’ll talk about strategies related to compliance liability and management.

“Employers have an enormous list of obligations, responsibilities, and liabilities that can interfere with the business depending on how day-to-day operations of the organization are managed.”

Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

The list of potential employment risks is overwhelming, even for the well-intentioned employer.  Being found non-compliant with the growing list of employment regulations or risking potential litigation from employees may result in thousands of dollars in penalties, regulatory sanctions, even lawsuits. Insperity is here to help, and we outline just a few of our resources here.

The employee handbook

“An employee handbook, more likely an online document than an actual printed book, serves to bridge any gaps between the employees’ and the company’s expectations while encouraging adherence to company protocols.”

Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

The Insperity HR Resource Center offers tools that can help you develop and maintain an employee handbook, including:

• Training on-demand:
  • Employee handbooks: Get a high-level overview of what you should see in a good employee handbook and learn how this document can help your business run smoothly.

• Guides:
  • Formatting Your Handbook: Use this guide to help ensure your employee handbook is easy to navigate and read.
  • Most Common Handbook Issues: Learn the common missteps employers make while creating employee handbooks.

• Articles
  • The First Step to Avoiding Litigation
  • 8 Reasons Your Organization Should Have an Employee Handbook

• Checklists:
  • Handbook Implementation Checklist: Use this checklist to guide you through the implementation process when rolling out a new or newly revised handbook.

Compliance training

“Liability [compliance] training—particularly anti-discrimination and anti-harassment education—is one of the most beneficial preventative measures and provides the greatest defense for a company when it’s conducted annually.”

Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

Being unaware of offensive behaviors or compliance rules can result in an unfriendly work environment and litigation. Therefore, it’s critical for businesses, both small and large in employee count, to develop and implement a training program that arms its employees with the necessary knowledge of workplace policies.

Some of the tools and resources available through the Insperity HR Resource Center on  compliance training and liability include the following:

• Training on-demand:
  •  HR 101: Workplace Compliance: Learn to navigate the various employment laws, such as those pertaining to discrimination and federal regulations.
  • Conflict Management: Learn to identify conflict, how to best manage it and how to create policies aimed at reducing occurrences of conflict.

• Guides:
  • Identifying and Preventing Workplace Harassment: Explore options to establishing reporting procedures, investigating complaints and disciplinng offenders.

• Articles:
  • Proactive Prevention Against Workplace Harassment

The easiest way to access the HR Resource Center’s tools and resources is through the Quick Links on your Client Landing Page in iSolved®, as seen below. You also may contact your dedicated HR specialist for assistance.

Our HUB series, HR That Makes a Difference™, summarizes topics covered by Insperity Chairman and CEO Paul Sarvadi in his book, Take Care of Your People. This month we talk about strategies related to recruiting, selection and retention to help your company remain confident in finding, hiring and keeping the best talent.

Finding the best

Sarvadi believes that “developing and maintaining written job descriptions” is one of the most important aspects of the recruiting process.

“Hiring without a job description is like going grocery shopping without a list. But with the right planning, your chances of getting exactly what you need are higher, and you cut down on wasteful meandering around the aisles.”

Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

Reasons a well-crafted job description is important include:

• They set clear expectations for ongoing performance management.
• They outline duties and physical demands.
• They help attract the talent you’re looking for.

NOTE: Maintaining job descriptions is just as important as creating one. Job descriptions should be reviewed annually as part of the review process.

Does each role within your organization have a detailed and concise job description?  If not, the Insperity HR Resource Center can help with these resources:

• Forms:
  • Job description template
  • Job analysis form
• Guides:
  • Job description toolkit
• Checklists:
  • Job requisition checklist
• Training On-Demand:
  • Writing job descriptions
• Tools:
  • Job description library
• HR On-Demand Ask the Pro:
  • Customize job descriptions

Hiring the best

Important strategies in the process include employment screening and background checks.

“The frequency with which business owners skip this important step in the selection process is astounding. But pre-employment screening and testing is a necessity, not an option, when it comes to selecting the right employees. Drug testing, personality assessments, skills tests, and background checks help pinpoint whether the person is the right fit for the company.”

Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

Take advantage of the employment screening tools and resources available to you through the Insperity HR Resource Center:

• Laws and regulations (federal & by state):
  • Hiring procedures
  • Background checks
  • Medical testing and examinations
• Forms:
  • Background Check Notice (and Authorization)
  • Employment Reference Check Authorization Form
  • A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
• Articles:
  • Background checks: when do they cross the line?
  • Credit checks in the application process
  • A guide to drug testing and drug-free workplaces in the era of “legal” marijuana

Retention: Keeping Top Performers

Strategies to retain the talent you hire are just as important as attracting and hiring top performers for your organization.

“Considering the sizable investment of time, energy, and funds involved in recruiting, and given the scarcity and value of outstanding people, businesses have an acute need to retain their best employees. Don’t get complacent here—even if your most proficient people are thriving in their roles and are generally content with their positions, they can still be tempted by outside offers.”

Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

 Key strategies that can impact your organization’s retention rate include:

1. Reward and recognition
2. Training and development
3. Communication and feedback

In addition, don’t underestimate the value of exit interviews. Whether conducted face-to-face or via an online form, it’s important that employers take time to determine the root cause of why employees leave, especially when they seemed to be thriving in their role. Guidelines to conducting exit interviews include:

• Tell the employee in advance what topics will be discussed.
• “When you start the meeting, clearly state your objectives, and assure the employee no adverse consequences will result, even if their answers are critical or they feel the need to vent.”*
• “Ask open-ended questions, and let the interviewee do most of the talking.”
  Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

The Insperity HR Resource Center offers tools and resources that can help you hold on to your top talent, including:

• Guides and worksheets:
  • Conducting an in-person exit interview
  • Employee self-guided form for exit interviews
• Articles:
  • How conducting exit interviews can help you increase retention
  • Worried about retention? The best way to keep employees is to be useful to them
  • Why training your employees is good for retention

The quickest and easiest way to access these tools and resources is through the Quick Links on your Client Landing page in iSolved, as seen below. You also may contact your Insperity HR services representative for assistance. 

Over the next few months, we will be summarizing some of the most important topics that Insperity CEO, Paul Sarvadi, covers in his new book, Take Care of Your People. We’re beginning the series by talking about culture, which should be top of mind, whether you are a manager responsible for day-to-day operational decisions or the founder of a start-up business trying to define and maintain your ideal working environment.

Most business leaders grasp the concept of corporate culture, and they understand why it’s valuable, but actually creating it and implementing it into your employees’ daily work life is another story. It can involve a lot of trial and error. You may want to think about the steps outlined below as you try to define your corporate culture.

• Lay a foundation
  “Creating a company culture doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process – one that starts with establishing a mission, vision and values. You and your executive team need to devote time and effort to determine these company’s cornerstones.”
                                      Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People
  
   To do so, think about the following values, because they are where a company culture lives.
  
  • What do you hold dear?
  • What drives you?
  • What are you passionate about?

• Take the temperature
  “Culture depends on employee engagement(and vice versa). Disengaged employees can be a drain on money, productivity and morale. A culture survey (also known as a climate survey) is a great way of learning what employees think and feel about their job, workplace, colleagues and managers.
  “Trust is key in company culture – if your people don’t trust you, they’re not going to follow you. An employee survey is a method of building that trust, because it communicates that you care about their feelings, needs and wants.”
                                      Paul Sarvadi, Take Care of Your People

• Are you interested in conducting a culture survey of your employees? If so, ask yourself the following questions:
  • Is a climate survey right for my organization? Climate surveys work best with organization’s whose leadership teams are open to receiving true and honest feedback and are willing to take action on survey results. The lack of actionable follow up to survey results can actually reduce employee trust and morale, as employees will not believe their responses are being used to improve the organization. This can also lead to reduce response rates for future survey efforts, as people will be less inclined to share their feedback.  Finally, an organization should consider its size before deciding to use a survey, as surveys work best with organizations large enough for employee’s to feel that their responses can be anonymous.
  • What does the survey offered by Insperity entail? It’s a 50-question survey that measures employees’ perception of communication, commitment, trust, employee engagement within an organization.
  • What if a climate survey isn’t the best option for my organization today? Insperity offers other resources to help you work towards culture goals. For example, the Pulse Survey helps provide management insight into how an employee is balancing work and the goals of the organization. See the Pulse Survey that can found in the HR Resource Center.

The quickest and easiest way to access these tools and resources is through the Quick Links on your Client Landing page in iSolved®, as seen below. You also may contact your dedicated HR specialist for assistance.