Tag: HRD

Why You Must Take Your Employees for a Dinner before Hiring Them?

November 4, 2016

If you are planning to hire a project manner, you should probably take him or her out, before they are hired. A growing body of literature suggests that certain personality quirks, mannerisms and behaviors can say a lot about the person’s inherent qualities. These qualities are central to a person being a good manager or not. Of course, these kinds of dinner dates would not be appropriate with junior level hires, unless their supervisor is made to dine with them. On second thoughts, even the most basic job profile can be filled by an excellent candidate if that candidate passes the dinner exam. In this article, let us take a look at how dinner dates help you to hire better employees, whether junior or senior. Let us also take a look at certain things you should bear in mind while assessing a candidate during the dinner. All this will help you to choose candidates who are well fit for their jobs, and basically, respectful, honest and decent individuals with integrity. Is the candidate late for the dinner? One of the defining qualities of an individual is his or her punctuality. If your candidate does not arrive well in time for the dinner date, he or she has a problem with time management. This is a very useful criteria to judge an individual. Make sure that your candidate is on time, or at least has a valid excuse to be late. What did the candidate order? This may sound funny but is a very important consideration. If you are at a nice restaurant and the individual orders the most expensive food available, he or she may have an overblown self-esteem or maybe greedy, looking for ways to make the most of a situation. On the other hand, ordering the cheapest food available may indicate they have an inferiority complex, or that he or she is too shy. Also, inappropriate foods like pizzas and burgers at a high-end sit-in dining place also may suggest the candidate is not situation-appropriate. Did the candidate follow table manners? Table manners differ depending on towns, cities, regions and countries. Based on where you are located, ensure that your candidate follows minimum table manners. This ensures that the person is well cultivated and knows how to behave in social situations. It also says a lot about the candidate’s interpersonal skills. How did he or she treat the waiting staff? This is often repeated in many articles that discuss hiring employees based on dinners. Yet, this is probably the most important. If the candidate is rude, or if he or she is not friendly to waiters, that shows that they do not have respect for work. They probably will behave the same way towards their juniors in the office. Moreover, do you want a nasty person as an employee? Four important qualities to evaluate during a dinner date: Punctuality Always look for punctuality as a quality to decide if an individual will be similarly early or late to office. Punctuality is not just about arriving in time for the dinner date. How quickly or how slowly one eats also says a lot about the individual. If a person takes too long to finish eating, that may show that they don’t value time much. Civility Civility is all about how we deal with each other. You need a candidate who is polite and civil. Make sure that they greet you politely or whoever is with you. Civility includes common sense and many other qualities, that makes an individual pleasant. Kindness and empathy This is often most forgotten during interviewing and assessment. This is one of the reasons why dinner dates are most important. When you let the candidate place an order, notice how they behave with the waiter. If they are rude or cold, that shows that they do not have respect for the dignity of labor, or even for fellow human beings. This isn’t even about respect, but about kindness. And we need kind people in the office so that they work well in a team. Neatness Make sure the candidate is neat in his or her clothing sense, behavior and also eating habits. If an individual is dressed sloppily, he or she is not showing respect to the situation. If he or she doesn’t have table manners, it shows that they won’t finish their work neatly. There are many other things that you can observe in an individual but these should be the bare minimum of qualities that you can observe during a dinner interview. Dinner dates are great places to assess candidates Certainly, it must now be clear that diner dates are not just about eating and going home on a full stomach These are serious tests in life that can bring out unconscious habits and qualities which the candidate can fake during an interview situation. If a person is late for the dinner, it shows that they may not be punctual. If the candidate orders foods that are too expensive or too cheap, it says a lot about how they feel about themselves. If they are rude to the waiting staff, they will be rude to your clients too. If they do not follow table manners, do not expect them to be perfect at their jobs. Four important qualities need to be assessed during a dinner interview. Look for punctuality, if the candidate is civil and polite, if he or she is kind to his subordinates and last but not the least, if the candidate is neat. All these factors are important for all levels of jobs in an organization. You do not have to take a low-paid clerk to a fancy restaurant to judge if he is good. A simple burger meal should be enough to assess his qualities. Keep the five-star hotel dinners to assess and judge your senior level managers.

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How to Resolve Conflicts Like a Boss and Avoid Stress

October 12, 2016

When you are managing a team or when you are heading your own company, you will always have situations where you will have to resolve conflicts. These conflicts may take place between employees, managers or just about anyone who may be working under you. The true sign of leadership is when you are able to deal with these conflicts and resolve them like a boss. In this article, let us understand what a conflict is, what it does to you, and the different kinds of conflicts that can occur. In psychology, a conflict is said to occur when opposing choices are to be made, resulting in stress or some kind of dysfunction. These conflicts have been classified under approach-avoidance conflict, double approach conflict, and double avoidance conflict. What is an approach-avoidance conflict? In an approach-avoidance conflict, you are presented with a situation where you have two choices: one is a pleasant one and another is an unpleasant one. Usually, we tend to make the choice that brings a pleasant outcome. Yet, sometimes we may need to make unpleasant (avoidance) choices too, and this causes stress. [php snippet=1] An example would be a scenario like this: Jim was a manager who often found his team to be lacking discipline. They would talk amongst themselves and not finish work properly. He began to reprimand his team members to maintain discipline and engage in fruitful work. This did not work, and instead, animosity between him and his subordinates increased. He had the option of escalating the matter to his boss, or just choose to keep yelling at them. If he kept yelling at them, he would not have to face his boss and look like a person who cannot discipline his team. If he escalated the matter, he would continue to be viewed as that manager who complained about team members to the higher ups. The other option was to just keep yelling at the team members, who were anyway used to it, and it certainly seemed like the easier option. Jim could choose between complaining to the boss (avoidance) and just keep yelling at the team members (approach). He chose the unpleasant choice, and the boss warned the whole team that their bonuses may be withheld if they didn’t perform according to requirements. As you can see, in an approach-avoidance scenario, taking an unpleasant approach may actually be beneficial and resolve conflicts. Jim’s team members soon forgot that it was he who complained to the boss, and even if they remembered, they could not do anything about it anyway. Thus, when given a choice between a pleasant and an unpleasant option to resolve conflicts, do not be afraid to take an unpleasant step if that seems like a more effective way to handle things. What is a double approach conflict? The next kind of stressful situation arises when there is a double approach conflict. A double approach conflict provides you with two appealing options, and you find it difficult to choose between the two as both are attractive. Let us assume Jim needs to solve an argument between Betty and Lisa, both of whom have been at loggerheads with each other over finalizing a design for a client’s logo. In Jim’s opinion, both the logo designs look great and he finds it difficult to choose between the two. A double approach conflict usually leads to a favorable outcome but it can cause unpleasant feelings among those who are involved. In this case, either Lisa or Betty will feel bad about their design being rejected while the other’s being accepted. Remember this golden rule. You will never be able to make everyone happy. In this case, Jim might do what most sensible managers do to resolve conflicts. He may ask all of his team members and other employees in the office to vote for the logo they like the best, in an anonymous manner. The chosen logo can be presented to the client, while the one that wasn’t chosen can still be appreciated for its inherent good qualities. While the employee whose logo was not selected will still feel bad, she will at least feel she lost in a democratic process. What is a double avoidance conflict? Sometimes, you will encounter the most difficult of situations. This has got something to do with choosing between two unpleasant choices. This is called a double avoidance conflict. In a double avoidance conflict, you will encounter two different unpleasant outcomes and you will have to choose between the two. No matter what you do, conflict will arise and will cause you stress. This kind of conflict is the most stressful and most people find it difficult to solve them. In this case, all you need to do is to choose the option that is least detrimental. For this, you will need to make a list of pros and cons and weigh the advantages and the disadvantages of each choice. Choose the one that is least unpleasant. For example, Jim may find out that he has to either cut down funds to his team or make them stay back for a longer duration at work. It would not be possible to make employees stay back if it is stipulated so legally. Thus, he may have to release more funds to pay for overtime. Resolving conflicts requires you to know the different kinds of conflicts and which one causes the most stress. in most situations, it is not as simple as the situations given above. Usually things are a lot more complex, and people find it difficult to resolve conflicts. The importance of personal qualities in conflict resolution To solve all conflicts, certain personal characteristics are very important. First of all one needs to be patient. Without patience, you will not be able to understand two opposing views, and you may color your judgment with your emotions and biases. Secondly, you need to be objective. You need to look at opposing views objectively, and try to understand

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Things to Say and Do When Negotiations Turn Sour

September 30, 2016

We have all been there before. We think the other party is about to agree to our terms and conditions, or that they are conceding that we have compromised to many of their demands, so they will agree on certain things. Yet, negotiations fail. More heartbreakingly, negotiations may turn hostile enough to leave you wondering what really went wrong when you tried every negotiation trick they taught you. Unfortunately, negotiations need not always work the way you want them to, and sometimes, they do go awfully wrong. Walk out of talks with grace When negotiations turn sour, there are a number of things you can do to extricate yourself gracefully. Negotiating requires skills, practice, patience and leaving one’s ego outside the negotiation room. One can’t be all high and mighty and expect to win an argument. Whether you are negotiating terms with your legal counsel, your employee, your hostile partner or a difficult client, negotiations can sometimes go wrong even if you are great at it. However, most people make the mistake of lunging forward with various other tricks in order to win arguments. They forget that the first rule of negotiating is to not argue, and to be assertive. When negotiations turn sour, and you are still at it, trying to prove your point or trying to convince your opinion, do not go forward with whatever you are doing, even if you feel you are right. Even if by all accounts the other side is acting irrationally, you sometimes just have to leave the negotiation table. It is no longer a negotiation if it has gone sour. It is like trying to put curdled milk together. It is a very bad idea. By walking out when negotiations turn sour, you will rise above your opponents and that is always a good thing. [php snippet=1] In this article, let us take a look at how we can walk out gracefully from a negotiation that has gone sour. These tips and tricks will apply to all kinds of negotiations and not just the kind that you see in boardrooms. These tips to leave a negotiation situation gracefully will work in your own house too, while working very well at a client’s meeting. Here are four things to say to the other party: “I Can Imagine How You Feel” When you say you can imagine how the other person is feeling, you are basically expressing empathy. When you express empathy, the other person feels understood and negotiations have lesser chances of getting uglier. Remember, the goal is not to make the negotiation process a success, but to walk out of it with grace. You do not want to leave the talks looking like a curmudgeon who left discussions because it didn’t suit him. Just expressing empathy goes a long way when it comes to helping you stall talks. “I Understand We Are Going Nowhere” Do not beat around the bush. Instead, be frank and assertive, and most importantly be honest that talks are going nowhere. You will help save time on both sides, and if not anything, the other party will respect you for making it easy to quit talks. Probably they are not as assertive as you are, and two submissive groups rarely achieve anything, other than engaging in passive aggressiveness. We know what that leads to: pure and unadulterated unpleasantness. “Maybe We Can Call This Off” Suggest to the negotiators that both the parties may be in a better position if they called off the talks. Tell them honestly that the negotiations are futile and it does not look like it is going anywhere. When you communicate your wish to end the talks, you can take steps that actually need to be taken to think of alternatives that might bring the results you want. Do not look for solutions where you can’t find them. A negotiation that has gone sour is one such place. “No Hard Feelings, Really” Finally, wind up your negotiations by saying that there are no hard feelings between the two of you. Express the fact that one does not have to reach an agreement at the end of every negotiation. Negotiations can fail, and they are allowed to fail. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be called negotiations in the first place. If the talks are not helping, there are no hard feelings. Here are four things to do when negotiations fail: Maintain your composure. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is to lose patience and express anger or other unpleasant emotions. Emotions and feelings only come in the way of rational and objective talks, which is the crux of negotiations. If you lose your temper or if you express any sort of negative emotions, you will come across as a weak individual who is not able to deal with the fact that the talks have already failed. Keep calm and call off the talks. Back off. It doesn’t mean you are accepting defeat. It means you are protecting what you still have. When you call off the talks, it does not mean that you failed at negotiations. It just means that you know when to draw a line and when to call it quits, instead of wasting everyone’s time. So, do not think that you are accepting defeat by calling off negotiations. You are just protecting what you still have and that is always a good thing to do. It reveals a basic sense of internal sense to accept adverse conditions and move away from adversities gracefully. Make peace with failed negotiations. It was just not meant to be. Once you walk out of talks, you might feel despondent and mourn the loss of lost opportunities. Always remember that lost opportunities are always lost. They were never yours to begin with, and you did try to make them yours. Instead of wallowing in self pity and ruing over a failed negotiation, look at the brighter side: you will not have to deal with hostile negotiators

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Why You Must Train Your Employees in a Foreign Language

September 21, 2016

As the world grows smaller with the advent of Internet, we have also seen our businesses spread out to countries with which we normally did not share many relationships. Most English speaking countries often conducted business amongst themselves until Germany and Japan became business leaders too, along with Britain and the USA. This led to people learning German and Japanese, while perfecting various dialects of English. While it is very important for your employees to speak and communicate in good English, it is also crucial for all of them to know at least one foreign language. No matter in which industry vertical you are, you need to make a list of a few foreign languages that can always prove handy. Some of those languages are French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Portuguese. These are international languages that are spoken in not just one country, but many. As we continue to do business with other countries, there will always be a situation when one of your employees who knows a foreign language will help you better in terms of signing business deals with another company in a different country. [php snippet=1] Now, let us take a look at why you must go ahead and invest in teaching your employees foreign languages. Helps build teams One of the biggest advantages of learning a foreign language is that it can be used as a team building exercise. An entire team may be encouraged to learn one foreign language while the other team can be trained in a different language. At the end of course, these teams can showcase what they have learned during team activities. All this helps to boost team loyalty and assists in team building. Boosts international business relationships We live in a very small world now and it has become important for us to look for clients in countries where they may not speak English. This is especially important when dealing with countries in the European Union or in the Far-east. When we speak the language they do, it helps to boost relationships with them and engage in conversations that could lead to signing a deal. In fact, the more foreign languages you know, the more people you will be able to connect with. Avoids ambiguity while signing contracts When you know a foreign language, you will be able to avoid ambiguities in the contract. When you read a contract in a foreign language, you will be in a more authoritative position that you might have been if you didn’t know that language and depended on a translator. Makes your company seem more international One of the most important benefits of employees knowing a foreign language is, when they go abroad on tasks, they will be able to speak the local language, which makes them seem very international. That boosts the image of your company and this is always a good thing. Reduces attrition It is a well known fact that employees who stand to gain something usually do not leave the company for a long time. This is more of a psychological benefit than anything else. If you teach your employees a foreign language, they are more inclined to stay back during the course. No foreign language can be learned perfectly (along with a full time job, at work), in less than 3 years. Considering how quickly people quit jobs, using foreign languages to keep people from leaving a job is not such a bad idea. Boosts morale of employees When employees feel they are doing something constructive, especially for their own personal growth, at a free cost, they tend to feel good about themselves. This boosts their morale and they perform better in other tasks. By ensuring that you teach your employees a foreign language, you might effectively be boosting their morale and encouraging them to perform at their best. Employees get better at other tasks It is a well known neuropsychological fact that learning a foreign language boosts brain activity that is reflected in unrelated tasks. A study revealed how children who learn foreign languages fare better in general mathematics, than those who do not. This is related to neuroplasticity,

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Marketing Automation May Not Be Enough. Here’s why

August 25, 2016

Many CMOs have had hands-on experience with marketing automation software to leverage their marketing efforts.  Automation software is capable of generating better sales lead, improve sales volume and use analytics to steer marketing decisions.  It also manages content and SEO. And all this is done through automation of contact database. It enables you to conduct targeted email marketing, content marketing, targeted landing on web pages and manage PPC campaigns. Higher the precision delivered by marketing automation software, higher is the conversion. However, is it really adequate to depend on upon marketing automation software for all your marketing needs?  Can it be placed on human analytical skills as far as marketing is concerned? Unfortunately, it has still a long way to go to gain traction among marketing managers. Right now, it is just one of the many marketing tools to enhance your marketing efforts. There are many limitations attributed to it that impede its success.  Moreover, marketing automation software is useful to implement marketing strategy; however, if there is no marketing strategy in place, this fancy software is unable to do any value addition to your business. The following article will address the challenges faced by marketing automation software that inhibits it from becoming a fundamental part of marketing strategy. [php snippet=1] Implementation is a burden for marketing professionals Marketing automation software is full-fledged enterprise software like ERP, CRM etc. A software implementation is a lengthy process with a high cost of ownership. Marketing managers need to spend a lot of time and resources to get output from the software. Technical skills and requirements required to operate the software are more than an average marketing professional feels comfortable with. Cultural divide between marketing and sales hinders technology growth Marketing managers tend to focus more on generating awareness about the brand through publicity, content marketing, SEO and other marketing tactics. For them, marketing automation software is something that holds the potential to minimize their load to manage contacts and effectively implement marketing campaigns. On the contrary, sales professionals are always under pressure to achieve sales target. Their performance is completely based on their sales achievements. Misalignment of goals and tasks cannot promise co-operation over new technology like automation software.  The two departments still like to function in their own particular manner. Failure to explore its potential Marketing software is high potential software that creates customer segmentation, delivers quality and relevant content for customers. However, many managers fail to exploit this potential and merely use it as a bulk email distribution platform. The usability pattern fails to incorporate product type, buyer’s place in the purchase process and becomes just another marketing tool. This gross neglect of software potential diminishes the purpose of this enterprise level software. Software overuse Marketing automation software may have innumerous functionalities. Software vendors often tend to misguide clients and oversell by sharing multiple capabilities of the software. However, marketing software should only be bought with specific agenda on the mind. Too many features don’t do any good. It rather confuses and deviates your marketing goals. For instance, landing page feature may be available through specialized marketing tool like Unbounce. Therefore, it is better to use a different tool for that function to get better conversion ratios.  As a result, if you forcefully use automation software for a task it does not expertise in, there is no point of using it. Always consider external vendors in such a case. Dearth of quality content Marketing automation software needs a constant supply of quality content to advance leads through the buying process. However, most marketers hardly devote time in producing content. And even if they commit to doing it or hire writers, it is a full-time job. They need to focus on content creation and content curation to get output from automation software.  They need to work in tandem with writers to guide them about the type of content to be created depending upon market needs. This approach is necessary to forward your content marketing goals. Though many marketers aim to implement content marketing, it becomes difficult for them especially small business firms to sustain their effort in the long run. Therefore, investment in automation software becomes insignificant. Absence of revenue model It is marketer’s job to measure the impact of marketing activities on sales revenue. They need to identify tactics that perform better than the others. It is for the marketer to forecast and measure how their below-the-line activities impact sales revenue. To begin with, marketing managers should be in line with sales pipeline. Marketing automation software is enabled to bring visibility to the revenue model. However, you need to fix metrics that connect sales parameters to marketing functions. If there is no revenue model, marketing automation software will add to your woes and appear more of a nuisance. Limited analytics There are many types of software and tools available to generate standard reports about marketing data. However, generation of simple reports does not require enterprise-level marketing automation software. Marketers who tend to use automation software only to generate basic reports are not exploiting its potential. Automation software is capable of generating many significant reports like gaining insight into campaign ROI, Return on Marketing Investment etc. Marketers need creative thinking ability and analytical skills to generate and interpret varied reports automation software is capable of. Poor staff training Marketing automation software is technical software. It needs professional training of managers and other executives and staff who use it. Software implementation does not promise to generate revenue. Users must understand how to set up automated processes. Only a professional trainer on marketing automation would be able to teach them. The marketing manager must have enough time and resources to arrange for staff training; else continuous errors may result in lost revenue opportunities. Use of marketing automation software is conditional Marketing automation holds a lot of potential, but, if the above challenges and conditions are not taken into account, it may be unfit to implement and you won’t generate expected ROI. Apart

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Open-ended Questions to Ask Job Applicants to See if They Are Culture Fit

August 5, 2016

Hiring can be a long and tedious process for an organization. It is the priority of an HR manager to find the most suitable candidate for a particular job profile. It is comparatively easy to shortlist a candidate based on objective questions that match the job description. However, what really differentiates one candidate from another is their ability to be a culture fit. Open-ended questions are used to encourage an elaborate and meaningful answer from an interviewee. Unlike closed-ended questions that result in a simple yes or no answer, open-ended questions encourage the candidate to talk more and be more expressive during the interview. The interview is more interactive rather than being a mere monologue. Following are some of the open-ended questions to be asked and their significance: Why do you think this company is suitable for you? This will help you to understand their motive behind joining the company. You can expect different types of answers like company brand name, customer’s trust, employee work culture, or even compensation benefits on offer.  This will enable you to put a counter question to know more about their drive. Why did you leave your previous job? Knowing the reason for leaving a previous job is important to find out. This will help you to assess their stability to stay in the organization. It will also help you to know their strengths and weaknesses. You can expect answers like a conflict with the boss, work saturation, or unsatisfactory work culture, etc. Again, don’t take the answers at their face value and try to dig deeper. [php snippet=1] Do you prefer to work in a team or alone, and why?  A job profile that entails teamwork must have a team member who loves to engage. Communication within the team is absolutely necessary to succeed. However, a person who likes to work independently without collaboration is not fit to be in a team. Knowing the reasons behind their answer will help you to assess demeanor and temperament of the candidate. How do you manage a conflict with your associates? When working in a team, conflicts are likely to arise due to a difference of opinion. However, it is important to reach a consensus to move forward. A candidate based on past experiences with conflict would be able to give an appropriate answer. If not, you can also propose a conflicting situation and ask the candidate to act on their predicament. How do you handle job pressure? A demanding job can soak up a lot of energy. It is important to rejuvenate and unwind oneself. Asking about how candidate beats stress would be reassuring for you to decide upon the suitability of the candidate. Add value to the hiring process To be culture fit, a candidate has to conform and adapt to the core values and collective behaviors of an organization.  An interviewer must explore this opportunity to understand the candidate better and his suitability to take up the job. The best way to do so is by asking open-ended questions. Open-ended questions add value to the interview because both interviewer and interviewee are likely to gain something out of the conversation.  

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Invest in Pre-Hire Assessments to Avoid Costly Recruitment Errors

July 26, 2016

Recruitment errors may cost dearly to an organization. According to HR trade association, bad recruitment can cost five times higher to the organization than the annual salary of a new recruit. Recruitment is a lengthy and tedious process. It consumes significant time, energy and resources of the organization. The purpose of recruitment could be to bring new talent, new skills, fill up vacancies, or to expand the organization. However, the whole exercise of recruitment goes in vain when you end up hiring a wrong candidate. Many organizations have started using recruitment applications to simplify recruitment process including sorting of applicants, screening candidates, organizing interviews, till the time candidates are hired. On the contrary, the mere use of such applications does not warranty high-quality recruitments. Consequences of wrong recruitment Wrong recruitments may lead to poor performance, waste of time and energy of managers to train recruits, poor learning, low productivity, client dissatisfaction and low morale among employees. In the worst case scenario, an organization may be charged with conspiracy or recommendation favors by unsuccessful and more deserving applicants. To avoid this farcical scenario, it is recommended to invest in pre-hire assessments to hire the most deserving and suitable candidate. [php snippet=1] What are pre-hire assessments? Pre-hire assessments are utilized to screen job applicants. These assessments help an organization to hire the most suitable candidate, save time, generate a better return on investment, minimize employee turnover, and boost employee morale.  It may include: Assessment of cognitive abilities through a popular test like the Wonderlic test that measures aptitude, learning and problem-solving abilities of candidates Assessment of knowledge and work skills Assessment of physical well-being and abilities Behavioral assessment or predictive index that measures personality to predict candidate’s willingness to perform a particular job function Emotional intelligence tests to assess self-awareness, self-motivation, empathy, managing emotions and handling relationships Language proficiency test in terms of speaking and writing capabilities Caliper and Myers-Briggs behavioral assessment to measure general behavioral tendencies Similarly, there may be assessment tests to check honesty traits, selling and negotiation skills. Understanding the usability of pre-hire assessments Validity and reliability of assessment Pre-hire assessments hold immense potential for selection of the right candidate. However, the employer must ensure whether the test deployed actually meets the criterion used to measure the performance of candidate on the job. There has to be significant proof about the test’s validity. The test should not be biased towards certain candidates and should result in fair selection.  It should be reliable enough to measure candidate’s score.  The repeated attempts of test should not change candidate’s score. For instance, a test should not be biased towards a specific gender, religion or community. To avoid any dispute regarding the validity and reliability of pre-hire assessments, employers should always use certified tests.  The tests should comply with employment laws and should not be overtly personal in nature.  Well-developed assessments lead to reduced employee turnover and improves the probability of job success. Explore your options Tests should be developed by organizational psychologists with prior experience of testing in the industry. Employers must explore a variety of tests available in the market to choose the ones that conform to their needs.  There are industry-specific tests available and employers should be well versed with them. Employers should know what assessments can be invalid for them. Some pre-hire assessments become conclusive only when coupled with other assessments. For instance, personality test alone is of no use, it should be coupled with at least one cognitive ability test. Hire a specialist to interpret results Hiring is done based on subjective & objective data and also on intuition. Employers don’t have the expertise to interpret test results. If there are some external factors that are likely to affect test results, they must be taken into account to infer fair results. It is always advisable to hire a specialist who can evaluate all parameters and do justice to the job position at stake. Clarity about job function Pre-hire assessments are null and void when there is no lucidity about job position for which candidates are hired. Job profile should be given a lot of attention during an assessment. There is a need to revisit job profile to ensure that assessment is in compliance with it.  It should be tailored to the specific job profile. If a candidate is hired for a customer-service oriented role, it is important that potential recruit is extrovert, gregarious, and talkative. Therefore, apart from quantitative aspects, HR managers should also focus on interpersonal behaviors and personality traits of candidates. In-depth assessment required for C-class positions Identify the top traits required for a particular job profile and use them as benchmarks while assessing candidates. Some job profiles require in-depth assessment especially C-class positions owing to the complexity of the role. In that case, assessments must include factors like motivation, assertiveness, accountability, decision-making, relationship, crisis-handling, critical thinking skills, brainstorming etc. Correlation between pre-hire assessment and current employee performance Investment in pre-hire assessments should give a big return on investment. And it can happen only when companies can realize the potential to grow with the candidate before they are hired. An appropriate way to go forward to is to correlate pre-hire assessments with ongoing employee performance to get better results. This helps employers to identify skills attributed to better performance. This approach is effective only when companies use rigorously profiling of employees to identify top performers. Training managers are equipped better to design programs Pre-hire assessments are quite beneficial from training perspective. Training managers can plan their learning approach for employees based on pre-hire assessment results. This enables them to build programs based on current skill level of new hires. Pre-hiring assessments are an integral part of hiring process Pre-hire assessments are a part of hiring process. It helps you to screen candidates before they reach the one-on-one interview stage. This saves you a lot of time in interviewing inapt candidates. Nonetheless, HR managers should always include other traditional measures like interviews, social networking sites, referrals

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What are Predictive Metrics and how can it help you predict Employee Turnover?

July 18, 2016

Businesses are prone to risks of market volatility. Ability to deal with such risks is heightened by human capital risks. It is always difficult for HR managers to predict which employees are likely to quit. Business owners have often paid least attention to HR department owing to its inability to contribute towards strategic business decisions. Employee dissatisfaction or any other latent reason may trigger a sudden exodus of employees from a company. This can cost heavily to the company leading to loss of business productivity, bad reputation in the market, customer dissatisfaction and deterioration of work quality. Instinctive prediction can be misleading because it is not supported by facts. Predictive metrics follows a purely data-driven approach and is gaining importance through its impact on talent management function. What is predictive metrics? Predictive metrics is a value-added process for HR managers to enhance their decision-making abilities by defining factors associated with employee turnover.  Managers can use parameters like employee history, job functions held, the time between promotions, the time between change of job, personal data, current profile, time spent in current profile, employee performance, and many other business factors to take informed decisions and help their company to grow.  The data can also be put to use to find out which departments or teams face a higher risk of turnover. [php snippet=1] Predictive metrics allow businesses to identify and understand risks associated with employee retention. Such metrics may include the number of top performers at high risk of resigning in the next one year and costs associated with filling the vacancy. A number of HR analytics applications have surfaced in the market that assists in the processing of real-time data. Analysts use various three-dimensional predictive metrics to understand employee turnover patterns. Firstly, it is important to study turnover patterns in the past few years. Secondly, how have those patterns evolved over the past years. Thirdly, what new metrics can be taken into account that affects employee turnover. What does predictive metrics do? Identify the factors attributed to key targeted employees likely to resign and assign a risk ratio to each of those employees. Identify the factors attributed to new hires like characteristics, job history etc to predict the probability of high performance over the next 12 months. Estimate the impact of employee training programs and other talent management functions on business revenue. Estimate revenue per employee generated today and likely to be generated in future. This helps you to keep a check on labor costs in comparison with business revenue. Conduct employee satisfaction survey and analyze the factors that need to be addressed seriously. Use a talent index that compares performances of different teams and managers. Talent index number can be used to identify problems associated with employees and managers. How does predictive metrics help in anticipating attrition? Employee productivity  Assessment of employee productivity plays an important role in predictive metrics. Factors that positively impact productivity can be highly useful to HR managers. A graphical representation of employee productivity curve will give an insight into problems and corrective measures can be taken. Employee behavior Employee behavioral issues are often neglected in the organization. Negative behavior among employees has strong implication for attrition. Metrics like negligence, punctuality, absenteeism, sick leave, low morale, lack of commitment etc can be used to suggest effective solutions to deal with behavioral problems. Career trajectory Progression of new hires is critical to understand the quality of recruitment. Career trajectory can help managers to understand how fast new hires are likely to grow and contribute towards organizational success. It can further help them to predict the duration of their stay in the organization. Personal and professional goals should be in line to ensure that the employee does not quit. A similar progression can be drawn for existing employees in the company. Successful managers A successful manager ensures that every team member is happy. Apart from that, he is responsible for productivity, innovation, hiring and control employee turnover. Identify the metrics that defines the success of a manager. Such metrics can help you to identify and improve weak managers. It can also help you to spot employees capable to become a successful manager. A similar metrics can be drawn to identify new hires and current employees with good leadership capabilities. Large-scale openings HR managers are poorly prepared to predict large position openings. Establishing metrics that help them to predict what position will have maximum openings in future can lead to better planning for training, internal promotions or need for external hiring. Failure to do so negatively impacts business causing a sudden peak in turnover. Well-timed talent hiring Predictive metrics enable HR managers to hire talent at the right time. Hiring when all your competitors are aggressively hiring is not a good hiring tactic. Predictive metrics helps to identify the right time for your organization to hunt for talent to get most qualified and talented candidates.   It also helps you to spot surplus talent in certain areas in the organization so that you can plan to fill up top positions well in advance. Layoffs Hiring is not always a necessity. Many a time, organizations respond to market dynamics to layoff. Predictive metric helps you to forecast the need for shrinking. Once you know, shrinking is imperative, you can concentrate to spot and hold the best talent in the organization. Internal shuffling Predictive metrics helps you to conduct an internal movement of employees. There are times when employee shuffling is important to bring new energy and improve the productivity of the organization. Employees with a suitable set of skills can be deployed in better positions to exploit their talent and avoid work dissatisfaction. Temps Predictive metrics allows HR managers to project the need for temporary or contract workers. An organization may require extra manpower for a short duration or during the course of a particular project. Rather than hiring full-time employees which are an additional burden on human capital, part-time workers can be hired. Hiring full-time employees and then suddenly

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Why Equal Opportunity Hiring Should Be Your Motto

June 14, 2016

Lately, companies are beginning to realize that being fair is not only expected of them but is also part of regulations. Equal opportunity hiring is increasingly common across countries. Whether it is about hiring army veterans or the disabled, equal opportunity hiring is going to get more important in the coming years. While this may seem like a daunting task, to diversify the workplace and also ensure that there is quality all around, one needs to add that there are far too many socio-political aspects attached to this idea. Overcome biases and prejudices Hiring has always been biased by interviewers’ prejudices and existing notions, often leading to a distorted sense of efficiency. In fact, by not eagerly adopting equal opportunity hiring, companies are losing out on quality and efficiency. Sociological research shows that diverse environments help employees to foster positive relationships with each other, leading to more productivity and a better work culture. Studies have also shown that diversity brings in a sense of equality and harmony that is difficult to create artificially. In all respects, equal opportunity hiring is good not only for the company but also for the staff. To give you an example, company ABC, which was part of the establishment, did not have a very diverse staff. The staff were often found to be discussing things that were not really compatible with existing norms of the society. When the CEO of the company decided to hire people from different backgrounds, the company’s culture began to change. People no longer made remarks that were unseemly and instead, they began to learn about one another. Reflect real world’s diversity at work In a globalized world where different cultures interact with each other all the time, it is important to ensure that our own workplaces reflect this diversity. Special considerations need to be given to disadvantaged groups so that they have an equal opportunity while being hired. Disabled people may not be able to endure rigorous interviewing and recruitment processes. You can set aside a different day to interview them. One must remember that while being interviewed along with everyone else may turn out to be stressful to certain people, they may work very efficiently when they are at work. It is all really about making each others lives easier and being fair to those who may not be in a position to compete with everyone else equally. By bringing opportunities to them, a company will not end up hiring those who are less skilled. Instead, it will diversify and will be able to look for gold where it is usually not searched for. These days, people hold a more positive opinion about companies that stress on equal opportunities and rights. It is important as a branding exercise too, while also ensuring that you are being fair. After all, being fair and nice helps you to not only be a better company for your employees but also be a better brand for your customers.

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When Is Too Much Automation Bad for the HR Department?

May 30, 2016

Lately, there has been a trend to automate every single business process possible. Companies have begun to invest in enterprise resource planning (ERP), human resource management systems (HRMS) and customer relationship management (CRM). Companies have also begun to automate industrial functions and certain mechanized skills. While all these are great, there is a time when one needs to stop. One cannot and should not replace human managers with software programs Automating everything possible and more will lead to a state wherein companies will not be able to have that human touch which makes working or dealing with a business entity a pleasure. Staff are known to prefer to a human manager for certain problems than having to use employee self-service. They may also find it more motivating when an HR manager appraises them personally, instead of letting employees’ access performance appraisals on their HRMS screen. The reducing humanization of working spaces has led to the mechanization of company work culture. This is known to cause a reduction in performance and a lack of enthusiasm among staff. Certainly, there is a time when one can safely say that HR department has automated too many of its functions. Here lies the paradox. While HRMS makes things efficient, it also makes it unnecessary to have too many HR professionals. It is probably a better idea to strike a balance between the two. Originally, the concept of human resources arose in order to actually manage the staff, motivate them and also to address their grievances so that they can perform better. Human resources have its roots in industrial psychology, which stresses on the importance of reducing man-machine conflicts. While HRMS is a great tool to automate basic and complex human resource functions, it cannot and should not replace human managers completely. This leaves the employees having to deal with product managers or immediate supervisors who are not trained to address employee grievances. Bringing back the human touch It is important to have an HR department with trained human resource personnel while also using automation tools such as HRMS. This allows HR managers to work on more abstract tasks that cannot be performed by computers. It is important to have regular one to one conversations with employees. This is a task that can never be eliminated, just because an HRMS cannot perform it. There are a number of reasons why machines cannot completely replace human beings. One of the main reasons is, employees like to have their human managers around. While HRMS significantly reduces the need for human intervention, when dealing with employees, human managers have their role to play. This leaves us with the conclusion that while HRMS is absolutely necessary for companies to get leaner and increase productivity, trained HR personnel are required too, so that employees do not feel alienated in a world that is ruled by machines. A good balance between the two will help companies to create the ideal atmosphere where employees remain motivated, human errors are reduced, and there is a symbiotic relationship between man and the machine.

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