The search for a perfect employee-employer match has a great deal in common with the search for true love. As parties on both sides can attest, the process comes with plenty of heartbreak, inflated expectations, disappointments, rejections, and miscommunications, but when it goes well, the end result is a mutually fulfilling arrangement that only gets better as the years go by. So as a hiring manger, what can you do to avoid trouble and trauma and move as quickly as possible to the happy ending?

Present Your Company Honestly

There’s nothing more annoying to candidates than being sold a bill of goods. And though they’ll correct their mistake eventually if they sign on under false pretenses, the process will be expensive for both of you in terms of wasted time and the high cost of hiring and turnover. So be honest. From the first moment of contact (your job posting), make sure you describe the position accurately. Don’t exaggerate the glamour, the challenge, or the opportunities this position offers for growth. And of course, try not to misrepresent your company’s culture.

Insist on the Truth

Just as you show respect to your candidates by describing your culture and company as they are—not in terms you think your audience wants to hear—you should expect the same honestly in return. In fact, you should insist on it. Ask direct, meaningful questions during your interviews, and as you do so, make it safe and easy for your candidates to provide honest answers and share their true feelings. If they want something the company can’t offer, or vice versa, it’s better for both parties to learn this during the application process, not six months down the road.

Share the Same Passions

It’s been said that perfect love isn’t two people looking at each other; it’s two people looking in the same direction. Before you make a commitment to your candidate and expect her to do the same for you, make sure that you share the same vision for the near and distant future. Do her one, three, and five-year plans line up well with your company’s needs? Can you provide the resources and support she’ll need to take her career where she wants it to go? If you plan to take the company in a specific direction, can she offer the skill sets and attitude that can make this happen? If not, think twice. The two of you may get off to a rosy start, but what happens when the honeymoon ends?

In some ways, a great staffing firm is like a great matchmaker. Here at the Palmer Group, our experienced Des Moines staffing pros have what it takes to help you find your perfect employee. We’re great listeners, and our candidate contacts cover a wide range of industries at every career level. Make an appointment today and let us introduce you to the candidate of your dreams.

Age stereotyping has no place in a productive business setting, and it’s important to evaluate current employees and screen potential ones based on nothing but their own individual traits and merits. But at the same time, there are certain benefits that all employees have to offer and which tend to show up at different stages of life. As you sort through candidate profiles and work hard to assemble a crack team of excellent workers with diverse, complimentary skill sets, a team that can drive your small business forward, consider the contributions that coincide with every age.

The Youngest Professional Employees (Gen Y)

The youngest members of your team have recently been released from the world of academia into the world of commerce, and they’re probably still adjusting to the sudden shift in what’s expected of them. Young workers soon recognize that at the entry level, blind obedience can be valuable, but those who accept this too quickly may need extra instructions and hand holding before approaching a task. Young workers may lack practical or technical confidence, and they may not register opinions or ask questions as often as they should. Those who struggle with blind obedience and have too much confidence may speak up and offer ideas and opinions that demonstrate an incomplete grasp of the larger picture. In either case, younger workers tend to be eager to please, naïve, and enthusiastic.

Mid-Level Employees (Generation X)

Mid-level workers have had a chance to hone their independence and critical thinking abilities, and they’ve typically abandoned blind obedience for broader decision-making skills. While younger workers need to be coached from an academic to a commercial mindset, mid-level workers sometimes need coaching from an employee mindset to that of a leader/manager. In exchange for the attention and motivation employers provide, mid-level workers offer the best of both energy and experience. They provide bold ideas, but these ideas are rooted in an understanding of the business as a whole. They know what they’re doing, they’re confident, they’re energetic, and they’re learning how to balance the professional and personal aspects of their lives. The primary HR challenge of this group comes from the pull of their complex lives and non-work related responsibilities. 

Older Workers (Baby Boomers)

Older workers approaching retirement have often mastered the most complex skill sets and broadest institutional knowledge required by their professions. They know how the business works, they understand their roles in the big picture, and they know how to initiate and control large scale change within that picture. They may not always be familiar with newer software platforms, but pairing them with younger workers can allow each to benefit from the knowledge and experience of the other. The primary HR challenge of this group often comes from the succession planning and institutional knowledge transfers that need to take place as they retire.

For more specific information on how to manage your diverse teams of employees—and hire the right candidates regardless of age—reach out to the Des Moines staffing pros at the Palmer Group.

You’re doing everything you can to make sure your talented employees stick around, your most enthusiastic workers have an infectious impact on morale, and your strugglers get the coaching and training they need to bolster their contributions. But while you work hard to staff your workplace, are you also guilty of these five simple blunders that may be standing in your way? Don’t take two steps back for every three you take forward. Watch out for these morale killers and stop them at their source: you.

1. Unclear instructions and goals.

Nothing dismantles respect and alienates a team from their leader faster than mixed signals. Before you tell anyone to do anything, from signing off on a million dollar project to making a coffee run, be absolutely sure the person understands your instructions and has the resources they need to carry out your order. And if possible, make sure they understand why they’re being asked to do it.

2. Too much concern with how the work gets done.

If your employees are getting the job done, don’t worry too much about how they do it. If they work on a flexible schedule or keep regular hours, team up or do it alone, take a step back and try not to micromanage. This is especially important if the work involves new idea generation and creativity.

3. Deadlines and rigid demands that kill innovation.

If you’re asking your employees to come up with original ideas, give them time, room to breathe, and the freedom to suggest misses and make mistakes. If you punish less than-perfect suggestions or force them to adhere to unrealistic deadlines, you’ll only push them to cut corners, recycle stale ideas, and resent you.

4. A lack of fairness.

Pay close attention to how you distribute rewards and credit. This includes seemingly insignificant rewards like your approval and attention. Even the smallest smiles and verbal thank-yous can cause serious morale problems if they’re withheld or misdirected.

5. Setting a poor example.

Never ask your employees to do things you wouldn’t do yourself, and work hard to model the behavior and dedication you expect from them. If you want them to come in at nine, be at your desk by 8:30. And if you disregard a company policy—from misusing office resources to neglecting to wear a hard hat in a safety zone— expect your employees to follow suit.

For more guidance on how manager and supervisor behavior can directly influence employee morale in the workplace, consult with the Des Moines staffing experts at the Palmer Group.

Recently, the media outlet Newswire published the results of a scientific study on the effects of “cyberloafing”, and neither the results of the study nor the Newswire piece were especially astonishing. But unfortunately, a local CBS news station in St. Louis seized on story soon after its publication and produced an accidently misleading segment which raised eyebrows all over the HR world, flooding Twitter feeds and offices like ours with demands for confirmation.  The crux of the mistake was a simple wording issue. While the CBS segment claimed that the average worker spends “60 to 80 percent of his or her time at the office on the internet” engaging in non-work related activity, the original Newswire piece used a different phrase: “Between 60 and 80 percent of people’s time on the Internet at work has nothing to do with work.”

There’s a huge difference between these two statements. And now that the mystery has been resolved, rattled HR managers and employers can settle back down and chalk this up to a simple media error…But should they? Cyberloafing may not be an out-of-control epidemic, but does that mean managers should ignore it altogether? Here are few considerations to keep in mind the next time you walk past an internet-surfing employee and your anxiety levels begin to rise.

Cyberloafing: Can it Really Hurt Your Business?

1. Recognize that non-work related loafing takes many forms, and a few minutes of private break time every hour actually make employees more productive, not less. Would you feel the same anxiety if you saw your employee standing up to stretch, chat with a coworker or pour a cup of coffee? Probably not.

2. Recognize that most honest employees are not actively trying to take advantage of the company when they drift onto the internet for a few minutes at a time. In fact, taking care of small errands online (buying a retirement gift, checking in with a childcare provider, or looking for a reliable local plumber) can actually help employees manage their personal responsibilities and get them out of the way. This means more time focused on work and less time spent coming in early and leaving late to deal with competing obligations.

3.  You always have the option of blocking internet access on the company network, but this isn’t recommended. Draconian measures like these don’t usually make employees more productive, only more resentful. Remember: trust is the cornerstone of a strong employee-manager relationship. 

The Des Moines staffing experts at the Palmer Group are standing by to answer any questions you may have about the Newswire study, cyberloafing, or any issue related to productivity and business management. Reach out to our office and arrange a consultation today.

The HR department is just as central to company success as any other. Accounting, product development, marketing, sales, and IT all have a place at the table. But when HR managers experience a need or a crisis, they often have trouble making their voices heard among executive decision makers. Why does this happen? What leverage do these other departments tend to have that we don’t have? The answer is simple: numbers.

Unlike most other departments, HR challenges and goals aren’t always easy to quantify. That’s because we deal in a currency of human beings and human capital, and it goes against our nature to distill human needs, value, and problems into straightforward metrics. A high turnover problem, for example, may require budget resources to resolve. But it can be hard to make this case to upper management without putting a number on the problem first.

So how can you gather metrics that allow executives to make sense of the challenges you face? And among these varied data streams, which ones matter the most to company success?

Metrics and Hiring
 
When you decide to quantify “successful hiring”, what does your company focus on most? If speed matters, measure the time it takes to fill each position and look for cost effective ways to reduce that number. But keep in mind the fast/cheap/good paradox. Almost every resource it takes to run a business—including employees—can be obtained fast, at a low cost, or with high value. And as the saying goes, you can have any two of these, but you can’t have all three.

If “good” hires are the goal, define those terms. Are good hires employees who last more than a year? More than five years? Consider handing surveys to managers of new hires and ask how they rate the success of each hire after one, three and five years. If “cheap” hires are the most valuable, how can you target undervalued candidates with high upside potential? And once they’re onboard, how can you get the most productivity from these workers while keeping salary costs under control?

Metrics and Retention

Hiring isn’t the only element of staffing that can be quantified and measured. In order to measure and control retention, you’ll need to find ways to put numbers on worker satisfaction. You’ll also need to quantify how your company stacks up against the competition in terms of salary data, workplace culture, perks, and opportunities for advancement.

Start by distributing surveys at least once a year among your teams, and balance this survey data against that of thoughtfully designed exit interviews. Make sure you draw as much information as possible out of departing employees, and find ways to crunch their reviews into meaningful data points that can be used to generate change. For more information on how to do this, reach out the Des Moines staffing and HR experts at The Palmer Group.

In some ways, there’s no such thing as a completely valueless interview. No matter what questions a manager asks, the interview gives her a chance to chat with the applicant and glean both tangible and intangible information about what he’d be like to work with and how motivated he is to please and impress.

But interviews are like any other aspect of business operations: reaching your destination is only part of the goal. You also want to reach that destination in a way that’s efficient, cost effective, fast and risk free. You don’t just want a candidate who will keep a chair warm and not turn into an expensive mistake. You want a candidate with the specific skill sets the position demands, and a candidate who cares as much about your business as you do.

To that end, it’s time to cut the fat and skip the interview questions that are merely “good.” Rebuild your interview script from the ground up by starting with the most important question any efficient manager can ask: “Describe your most important accomplishment in this role/this industry.”

Why is this One Question so Valuable?

This question forms the foundation of the rest of your twenty minute session with the candidate.  Use this as a starting point, and help the candidate flesh out a detailed twenty-minute response by asking the following supporting questions:

1. How did you find yourself facing this task or project?
2. Why were you chosen instead of someone else?
3. What was your first step, second step, etc, and how did you formulate this plan?
4. Did you need to enlist the help of others, and if so, how did this go?
5. Did your team encounter any interpersonal problems on the way? How were they solved?
6. What personal challenges did you face?
7. What team challenges did you face?
8. Was your project ultimately successful? If not, what did you learn and how did the experience make you proud?
9. If the project was a success, what did you learn from the process and to what do you credit the success?
10. If you could tackle this project again, what would you do differently?

Wrap your interview tightly around one key incident, and you’ll help your candidate tell the story of his or her professional life. You’ll gain a strong sense of who she is as a protagonist, where her strengths lie, and how she’ll leverage her unique contributions to support her next employer.

Best of all, you’ll clear an efficient path to your goal: identifying the candidate best suited to this position. For more guidance on how to keep your interview process focused, lean, and meaningful, reach out the Des Moines staffing experts at the Palmer Group.

If you think online reviews don’t have any impact on the future of your business, think again. Most studies show that more than 60 percent of consumers turn to the internet and consult reviews before making major purchasing decisions, and 50 percent of the U.S. population search for online reviews before conducting a transaction with a local business for the first time. If you’re concerned about the way reviews impact your business—and you should be—keep these considerations in mind.

Dealing with Online Reviews

1. First, find out what’s out there. The most popular online review sites (in order) are Yelp, Google Places, and Citysearch. If you aren’t already checking these sites and periodically running Google searches of your company name, start now. 

2. Second, get out in front of customer complaints before they find their way online. Do this by making it very, very easy for customers to complain to you in person and have their problems resolved. Provide customer satisfaction surveys after every job you perform, and offer easy access to customer complaint forms, both in paper and on your website. When customers register a complaint in person, make sure your employees are trained to respond by listening carefully and handling the problem quickly and effectively.

3. Never become defensive or dismissive of a customer complaint. You may as well just ask the angry customer to head online and trash your company publically. No matter what you can or can’t do to set things right, listen hard and take the issue seriously.

4. Reach out to a complaining customer immediately and privately by phone or email. Try not to get drawn into public arguments.

5. Stay on good terms with your local competitors. This is an easy way to avoid online turf wars and spam reviews.

6. Don’t be tempted to post fake positive reviews of your own business. This rarely plays out as planned, and it’s easier for online visitors to spot a fake review than you may think. The same applies to posting reviews on behalf of a client or customer. And it should go without saying, but never post a fake negative review of a local competitor (see item 5).

7. Get help. Reach out to a professional digital marketing firm and let them take responsibility for the online aspects of your business. When you put your brand, your search engine rankings, and your online reputation in the hands of professionals, you can turn your full attention back to running your company.   

Need help finding a marketing firm that can boost your online reputation? Are you looking for frontline employees who can put a great face on your business and build strong relationships with your customers and clients? Turn to the Des Moines staffing pros at the Palmer Group. We’ll connect you with team and resources you need to take your growing company to the next level.

When payroll budgets are tight and the future looks uncertain, sometimes a hiring freeze represents a viable cost cutting measure and a company’s only path to survival. But this move can be hard to explain to existing employees who were counting on the promise of additional hands to help manage accounts and process orders. And the fear and anxiety employees may feel about the situation can easily undermine daily productivity, and can even send valuable workers running for job boards and dusting off their resumes.

So what can you do to make sure a hiring freeze actually adds value and increases your collective odds of survival, instead of making a bad situation worse? And how can you accomplish more work (or at least the same amount) when employees are distracted and vital support positions are standing unoccupied? Keep these tips in mind.

Control and mitigate uncertainty

This is where your basic PR and messaging skills will come into play. When calming rattled nerves, nothing works better than a tightly controlled message, and nothing supports a tightly controlled message like old fashioned empathy and diplomacy. Anticipate your employees concerns and get ahead of them, don’t wait for employees to bring them to your attention.

Enlist employee involvement and commitment to a shared goal

Provide your teams with a sense of control over the situation by including them in decision making processes and shared goals. Don’t think of managers and employees as “us” and “them”. Bring everyone onto the same team. Inspire your workers, include yourself among them, and keep their attention focused on specific business targets related to profitability and revenue.

Lead by calm, focused example

If you settle in, put the drama of the hiring freeze behind you, and turn your attention to the goals and work at hand, your teams will be more likely to follow suit. If you harp in the subject relentlessly, provide official daily updates when you have no new information to offer, or behave in way that seems gloomy or anxious, your staff will probably give in to distraction and idling. (For example, avoid talking about future deadlines and projects as if they may never materialize. Commit to your December publication, release, or rollout date, even the company may not exist by then.)

Be very clear about new individual goals and realigned positions

Since a hiring freeze often means adjustments to employee roles and responsibilities, make sure these adjustments are clear. If workers will be taking on new projects or relying on new skill sets, make sure they get the training and guidance they need to be successful. Do so even if these new roles are expected to be temporary.

The Des Moines staffing and business management experts at the Palmer Group can help you keep your team focused and committed while riding out a rough patch. Contact our office and arrange a consultation to learn more.

While your business may be slowly rebounding from the rough patches of the last few years, it’s possible you’re still facing budget limitations that keep you from handing out big bonuses. And you may not be able to lavish your top performers with the monetary gifts and other incentives they probably deserve. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up on incentives entirely. Consider a few simple and effective ways to thank your top employees for all they do. Inexpensive gestures like these will let them know they’re appreciated without breaking the bank.

Focus on employee-manager relationships

If you put some extra effort and pressure into relationship-building between employees and their direct supervisors, you’ll notice the difference. And so will they. Instead of a big check, try a pair of concert tickets to a popular show. And instead of just choosing “a popular show”, let your managers choose a band or play they know a specific employee has been wanting to see. 

Give the gift of time
 
These days, employees lead very busy lives that extend far beyond their jobs. Priorities are more complex than they were generations ago, and time is often worth more than gold. Give high performing employees an unexpected day off. Or reward a victory by letting the entire team leave early on Fridays for a month.

Reward top performers with opportunity

There are few things more satisfying than an exciting and appropriate opportunity for advancement. A statement like “We’ve been watching you grow, we’re impressed with your last project, and we’d like to see you take the following step up…” can make employees feel appreciated like nothing else. Reward top performers by clearing a path for them in a direction that matches their goals.

Pile on the small gestures

Order lunch for your teams now and then. Have a bouquet of thank you flowers placed on a talented employee’s desk. Be generous with sincere and specific verbal thanks. Treat your entire team with tickets to a minor league baseball game. Take everyone out for ice cream on a Friday afternoon. These gestures might seem small, but if they’re frequent, personal, and well meant, you can cultivate loyalty among your staff and keep them onboard, even during lean times.

For more ways to reward your staff without jeopardizing your ability to make payroll, reach out the Des Moines staffing and small business management experts at the Palmer Group.

You have the greatest team in the world. And with all the care and investment you put into your strategy, you certainly should. Each member of your group is smart, hardworking, and easy to get along with. They’re all willing to go the extra mile and they have great attitudes, no matter what obstacles they face. So why are their projects constantly falling short of the mark? And why do all post-project debriefing sessions involve figuring out what went wrong? The answer may be easier than you think; you may be dealing not with a skill shortage, but with a skill mismatch. What can you do to set things right?

Reversing the Damage of a Skill Mismatch: Considerations

1. A skill skew can happen to any team, no matter how cohesive or well managed. So stop living in denial. If the wrong people have been paired with the wrong tasks, simply find a way to experiment, adjust, share the load, and allow team members to slowly hand things off until the necessary balance is found between aptitude and responsibility.

2. Review the circumstances surrounding each individual hire. Were some of these people hired to take on tasks or fulfill roles that no longer exist? The needs of a position tend to evolve over time. Sometimes this means significant drift from one area of expertise into another. Backtrack and figure out exactly when a given employee’s valuable and unique talents started going underused.

3. Do your employees fully understand their jobs and how these responsibilities fit into the larger picture and support the company as a whole? Just as important, do they understand the roles of the others around them? When new employees are brought on board, do they know exactly what they’re being trained to do and how they’ll eventually contribute to company success? Do the workers who are training them also understand this?

4. Resolving a skill mismatch requires empathy, insight, and a willingness to take risks. Sometimes you aren’t sure Sally’s public speaking skills are being optimized and you know Steve’s sales expertise is going to waste as he spends his days filling out paperwork, but prying these people away from their current tasks and installing them in others will take some finesse. It may also require some strategizing and long term planning.

Fortunately, you don’t have to chart these waters alone. The Des Moines staffing and HR pros at the Palmer Group are always available to answer your management questions and help you optimize your company’s budget resources, time and valuable talent.