It is often difficult to be specific, when asked what management or personal effectiveness training we would like. Often we don’t know, what we don’t know or can sometimes be a bit blind to our weaker areas! It’s sometimes easier to instead ask yourself a number of questions as these can help identify skills gaps.
How are you doing with the following questions? Read the rest of this entry »
A training needs analysis does exactly what it says it should –assess your training requirements. There is no point planning and delivering training that you think your people need, as this may not be where the skills gaps lie and where the knowledge is required. A training needs analysis is designed not only to address these gaps but also to identify strengths and then take those strengths to a higher level.
Especially in tight markets, many people may have the skills and abilities needed for their role but that this isn’t always enough. There needs to be a frame of reference for the challenging market we’re working in. Yes, your team may have the skills to perform well in a strong market but this won’t help if they cannot adapt the way they use them in a downturn. In other words there may not be a skills gap, but a knowledge gap instead. When you have identified these gaps and the areas where there is potential to raise the level of skill even further, you can then set about devising a strategy of training solutions.
But how do you go about undertaking this task?
The Government is proposing to introduce fines for employers found by an employment tribunal to have breached employment rights. In addition to any compensation awarded to the successful claimant an employer would have to pay a penalty to the Govt of 50% of the value of the compensation. There are some other proposals that prove to be more of a comfort to employers but this particular one is going to bump the costs to business up if the company doesn’t have its house in order.
Rather than wait for new legislation that tightens things further, I would always advise to adopt the belt and braces, preventative track now. Not only does this put your paperwork in order but it also points both managers and employees in the right direction in terms of best practice and keeping things legal.
So where is the exposure? Well, you should regularly review the following six questions to give you a good head start: Read the rest of this entry »
The age of the internet means that we can all know a little about a lot! Combined with that, the rise of job boards and the growth of LinkedIn has specifically challenged how recruiters can remain relevant in the future.
Never a better time than now then to develop narrow and deep expertise that encourages clients to talk to you whilst dissuading them from alternative sources.
Employment/recruitment law can be a dry subject but it is knowing your stuff here that really makes that point of difference in a conversation with a client or candidate – it’s that ‘value add’ thing. You are saving them time by keeping them up to date around the latest legislation or legal developments and this in turn boosts your credibility and develops relationships. Read the rest of this entry »
The article Ethical Energy (Pete Roythorne) in the spring edition of Recruitment Matters makes the persuasive case that, post recession, clients are expecting a higher standard of ethics and compliance from their recruiters if they are to build solid, lasting relationships. It seems to me that this is another consequence of the global financial crisis which has bred a new kind of cynicism against those looking to make a quick buck and put ‘bums on seats’ at the expense of quality.
One of the biggest areas of this is around how we apply the law to our recruitment practices. As an employment law specialist who trains recruiters it has always worried me that a cavalier approach is often taken with this. For example, an investment bank asks for a blonde 18 year old to start on Monday in a temporary assignment (yes, this happens!). What is often missing here is the educational piece that is a recruiters obligation to convey to the client. The consultant is the ‘expert’ who is pointing out the legal and ethical risks of such a course, rather than working under the table with the client to get them what they want. I know at this point I will be accused of not being commercial or rooted in reality. However, this should be about giving ALL information to the client and then accepting that they will take the action they want to, but at least they now have all the facts ie: Read the rest of this entry »
Key performance indicators (KPIs), targets, goals – call it what you want. All of these are present in sales roles and exist to motivate, track, foster healthy competition but above all MAKE MONEY. Those who don’t like to work in sharp end, targeted environments have thousands of other job roles to choose from and many prefer a less public way of carrying out their day to day activities, free from the exposure and accountability that hard targeting can bring.
Which brings me to the HR dept. I have rarely worked with HR people who love targeting/KPIs and it could be said that the business of HR should not have such cold measures applied to it. It’s a bit like the NHS and the argument over whether it should work doggedly to targets or recognise the human, variable, unpredictable elements of healthcare and prioritise activities based on day to day need.
But for HR what this misses is the opportunity to deploy great targets around people activity that drive performance in and unnecessary cost out of organisations. Consider a couple of examples: Read the rest of this entry »
One in every seven days off is now thought to be staff throwing a sickie or having a duvet day, costing the UK nearly£17bn in 2009. Unsurprisingly, Mondays and Fridays are the most favoured days. Company policies to deal with this range from docking pay to ‘cold calling’ workers at home who are persistent day-off offenders.
There is another way – use an incentive-based approach. One large corporation enters workers with a zero absence record into a prize draw. Bribery? Possibly. But it’s clearly a more positive tactic from the employees’ point of view. Other companies are linking attendance to bonuses or profit share payments, while employee-of-the-month schemes often factor good attendance into the award criteria. Read the rest of this entry »
Speaking on organisational change the BBC’s director of people, Lucy Adams pointed out that performance management is a key issue in challenging times. She said: “We can’t afford to avoid performance issues any more. We don’t have the time or money to allow people to perform at mediocre levels. When an employee spends 10 years just being ‘okay’, that’s immoral. But we shouldn’t use redundancy as a performance management tool, we need to reward the really great people and help the people who aren’t succeeding for us to go and succeed somewhere else.”
I agree and have always hated the expression ‘performance management’ as it always implies a negative that will end in dismissal for the employee! Mediocrity creates a lot of apathy and avoidance by managers in organisations as managers are happy to accept what their best people do but only confront the terrible performers at the last minute – often with legal consequences. The middle ground, the mediocre people just survive without any conversations around performance.
I have always trained and applied these principles: Read the rest of this entry »
We know how important a successful induction program is for both employee and employer. It is key for retention and at a time where the job market is still suffering this is vital.
A recent survey carried out by XpertHR found that a huge 91% of HR professionals believe that a successful induction process is the most important part of an employee’s training. Yet nearly half of employers surveyed felt that the induction process in their organisation was in need of a major overhaul.
So why are current induction programmes not working? Read the rest of this entry »
