retain good staff – HR Industry Interviews

Interviews from the A Better HR Business podcast

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7 Things That Set High Performing Organisations Apart

HRwisdom invites you to another free short webinar to help you and your business:

The 7 Things That Set High Performing Organisations Apart.

The 7 Things That Set High Performing Organisations Apart

The influential research firm Insync recently put out the results of a survey into what makes high performing organisations, well, high performing. High Performing Organisations

It is a highly valid survey of more than 100,000 employees in over 200 organisations conducted over 5 years.

Anne Barclay of HR Advantage will be talking us through the survey results and the learnings for your business.

The key outcome that Anne and her colleagues noticed when they looked at the results was how consistent the survey results are with other highly respected research.

Other such research includes that conducted by Jim Collins (Good to Great and Built to Last) and work done by people like Stephen Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People).

The survey results were also highly consistent with the consulting experience of Anne’s team when working with successful (and not so successful) firms.

High Performing Organisations

Drawing on these powerful new survey findings, Anne will share:

  1. Practical insights into the important things that set high performing organisations apart.
  2. The seven things that make them high performers.
  3. Five simple steps to take action on this powerful information.

Sorry – Closed

Sorry, this offer has expired.

Check out the free Human Resources Management resources available now here.

Good Advice On Workforce Productivity

Major new research and advice on workforce productivity by global consulting firm Ernst & Young has added weight to the seven step high performance process outlined in a recent HRwisdom workforce productivity presentation. Advice on Workforce Productivity

The free presentation (click here to see the: high performance team presentation) was conducted by the lead consultant from an award-winning human resources consulting firm in Brisbane.

The Ernst & Young data was recently published as the ‘Australian Productivity Pulse’ (we’ve put the link to the report in our Free Resources area – just log in now for free using the login form over on the right hand side).

Workforce Productivity Report

The Australian Productivity Pulse suggested that around $109 billion in wages is wasted every year due to poor productivity issues. 

The report found that, at an individual employee level, work done that adds ‘real value’ equals 58% of the working day whilst activities such as personal development & networking account for 24%.

Eighteen per cent of the average working day is spent doing work that ‘wastes time and effort’ – an astonishing figure.

Other Resources You Might Like:

Financial Awareness Staff Training Module (Free Use For 1 Week)

How To Manage Redundancies Without Destroying All Employee Goodwill

Recommended HR Consulting Firms in Australia

Areas Of Workplace Productivity To Improve

The Australian Productivity Pulse identifies four main areas to improve:

  • People management issues: developing and utilising the full talents and capabilities of human capital.
  • Organisation structure, design and operating model: removing all wasteful, bureaucratic, and non-value work and outputs.
  • Innovation: being deliberate and audacious with an innovation agenda.
  • Technology: being more ambitious and effective in process automation and technological change.

Of interest were also the Pulse’s findings that thirty-two percent of employees are planning to leave their organisation in the next 12 months.

Advice on Workforce Productivity

A further thirty-five per cent of staff are already pursuing external opportunities.

50% of the employees surveyed felt that a lack of career direction inside their organisation was forcing them to look elsewhere to achieve their career goals.

To read the report, just log in to the free HRwisdom resources area now (use the form over on the right hand side).

Get More Good Advice On Workforce Productivity Here

Don’t forget to watch the excellent free HRwisdom presentation: The 7 Things That Set High Performing Organisations Apart.

The free staff management presentation provides excellent advice on workforce productivity.

During this free on-demand webinar presentation, you’ll get:

  • Practical insights into the important things that set high performing organisations apart.
  • The seven things that make them high performers.
  • Five simple steps to take action on this powerful information.

You can see the presentation here: Good Advice on Workforce Productivity Presentation

HRwisdom

 

 

Australian Government Gives $20 Million To Combat Workplace Bullying [So Here’s Your Free Workplace Bullying E-Learning Module]

Workplace Bullying is a major problem in all economies. Workplace Bullying E-Learning

The Australian Government estimates that workplace bullying costs the national economy over $36 million dollars per year in lost productivity.

As a result, the recent Federal Budget allocated over $20 million dollars to the Fair Work Commission so that it could do more in this troublesome area.

Free Workplace Bullying E-Learning Module

HRwisdom has a special limited-time bonus: One week of free E-learning for employers.

Please Note: This special bonus is only available within Australia.

HRwisdom has arranged for you to get one free week’s use of one of Savv-e’s popular compliance training modules, including the excellent module on workplace bullying.

Obviously, this bonus will only be available for a very limited time.

We suggest you grab the workplace bullying module right now.

Get Your Free Workplace Bullying E-Learning Now

Workplace Bullying E-Learning

If you would like one week’s free use of one of the online compliance modules we have chosen for HRwisdom, fill in the form below

This bonus will only be available for a very limited time so we suggest you grab it now.

Feel free to forward this message on to your friends and colleagues.

To request the free trial, please put your contact details and your preferred training module in the box below.

Request Your Special 1 Week Free E-Learning Module Now 


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Interesting Workplace Management Advice – Dealing With Poverty – Part 2

Today we are following-up on the first half of Paul Mooney’s very interesting workplace management advice on dealing with poverty. Paul Mooney

Yesterday, Paul shared his thoughts on a topic that is rarely discussed in business – managing people from a low socio-economic background.

To see the first half of this article, click here: workplace management advice.

Over to Paul . . .

Interesting Workplace Management Advice – Dealing With Poverty – Part 2

This week, I want to bring you on this journey that goes back a couple of years. Picture the scene. I was about to ‘pull the trigger’ on a guy that reported into me. He had been underperforming for quite a while and had recently stepped over the line. I was meeting the Full-Time Union Official  – simply as a courtesy – to tell him what was about to happen. After he’d heard the details, he made the point: “Why don’t you give him a break. That guy was born with a rusty spoon in his mouth. ”

Poverty Explained

It was a graphic description of poverty and a timely reminder that not all of us have equal privilege.  The question around why some people are poor is one of the perennial debates in sociology. A number of structural causes are normally put forward to explain why individuals find it difficult to escape the poverty trap. These include:

To see the causes in the previous article, click here: workplace management advice.

Moral Fibre

There is an alternative right wing view that sees poverty as an outcome of the absence of moral fibre (essentially, a lack of character).

This includes a fear of working hard, acceptance of state handouts, using money for immediate pleasure, substance abuse and so on.

Evidence for this is often grounded around stories of individuals who started out in poor circumstances, but managed to scramble up the mountain and become successful. 

Those individuals sometimes love telling their own ‘rags to riches’ story a la Bill Cullen.

Indeed, this view of the world has some universal appeal.

It makes the rest of us feel ‘We’ve earned our success’ (better than admitting we were just lucky to be born into a particular family and social strata). 

Overall, the ‘lack of moral fibre’ argument is a minority view as an explanation for poverty.

The general consensus in the literature is that (a) there will always be exceptional individuals who can overcome adversity (b) for every career that poverty ‘supports’, it blights 100 others.

To summarize, while there are elements of truth in both perspectives, poverty can be better understood by a range of structural factors rather than being the outcome of individual underperformance.

John Lonergan was the former Governer of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. He regularly said: “It’s not just a coincidence, that most of the inmates come from 4 or 5 postal districts”.

Tackling Underperformance

In organizations, a similar debate sometimes takes place when underperformance occurs.

When an organization  (entire business or a particular section) underperforms, the question ‘why’ is raised.  

In broad terms, underperformance occurs for one of two reasons.  A range of ‘structural reasons’ can negatively impact performance or it can be down to a lack of individual effort or talent. 

The structural elements can include changing market conditions, new regulations, key competitor moves, lack of talent in the organization (a failure of previous leadership) and so on.

Professor Charles McCarthy (RIP) in Trinity College, in his book The Decade of Upheaval declared: “Very often, the events were too great for the men”. McCarthy understood that the wave is sometimes bigger than the swimmer and people cannot always cope with this.   At other times, it’s absolutely correct to take someone off a project or take them out of the organization entirely.

Central Point:  ‘Underperformance’ is typically diagnosed as a lack of individual talent.  

However, just like the poverty example cited, there are often hidden structural elements which help to explain how performance gets derailed.

In the end, we decided not to fire the guy. It’s a couple of years ago now and he never became a star performer, but he did knuckle down. In this instance the union official was right and I was wrong.  

As a Leader, your role is to separate truth from fiction.

And, just like a surgeon in Beaumont Hospital, you have to be careful that you don’t remove the wrong organ.

Paul Mooney

Paul Mooney leads Tandem Consulting.

 

Interesting Workplace Management Advice – Dealing With Poverty

Today we are sharing some interesting workplace management advice from an HRwisdom contributor based in Ireland, Paul MooneyPaul Mooney

Paul leads the Tandem Consulting group and is a former President of the National College of Ireland.

Paul is sharing his workplace management advice on a topic that is rarely discussed in business – managing people from a low socio-economic background.

Over to Paul . . .

Workplace Management Advice – Dealing With Poverty

This week, I want to bring you on this journey that goes back a couple of years.

Picture the scene. I was about to ‘pull the trigger’ on a guy that reported into me.

He had been underperforming for quite a while and had recently stepped over the line.

I was meeting the Full-Time Union Official  – simply as a courtesy – to tell him what was about to happen. After he’d heard the details, he made the point: “Why don’t you give him a break. That guy was born with a rusty spoon in his mouth. ”

Poverty Explained

It was a graphic description of poverty and a timely reminder that not all of us have equal privilege.  Workplace Management Advice

The question around why some people are poor is one of the perennial debates in sociology.

A number of structural causes are normally put forward to explain why individuals find it difficult to escape the poverty trap.

These include:

  • Low Income: You’re one of a large number of children whose parents never finished second level school.
  • Family Support: Your parent’s work in minimum wage jobs. Your father does not support you in any way (€ or emotionally).
  • Educational Difficulties: You are gifted with average intelligence. People rarely show interest in your school work.
  • Social Capital: You don’t know anyone well who’s been to college. You’ve no real idea what you’d do in college since you don’t have any exposure to the professions.
  • Role Models: The only people around you that have money are criminals. Everyone else is poor and a lot of them manage on welfare. No one expects you to be any different.
  • Reduced Opportunities: The job you secure is 20 hours a week, pays minimum wage, has few benefits and barely pays for the petrol used to drive there.
  • Low Expectations: The goal that everyone seems to have for you is to stay off drugs and stay out of Prison.

Part 2

In the second half of this article, Paul examines the view of ‘moral fibre’ and its perceived impact on poverty.

Paul then shares his advice on how to tackle underperformance.

To find out what happened to the employee in this story, click here: workplace management advice article.

HRwisdom

How Involving Your Staff In Your Company’s Online Marketing Can Increase Sales, Decrease Costs, and Increase Staff Motivation

HRwisdom has published a special new report for HR professionals and business managers keen to make a financial difference to their company.

Download this report

The report reveals a unique opportunity for HR professionals and staff managers to be recognised as a real business partner by decreasing costs and actively growing the business.

The report is called:

How Involving Your Staff In Your Company’s Online Marketing Can Increase Sales, Decrease Costs, and Increase Staff Motivation

In the report you’ll learn: 

  • You will discover why businesses shouldn’t be distracted by social media horror stories in the workplace.
  • You will discover just how powerful online marketing can be in helping you to decrease costs and increase sales.
  • You will discover how involving your staff in your online marketing can improve business results through increased employee engagement levels.

To download the report (no registration required) click here:

How To Increase Sales, Decrease Costs, and Increase Staff Motivation

HRwisdom

Managing Work Stress – Part 2

The issue of managing work stress is an important one for employers.

Work StressApart from the financial costs to the business, there are obvious impacts on individuals and work teams.

Following on from his previous article on managing work stress, regular HRwisdom contributor Weng Chio Fan explains how innovation can help your employees to cope better with work stress.

Over to Weng . . .

Managing Work Stress. How does innovation help?

One way to think about job stress is to see it as an outcome between job demands and job resources.

Stress results when the demands exceed available resources.

Therefore, the negative consequences of demanding work conditions can be offset by increasing available resources.

In this regards, organisational support for innovation can be a resource.

This is because an innovative culture gives individuals the latitude they need to develop novel methods, processes or schedules that increase their efficiency.

These innovative working methods allow employees to better cope with the demands of their jobs and hence counteract the negative consequences of work demands.

Not only does an innovative culture increase employee efficiency, organisations are also more likely to develop new products and services. 

This helps the organisations to be more efficient, productive and flexible to the changing needs and contexts of customers and clients, helping organisations to stay in the lead of the market competition.  

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Think again

Organisations that demand a great deal from their employees often hesitate to support innovation because they have low tolerance on deviations or changes from the work processes and procedures.

Yet, it does not come cheap.

On the other hand, those that support innovation will reap the fruit of having less stressful employees. 

HRwisdom

Feel Free To Share This Article With Your Colleagues

Workplace Sexual Harassment [Powerful Video]

A major issue for any employer is how to prevent workplace bullying and sexual harassment.

Under Occupational Health and Safety and anti-discrimination law, employers have a legal responsibility to provide a safe workplace.

This short video explains:

  • What is workplace sexual harassment.
  • The social and economic effects
  • What employers should do.

Feel free to share the video with friends and colleagues using the sharing buttons below.

 

 

Get $30 and a free transfer when you use CurrencyFair to send money overseas via this special HRwisdom offer code: https://www.currencyfair.com/?channel=RCFL11

Get $30 and a free transfer when you use CurrencyFair to send money overseas via this special HRwisdom offer link.

 

Workplace Sexual Harassment Video

 

Remember, it is important to be proactive when it comes to this area.

The Australian Human Rights Commission explains:

[quote] Employers have a duty of care for employee health and well-being whilst at work. Any employer that allows bullying to occur in the workplace is not meeting this responsibility.  Workplace bullying is verbal, physical, social or psychological abuse by your employer (or manager), another person or group of people at work. Workplace bullying can happen in any type of workplace, from offices to shops, cafes, restaurants, workshops, community groups and government organisations. Workplace bullying can happen to volunteers, work experience students, interns, apprentices, casual and permanent employees. Some types of workplace bullying are criminal offences. [/quote]

For more information, click here to download a government resource for employers.

The resource aims to assist small, medium and large employers to understand and meet their legal obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act. It also provides practical guidance on how employers can prevent sexual harassment and how to respond effectively when it occurs. In addition, the resource discusses recent legal developments concerning workplace sexual harassment and canvasses some of the new and innovative approaches to addressing sexual harassment.

Managing Work Stress Through Innovation – Part 1

The issue of managing work stress is an important one for employers.

Work StressApart from the financial costs to the business, there are obvious impacts on individuals and work teams.

Regular HRwisdom contributor Weng Chio Fan is taking a look at this issue.

Over to Weng . . .

Work Stress: Can You Afford To Overload Your Employees?

A recent news report showed that, job stress accounts for at least 10% of the compensation claim across the public service, with an average $251,000 payout.

Besides, demanding work can also lead to absenteeism, performance decline, increased turnover and burn-out. All of these cost organisations millions of dollars in poor productivity performance. In fact, research shows that even an average level of work demands negatively impact on organisations’ performance.

However, with increasing globalization, rapidly shifting technologies and the ever-changing economic environment, organisations are trapped in the dilemma where their employees have to cope with numerous job demands to keep them stay in the business, yet, they have to find ways to alleviate job demands so that their workers can performance at their peak.  

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The Way Out: Innovation

Recent research by leading organisational psychologists found that supporting innovation among employees is an effective strategy to alleviate the stress of  job demands.

Innovation can mean introducing new or improved products, services or business processes into the business.

It can be a single major breakthrough or it can be a series of small, incremental changes.

In a nut shell, it involves two components: creation of new ideas and their implementation.

The study found that organisations that encourage and support the production and implementation of creative ideas perform better than those that don’t.

To find out how innovation can help your employees to cope better with their job demands, click here to see the next article in this short review of managing work stress.

HRwisdom

 

Conducting An Interview To Avoid The Dud Hire

Today we’re looking at the art of conducting an interview to avoid hiring the wrong person.

Regular HRwisdom contributor Weng Chio Fan is sharing an extract from an interesting article on this issue.

Over to Weng . . .

Conducting An Interview To Avoid The Dud Hire

Hiring the right people is the first HR priority for all business.  

Not only is bringing in the wrong person costly, the negative energy that they can bring will probably spread across your team and can affect internal and external customers.

So, taking the wrong person on board is probably the last thing you want to do.

Conducting an Interview

Although we can never be error free, there are ways to avoid repeated hiring mistakes.

Here are some key hiring mistakes to avoid as seen by industry commentator Jeff Haden:

1. You ignore the total package.

Every employee has to follow company rules and guidelines, whether formal or unwritten. Still, some people can’t… or just won’t.

The skilled engineer with an incredible track record of designing new products while berating support and admin staff won’t immediately turn over a new interpersonal leaf just because you hired him.

Instead: Decide whether you’ll accept the total package. If you desperately need engineering skills you might decide to live with the proven engineering superstar’s diva behaviour.

Always assume that if compromises need to be made then you will need to be the one who makes them. If you aren’t willing to accommodate or compromise, pass.

2. You hire for skills and ignore attitude.

Skills and knowledge are worthless when they aren’t put to use. Experience, no matter how vast, is useless when it is not shared with others.

Think of it this way: The smaller your business the more likely you are to be an expert in your field; transferring those skills to others is relatively easy. But you can’t train enthusiasm, a solid work ethic, and great interpersonal skills–and those traits can matter a lot more than any skills a candidate brings.

Instead: When in doubt, hire for attitude. You can train almost any skill, but it’s nearly impossible to train attitude. See the candidate who lacks certain hard skills as a cause for concern, but see the candidate who lacks interpersonal skills and enthusiasm as a giant red flag.

3. You sell your business too hard.

You absolutely need employees who want to work for you. But never try too hard to sell a candidate on your company.

Good candidates have done their homework. They know whether your company is a good fit for them.

Plus, selling too hard skews the employee/employer relationship from the start. An employee grateful for an opportunity approaches her first days at work much differently than an employee who feels she is doing you a favour by joining your team.

Instead: Describe the position, describe your company, answer questions, be factual and forthright, let your natural enthusiasm show through, and let the candidate make an informed decision. Never sell too hard, even if you’re desperate. Trust that the right candidate will recognize the right opportunity.

Conclusion

By avoiding these mistakes, you can definitely increase your chances of hiring the right person for your organisation. To see more hiring mistakes, click to see the full article by Jeff.

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