4 Economic Alternatives to Dismissing an Employee

Whether your company is under-resourced or an employee is constantly under-performing, there comes a time where it is inevitable that businesses lay-off employees. However, you may be surprised that sometimes this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. If you are considering letting someone go, make sure you consider these 4 points to ensure you are not losing a valuable employee unnecessarily.

1. Reassigning

Just because an employee that does not perform well in their current position does not mean they are a ‘bad’ employee or lacking in capability. It may simply be a mismatch between person-job fit. Before firing an employee, consider alternative positions that they are a better fit for. Please note, that this is not a suggestion to move a ‘poor performer’ to another department, but rather an instruction to look and see if there truly is a position they would be well suited for. If you decide to reassign the employee to another role, to ensure a smooth transition, it is advisable to give the employee’s new manager some recommendations on strategies that have been successful in the past and highlight the strengths you believe the individual possesses.

2. Retraining

If an employee cannot perform their tasks, they may require additional training to build their capability in a certain area. If the employee wasn’t thoroughly trained and educated, or if their job description has changed significantly since they were recruited, they may not have the necessary skills to meet expectations. If this is the case, re-training or upskilling the current employee is more cost effective than recruiting, on-boarding or training a new employee for the role. Conducting an assessment on whether an employee requires further training will provide a good indication of their skills, and can assist in deciding if they have the right resources for the job.

3. Performance Improvement Plan

Performance plans are a great way to set expectations and clarify objectives. You could set a 30, 60 or 90 day plan. Your performance plan should state the specific performance areas to be improved; it is also helpful to provide examples where possible. State the level of work performance expected and the timeframes of deliverables. Identify and specify the support and resources that you will provide and notify them of additional resources available. Ensure the employee is clear about the measures you will be using to review their performance and progress. Monitor the plan, and communicate your feedback to the employee at specified meeting times.

4. Disciplinary Action

Given there are many legislative requirements to consider when an employee misbehaves, it is advisable to have a Disciplinary Action Plan that may be utilised when counter-productive work behaviours occur. It is important that employees are aware of what behaviour is unacceptable and are fully aware of the consequences of engaging in such behaviours. Some disciplinary actions may involve a form of counselling or training sessions, warnings, or suspension from work.


There are of course preventative measures that are time and cost effective. Many revolve around recruiting the right employee for the role and the organisation. Our partner company Psych Press has many Talent Management Solutions which can be tailored to suit your company’s needs. If you need any advice, give one of their helpful consultants a call on (03) 9670 0590.

The Rise of Video Interviews

Traditional face-to face job interviews are becoming a thing of the past.  With a world of technology at your fingertips, screening applicants through online can help to save you valuable time, whilst ensuring that only the best applicants proceed to the final stages of your recruitment process. Here are 5 reasons why video interviews are on the rise.

Put down the phone

Replacing an initial follow up phone call with a video interview can offer a better insight by allowing you to see the candidate’s body language. You can achieve the same results as a phone interview, but with a stronger grasp on who the candidate really is. Rather than meeting a candidate based only off a resume, video screening ensures only the candidates with the suitable qualities will be making it through to the next stage of the recruitment process.

Keep it focused

With a traditional face-to-face interview, the interview can go astray due to distractions in the office or side conversations that you may have with the candidate. This side-chat may also be a source of unconscious bias over who will progress through to further stages. Through online screening, the candidates all have the same questions and an allotted amount of time to answer each question.  Video interviewing brings uniformity and professionalism to the recruitment process.

No need for nerves

As each candidate conducts their video interview in their own time and space. Not only convenient, interviewing online may reduce interview anxiety. As the candidates are in a comfortable setting, it allows you to truly grasp their capabilities, unmasked by the negative stress job interviews often bring.

Be kind, rewind

Need to review your candidates? Easy! Just click replay! The convenience of a video not only allows for you to watch their interviews again, allowing you to compare and contrast promising candidates, having their key qualities fresh in your mind at all times.

Pass it on

Gone are the days of having a panel of hiring managers or directors spend their valuable time sitting through hours of interviews. Relevant sections of promising interviews can be shared amongst your other hiring managers with the click of a button.                                                                                                                  

Boundaryless  recruitment

Where potential candidates used to be those within arm’s reach, with video interviews, applicants can be screened from all corners of the globe. You can find great talent interstate and overseas. Video interviews efficiently and cost-effectively assess and engage with this previously untapped talent pool.

      

Less time, more candidates

Video interviewing allows you to rank and review vast amounts of applicants in minimal time. Time is money, and where with traditional interviews, the number of applicants you can consider is restricted, screening online allows you to ensure promising candidates are not missed due to logistics.

Did you like the sounds of video interviewing? Voice advantage is a sleek and advanced interviewing platform designed to relieve recruiters and hiring managers of all the manual and follow up activities in interviewing, whilst giving you the true voice of a candidate’s potential. Please take a quick 3 minutes to 'put yourself in the interviewees shoes' and take the demo here. Or learn more about how it all works in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch? 

 or visit http://www.psychpress.com.au/psychometric/voice-advantage/

Top Reasons Your Best Talent Is Leaving You

You've worked hard to claw your business into its current position and undoubtedly, your workforce has helped your business get to where it is. You and your employees have reached a point where you are all cogs in a machine, working in synergy with each other. But what would happen if one of your star players were to leave? This scary situation for employers is unfortunately a reality as more workers are quitting their jobs today than at any point since 2010.

While there are definitely forces that are out of your control to stop your best people leaving, if you create an environment (and build relationships) that makes them feel challenged, engaged, valued, and rewarded you can raise the chances of retaining your top talent.

Here are the top reasons as to why your top talent are leaving:

1. Dissatisfaction with job or responsibilities

Great workers want to be learning and growing on the job. There is always room for growth and skill development, even if they are a seasoned pro. Increasing an individual's autonomy in their role can be a great way of giving them more responsibility while still getting all the work done.  

2.  Being unchallenged and dis-engaged them

Smart workers don’t want to feel like they are working in a repetitive role full of boredom. They need to have their minds engaged and their creativity challenged. An example of how you may engage someone in the workplace might be to allow them to shadow someone else from another part of the business for a day. 

3. Lack of a sense of belonging 

On a human level, everybody wants to feel liked and cared about, or at the very least like they belong somewhere. As an employee, they want to feel like you care not only about their career but also on a personal level. An aspect of Transformational Leadership is treating employees like individuals and not just another member of the team. The old saying of "leave your emotions at the door" is no longer valid. Employees who have fun with their colleagues and look forward to being at work are more likely to stay in the long term. Letting them feel like you care about them gives them the confidence to have a voice which may lead to innovations within your business and increased productivity!

4. A misalignment between personal leadership styles and the leadership style that is required to lead effectively.

It's hard to find a balance between micro managing and being a ghost in the workplace. Your best talent want to be given enough rope to accomplish their duties and tasks themselves. Similarly, being an absent or avoidant leader by only checking in with your staff once every few months will drive them away. It is essential to find the right balance between the two ends of the spectrum and a good way to assess how you are going is to simply ask your employees "Are we meeting enough for you to be as effective as you can be?".

As the saying goes: “Employees don’t quit working for companies, they quit working for their bosses”. It is clear that these small changes that you can immediately implement will pay off and prevent your top talent from needing to look for another job. 



To find out who your top talent is, our partners, Psych Press are talent assessment and development Psychologists. Psych Press have a large selection of in-house and customisable assessment tools that link personality to performance prediction for a variety of companies. One such tool, Business Personality Reflections (BPR) has been used for a multitude of roles to ascertain a strong fit for recruiting decisions. Based on a wide field of research and multiple industry norms, this assessment provides a full report for your informed decision. To find out more visit the Psych Press Business Personality Reflections page or contact them on (03) 9670 0590. 

Psychometric testing and hiring in 2015

An ever increasing number of employers are identifying the benefits of psychometric testing and are reaping the rewards of applying it to their recruitment process. In 2015, the decision to use technology in order to save time and money in hiring may make or break both recruitment agencies and frequently hiring enterprises. Gone are the days where a ‘gut feeling’ provides acceptable justification to decide the fate of one's career and more importantly, business success. Instead decisions must now be based on tangible data in order to compete with a fast paced environments, and fast paced staff. Furthermore, current research suggests that replacing a skilled person can cost an employer upwards of 150% of that employee’s annual salary, meaning even one bad hire can be extremely damaging! This is where online psychometric assessments can turn things around. Whilst there may be many kinds of objective testing on offer, they all aim to provide scientifically backed data about a person. This data may be on the candidates’ personality attributes, past behaviours, and intellectual abilities. This information can then be used to predict future occupational success in a wide variety of workplace environments, including sales, human services, and even the defence force. Listed below are some of the benefits and outcomes achieved by using such a process that traditional methods such as interviews, resumes or even years experience cannot achieve: 1.      Predicting future behaviour Information gathered from psychometric tests can be used to predict how well potential candidates will behave in the future. This can include how well they make decisions under pressure or how they prefer to manage important tasks. This kind of information makes an assessment report an integral ongoing tool as it can be used post-hire to provide vision into how best to manage an individual and receive the most value from their role (not to mention allows you to identify which directions NOT to point them in!) 2.      Comparing candidates Sometimes it can be hard to choose between your shortlisted candidates. Using psychometric testing to compare candidates allows you to look past aesthetic disruptions or perceived value shown through interview confidence to highlight number driven abilities and reasoning as it relates to verbal, abstract and numeral skills which have been shown to be far better indicators of job performance. 3.      Evidence and accuracy Even the most experienced interviewers may miss out on small, crucial details about their candidates, potentially leading to a bad hire. This is not because they are incompetent, but because simply relying on a resume and interview alone allows the candidate preparation to tell you exactly what you want to hear, without any way for you to determine how truthful and accurate the information really is. It's not the candidate's fault as it's natural to appear more able, more agreeable, and more confident in an interview situation than a working situation where they need to use their reasoning and intelligence to get the job done. Including research based psychometric tests to your recruitment tool box eliminates such guess work by adding reliable insight into the traditional hiring model. 4.      User friendly Often employers are concerned about how difficult interpretations of psychometric tests are. Fortunately, you don’t need a degree in psychology to understand them! Psychometric assessments are written using a practical language, so that employers can easily understand what is being measured, why it is important to their goals, and how their candidates compare to the ‘ average’ in any given assessment. This allows employers to determine if that person is suitable for the advertised role, and how successful candidates are likely to be. 5.      Specialised tailoring Some providers' psychometric assessments can be tailored to meet the employer’s individual needs based on the specific attributes and qualities an employer is looking for in potential candidates. In some cases a consultation can be organised between the employer and the psychometric assessment provider to understand their organisational goals and how these can be achieved through the right balance of talent management. Such a quality will not only increase the relevance of the tests, but also strengthen your hiring choices. With candidate's changing organisations more rapidly today, customisation in the recruitment process can ensure you're hiring longer term staff whom already have the required skills needed, saving you from training up workers to a beneficial level only to have them leave. 6.      More than one application Not only can psychometric tests be used for recruiting, they are also often used for training and retention purposes. These assessments allow you to profile employees, identifying their strengths, weaknesses and work styles. This information can be useful when considering promotions and reorganising work-flow. By reallocating tasks to employees that suit their abilities, you can increase productivity and job satisfaction, leading to a happier and more efficient workplace… and of course, increase revenue! If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of psychometric testing, or are ready to add them to your recruitment tool box, contact the dedicated team of psychology professionals at Psych Press for a confidential discussion about the variety of psychometric assessments they provide. Please call Psych Press on 03 9670 0590 or email info@psychpress.com.au

Using leadership to attract the best…and keep them

One of the most frustrating aspects organisations face in recruitment is the risk taken in hiring someone, who for some reason or another, is not a good fit and soon leaves the organisation. So how can this be prevented? The key lies in optimising your hiring steps to not only attract the best candidate for the role, but also to ensure they stay on board and remain active participants that contribute to your organisation’s goals. We will show you how you can actively utilise some of these strategies with leadership qualities in mind, so that as an employer you can attract (and keep!) the best talent.

Attracting the best through your job description and screening

Consider the thought process of a talented candidate on the hunt for a new job; they scroll through hundreds of job vacancies only to see the same, dull outline of a position. These organisations in no way reveal any incentive or passion for this prospective employee. However, you can change that.  The best way to ensure the right people are applying for your position vacancy is to perform the ‘screening out’ process. For example:

Rather than focusing on clarifying that the requirements for the position vacancy you have is for someone who possesses “5 years experience” and a degree in your respective field, it might be more advantageous if your advertisement conveyed the following, “Use your degree and professional training to work within a highly trained team to provide an elite level of service, as well as focus on your individual career development.” This will certainly draw higher quality seekers to your campaign.

Encouraging the top candidates through the interview process

When planning to process potential employees onto the next phase of hiring, make it a priority to approach each candidate with the following thoughts in mind: “How will I be offering the candidate a CAREER, rather than simply a job within this organisation?” and, “Can our team values and vision translate to their own values and strengths?”. That way you can ensure that the candidate selected is a good fit culturally, possesses adequate knowledge and competencies to fulfil the position, and also can be a valuable asset that is focused on their own development pathway.

Keeping successful candidates through effective leadership

It widely known that job satisfaction and engagement of employees are imperatives for the success of not only individual productivity, but also the organisation’s as a whole. Recently, a study known as Project Oxygen was initiated by Google and endeavoured to identify what made leaders within their organisation the most effective; and the results, although very straight forward, can be applied to any leader in any workplace.

  

The key strategies effective leaders need:

• Identify a clear vision and strategy for their team 
•  Provide employees with a career, not simply a job 
•  Be goal-oriented and productive

To shift the type of candidates who apply for your next job vacancy, it is imperative to move away from the traditional job descriptions, emphasising the minimum skills required, and a focus on describing compelling career opportunities to hire effective team players who are competent, motivated and excited about their career. After that, employing key leadership strategies will ensure these top candidates will remain engaged and dynamic participants of your team.

Are you utilising clear and efficient screening practices?

Core hiring metrics such as time to hire and retention can be significantly improved by using innovative online screening systems. Psych Press’ Voice Advantage allows you to quickly identify the true voice of the talent you need by pre-recording interview questions, and then allowing you to review the best video or audio responses in your own time. Our psychologists can also work with you to generate an online screening system to filter out unqualified candidates then create behavioural styled interviews for only top candidates to use.
See how Voice Advantage works.

Happy hiring!

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/business/13hire.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

4 Steps to Impressing Top Talent

While many employers worry about whether or not the right candidate to fill their vacant position will ever walk through the door, they should perhaps be more focused on how to keep them from turning around and walking straight back out! Businesses today are focusing on how to make an attractive first impression on job seekers in order to ensure that when the right candidate does come along, they decide to stay. A bad first impression is difficult to overcome. It has been suggested that it can take up to twelve positive encounters to make up for a bad first impression! But don’t worry; there are ways to ensure you’re not scaring the top talent away when you finally get a potentially perfect fit. 

1: Modernise your website and workspace

These days, most job seekers form their first impression of a business before they even enter the premises. Having an attractive website can give your business an edge, so always make sure it is looking professional and up to date. Don’t forget to keep your offices tidy and open, your candidates will pay close attention to how the environment they could be working in looks and feels.

 

2: Be enthusiastic! Share why you love your job

Applicants want to hear about what is unique and special about the company. Share what separates your business from the next, what kind of events or social activities staff get up to, and why it’s more fun to work for you!

3: Emphasise the long-term benefits

Top performers want to work for a company with strong growth potential. In order to make a fantastic first impression, emphasise the long-term benefits your company offers, and the avenues provided for career advancement related to the goals your candidate has expressed. This is a sure fire way to make sure top talent sticks around for the long-haul!

 

4: Customise the pitch

Not every job seeker is looking for the same thing. Make sure you do your research and emphasise the elements of your company that the candidate you are talking to cares about the most. Change up the message and make the job sound tailor made for them!

How can you check that these steps are working? To stay in touch with your plans and make sure your efforts are paying off, be sure to always check back to your original changes and explore goal-oriented options such as job satisfaction surveys.

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