Archive for the ‘HR on Wheels’ Category

HR on Wheels: Do You Have A Career Life-Cycle Blueprint?

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Is turnover too high? Are customer service scores low? Is no one ready to take on a leadership position when someone leaves?

Perhaps you need a blueprint. We all understand blueprints in the architectural world. A Career Life-Cycle blueprint is a clear definition of the management of employees. It starts when you decide that you need to hire a new employee, to on-boarding, to performance management, to promotion and ultimately to their leaving the company.

Your Career Life-Cycle blueprint starts with selection.

Key questions to consider:

  • Have your managers been trained in how to picture the perfect candidate or do you just assume that since they were successful in the job that they know what they are looking for?
  • Have you created objective matrixes to evaluate the candidates for each opening?
  • Do you have documents that lead them through the process?
  • Is on-boarding the same for every employee?
  • Are there clear expectations of what the first day and week feels like or does every manager create their own?
  • Do performance management tools look the same across departments and locations?
  • Is discipline administered fairly using the same standards or does every department manager have their own definition of excessive absenteeism or successful performance?
  • Are you using your soon to be ex-employees to assist you to grow? Exit interviews, done by a impartial manager offer windows into a department and its management that allow you to determine and schedule effective training.
  • What’s it look like where you work?

Could you use some assistance in putting formal programs and documents in place to become an employer of choice?

If so, contact me

scottwheeler@HRonWheels.com

Scott Wheeler is recognized as a resourceful change-agent with strong business integration expertise, cultivated during the start up or repositioning of 15 business operations as Corp Dir HR for JHM Hotels and GM for Marriott. His consulting strength is his combination of operations and HR experience backed by his MBA and exceptional motivational and communication skills.

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in HR on Wheels, Recruiting & Training | No Comments »

HR on Wheels: Employee Appraisal System Performance

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Is your employee appraisal system driving performance or just a paperwork exercise?

In a previous posting I reviewed the top ten issues to assess in your positive employee relations. One of the most important issues is making sure that your performance reviews include both results and behaviors and has a positive impact on behavior and engagement.

Do you dread doing your performance appraisals? Do your employees dread receiving them? Do the reviews measure the aspects of your employee’s positions that are important to you now or are they the same forms you have been using for years? Maybe you aren’t providing meaningful feedback.

If you haven’t taken a close look at your forms in the past couple of years, now is the time. Today we will just look at manager’s reviews and make sure that you are measuring against clearly stated expectations.

The first section should be objective expectations for the position; Profit, Sales Revenue, Guest Scores, Turnover, Internal Audit Scores and any other clearly defined objectives. The expectations should be spelled out prior to employment or at the beginning of the year. It is simply a “Yes” or “No” to whether or not they met them. Or it can be as clearly defined as making 95-100% of budget is “successful,” and 94% equates to “Needs Improvement”.

However, I see reviews all the time that take objective issues and make them subjective. They become subject to the whim of a manager who likes the person and can’t bear being the deliverer of bad news. It allows managers to allow “mitigating” circumstances to change the evaluation to a satisfactory performance. Get these out of your reviews.

Once you have looked at the objective portions of the performance review, take time to rate their behavior. What are the behaviors you evaluate? Has your management team sat down and talked about what is expected and how it is defined? What are the behaviors that are expected? I suggest evaluating these areas in terms of “Strength”, “Competency”, or “Challenge”. It defines the behavior clearly.

Some of these behaviors might include:

  • Leadership
  • Communication
  • Team Building
  • Planning
  • Problem Solving
  • Technical Skills
  • Decision Making

When you take this positive new approach to your reviews, your employees will look forward to knowing where there career is going and that they are being evaluated against clearly defined objectives rather than against another employee.

Can I assist you in this transformation in your company? If so, contact me at:

scottwheeler@HRonWheels.com

Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , ,
Posted in HR on Wheels | No Comments »

HR on Wheels: Positive Employee Relations Assessment

Monday, March 15th, 2010

You do a Financial Audit every year! Don’t you?

Your people are just as important.

When was the last time you did an assessment of your Employee Relations Policies?

We all can feel the end of the recession coming. The hospitality industry has taken it on the chin. But good times are a coming. Are you ready?

Surveys show that up to 70 % of employees are awaiting the end of the recession, just as badly as you are. Employees want to start looking for new opportunities. Beat them to the punch! Assess your employee relations programs to make sure that you are the “employer of choice” in your market. Don’t give your employees reasons to leave?

The top ten issues to assess:

  1. It all starts with the impression you are making with your applicants. I know, you haven’t hired many employees recently. What better time to take a minute to make sure you are putting your best foot forward? Provide the “WOW” to their first experience with your organization.
  2. Now that they have agreed to join you, do they go home from their first day on the job impressed? Or did they walk around all day lost? Did someone take them under their wing? Answer all their questions? Make them feel at home?
  3. Do you have a system to ensure the consistent interpretation and application of workplace policies and rules?
  4. Are your supervisors and managers evaluated on their employee relations skills and activities? Do your managers formally communicate with employees on a monthly basis? Is HR regularly involved in assisting supervisors and managers in solving day-to-day personnel issues?
  5. Do your performance reviews include both results and behaviors expected on the job? Are reviews conducted on time each year?
  6. Do your incentive plans relate to behaviors and results that are currently expected? When was the last time you reviewed your incentive plans?
  7. Is there an appropriate relationship between compensation and performance? Do all employees understand those expectations?
  8. Is overtime assigned in a fair and consistent manner?
  9. Are local wage surveys conducted on an annual basis for non-exempt employees to ensure that you are competitive with your competition?
  10. Were exit interviews conducted and documented on all employees who voluntarily quit in the past year? Why are employees leaving your company? Is it their manager or is it because you haven’t been auditing these practices and are not a good place to work?

    11. To learn more or arrange for a 300+ point assessment to be conducted, contact Scott Wheeler at scottwheeler@HRonWheels.com

    Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in HR on Wheels, Recruiting & Training | No Comments »