A flexible future

When I was working as a recruitment consultant in the early 90's, the temporary desk was responsible for about 10% of the split between temporary recruitment and permanent recruitment. My MD who had been in the game for about 30 years predicted that within the next 30 years the temporary workforce would make up 30% of the total workforce.

A recent survey conducted by Adecco Group has found that 28.1% of the total workforces are temporary employees. So his prediction has come true but ten years earlier than he had anticipated. Of these temporary workers 25.2% are part time and a whopping 74.8% are full time. So why do companies use temps? A variety of reasons, but over a third use temps to manage demand fluctuations for products or services. Almost 30% use temps to manage their workforce more efficiently and 26% to cover workforce shortages.

The Adecco survey also confirms that size of the business will affect the use of temps. For example, 44.8% of firms with over 1000 employees will use temporary employees versus only 19% of businesses with a headcount under 65.

Now here is the problem - SMEs are behind the curve here and productivity is suffering as a result.  For the vast majority of businesses, payroll costs are one of their highest expenses, yet I am concerned that this expense is not being effectively managed. When I have suggested getting a temp or looking at creating a more flexible workforce I often receive the response 'by the time I get them up and running I may as well do it myself'. My thinking is that this is a very short term view, considering that temps we are hiring today are experienced individuals and not trainees. The organisations have tapped into a talent pool that gives flexibility and allows temps to pop in and out of their businesses as they need them.

My view is that my MD was not only right, but that this trend is going to continue to the point where it will be the exception rather than the norm to have a full time permanent role. The time of having the same job from hire to retire has gone; just think about the increase in redundancies - how many people have multiple experiences of their job being made redundant throughout their careers? The businesses that are able to transform their workforce mix to their advantage and tap into the right skills in the right place and the right time will get ahead. Remember it is all about employee matters!

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Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management. – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

It’s coming……….

So over the past two weeks you may have heard some rumblings about some potential changes to FWA, particularly around flexible working and rostering. If you haven’t, as an SME, you need to get across this as soon as possible. There are more details to follow and timings are vague, but things may move quickly - especially with an election date confirmed.
 

So what is the current situation? Well, currently, if you have a child under school age (up to 6 years old) or a child with a disability you can request flexible working.

 

What does this mean in reality? It means that an employee can request a change to start times & finishing times, job-share or part time arrangements, working more hours over fewer days or working additional hours to make up for time taken off.

 So what’s changing?

 

·         all parents of school age children or carers of elderly parents can request the right to flexible working

·         mothers returning from parental leave can request part-time work

·         employers cannot make late changes to rosters

·         employees potentially also have the ‘right to request’ working-from-home arrangements

 

So what are the impacts for businesses, if this change goes through?

 

·         further, fiscal pressure on businesses which are already stretched

·         less flexibility; the beauty of casuals is the flexibility and the potential to extend a shift if your business is particularly busy

·         another change to workplace employee relations which will impact structure, policy and practices - all that paperwork!

 As an employer, you have the ‘right of refusal’ to this request - but don’t get too excited - you would be expected to actively compromise to get a solution and to refuse you need to be able to show financial hardship would be the end result for your business. Just a tip here - there is a defined legal process that needs to be followed if you receive one of these requests - around responding in writing within a specified timeframe.

At the moment, my sense is that employees are largely unaware of these rights but this is changing but, just wait until we have the election ads appealing to the worker vote...!

 On the upside, my view is those SMEs that can implement a flexible workplace and workforce will be able to ‘win the war for talent’ and retract and retain the best employees. I would like to see more businesses be a little more creative in their approach and use a combination of permanent, casuals, temps and independent contractors. We need to be focused on our employee matters to ensure the best result for all.

 

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at http://www.employeematters.com.au

Where did you go?

It hurts doesn’t it? When someone in your team decides to leave you after you have invested significant time and money in them. Just think about it - there was the recruitment drive, recruitment fees, onboarding, induction, on the job training, external training and time till they were fully functional. Plus the financial  ‘on costs’ which include superannuation, worker’s compensation and payroll tax etc adding up to an additional 22.5% on top of the base salary. Now you have to start the process all over again, taking a hit on productivity and profit in the interim.
 

It will hurt more if this person played a key role in your team or was one of your high performing employees. So why did they take the decision to leave, especially given the current market stability? Do you know? Do you care? What could you learn from asking?
 
Here are five things you can do to learn from the experience and ensure a smooth exit:

1.   Exit Process – we generally make a fuss when new hires choose to join our company and help us achieve our company goals but the same does not tend to happen at the Exit.  It is critical that we treat people professionally as they exit. This includes ensuing timely & appropriate communication, the return of security passes and keys and systems access ceases. Make them feel good about their contribution to the business, a thank you card and cake do wonders
 

2.  Handover – as soon as you are aware of the resignation, you need to plan for the exit. Who will be doing the role until the individual is replaced? Is this an opportunity to reduce headcount or split up the duties between other team members? Have the exiting team member write a detailed handover document covering off all aspects of their role
 

3.  Exit Interview & analysis – conduct an exit interview with all individuals who have resigned. This shows that you value their thoughts and inputs; they may be more inclined to share information now that it will not affect their promotion opportunities or salary. You will be amazed at what you will learn. It does not stop there, after a while you will capture trends and information that is extremely valuable to the growth of your business
 

4.  Alternatives to losing people – if you are managing your people effectively and closely and I don’t mean micro - managing them, resignations would not come as a surprise. I would recommend avoiding a counter offer situation but it is an option available to you if you desire. It may buy you more time develop a strategy to cross train team members to cover other roles or look to start the recruitment process again. Most counter offers tend to resign again within six months because either the promised changes do not occur or there is resentment harboured as it took them to resign before you paid them what they felt they were worth all along. Managers need to understand and know what drives and motivates their team and take responsibility for removing blockers

 

5.  Alumni – it is a small market our there and sometimes former employees become competitors or clients or they might discover that the’ grass was not greener’ and seek to return. This can be a real bonus but how can you pave the way for this to happen? A good idea is to develop an Alumni program. What does this involve, not a lot? Make sure that you have contact details for the terminating employee and send out a newsletter each quarter sharing what is happening in your business. They may become an advocate or source of new clients for you or even just a great friend.

I am still great friends with my first boss, she hired me at 18 years old when I knew nothing and then againat 21 when I am not sure I knew much more and then she became a client of mine. Now she is much more than that and was on that yacht in Croatia I talked about in a previous blog.
 
Losing people is inevitable but you can maximise the opportunity as it presents itself rather than make a bad situation worse.

 

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

 

 

Coach your Team for Success – Maximum Performance!

It’s the biggest secret all managers want to know - the Holy Grail if you will. How do I get more out of my employees? An extra 10% effort on their part would make the world of difference and potentially add 19% to the bottom line - but how do I organise this?
 

Well let me share the secret ... ask them.

There is a reason you have the title Managing Director - a big part of your role is to manage; the problem is that there is, all too often, too little time assigned to this activity each week as other priorities get in the way.

Think about this - your poorest performers – look at them - why do they come to work? Do they see themselves as the weakest link? What would motivate them to increase their performance? Is it praise, flexibility, maybe an opportunity to be mentored or an opportunity to learn a new skill? More money, a change of team or a holiday? How do you find out what they are thinking?

 

Well let me share the secret ... ask them.

 

So you decide you’ve got to do it now. You are going to ask, but wait; you need to develop rapport and gain trust first. Remember that in their eyes - you have the power to fire at will. They need to know that you aren’t going to use this information against them. So take some time to build relationships - you need to talk to them and get to know them as much as you can.

Now what do you say? What do you ask?

You need a framework and I would recommend John Whitmore’s coaching model. The premise is that most of the time the employee can work out the problem and the solution, if you ask the right questions...

T – Topic - what are you going to talk about?

G – Goal - what do you want to achieve?

R – Reality - what is the situation at the moment? Reality check

O – Options - explore possibilities. Don’t discount anything. Consider the alternatives

W – Way forward - after exploring all the options, commit to a path to resolve

Some things to consider that might assist you to work through the framework:

Goal

·       what is one thing you would like to achieve in your current role?

·       what is the biggest challenge you face in your role today?

·       what blockages do you face in working across the business?

·       what would make it easier for you to increase your productivity or performance?

 Reality

·       so what is the current situation?

·       what do you do?

·       what do you find easy?

·       what do you find challenging?

·       what do you like - what don’t you like?

·       what takes up most of your time?

·       what are you meant to do?

·       what outcomes are critical to success?

Options

·       what are some other ways you could do this?

·       how could you get around that obstacle?

·       what would you do, if anything were possible?

·       what would you do, if money was no object?

·       what should I do to make this organisation work better?

·       what would you change?

·       how would you structure the business?

·       looking at “X”, what are the pros and cons?

·       how could we work around that?

·       what are the risks?

 

Way Forward

 So we have agreed to try “X” - great!

By when? What do you need from me? What will success look like now, in a month, in a year?

Arrange check points - status updates - empower your team members - encourage them

Communicate!

You need to continue to support, trust, encourage and build rapport with each team member - this can produce startling results. You as the leader need to be an enabler. You need to develop a business with people who are happy and content supported by innovation and considered change. Don’t forget to reward and support your team as they start to achieve their goals. Make them know they matter.

This will be how you beat your competition.

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management. – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

 

What are we going to do with Ed?

Every business has one ‘problem’ or non-performing employee and if you don’t, I would suspect that you are probably not being completely honest with yourself. It is a competitive world and if you are going to succeed, you not only need to ‘win the war for talent’, you need to retain it. If an individual is consistently not performing you need to move them on - they are in the wrong place if they are in your business!

We are regularly called in to help with a managed termination when everyone has had enough and the relationship is damaged beyond repair, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I often find that when I ask how long Ed has been under-performing, I hear ‘oh, about ten years’. These individuals are not only damaging to productivity but there is a detrimental impact on other employees when they see that nothing is being done about it. If you address non-performance issues early on you are, in 60 - 70% of the time, able to improve the situation.

Here are five ways you can ensure that you keep the best people and move on the employees that are not working out:
 

1.     Have current job descriptions – this allows there to be a clear understanding of what is required of employees for them to be successful

 

2.     Measure performance – annually or every six months whichever works for your business

3.     Have a conversation, even the difficult ones – when performance has dropped, act quickly and speak to the employee, telling them what you are seeing and asking them 'is there a reason for this change in performance?'

4.     Document the issue – there can never be too much documentation when non-performance is the issue

5.     Act – don’t be afraid - most business owners feel that they cannot legally manage out individuals but you can, you just need to follow a process

Your business is too precious to have the wrong people working in it. To be honest, in big businesses poor performing individuals can hide to a certain extent, it is diluted but in a small business this impact can be disastrous.  Don’t let it happen to you.

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

My Driver

I wanted to write this morning about my driver; my bus driver to be precise, who does one of the most stressful and undervalued jobs in the world! This bus driver has compelled me to ring his employer on at least two occasions to comment on his excellent customer service - then he disappeared and I was shocked and saddened. He was back today! So what made him so special?

1.  Exceptional customer service: He personally welcomed every single passenger with a cheery "good morning sir, madam, miss or mate" and seemed to tailor the address to whether the man might prefer or warrant a "sir" or "mate". After a busy day what a refreshing entry onto the bus

2. Thanked you for your patronage: when you got off the bus you were bid farewell. Acknowledgement in this day and age - how quaint! With most drivers you would be lucky to receive a grunt

3. Skill - he drove carefully and smoothly and seemed to enjoy a job that would drive me nuts (no pun intended). I knew I would get home safe and that he took my safety seriously

4. Memorable: I shared this story with my husband this morning and he knew exactly who I meant even though he had not caught a bus for three years. He even asked me to mention to my bus driver that he too was pleased he was back

5. Goodwill: if he did make a mistake, he has a massive goodwill bank to draw on

So yesterday, when I got on the bus after his absence of six months or more, before I knew it I had blurted out - "welcome back - where have you been?" And on leaving - "it is so good to have you back" - he looked shocked. I hope he doesn't think I am stalking him!

Seriously, I have no alternative way to commute to the city, but it brightens my day and encourages me to talk favourably about my bus driver and his company. There is a saying 'look after your customer and your customer will look after you' - I am a great believer in this because it really matters. How well do you and your team look after your customers?

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au

'Tis the season to be working?

Hang on I think I have that wrong - isn't it meant to be the season to be jolly or to rest? One of the challenges of working for yourself is that your boss can be a real *****!

So why do we do it to ourselves? One of the challenges is the level of uncertainty - where is the next dollar coming from?  No one knows the business as well or cares about it as you do. You can save money if you do it yourself.  But what are the risks with this approach? Well believe it or not we are not experts in everything and often take longer or have a more emotional view when making tough decisions.

It is critical that you work out your strengths and maximise your time in these areas of your business and seek assistance in all other areas. That does not mean that you ignore these areas; you should have oversight of them and still make critical decisions that impact your decision. That said, it is much quicker to brief, review and approve than to research, draft, learn, redraft, get pulled into something else for a couple of days,  implement and  measure and still not being quite sure whether you fully understand the nuances of the subject matter!

I challenge you to write down everything that you do at the moment over a week, yes everything and allocate a time to it. Once you have completed this, leave it be for a day or two and then come back to it; you will have discovered even more tasks that you had forgotten. How do you ever sleep, eat or play?! The next step is to group similar tasks into categories such as social media, finance, technology build or business development.

Now what can you outsource to free you up to focus on either your areas of strength or the critical areas of your business which you should not outsource? Please let me know you what you decide so that you can focus on what really matters - your business!

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au