A recent survey of 478 businesses in the UK by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the UK found that 19% of staff turnover occurred in the first six months and a further 28% in less than two years. From these figures it looks like poor choices by employers or candidates is ... Click to read the article details

The idea of a shelf full of dreary policies and procedures that tie everyone down in unnecessary bureaucracy does not usually sound too appealing. It doesn't have to be like that. Splitting the task into two will help work out what you need.

First, there are practices that are legislated ... Click to read the article details

The Oxford English Dictionary defines an incentive as "Something that arouses feeling or incites to action". If the only thing that will do this for your employees is money then you have problems. Of course people want financial returns for their work - they have to live and, yes, financial ... Click to read the article details

Constant planning is what most business people do so they are ready for changing circumstances.

Is human resource planning or workforce planning up there with the budget? Possibly not. Quite often, with workforce planning, it will be treated as another budget line item and not taken much ... Click to read the article details

When clients ask about pay issues, quite often they jump straight to paying "bonuses" to reward performance. Let's start off with some definitions we use.

Firstly, we feel strongly that any base salary review should have a significant focus on performance. If this is done properly the ... Click to read the article details

Back in 1966 Frederick Herzberg found that pay was a key hygiene factor affecting peoples' motivation. The analogy is that being hygienic will stop you being sick but will not necessarily make you healthy. With pay, it may not be the key motivator but, unless it was perceived as being fair, not ... Click to read the article details

The subject of job descriptions is by far the most popular one on our website and often arises when we talk to groups of CEOs and senior managers.

While people roll their eyes when we raise the issue, which we do when the subject of recruitment, performance management, training or ... Click to read the article details

When things are ticking along nicely it is easy to take our people for granted. It is useful to stop sometimes and ask why people will work for us. If we can't come up with clear answers then we should start working on some good reasons.

If the answer is "they probably can't find a job ... Click to read the article details

Some of us thrive on a bit of pressure - it can improve our performance because that's the way we're designed. However, too much over an extended time can take its toll.

In Victoria, 8% of all workers' compensation claims are stress related - and these cost double the amount of other ... Click to read the article details

We tend to think of succession planning as having a few plans in place for if a key person gets hit by a bus or someone retires. In practice it has to be more than this if you want to avoid continually trying to "catch up".

Unless you have a particular desire or need to be continually ... Click to read the article details

Managing people can sometimes be very rewarding and sometimes frustrating. If we look back we may find the rewarding times were when people met, or exceeded, our expectations. Sometimes they did this without even knowing what they were!

If we look at the frustrating times we may find a ... Click to read the article details

Implicit in most jobs with the title manager and people reporting to them is the responsibility of managing their people.

However, for many, this is often seen as an extra chore that gets in the way of doing their functional job such as selling, accounting, marketing or manufacturing. ... Click to read the article details

There seems to be a constant flow of new buzz words popping up and a recent one is "talent management" - logically following on from "the war for talent".

Depending on where you look, you will find various definitions of it. We won't try another definition here but let's assume it is ... Click to read the article details

Many companies pay bonuses or incentives and many people look forward to receiving them. What would happen if they weren't paid? In some cases, nothing would change, in others there would be a rush for the door.

Definitions
Let's firstly try and define the difference between a bonus ... Click to read the article details

When George took on the top job at a prestigious high profile company he thought it would run like clockwork, such was the public perception of this quality business. What he didn't realise was that the reputation was founded on a just a few brilliant people and the product they had developed. The ... Click to read the article details

If your people are standing around talking about pay, you've probably got it wrong. While pay is a key part of working it really shouldn't become a major talking point.

Getting pay right is an important part of managing people but, like issues such as safety and a pleasant work ... Click to read the article details

Much of the training undertaken by business is quite reactive and carried out for some diverse reasons.

The glossy brochure which arrives at a time when Sally has been complaining about the job, or pay, or both. The leadership course which "seems like a good idea". Well, we always want ... Click to read the article details

Why does the mention of training summon up thoughts of expensive courses, and consultants for many employers?

We have found that much of a business's expertise is in the heads of some key employees. Waiting for it to float across and infect others or sending people off to external ... Click to read the article details

We have previously written about defining what people need to do in their job to give them a sense of achievement and link their results to those of the organization. Let's now look at how they do it.

Someone once said, quite wisely, "we hire people for what they can do and fire them for ... Click to read the article details

In a previous article we covered the subject of providing direction to people, letting them know where the business is going and what their contribution to it might be. This article we will discuss how they contribute to this.

Research we often quote involved asking employees if they ... Click to read the article details

With the looming shortage of talent we are facing, smart companies are taking action now. We feel the key actions are:
• Keeping the good people you already have
• Having the good people perform and
• Recruiting well - finding the right people to meet your current and future ... Click to read the article details

We recently heard someone authoritatively state that performance reviews were unnecessary if suitable numbers were in place. They were referring to a sales process that was, in itself, very logical, measurable, and had been proven to be effective.
But what of the people who interact with ... Click to read the article details

The office was a very social place and the staff enjoyed a laugh. Jokes were told and after work drinks were a regular and enjoyable occurrence.
Then it went just a bit too far. One of the email jokes forwarded upset the new girl and one of the men over did the celebrating at Christmas lunch ... Click to read the article details

There is forecast to be a shortage of skills and businesses are going to have to work hard at attracting and keeping the good people.

The first of the baby boomers, those born in 1945, turn 60 next year. Dr Frank Gelber of leading economic forecasters BIS Shrapnel, says business is ... Click to read the article details

We recently had a query from a major accounting firm asking for some examples of non financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that might be suitable for their senior managers. This coincided with a discussion with a client who also wanted some assistance in this area. This is quite a common ... Click to read the article details

Most people know what takes up their time at work - but they are not often sure it is what the boss wants or the business needs.

The subject of job descriptions often brings up opposing views. Some thinking they are necessary and others seeing them as a liability because people will use ... Click to read the article details

Would you fly on an airline that provided huge bonuses to pilots based on how many passengers and how much freight they could cram on their aircraft and on how few costs they incur? Not unless you were desperate. We really want those people up the front end of our plane to be hired on their skills ... Click to read the article details

Jim Collins in his book "Good to Great" researched companies that were already well regarded to discover what made some of them great. The criteria for great were well defined and the research to uncover how they became great was excellent. The book is a good read.

One of the findings ... Click to read the article details

Jim Collins in his book Good to Great talks about "getting the right people on the bus" before deciding where to drive it.

A key factor in getting the right people is understanding what competencies we are looking for and how to find out if someone has these.

Identifying ... Click to read the article details

Setting up a workable salary system requires a logical approach and the first step is one of the most important.

Establishing which jobs are where in the "pecking order" is one of the fundamentals in building an effective salary system. While this is not an exact science, having some form ... Click to read the article details

A few Sally's pregnant, Hugh had an offer from another company he couldn't refuse, Des had just had enough and decided to retire early, poor Charlene is on indefinite sick leave due to a serious illness and you've just won a significant piece of business you've been chasing for the last two years. ... Click to read the article details

An effective salary system covers three major areas which we have written about in previous articles. These are internal relativities, the market and developing the structure.

Maintaining the system in a logical and transparent way is crucial as people expect to have their salaries ... Click to read the article details

We are often approached by clients wanting to link performance to bonuses - an apparently quite logical request. There is a desire to reward good employees and avoid paying too much to under performers.

However, this is an area where the results wanted are not often achieved. After ... Click to read the article details

Having a workable salary system is important and there are many aspects to designing and implementing it effectively. After the fundamentals have been covered, defining jobs, evaluating them in terms of value to the organization and building a structure, it is time to determine the levels of ... Click to read the article details

Jane owns a chain of retail stores and good management staff are hard to find. When recruiting she has to negotiate a salary which is attractive to the candidate but fits within her budget. As these decisions are made on a case by case basis she swears each new recruit to secrecy.

What's ... Click to read the article details

Donald was the best sales executive they had. He consistently met or beat targets but in the end they restructured and made him redundant. Why? No one really liked him. He upset his peers, staff and customers. He did not "fit". Sound familiar?

Someone wise once said "we seem to hire ... Click to read the article details

It seems that some people never want to go on a training course and others are constantly away at conferences, seminars and workshops. Having a rational approach to training and development can change a culture, retain staff and save money.

If you start by being proactive and ... Click to read the article details

We've all done it. The glossy brochure with catchy headlines promoting training courses which seem too good to miss. We either see them ourselves or employees bring them to us with a previously unknown "need" to have this training. Before we know it a large chunk of the annual training budget has ... Click to read the article details

Warren had a beer at lunchtime, came back to his job as a forklift driver, abused the female stores clerk and carried on with his job.

The warehouse manager, who was never very impressed by Warren, heard about it, accused him of being under the influence of alcohol and dismissed ... Click to read the article details

While "throwing them in the deep end" might sound challenging for a new employee, it can be a careless way to treat your new investment. We recently heard of a new employee calling his wife at lunchtime on his first day in the new job to say he was coming home. The treatment, or lack of it, he ... Click to read the article details

Induction or orientation to the work place typically involves showing the new employee around, telling them about the organization and showing them where they will be working - if it happens at all.

After selecting the right person, ensuring an appropriate induction is probably the next ... Click to read the article details

How many times has this happened: The promising new employee makes a good first impression, is enthusiastic but just doesn't get the job done?

To maximise our chances of getting this right we need to rely on some basic research which tells us that most people will continue to repeat past ... Click to read the article details

The Accounts Clerk had resigned and the Administration Manager leapt into action and placed an advertisement in the local paper for a replacement. Two weeks of frenzied résumé reading and interviews followed and a suitable replacement was found.

The Administration Manager was feeling ... Click to read the article details

Our client had to terminate a senior manager, a process he found expensive and embarrassing.

Soon after this, we were asked to develop what we call corporate "core competencies" and specific behaviors required by the organization.
We discussed our findings with the client. His ... Click to read the article details

"They know what I want. We don't need to write it down." is often the response when the issue of the dreaded job description comes up. Most of the time, when asked, the poor employee is left guessing as to what the boss wants.

A survey showed that the response to the question "Do you know ... Click to read the article details

The commonly held view that the customer comes first is worth a close look. Think about the last time you received less than satisfactory customer service. What caused it? Probably an employee! Either directly, bad manners and a "don't care" attitude, or by not addressing your needs - "sorry, I ... Click to read the article details

Mary had "attitude". Her manner was rude and uncooperative and her colleagues complained, but she was efficient.
Her supervisor believed he was stuck with a problem that couldn't be solved. He reasoned that in any office there was always someone that didn't get on with the rest of the staff, ... Click to read the article details

As the competition for talented people picks up, forward thinking managers need to assess how they are positioned to keep their good people and attract some more.

Get the basics right
People who have choices, and good people normally do, look for certain features in their employer. It ... Click to read the article details