Why you should always run a background check...

What is the cause of the current labor shortage and how do we fix it? That is the question I am repeatedly being asked these days. Most employers seem to think the issue is pay. I disagree. I have been in HR for 23 years, which means I have completed 23 years of exit interviews, have seen 23 years of turnover statistics, and reviewed hundreds of comments on employee engagement surveys. While compensation is always on the list of reasons people leave a job, pay is rarely the primary reason. So, why does an employee leave a job? The reasons that top the list include dissatisfaction with a manager, lack of work/life balance, lack of opportunity, personal/family challenges, or a negative workplace environment. In short, people consistently leave a job when it does not support their home life, happiness, and well-being. It boils down to quality of life. Now, factor in the mental health challenges that are occurring in our society. According to the CDC, in June 2020 40% of U.S. adults reported struggling with mental health or substance abuse. The National Institute for Mental Health reports that 1 in 5 U.S. adults live with a mental illness. The CDC reported in 2019 that suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the United States across all age groups. It is the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 34. Incidents of stress, depression, and anxiety are on the rise. And then Covid came along. The resulting shut-down allowed us the time to focus on our families and to reevaluate our priorities. This great awakening is leading people to seek better work/life balance, more time at home, more emphasis on family, and enjoyment in their daily lives post-covid.  I recently filled a manager level position for a client. In the phone interview I asked each candidate why they were looking to leave their current position. Out of 10 candidates, only 1 said he was leaving to make more money. Here are the reasons cited by the other 9 candidates: Poor work culture and lack of good leadership Not having a properly staffed team to get the work done Poor company culture and decisions made by corporate office to reduce benefits Desire for a better work schedule & the chance to work with a smaller, tight-knit team More opportunities for growth and sharing knowledge with a team Opportunity for growth and better company leadership Improved work/life balance; tired of working overtime and missing out on time with family To work for a company that is about more than making money, wants a job that has a purpose and helps people Works by himself and wants to be a part of a team There is a theme in those responses: leadership, teamwork, and healthy, supportive work environments. Yes, this is a small sample size, but it is consistent with responses I have heard repeatedly from employees over my 23 years in HR. Compensation is certainly a factor in jobs. It should go without saying that employers need to pay appropriately for the work performed. Nobody, regardless of the title or duties, should be expected to show up every day, work hard, and be underpaid. Every employer should know the market value for the work being performed. Employers need to have a clearly defined compensation program that intentionally pays employees according to work performance and time in the role. We are seeing employers randomly throwing money at the labor shortage and judging by all the Now Hiring signs along the roadways, it is not working. Overpaying for labor skews the entire compensation system and drives up the cost of goods and services. That is not helping anyone. My ask to employers is to stop throwing money at the problem. Human beings require more than thoughtless bonuses and impersonal paychecks. They want coworkers who turn into friends. They want a boss who cares as much about their home life as their work life. They want to learn something new then apply that knowledge to better themselves and others. They want to leave work each day feeling like they did something worthy of their time. And they want to have a reason to go back and do it again tomorrow. As the song says…can’t buy me love. Employers cannot just throw money at people expecting them to be happy, devoted employees. Employers need to provide great leadership that inspires great work. Supervisors should take the time to help each person see how they impacted the company with their efforts. Policies that restrict flexibility should be reviewed to see where a softer approach can support the whole employee and still get the job done. Before asking for the end of the month numbers, ask the person how they are doing…and be genuinely interested in their answer. We need to create workplaces that build relationships rather than profits with the understanding that healthy employees create healthy companies. And healthy companies succeed.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you had the superpower of knowing what employees were thinking and then be able to act on that knowledge before it caused an issue? You could address small concerns rather than major blow-ups. Mole hills would be smoothed over before turning into mountains. Employee retention could increase, and employees would feel great about where they work. In the age of the turnover tsunami such a superpower could make all the difference. The great news is that you have that superpower in the form of stay interviews. What is a stay interview? Stay interviews are the key to keeping your finger on the pulse of your organization. They are open, honest conversations with individual employees to hear their insights, explore concerns, and gather constructive suggestions for the workplace. Stay interviews can happen in several different ways. Across the board . One individual, usually HR, meets with each employee to identify trending themes across the office. These open forum conversations may cover anything from the physical workspace to benefits to work duties. Chances are, if something is bugging one person it is an area of concern for many people. Rather than letting such issues fester in break room gripe sessions, business leaders can identify and address these issues before they negatively impact the entire office. Start, stop, continue . Start, stop, continue interviews are a great way for top leadership to gain feedback from their direct reports. HR meets with each person to ask what they think the manager needs to start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. Feedback can be compiled in a report providing the business leader with the tools to make necessary adjustments. Level-up . These are stay interviews conducted by management, not HR. Each employee meets with the next level up, their manager’s manager. This type of stay interview is great for building relationships between employees and management while allowing the manager to gain insights for developing their direct reports. Stay interviews need to be done well to be effective . Here are some ground rules for getting the most out of the process: Feedback must be constructive . Stay interviews are not complaint sessions. Employees are not allowed to just lob bombs of criticism; they must also be encouraged to provide suggestions for change. The greatest value in stay interview is not hearing what people don’t like, but rather, hearing what they would like to see instead. There must be open, honest conversation . Stay interviews are not a check-the-box process. That is not a good use of anyone’s time. The person conducting the stay interview should be a neutral person who encourages transparent, constructive dialog. The feedback is provided to management without names attached . People are more inclined to be honest if there is some level of confidentiality. The point of the stay interviews is to learn about themes or improve management, not to point out who said what. Be upfront about information that cannot be kept confidential . If you uncover an issue of harassment or unethical conduct, that information must be shared with the right individuals for an investigation. Let the person who has shared the information know up front of your obligations to act, with full assurances that their identity will only be shared with people who need to know. Management must be prepared to act . The one thing worse than being oblivious to issues is being made aware of the issues and then failing to act. If you are going to ask for the information you have to be prepared to handle the results. Then, follow up a few months later to make sure the action taken has resolved the issue. Keeping a finger on the pulse of your employees is critical in maintaining a healthy, productive workforce. Stay interviews will provide a great return on the time invested. Need assistance with stay interviews? We are here for you, to manage HR while you manage your business.

Last week I wrote about performance management for an underperforming employee. While that is certainly something HR should be involved with, there is a positive side to that coin as well. Goal setting, clearly communicated expectations, and balanced feedback are the vaccine to poor performance. And we all know that setting goals that push employees to new development while praising their achievements is a whole lot more fun than addressing slipping performance. Before your mind starts wandering down the path of the dreaded annual performance review, let me say that goal setting and discussing performance no longer need to be that formal. Many companies are moving to a more organic, real-time process that may achieve even better results…provided you still document it properly to ensure clear communication and record keeping. The old process of performance reviews was checking the box on a fixed list of performance standards that looked back in time. And then maybe you threw in added goals to the end that would not be talked about again until the following year’s review. Flipping that approach around allows for a more engaging and forward-looking conversation. Research has shown that forward looking performance conversations can improve employee performance by 13%. While the past year’s events do need to be acknowledged and recognized, you may want to reduce the time spent on that topic. The modern approach to employee reviews puts the focus on living goals that are discussed and updated throughout the year. For that approach to yield results there are some things to keep in mind. First, it should be a collaborative effort between employee and manager. The employee needs to be bought in and excited about new opportunities for growth. Second, it must be clearly documented and consistently updated. A goal focused performance management approach should be an on-going conversation that happens every month or two. Check in on progress. Does a goal need to be adjusted because it has been too simple or not realistic? Once the goal is achieved, what will replace it to keep the momentum going? And, finally, use the SMART goal approach. Statements like “keep doing what you are doing” or “improve your metrics” are not goals. They are vague commands with no direction. The elements of a well written SMART goal are these: S – Specific: The purpose, desired action, and outcome should be clearly stated. It should spell out the who, what, where, when, and why. M – Measurable: There must be a definitive way to determine completion. This could be metrics or defined deliverables. Keep it objective! A – Attainable: The goals should be a challenge to the employee (Otherwise, what is the point?) and it should be an area in which the employee has the skills and resources for achievement and the ability to influence the outcome. R – Relevant: As Simon Sinek says, start with why. The goal should have a purpose that links back to your organization’s mission and vision. It should be related to big picture objectives. Finally, it should be connected to the employee’s interests or responsibilities. T – Time-based: Unless the employee is Buzz Lightyear, the goal should not be to infinity. Set a deadline to keep progress on track. Updates can be made with adjusted dates but there should always be a date. People are the most valuable asset of any organization. Take the time to develop each member of the team and you are sure to see a return on the investment. Need assistance developing your team into performance powerhouses? HR Managed, LLC is a human resources consulting firm helping top decision makers attract and retain top talent and build powerful teams to achieve business goals. Let’s talk about how we help manage HR so you can manage your business.

The saying that every cloud has a silver lining has certainly proved true over the past year. While the losses of the pandemic are many, I have had several conversations pointing out the positives. For many people the ability to work from home has been one of those. And now with Covid numbers dropping and vaccines available, the conversation is shifting to if or when businesses should go back to an everyone-in-the-building model. In a recent survey by Boston Consulting Group it was found that companies expect approximately 40% of employees to utilize a remote-work model in the future. That survey also revealed that 37% of companies expect that more than one-fourth of their employees will work in hybrid models that combine remote and onsite work. In a recent PWC survey, 83% of employers said the shift to remote work has been successful for their company. That number is up from 73% in June. The benefits of remote work are many but it is important to balance that with the costs. There is no substitute for workplace camaraderie and impromptu networking conversations in the office breakroom. When adding someone new to my team, I encouraged them to listen in to a workmate’s conversation in the next cube to further their development. Someone brand new to HR would overhear an experienced HR Generalist talking through an employee concern and pick up little tidbits of information that did not come up in formal training. Those impromptu, micro-training moments are critical for ongoing development. The survey by PWC confirms that with 87% of employees saying that the office is important for collaborating with team members and building relationships. Another cost of remote work could be to inclusion and diversity efforts. An article by Johnny C Taylor, CEO of SHRM, is a great reminder of the value of office workplaces. Taylor stated “I see a real danger of two separate—and likely unequal—cultures developing in the hybrid model. Historically, one of the biggest challenges to workplace equity and inclusion is when some groups enjoy more exposure and relationship-building time than others. Employees who choose to or must work at home risk losing important professional connections. Think about it: Who gets mentored and who gets promoted when some are in front of the boss and others are in front of a screen?” Remote work does have great benefits and it does work well in many situations. But it is not as simple as handing out laptops and setting up Zoom accounts. A company must consider what will be negatively impacted in a remote work setting and then mitigate those losses. Need assistance figuring out your remote work approach? HR Managed, LLC is a human resources consulting firm helping top decision makers attract and retain top talent and build powerful teams to achieve business goals. Let’s talk about how we help manage HR so you can manage your business.

I will never forget her name or the day I sat across the table from her in a meeting to terminate her employment. She was a great employee, one we wanted to keep. She was such a strong performer that we had decided to promote her. With that promotion she would need to obtain an industry license. All she needed was a background check with no felony convictions.  Most employees were chomping at the bit for this promotion but not this employee. Each time the subject came up she dismissed the promotion and said she was fine where she was. However, we had invested in this employee and we needed her to move to the next step so her strong performance could be better utilized in the organization. Her odd responses about a potential background check were not leaving anyone with a good feeling. And that started to raise questions that required answers. After some probing questions and deeper investigating, we got our answer. She had lied on her application. Company policy was clear that falsifying an application was grounds for immediate termination. No exceptions. She was a single mom with a two year daughter. While I could not save her employment, I at least wanted to hear her story. She sat across the table from me crying over the loss of her job as she explained. Years ago she had fallen in with the wrong crowd. Her boyfriend was bringing in drugs from Mexico and he convinced her to drive down to Texas to pick them up and bring them back to Missouri. On her way home she was pulled over and arrested. She then spent three years in prison out of state. That was the wake up call she needed. When she was released, she cut all ties with her old crowd and set out for a fresh start in life. She got a job and performed well demonstrating that she had rehabilitated. When our job opportunity came along it provided the perfect next step for her new life. Convinced that our company would not hire someone with a criminal record she altered the facts on her application to cover her time in prison. The real heartbreak of that situation was that our company was working hard to follow fair chance hiring processes. Had she been honest with us from that start, there was a good chance she still would have been hired. I learned two things that day. First, people with a felony record can rehabilitate and deserve second chances. Proof of that sat across the table from me. She was a top performer and valued member of our team. Second, as employers we need to make sure we have created a space for open and honest conversations for returning citizens. The processes in place for HR are only as good as the message being communicated to potential applicants. Fair chance hiring must be a public message not just an HR procedure. Nearly a third of working adults have a criminal record that can create barriers to employment. When recruiters create a space for honest conversations and applicants receive the message of fair chance hiring, we all reap the benefits in the workplace and in our communities.

Who doesn’t love the beginning of a new year?! We can take a moment to reflect on what went well (and what could have gone better), and we experience the excitement of a fresh start. This is the ideal time to remind ourselves of what really matters. And it is a great time to remind employees why they love to work for you! There was point when each of your current employees looked at your posting, went through your interview process, and thought to himself/herself “I want that job! I want to work there!” But, as with so many things in life, the new shine fades, the initial excitement slides into the mundane, and employees forget why they chose to work for you in the first place. The new year provides a great opportunity for you to bring the shine back by restoring a sense of newness and excitement to the job. If you are not familiar with it, this process is called re-recruiting. When you need to make a hire, you recruit. You tell people all the great things about your company. You envision them with OJT, growth opportunities, team spirit, and send them home with some company schwag. That process should not stop when the new hire fills out their I-9. At the start of each year, schedule time with each team member and ‘recruit’ them afresh for the new year. Remind them why they wanted this job, have fun reminiscing over the highpoints of the past year (yes, even in 2020), and envision them with a just-got-a-new-job feeling for the coming year by sharing your plans and listening to their ideas. These conversations don’t have to be formal or complicated. People like real conversations and they love it when you show interest in them. Here are a few questions you can ask: I was reviewing your resume from when you applied and was reminded of the experience you brought to us. Are we keeping you challenged? How can we better utilize your experience? Remind me of why you came to work here. What is your favorite thing about your job? What ideas do you have in that area? If you were recruiting someone to work here, what would you tell them about our workplace? How can I best support you going forward? What would you like to accomplish this year? We all need occasional pep-talks and reminders to fuel our success. Investing your time in building relationships with employees will pay dividends throughout the year. What are you doing to get 2021 off to a great start in your organization? Share your ideas with us! Need assistance making your workplace a great place to work? HR Managed, LLC is a human resources consulting firm helping top decision makers attract and retain top talent and build powerful teams to achieve business goals. Let’s talk about how we help manage HR so you can manage your business.

World At Work recently released a survey that said 42% of employees would take a pay cut and a lower title to work from home and have more work/life balance. And, based on various surveys I have read, 50% to 60% of employers are saying they will continue with some type of work-from-home option even after Covid-19 concerns have ended. So, it is safe to say that remote work arrangements are something we all need to get used to and learn how to manage well…emphasis on the word ‘well’. Years ago I had a manager who liked to say he used the “management by walking around” approach. Without putting much effort into it, he could simply walk through the office to make himself available for questions, peak into a cube, wave at someone on the phone, or buy someone a soda while chatting in the break room. I have lost touch with that manager, but I bet he is having to rethink his management approach in this brave new world of remote work. Managing remote workers requires more planning, being more intentional, and showing a deeper interest in what (and how) employees are doing. If you have not yet made that shift, here are some ideas to get you started. Reach out to each employee (individually, no cheating with mass messages) daily with a simple “hi…how are you…have a great day…thanks for that thing you did” kind of message. Short and simple, just enough to let them know you know they are there. It can be via email, text, or instant message; just make sure it is delivered on a platform they see daily. Establish a standing one-on-one with each team member, perhaps every two weeks or, at a minimum, once a month. Never be late and don’t cancel or reschedule. Turn off your phone to avoid any distractions. Let that person know that he or she is important enough to command your undivided attention on a regular basis. Focus on the quality of time, not the quantity. Schedule speed networking events via video conference. I have hosted these in my years as an HR manager and people loved them. Invite the entire team, then send groups of 4 to 5 people into breakout rooms for 10 minutes or less. Every few minutes shoot out a fun discussion question to keep the conversation going. When time is up, bring everyone back, reshuffle the groups, and send everyone off into new breakout groups to do it again with new questions. Send a hand-written note to the employee’s home address. You know that great feeling when you go to the mailbox expecting bills and junk mail and instead there is a bright pink envelope containing a personal note that makes you smile. Yeah, that. How are you keeping the camaraderie and engagement in your remote workplace? What approach has had the biggest impact? Share your ideas with us! Need assistance making your workplace a great place to work? HR Managed, LLC is a human resources consulting firm helping top decision makers attract and retain top talent and build powerful teams to achieve business goals. Let’s talk about how we help manage HR so you can manage your business.

Someone recently asked me “Why is there still a gender pay gap if there are laws in place like the Equal Pay Act?” Great question! The answer lies in two current movements: pay transparency and pay history bans. There are two reasons to get on board with this current movement. One is because you have to and the other is because you want to. Both reasons are the right reason, but one will reap greater reward. As I always say…let’s start with compliance. Pay transparency laws, which require that compensation be included in job postings, are a key measure designed to close the gender pay gap. Pay transparency laws are in place in 8 states (and a number of cities and other local areas) with at least 15 additional states considering salary range transparency laws. When compensation is not stated in a job posting, the hiring company is not committed to the compensation that will be given. Companies may want to leave their options open “depending on the experience of the candidate”. While I understand the reasons behind this approach, it flies in the face of equal pay for equal work. A job should have core responsibilities and expectations. Whether someone has 3 years of experience or 10 years of experience, they will be doing that same job with those same responsibilities and be held to the same expectations. Therefore, they should be given the same compensation. Pay transparency laws ensure this is the case. Before we talk more about pay transparency, let’s take a quick look at another movement happening around the job posting process: Pay history bans. For years, it has been standard practice to ask applicants to state their compensation for past positions when completing an application. Twenty-one states have passed laws which prohibit obtaining salary history to determine compensation during the hiring process. If one person made $50,000 a year in their previous position and another person made $65,000 a year in their previous position, should they now be paid differently for doing the exact same job? When hiring managers think the answer to that question is yes, the gender pay gap continues. Pay should be based on the job the person is currently doing. Laws aside, why would a company want to adopt these approaches sooner rather than later? It has been shown that stating compensation on a job posting results in higher applicant volume and a higher quality candidate. Think about it…Do you want a candidate who will apply to any job (without really knowing important details) or the candidate who wants your job because it provides exactly what they are looking for? We all work to get paid so compensation consideration is key. Once in the position, seeing the potential for increased pay can be a great motivator for both retention and increased performance. Nobody likes looking out the back window when riding in a car. We prefer to see the road ahead and have some idea where we are going. Such is the case with compensation. Finally, a company that is willing to be transparent about compensation sends a positive message about an open, honest culture. That level of transparency is one of the things the newest generation entering the workforce is looking for. To put all of this into practice does take some work. But once it is built, so many challenges are able to be resolved. So what are some steps to get started? Establish a compensation philosophy that guides your thinking. A client recently told me that there are many factors to employment he can’t control so he wants to control what he can. He does that by paying well. His philosophy is to lead the market and pay well for high performance. Have a compensation policy or guidelines that clearly explain how wages are determined. This is a written document that includes things like how starting pay is determined, percentage of increases for promotions, percentages of merit increases, timing of increases, and other factors for consistency. Maintain compensation ranges or hourly rates based on market data. When done well, this will create both internal and external equity in compensation. Compensation is tiered from position to position and based on external data. Payroll is often the biggest expense for any company. Yet, I’m amazed at how many companies don’t have a structure in place to manage it. Compensation management has endless benefits from ending pay discrimination to higher retention to simplified processes. Need some help getting started? Contact us and let's talk about a customized compensation approach that works for your business.