The world of HR has been banging on about HR metrics for years, but most HR departments still haven’t got any real measurements or performance indicators….. a survey of 4 questions to a hiring manager is not a key metric to determine if an HR service is performing!

 

In the HR world there is no standard day, because we are people, looking after people for people. As a result its easy to say “as long as our managers are happy, we are doing a good job”. HR Metrics, Measurements, indicators and statistics help us turn this randomness and unknown into a known. How can we know if we are doing a better job than last quarter if we have no benchmark? With all the projects and programs that we run, how can we ascertain whether there is a benefit and improvement?

 

Tips:

• Ask what your hiring managers, business and stakeholders want from their HR department and build your process around this
• Once you have your HR Service model/service break it down into measurable chunks and decide on what “good looks like”
• Validate this “good service model” by showing and explaining it to your stakeholders. a weekly 1-1 between an HRBP and a manager, may be the standard way of working, but it might not be what they are actually looking for. “well thats what our managers want”….. is it??? when was the last time you asked them?
• Once you have “good performance” modelled, measure how things stand today, this gives us our baseline and a point that we hope we will improve from
• Check in at agreed points to see how we are tracking, and in the spirit of continuous improvement tweak if necessary.
• Align HR Metrics and indicators to company values; this will ensure that the metric is accepted by the teams and is adhered to (e.g. a “program of company wide measurement” matches the company value of “continuous improvement” or sending out “customer satisfaction surveys” matches the company value of “listening to our customers”.

Issues:

Subjectivity and Bias – Make sure that your measurements are clean and can’t be bias, i.e. sending out customer satisfaction surveys to 5 out of 50 managers, that you know love you, that is not a honest reflection

Sufficient data – We need to ensure that we have enough data. If you only have 5 data points you can’t consider that an honest reflection; if you have 50 data points, and you are still showing the same trend, you have a stronger case, 500 points… you have concrete!

Analysing the data – There is no point having data, HR Metrics and information if someone isn’t going to analyse and report on it. The amount of times Ive created reports within a system, only to find that someone created the same report 12 months ago, and I could have had that info all this whole time!

Match the HR metrics – Analyse the data and trends against other metrics to see if there are relating patterns

For Example:

• Less Face time and more phone time between HRBP and HM = Higher manager productivity for both groups
• More metrics and Performance indicators = higher data input into HCM and data integrity

Change Management – Ensure that the HR Metrics are adhered to and people don’t “cook the books” by taking the relevant stakeholders on the change journey and ensure that they understand the reason for change and measurement. It doesn’t have to be about “keeping an eye on them” it can be about “making US better.”

Get measuring!

What ingredients make up the perfect recipe for a Lean HR process

Onboarding, Orientation and Productivity

Onboarding of employees is a crucial step in any business, but is often overlooked or executed poorly.

Unfortunately this step falls under the management and responsibility of HR, but the issues and problems of execution actually lie with the business. Its a crucial period, as during this phase, business expectations are established and values and conduct are learned. From an EVP and candidate engagement POV, you need to get this right to make sure that your employees don’t start their journey with you on the wrong foot. With services like glass door and social media, a disgruntled employee can cause a lot of noise. We’ve discussed the candidate experience, what about the books…hiring someone can cost at least 30% of the employees salary, thats over £8000 in the UK on an average £27000 salary. We need to make sure these people are not only productive but want to stay, and don’t take our IP with them

Common issues:

• No hardware on day 1
• No logins or access on day 1
• No planned work for the new starter
• No understanding of the business, department or goals
• Hiring Manager doesn’t have enough time for the new starter
• New starter is not introduced to relevant stakeholders

Onboarding and Orientation tips:

• Pre-Onboard – Have your new starters read and complete content before Day 1 to ensure they are prepared and ready for work
• Go Digital – Have a digital/online onboarding process which will free up HR and other resources
• Metrics – Make sure you measure your on boarding process. How many, how long, which departments, during which times, what happened, who didn’t…. all the usual W’s and H. Only you will know which W’s and H work for your process. If you don’t measure and get a baseline, how can you expect to improve it.
• Hiring Manage prep – Make sure the Hiring Manager is prepared for the new starter and has introductions and meetings booked in the diary…. not back to back meetings every day in the first week though, they need to come up for air!
• The hiring manager will also have a lot of work and time to invest; ensure that the manager has booked in enough facetime with the new starter to check in on them. Its important to micro manage a little at the beginning as there will be a lot to learn.
• Evaluate and communicate – with the groups that have tasks before and after your process, ie HR admin and IT. What do they need from the process and what outputs do they need from you. What do IT need to get thelaptop and log ins set up, what do HR admin need from Recruitment to set them up in the system as early as possible. What do the training team need to set up on-boarding modules in the system etc
• Cost – When you measure, make sure you turn this into a cost and monetary value, to ensure that the business understands the importance of this process. Eg, unproductive time X hourly rate, or increased productivity X usual employee output.
• VOC – Speak to your employees or at least survey them to get an understanding of their experience
• Speak to your hiring managers and stakeholders and get their input and experience.
• BIGGEST TIP – Build your process around what your stakeholders want and calculate a cost saving, profit increase figure to win the business over. If you do this, things will improve…. don’t forget to measure it!

You don’t need a new piece of software or an RPO, fix it yourself!

Once we have mapped our current as-is process with the relevant employees or stakeholders, how do we now identify the areas of waste and improvement with sticky dots. Lets ask the people that do the job day in day out. Gather the main stakeholders in a room and give them all 5-10 red sticky dots and ask them to place the dots on the area that they feel is wasted effort/time or is a priority for improvement. This is done without discussion, as we dont want strong and vocal characters to lead the witness. This will ensure that all attendees get an equal vote and say, and you will end up with a fantastic visual showing you where the issues are, democratically decided by the guys who are in the trenches doing the job. There is no point taking direction and solutions from the board or CEO as they often don’t know what is really happening. There main role is to ensure that the project is supported and the outcome and change is implemented and sticks. 

This example shows the idea/process/discussion after voting. You will see that Task 4 and 5 are a priority for focus and improvement, with task 5 the next area of attack. It is important to understand why task 7 and 10 were also highlighted as areas for improvement, unpack these selections by spending some time discussing the tasks that have been identified to ascertain why people voted for them and that all attendees understood the task and what their vote meant.

Once all stakeholders are happy with the outcome, you will need to discuss how are we going to improve/change Task 4 and 5. Congratulations you are on the way to making a real impactful change in your process/way of working.

Sticky dots and posted notes are an easy, flexible, and cheap way of getting data from your employees, don’t overlook the importance of them

Next stop, coming up with the solutions!

Is working from home right for you?

 

GDPR to cost HR €20 Million, are you ready…I doubt it….

As of the 25th May 2018 a new Data Protection Act (DPA) will be enforced across the UK, it will be known as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)

What does that mean for HR and your business?

Most organisations will be establishing transformation programmes to identify the data on both customers, candidates and employees.

If your business is going through any kind of change (organisational or system) now is the time to act too.

Non compliance fines can reach as high as 4% of annual turnover or €20 Million.

Our biggest concern is that businesses are focusing solely on customer data and processes and not on internal HR processes (recruitment, on boarding, absence management etc)

Let’s summarise it for you

Increased Territory – it applies to all companies processing the personal data of data subjects residing in the Union, regardless of the company’s location

Fines and Penalties – If you are in breach you can be fined up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 Million (whichever is greater).

Consent – Organisations will no longer be able to use the complicated and impossible legalese, packed full of small print. Consent must now be clear and distinguishable and provided in an easily accessible form, importantly using clear and plain language.

Right to Access – Candidates and employees will be able to ascertain whether or not personal data concerning them is being processed, where and for what purpose. Furthermore, HR and the business will need to provide a copy of the personal data, free of charge, in an electronic format. This change is a dramatic shift to data transparency and giving more power to candidates and employees (current or ex)

Data Removal – Candidates can request that HR erase his/her personal data and stop circulating the data within the business; it also stops 3rd parties processing the data (i.e. reference and background checking partners)

Data in a readable format – Candidates and ex-employees have the right to receive the personal data concerning them, in a ‘commonly used and machine readable format‘ (i.e. not in an impossible to decipher file that you need accounting software to read). Essentially this means that candidates and ex-employees are not going to give up chasing because now it wont be the uphill battle that it once was.

Privacy by Design –  Suggests that data protection and knowledge of the GDPR needs to be built into all processes at stage 1 and not added at a later date. If you are going through some sort of transformation or change, you need to consider this now, or it is going to cost you a lot at a later date…. maybe €20 Million!

Data Protection Officers – Currently you need to notify your data processing activities as per DPAs. Under GDPR it will not be necessary to submit notifications / registrations to each local DPA of data processing activities. There will need to be internal record keeping requirements and Data Protection Officers appointed for some organisations, especially when data relates to criminal convictions and offences.

Are you ready for this? I doubt it…..

Improve and Consult can help design and conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) to ensure that your organisation is ready for the changes in May, it will come around very quickly.

8 GDPR Take aways and hints:

Awareness –  Make sure that decision makers and key people in your organisation are aware of the changes

Document – Audit what personal data you have, where it came from and who you share it with

Privacy notifications – Review your privacy notices especially for candidates applying for jobs

Rights – Check your procedures to ensure they cover all the rights individuals have, including how you would delete personal data or provide data to candidates and customers

 

Requesting data – You should update your processes and plan how you will handle volume within the new timescales

Adequate consent – Review how you seek, record and manage consent and whether you need to make any changes.

 

Age – Do you have processes in place to ensure that you verify candidates and customer’s ages? are you obtaining parental or guardian consent for any data processing activity.

Data breaches – Ensure you have the right processes to detect, report and investigate a personal data breach.

Get in touch for a discussion: tommoney@improveandconsult.co.uk, Our Website

So lets ascertain whats actually happening at the moment. 

 

Today’s blog is not about recruitment process or HR, its about “Work Life Blend”.

After living nearly 9 years in Australia, my wife and I were expecting our 2nd baby and we decided to return to the UK, to outsource it to our parents…. I mean…. have the kids grow up with nanna and grandpa! yeah thats what i meant.

Anyway, I decided that this was the right time to start my own thing. I wasn’t sure what the thing was 100% going to be, but what i was sure on was that I wanted to spend less time commuting and working 12 hour days

in an office and spend more time with my family. I started listening to lots of entrepreneurial podcasts, one of which was called Startup Daddy, which is all about starting a business as a parent. It was great, the whole narrative of the podcast was to build your work life around your family life, not the other way around. 99% of people desperately try to make time for their family and personal life, whether its rushing home to spend 10mins with your kid before they go to bed, or rushing to football training after work without missing half of it, not warming up, and then feeling like your hamstring is going to fall off.

When I set up my 2 businesses I followed this line of thinking; of course I need to make money and be successful, but how successful and “rich” (FYI, nowhere near that yet…. not even close) do i want to be, what is the most important thing to me? Moving your whole life back across to literally the other side of the world is the proverbial “fresh start”, what better opportunity to decide “what do i want to do”? I decided to set up 2 businesses, one experience and career focused, a Recruitment best practice and process consultancy, the other, a bit of fun with my old uni mate (an inflatable pub…dont ask!).

One of the startup daddy episodes made reference to something called “worklife Blend”; one of his guests talked about starting businesses to address this “work life blend” and how he didn’t like the phrase “worklife balance” as it inferred that work and life were polar opposites and not intertwined, we know this isn’t correct. Many of us enjoy work and most of us spend the majority of our life at work, and so life and work have to blend. This phrase really struck a chord with me and I decided that this was how i was going to plan my future career.

I decided that no matter what, I was going to work from home for at least 2 days every week, and I would not apply for contracts or roles that did not offer that flexibility.

In the modern world, work life blend is very accessible, if you just ask for it. Many businesses now encourage working from home as it is great for their EVP, keeps their employees happy-reducing attrition and probably more importantly reduces their business costs (real estate, energy and food…. 33% of buildings at anyone time are empty… people on annual leave, sick, visiting clients, at lunch).

Do you really need 150 desks if you have 150 employees? the answer is no, you need 100-120 desks plus a healthy remote working policy. As i write this, I am in a cafe…. no i’m not a work shy dosser, Im actually being more productive. I don’t have any distractions, no-one asking me if i watched the match last night, if i’m doing anything nice this weekend, if i have 5 mins for a catch up, which i don’t, i have 5 min for an important discussion, but it is rarely important or a pressing topic (ie 30mins where they tell me about Jonny in accounts who snuck off with Sharlene from sales, although gossip is inherently interesting, it is not productive). I may seem like an unsocial, miserable old man (i may not be old, but i am going grey at a rate of knots…. kids do that to you), but i decided that family face time was more important than the “office life” and Im gonna stick it out as long as I can, and hope that “work” allows me to do so.

Remember guys, work life blend…. you could get hit by a bus tomorrow…what is important to you….

now, where is that bacon sandwich!

Mental Health and Work Life Blend

In this current world of transparency and social media, personal brand is so important.

Social media effects your organisation’s brand but also your personal brand and vice a versa. Always be aware of what you are posting and how it may be perceived. It is important to not pretend to be someone else, as people buy from people, however, you still need to be professional and relate to the organisations brand. As the old adage goes “act one level up and think 2 levels up” don’t put something on social media that you wouldn’t’t feel comfortable saying or emailing to your GM.

A profile Picture is really important, make sure it is of you! not your kids, not an arty picture of you looking over the ocean with a beer in your hands. Choose a professional looking headshot, look at this cheeky chappy here. This is me, not me at the beach or with my kids, those photos are saved for instagram and facebook.

This picture should be consistent across different social media. As a Recruiter/ networker/entrepreneur my job is to network and yours probably is too. I want people to know what i look like, so that they can approach me and say “hey… you’re the bloke who puts pictures of himself on your blog and website…. a bit arrogant…. where are you going…come back…don’t run away!” Let people know what you look like, they are far more likely to want to engage with you on a business level if they have made an emotional connection.

Position title/Company details

Its the first thing a candidate/client/vendor/partner will see, make it obvious what your role or company is. “exec search and talent strategy client liaison” what is that. I worked at a company where we had job titles like “client liaison, lobby ambassador, director of first impressions” mate, this person works on reception! If you are a recruitment consultant or recruitment business partner, make sure that the reader knows what you are and that you do what it says on the tin.

Content is for your audience…. not to make you feel better

As mentioned in my previous blog, remember that the content you post and share is to be read by people in the real world and will need to be tailored depending on where you share it. Think about your Personal Brand

“I’m stuck in traffic, soooo annoyed, why do cyclists take up so much room…. this person driving ahead of me is 150, and it would be quicker if he walked”

This may be okay for a personal instagram profile with a photo of the road of doom and driving miss daisy, as instagram is often used as a window into peoples lives. However, it isn’t appropriate for linkedin. Your audience will engage with you based upon your profile, content and Personal Brand. Don’t share the same content to different audiences. It is important to not pretend to be someone else, as people buy from people, however, you still need to be professional and relate to the organisations brand.

Stay up to date and make sure you are active

Dont let your social media profile fall into radio silence. People don’t engage with profiles that look dead. I looked to approach someone a while ago, and he hadn’t posted anything for 18 months on his social media, so i didn’t bother. Maybe he was still reading things on there, but to me it looked a waste of time. Maybe he missed out! This means  Share, tweet, comment, post, like, follow, befriend…. keep your Personal Brand alive. 

I’ve got more friends than you…i’m well popular

Social media is all about networking and building our communication web. This is especially important on twitter and Linkedin, and slightly less so on facebook, unless you are a business profile. If you are a recruiter on linkedin, and you have less than 750 connections, you are shooting yourself in the foot! Everyone you engage with, you should ask to connect with on LI.

Use Engaging content and what is fashionable now.

Videos and images work well with Millennials as do emoji’s on certain platforms i.e. twitter where character count is limited, however, car, annoyed face, clock, building may not be ideal for linkedin. Emoji’s also bring a little humour.

 How does Social Media affect EVP and Brand

What should recruiters share on social media?

This list is not the 10 commandments, but Improve and Consult’s taste of the options of what recruiters should choose to share on social media

Jobs

• Post vacancies
• Expression of interest
• Recruitment Campaigns (such as graduate and apprenticeships)

Videos

• Employer Branded Videos can be produced very easily and shared. Video content gets very high engagement
• Sharing on Facebook has changed, if you want engagement and attention it hard without opening the cheque book
  • Instagram, on the other hand, has one of the highest user engagements of any of the top social media. It’s a great place for building your employer brand

Organisation & Market information

• People are on Social media to learn and escape the daily grind
• Teach them with insightful articles, surveys and stats
• Show them that your organisation’s grass is greener with news and stories

Images and photos

• Pictures expressing your company culture and of real employees are very engaging

Recruiting and HR Tips

• Job-seeking
• Interviewing
• CVs

We know what to share, but where should we be sharing it?