How’s that warm body strategy working for you?

What's your hiring criteria?

Many companies that are suffering from high turnover strive to fill the open positions as quickly as possible. If the hiring process is truly optimized, that’s all fine and well. If the speed is achieved simply by picking the first candidate who meets the minimum requirements, it’s called the ‘warm body strategy’.  Although it may bring short term relief, it can also amplify the original problem. The new hires who don’t fit the company culture and are not necessarily high performers are likely to quit or frustrate their coworkers. The vicious cycle continues.

To break the cycle, hiring managers must turn their attention to the quality of hire. It is easier said than done, when the team is working overtime, or an important deadline is looming around the corner. Some key elements to increase the quality of hire are being specific about what you want, assessments, skilled interviewers and good follow-through.

Culture fit is the highest determinant for long term success for the candidate. You must be clear on what types of behaviors it takes to thrive in your organization. Add specific functional competencies, and your recruiter can source much better matches to start with.

The interviewers’ time is valuable. The best practice is to narrow down your candidate pool by assessing the candidates before interviews. This way, you only interview good matches. There are multitude of assessments to choose from, depending on the position you are hiring for, ranging from cognitive and psychomotor tests to skill and personality tests. Make sure that the tests are valid and reliable, to avoid inadvertently discriminating against any candidates.

Hiring an employee is an important investment for your company. It is surprising how often those who interview candidates do not take this investment decision with the appropriate seriousness. The interviewers should also keep in mind that they are creating the first impression of their organization. All who interview should coordinate their questions ahead of time and reconvene or submit comments afterwards. HR or recruiting often takes the lead in coordinating this process. The interviewers should be trained in behavioral and situational interview techniques. One of the most in-depth interviewing techniques is topgrading.

When you have done all this work to identify a truly excellent fit to the company and the position, don’t drop the ball on day one. The highest turnover takes place in the first 90 days. Focus on the onboarding process and ensure that the new employee feels welcome, gets clear direction and the tools to get productive fast. Now you have much more than a warm body working for you.

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Have you captured the hearts and minds of your new employees?

According to an Aberdeen report, the best-in-class companies that have a formal onboarding process improve their new employee engagement by an average of 31% and reduce their time-to-productivity by 24%. Engaged employees in turn are more likely to be top performers, and companies with an engaged workforce have higher profits. Onboarding is much more than a 2-hour session where the new hires fill out the mandatory HR forms.

With new technology, the best companies allow access to a new employee portal and important company and career information even before the start day.  If your company has not caught the tech wave yet, you can still think of ways to share information to affirm their decision to join your company. What can you tell about your culture, your history and your business that can get them excited about being part of your organization? Give details about your benefits upfront, so they can discuss them with their family before they make their final decisions.

Orientation should be a reflection of your company culture. Find a way to reflect your core values through stories, discussion and activities. Orientation doesn’t have to take place in one session either. Bazaarvoice, on the list of Austin’s Best Places to Work For, gives out a list of 55 items to explore during the first week of employment. The new hires are asked to find out from Finance how much cash Bazaarvoice has in the bank. They get to sit in meetings with Sales or executives. They may get to expense a tray of cookies to share with coworkers, or a dinner at a restaurant where Bazaarvoice has celebrated its history. As Bazaarvoice is obsessed with the culture fit, they offer $2000 for any new hire who realizes that they don’t belong and want to leave.

How many new employees have started their first week excited and found themselves rolling their thumbs because the computer hadn’t arrived, the password is not working, or the manager was traveling. This is the first impression you are creating. The logistics process must be rehearsed, until it is flawless. There must be a work plan for the new hire to get started, otherwise, delay the start date.

Engagement is formed in hearts and minds. You capture hearts when your employees feel pride in being part of your organization and create meaningful connections with their coworkers. You capture their minds when they understand the vision and purpose of your organization and how it ties to their role. Onboarding is a great place to start making headway into the hearts and minds of your new champions.

Share your experiences in onboarding: the good, the bad and the ugly!

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Should you hire unemployed talent?

I sat in a meeting last week and heard from a talented and very experienced peer who is currently on the job market that a senior leader refused to interview him simply because he is unemployed. Not because of a gap in his resume or a cultural fit – just because of this manager’s perception of unemployed people. I can tell you that tons of bad karma was flowing in her direction from all of us in the meeting. This new trend has been brought up in the media. It’s not just that it feels wrong; turning away a whole talent pool based on one factor is not a smart thing to do.

Human resources and hiring managers are getting inundated by hundreds of resumes every time they post a job opening. They have to find a way to screen out the unqualified candidates and unearth the best of the best. They cannot use methods that would discriminate against protected classes (race, gender, disability etc.) One area where employers are already stepping into landmines is by increasing job requirements just because the talent is available. If you require a degree or certification for a job that didn’t use to need one, you may be headed for trouble.

Discriminating against unemployed status is not illegal, although not smart. Some employers are still under the impression that the people currently seeking work were laid off for performance reasons. Newsflash: Whole departments were slashed. Some companies had to reduce 50% of their workforce. One of my least favorite corporate assignments was to coordinate a (large) reduction list. The managers who had to submit names were fighting tooth and nail to keep their employees. There were no low performers to let go.

The talent thrown over the corporate fence has been through good in-house schooling and knows the functional best practices. The talent from small and mid-sized companies is truly versatile and has learned to perform multiple roles and keep many plates spinning in the air. Savvy recruiters and hiring managers should give both a second look.

There are better ways to screen talent than unemployment status. Use clear job requirements; know your culture and what kind of behaviors you are looking for. Consider an applicant assessment before you interview. Use an employee referral system.

Current job seekers are not standing still. They are retraining, learning new skills, volunteering, networking and doing pro bono project work. I hope they are highlighting these activities in their resume. One of them might just be the right one.

Hiring managers, HR, recruiters and job seekers: Do you agree or disagree? Share your experiences!

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The magic of commitment to core values

I am just back from a family vacation at Disney World in Orlando, FL. Despite my aching feet from walking miles across theme parks, each with different flavor of attractions and shows, I can still feel the Disney magic. Every experience Disney creates is just a notch above the rest. With the masses of people everywhere, things work out smoothly; it’s all meticulously planned and practiced. No matter what you ask, the cast members, as they call their employees, are happy to fulfill your request. Nothing is done grudgingly. You get a wave with a smile, a hug, a high five, and for a moment, even a grown up can feel like a school kid again.

Disney’s values are innovation, quality, community, storytelling, optimism and decency. What differentiates Disney from most other companies is the pervasiveness of these values in their organization. When Disney talks about quality, they invest in additional people to make sure that there are no glitches in the guest experience. The rest rooms shine and traffic flows, even with millions of visitors. Our friend asked a cast member where he could find extra napkins, and she offered to run downstairs to get some. In other companies, this would be considered above and beyond performance; at Disney, it is a basic expectation.

Disney spends a great effort in selecting the right people that fit their culture. They are clear about their expectations from the start. Once the cast member is in, they invest in their training and development through proven programs. A survey on management effectiveness in administered on an on-going basis, to make sure that the values are upheld at all levels.

What differentiates the best from the rest is the fanatical commitment to the vision, mission and values of the company. The magic will follow.

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